"We host hundreds of people every year at our meditation courses on Maui in Kodiak Canvas tents. The spaciousness of the tents combined with the high level of quality and durability through constantly changing weather (including heavy rain and high winds!) make them the best choice for us."
-Jorge Yant, Founder, The Quepasana Foundation (Maui, HI) Apr. 2019I can't imagine a better tent for the money. Well thought out, I had it set up the first time in a downpour in Michigans UP in about 45 minutes by myself. The other campers had rvs and were jealous of my setup! It made a great fishing basecamp and kept me warm and dry for two days and nights of pretty awful weather, only issue was I couldn't stay longer! The bag could bigger as is the case with any tent ever made, still a 5 star product!
The Flex-Bow tent is a well made product that has a poorly designed tent pole lock. One of mine failed on the first use of a three night camping trip and I had to use sticks to prop up the one side. I'd wake in the morning to a partially collapsed tent that constantly needed to be propped back up again. The threads inside the nut part are not fully formed and stripout with moderate twisting force. Maybe better threads would solve the problem, but regularly spaced holes and a pin would be a more positive method than a metal-to-metal sliding clamp. I ordered two replacements and I'll have to determine if they might need modifications to be reliable.
Brett,
Thank you for the review. What you describe is a warranty issue. If you paid for the replacement screws, please let us know and we'll refund your order.
Readers; How about a real world review of this Tent from One Who Knows? I will list my bona fides at the end; but for Now, a review. Onward, then- this writer, a Senior Citizen, set forth to 'See the USA, not in his Chevrolet" and wanted a Tent that was not a 'load of bollocks'. I knew I wanted CANVAS for the tent, and NOT Poly-? or Nylon or the like. I have used such tents before. In the rain, I should wear my scuba gear when inside one.
So I spent the Kopecks and got the 10x10 DeLuxe Tent. It came intact to my home. From there, to a local KOA for a test BEFORE I 'get out on the highway, looking for a mens room' and have no room to repent the choice.
The first day out at the KOA site, I hauled the tent out of the EV, set it to the grass, hunted up the 'front', turned and fussed it, and began staking it. GAWD! Real Metal Stakes, not recycled baling wire, a good start. I used a bright orange{so I can find it, maybe, when it moves after I set it down} dead blow hammer for this.
Next the very basic seeming tent poles of real metal. I was dubious at first, having used tents with a 'flock' of poles. OK after READING the instructions, I was truly stunned by the effects of a good design. The tent DOES go up easily, by one man, or one broken down Senior Citizen, and it stays tight, taunt, and upright in the wind.
After set up I hung the fancy sorting bag and the loft bag, which I have not yet figure out the 'how' of yet. Both are very useful. Ditto the misc. pockets to the tent interior, the GOOD zippers to the doors and panels. Note here, put some lubricant, of the sort that does not destroy the finish to the tent waterproofing, to the zippers. I used beeswax, and it makes the zipper a bit more waterproof.
The sewing details of the tent are first rate. The overpanels to the ends of the zipper is a clever way to stop the zipper from coming off the track at the end and re-enforcing the zipper sewing. The floor 'plastics' are a good and solid touch as well..
Take the company hint and buy one or two of the moving blankets for the tent floor. They work dandy with bare feet, they feel good underfoot, and it makes cleaning the tent easy. With two, one can be washed, while the other is used. Further they can be used to wrap breakables when transporting the gear, or even as an underpad to sleep on.
So Reader, if you have made it thus far, thank you--now go out and buy one for YOUR next camping outing.
SIgned/"KiltedTailor"
Who; first tented in Viet Nam, then tented in the Living History Hobby and tented with my late wife in miserable, shoddy, flimsy nylon something tent. Add to: I am a retired historical tailor- so sewing details are known and noted and appreciated- far beyound the skills of 99% of most tent buyers
KiltedTailer,
Thank you for a wonderful review! One note however, we do not recommend putting any kind of lubricant on the tent zippers. Oils, lubes, or even beeswax tend to attract dust and dirt and end up cloggiing up your zipper. In a dirt environment (where most camping occurs) zipper lubes do more harm than good.
Well I did it, I bought one just like you are thinking of doing. I have the 10x10 stove ready. I have taken it on its inaugural outing. It was clear and cold. 28degress was the low. 2 adults 3 children and a dog. Nice little stove for inside as well. Had to have been around 60degrees in the tent. Tshirt was comfortable. Setup alone for the first time was 35min. Takedown about the same. Everything you need is with it, it packed better when I broke it down than when it came factory. I do not have the 12x12 but I imagine that unless it is multiple adults camping with multiple adults helping setup and take down that would be too much for the quick weekend camp. For longer outings and more full grown people, the 12x12 with its cool add on accessories might be the way to go.
I've had this roll for just aa few weeks but it kept me in the camp this weekend.
I had another backpacing tent I was trying out. Just for comfort I had a decent air mattress in it and with thunderstorms forecast, I settled in for the night. It wasn't long before my butt started touching the ground, then my shoulders. I had an obvious leak in my mattress. It was storming and raining, so the first chance I had, I got the Kodiak Canvas Swag out, put it on a cot under a ridgeline with my gear and made it to regroup the next morning. I stayed in the swag the next night and slept like Rip Van Winkle.
I'm looking g forward to years of use and solitude for me.
