Wenzel Beartooth 14- by 10-Foot, 5 Person Pentadome Family Tent
Wenzel Beartooth 14- by 10-Foot, 5 Person Pentadome Family Tent
Wenzel Beartooth 14- by 10-Foot, 5 Person Pentadome Family Tent Reviews
My last tent started to die, the zipper broke. It was a Wenzel Sycamore. I like that tent. Fairly big, though. It has lasted us for at least 8 years so far.
But the zipper went. So, when I started to shop for a new tent, Wenzel was on the top of the list.
The beartooth looked very close to what we wanted. Slightly smaller than the Sycamore, which is what we wanted, or we would have just bought another Sycamore.
When we FIRST used it :- One of the poles cracked, a piece fell off somewhere and I couldn’t quite find out where it was to go. So, it was pretty obvious, within about 1 hour, that it was going back. I was very disappointed.
It’s a VERY odd shape inside. Some sort of pentagon, kind of. Sort of like a rectangle with a triangle tagged on to the top. The unfortunate problem is it makes the internal space quite odd. We have 2 queen size blow up beds, which worked fine with the Sycamore.
Now, they fit in this one. So size is not a problem but due to the rather odd layout inside the tent, both beds ended up touching each other right at the door, then had about 2′ apart at the top; so a kind of inverted triangle. This meant we had to step over the beds to get in to the tent to start with.
Due to the odd internal shape, it was also not possible to push the beds right to the edge of the tent. It just wouldn’t fit.
The fly sheet essentially lies flat on to the tent fabric. The Sycamore uses guy ropes to pull it out from the tent to give a bit of overhang. It just seemed more “weather friendly” on the Sycamore. It’s not much of a problem, since we very rarely go camping during any sort of rainy season but it was just another nail in the coffin and was another reason to send it back.
When it came to packing away, due to the odd shape, it was rather weird. The sycamore, since it was symetrical at least, folded easily. The Beartooth, however, I could not quite figure out what way to fold it best. I suppose I should have taken some photos as I unrolled it to start with.
During set up, the poles seem to be under a great deal of stress, which is why I think one of the poles cracked. The “super 5 way quick set up” thing was just useless. It takes a minimum of 2 people to set it up; best with 3. The sycamore could be set up by one, but 2 is much easier (an adult and one child is fine).
So, it’s been sent back. We still have our old Sycamore (it has zipper problems), and I think we’ll end up buying exactly the same model again. I so wanted this tent to work. If it hadn’t been for the pole cracking, we’d have put up with the other oddities.
Reasons for buying:
1. Cheap.
2. Wenzel, we had a great experience with the last one
3. Fast delivery from Amazon.
Reasons for not buying:
1. Cheap. The poles seem to be of poor quality.
2. Very odd shape.
3. Bits fell off.
4. A pain to roll up when done.
Recomendation: Buy the Sycamore.
For an inexpensive tent, it’s a fairly good value. One disappointment was that the 14′ x 10′ footprint dimension is more of a triangle than a rectangle. I’d like to see square footage used in the product descriptions. It’s best to set the tent up once before the trip to learn the sequence and the two lengths of poles. Overall, setup was easy. While you are doing the first setup, apply seam sealer – it’s needed. There is one poor design aspect to the tent. The vertical sections of the zippers are not protected by waterproof covers, and therefore leak. On the fist outing, we were hit with a downpour (2″ in a hour) and had some water in the tent. It only took one small towel to mop things up, but I went over the zipper material with an extra coat of seam sealer. We’l see if that helps in the next rain.
I purchased this tent to take my two daughters on an all girl camping trip. My 10 year old and I set it up at dusk quite easily. The first set up, with reading the instructions, took about 15-20 minutes. Once we set it up following the instructions, the instructions were not necessary for future set ups. There is plenty of room inside for four adults, two air mattresses, and gear. I would only put five people in this tent if three of them are children.
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