Perfect tent for Burning Man

[phil]

http://www.eurekatent.com/n!ergy1310.asp

(that exclamation mark built into the ULR keeps it from being seen as a URL even if I mark it as one - sorry. Copy and paste the whole string to see all the features)


Not only does this tent have a 12VDC system built in (!), but it has a full mesh roof with a tiny fly that won't keep playa powder out and a "sweep-out point" so you can sweep all your debris from in the tent to right out onto the playa!

[MikeVDS]

Plus with my experience Eureka makes quality tents. All of mine that are still around are eureka (or custom made by me) and some much older than the ones I've had to throw away.

[latinaburner]

I know this is an old post, but has anybody used this tent at burning man? I went to Burning Man last year in an RV and will be going this year in a tent and i've been looking everywhere searching for the right tent for 6-8 people and found this post, went to the website and wow... this tent looks like a dream!

I'm wondering if I would need to purchase the rebar ive heard a lot of people talking about (I've never pitched a tent in my life) and would really like to hear anybody's experience using this tent.

http://www.eurekatent.com/nrgy.aspx
N!ergy 1310

[TristanX]

I've used an "EUREKA - EQUINOX 6" tent in the past. Good size for a queen air mattress plus 2-3 bags

The "EUREKA - EQUINOX 6" doesn't have a mesh top .. it has "breathable nyon". Even though it had the rain fly, dust still got up there (I could see it floating down off the roof every day).

I would never go to BM with any sort of "mesh" in the tent that could not be zipped up... otherwise you'll have dust in your tent

I much prefer an RV and if you can afford it .. go that route

[phil]

Hi, latinaburner,

I have to confess I was being facetious when I posted that. I haven't used that tent at Burning Man.

Generally, there's no one right tent. My suspicion is that people buy a tent, take it camping, find out what's wrong for them with that design, then buy the right tent. Maybe it takes a couple of tries.

I'd say keep searching for tents on this forum and find the several threads on particular tents, read the comments, then pick one that seems likely to you and ask about it. What you want is a tent that will survive <100MPH winds and that will keep out dust as much as possible.

If you've never pitched a tent, I urge you to buy a tent early, camp with it, practice setting it up at home and on camping trips, then take it to Burning Man. Setting up _anything_ at BM the first time is the way to madness, mayhem, and murder.

Louise and I use rebar for our tent and our shade structure. There are other options which are safer, but few are as certain to stick in the ground as rebar. (As you'll find out when you try to pull it.)

Setting up a tent _generally_ isn't difficult. I've had tents that were obvious and easy to erect, but others that were not at all obvious even with instructions. They were hard to figure out, but with practice it became easier. There's no way to know ahead of time who will have problems with which tent. That's why it's important to be familiar with your tent and its erection before you need to use it at Burning Man.

[Elderberry]

I'll second that--no mesh!

JK

[Grazelda]

I've had the Energy 1310 (the big sucker) for a couple of years. It is not appropriate for the desert, I would not use mine at BM. I also would not purchase a Eureka tent again.

Like most consumer tents now they use a mesh screen roof which is then covered over by rain fly. There is no way to cover or close the roof, so playa dust would rain down on you 24/7. The rain fly acts like a sail in high winds and the tent almost oscillates from the added pressure. The fly is attached to the tent with lame bungee tie clip ons, they tear off in high winds. Mine popped 2 of them in a 30-mph gust during a thunder storm; far less than might kiss your butt on the playa. And they are real clear about saying that UV will break down the tent cloth and its seams & threads real easy unless treated and coated. I think they still advise to set this sort of tent up in the shade and "try to avoid direct sun". Ahem...

And the energy 12v tent feature just is not worth it. The switch box they attach is cheap and breaks easy. The small gauge wiring harness they use throughout the tent is way too thin to safely move 12v amps very far. While maybe OK for 12v LED lights and tiny tent fans, I would not try to hook up an AC converter, laptop, blender, etc device into it. Sounded like a neat feature - no real world value for us; LED flashlights on carbeaners work much better, less weight, and you're not hauling around a cheap-ass car battery to plug your tent into. Take a car battery, hook a 12v female outlet on it with clips and leave the Eureka harness at home.

However for size they are great. We call ours a 'porto cabin'. very tall inside, you can stand up and walk around easy. We fit two queen size air mattresses in there with room to spare. But to us its a warm-to-hot weather woodlands tent. Not meant for the desert, but it would act as a wonderful playa dust collection machine! Its not hard to setup at all, I did it alone once - although I looked pretty dumb while doing it.

Eureka as a company just sucks cold rocks. I tried to sell this damn tent on Ebay last year and they filed a formal Ebay complaint against me for "copyright violation" -- because I used the words "Eureka" and "E!nergy" in the offer!!! Ebay killed the silly ad and from that point on when I think of Eureka Tents - I think of severe rectal itch.

A hexayurt is your friend... screw Eureka tents...

I know this is an old post, but has anybody used this tent at burning man? I went to Burning Man last year in an RV and will be going this year in a tent and i've been looking everywhere searching for the right tent for 6-8 people and found this post, went to the website and wow... this tent looks like a dream!

I'm wondering if I would need to purchase the rebar ive heard a lot of people talking about (I've never pitched a tent in my life) and would really like to hear anybody's experience using this tent.

http://www.eurekatent.com/nrgy.aspx
N!ergy 1310

[TristanX]

When I used my "EUREKA - EQUINOX 6", I used rebar in the tent stake holes then topped the rebar with tennis balls that i cut a slit into (the tops of rebar will easily tear the tent if the wind pushes the tent against the top of the rebar (which the wind WILL do).

I don't know about 100 mph wind.. as over 74 miles is hurricane strenth.. but i will say the wind is STRONG. Stronger than any wind you've seen at home.

There's no mesh that will keep out the playa dust. It's like baby powder.. it gets EVERYWHERE.

Tents get HOT HOT HOT during the day ... so hot you wont want to be in them.. even with a fan running (which i had that year)

I agree with phil .. you need to know how to setup your tent before you get to BM .... you could be doing it at night or during a dust storm.. or just during the heat of the day -- whenever you do it, you wont have the luxury of saying, let me sit in the shade for a few minutes while i re-read the manual. I dont say this to scare you but to make sure you're prepared. Get the tent and set it up in your backyard. You dont have to do the "full rebar stake" in the backyard, but make sure you know how to put it up - take it down. Practice a few times until you're at the point where you are like "OK, I know how to do this now"

[Elderberry]

Eureka as a company just sucks cold rocks. I tried to sell this damn tent on Ebay last year and they filed a formal Ebay complaint against me for "copyright violation" -- because I used the words "Eureka" and "E!nergy" in the offer!!! Ebay killed the silly ad and from that point on when I think of Eureka Tents - I think of severe rectal itch.

A hexayurt is your friend... screw Eureka tents...

How Eureka do that? You were selling an Eureka tent, what did they expect you to call it? I'm surprised that EBay pulled the listing--unless there is more to the story.

I'll also second the hexayurt, but it's not necessarily the easiest thing to assemble for a person that has never even set up a tent.

Therer are several other posts here that discuss two brands of tents that do not have the mesh in them, which seem to be perfectly suited. I think phil actually started one of those threads.

JK

[Timezone LaFontaine]

I went in the opposite direction with my tent. It's almost all mesh. With additional layers of shade structure above it, it's nice and breezy and shady in the middle of the day. I do have to dust it out frequently but I keep most of my stuff in giant zip-lock bags and sealable plastic containers that keep things dust-free.

[justfred]

I'm saving up for a Springbar ( http://www.springbar.com/ ), discussed elsewhere on these forums. I really like canvas tents - they keep out the dust and the light and the wind and to some extent the heat and the cold a lot better than a nylon tent, and they last forever. Even better under and easy-up or carport.

And I decided that even though there's a similar Chinese knock-off for less, it's worth buying better quality and non-imported.

[phil]

This is inside our Northface Trail Head 6 at BM2007. Lots of mesh, no way to close off the screened windows. Full fly all around, but it provided no protection at all from dust when you can't close of the mesh screens.

[Elorrum]

Protection from dust is a term, and goal, I have abandoned. It was leading to a state of terminal frustration. I also stopped thinking of my car as a clean space, but did try to limit opening and closing of same. Sleeping at night in the tent, then day napping outside the tent in the shade, removed a whole lot of issues about how hot the tent will get. I've used an REI camp dome 6, staked with rebar, for two years, with no problems. I love being able to stand up to change clothes. (A "stand-up-inside" tent and a bed height cot are two camping luxuries I am fully committed to.) It has a mesh ceiling, but oh well. I tipped my cot on its side before I headed out, put all my bedding in a garbage bag, and kept a "clean surface" foot mat rolled up in a bag. Before I got in bed, I cleaned my feet, then stood on the clean mat, put a mainly clean sheet over the cot, wiped myself off before I got out my bedding and sat on the cot. or some variation of these steps... most importantly clean feet on clean mat before putting feet in bed. I had a dusty clothes bag, and kept everything that had been "out" separate from everything that hadn't been out yet. That's about the only line I could draw that the dust would remotely abide by. I'm now o.k. with the floor of anything being the same as the ground everywhere else. '08 was a whole lot cleaner in the tent than '07. Everyone has a pet discomfort that they work on, and tweaking gear to accomplish that is a great project. Burning man provides a hellacious number of such projects. Enjoy.

[falk]

I've used an "EUREKA - EQUINOX 6" tent in the past

I have an Equinox, and it served me well. Dust still gets in though; possibly sneaking between the teeth of the zippers.

A friend of mine brought a Springbar last year. She says the only dust that got into it was the dust she tracked in.

[CapSmashy]

And I decided that even though there's a similar Chinese knock-off for less, it's worth buying better quality and non-imported.

The "quality" difference between Springbar and Kodiak is negligible.

[CapSmashy]

But as for canvas tent performance on the playa, I think it would be hard to beat by anything made out of nylon. We had minimal dust intrusion beyond what we brought in with us and the tent was solid the entire week no matter the conditions outside.

Our setup was a 10x10 Kodiak set up under a 10x 20 carport. The roof of the carport was tarped silver side up for a little bit of radiant heat barrier action. The side walls were replaced with 80% shade fabric. We basically had all day shade and had to use lights inside day or night.

We were running an evap cooler during the afternoons for nap time and the canvas worked better than expected to hold the cooler air and humidity inside the tent and created a very comfortable shady space. It would take about 30 minutes for it to really start making a difference, but there were one or two afternoons it was almost down right chilly in there.

[wedeliver]

.., but there were one or two afternoons it was almost down right chilly in there.

We met these older hippie people who were camping on the back street one year and they had this tent they had made that had different layers to it and it used processes such as hot air rises to make a cool air flow. I could not undertand how they took 100 degree air and cooled it to 70 if you were inside. It had a high peaked roof but no dust could enter either. (I might have dreamed it)

[latinaburner]

so it looks like the eureka is a no go and springbar is the way to go. I don't think I've heard one negative thing about springbar after spending hours of looking through peoples opinions and advice on tents. I think I'm going to go with the Vagabond 7...I'm going to have about 6 people in it so hopefully that's enough space with a couple of mattresses, our food and costumes, etc.

Now I just have to figure out what kind of shade structure to use considering a carport would be to small to use on a 14 foot wide tent...good thing i'm looking into this now, I've got plenty of time :)

[Elderberry]

Personally, I never liked the idea of putting the tent under the shade structure. It sort of wastes the shade structure. I have always liked the shade structure used as shade when not in the tent during the day, for a gathering area, kitchen, whatever.

JK

[wedeliver]

so it looks like the eureka is a no go and springbar is the way to go. I don't think I've heard one negative thing about springbar after spending hours of looking through peoples opinions and advice on tents. I think I'm going to go with the Vagabond 7...I'm going to have about 6 people in it so hopefully that's enough space with a couple of mattresses, our food and costumes, etc.

Now I just have to figure out what kind of shade structure to use considering a carport would be to small to use on a 14 foot wide tent...good thing i'm looking into this now, I've got plenty of time

In my humble experience it is good to have the tent protected from the wind as much as possible. A well protected tent can be anything you wanna call a tent. Heavy Duty garbage bags, cut all the way open, stretched over a rope make a really nice pup tent.

Personally, I never liked the idea of putting the tent under the shade structure. It sort of wastes the shade structure. I have always liked the shade structure used as shade when not in the tent during the day, for a gathering area, kitchen, whatever.

In my experience I can't stay in a tent past 10:00 if it is exposed to the sun. Gets way too hot. If the tent is under something, nice all day.

It is also good if you can lower the edges of the larger shade structure so that you have to duck to enter, then raise it on the inside. Heat rises and might create a cooling breeze if you figure out how it all works.

I know a camp who ties camo netting to all their vehicles including the uhaul truck they bring every year and under it they will have maybe 6 tents, a large sitting area, large table with cooking area etc...

[peachandpapa]

We have used numerous tents and the best -- by far -- are wall tents. Though pricy, they last forever and are by far the most comfortable. We purchased our tents from Denver Tent Company and Montana Tents.

[Sail Man]

This is inside our Northface Trail Head 6 at BM2007. Lots of mesh, no way to close off the screened windows. Full fly all around, but it provided no protection at all from dust when you can't close of the mesh screens.

We used this same tent last year and attached a large quilt over the mesh area with those large office binder clips. We never used the rainfly but instead set up the tent under a ez-up style shelter. We kept everything in totes inside. And since we did the un-mentionable (We actually slept when it was dark!) it made for pleasant sleeping weather, even down-right chilly at times.

[AntiM]

Hey, I recognize that idea! Works, doesn't it, Sail Man?



Our tent after a major whiteout in 2007. Minimal dust, we'd left a tiny gap at the edge of the quilt cover. Still, the bedding was covered by the quilt and the red top sheet, easy to shake off before we climbed in. The following photos are campmates tents which had mesh vents left uncovered, unzipped(!) or in one case, a large tent which had a gap between the floor and the bottom of the door. That three room tent was the biggest POS Coleman I'd ever seen. Moral of the story... zip your tent even if you're just running to the potty bank. If you don't come back for hours because you wandered off, you'll sleep in a dust pit if the wind comes up while you're gone. Make your bed so dust doesn't get inside it. Close up all bags, containers and boxes and bins. If it is open, it will acquire dust.

[BitterDan]

In 08' I covered everything in my tent with this plastic painters tarps (they cost like $1 each) whenever I left camp or saw a storm coming and I had no real dust problems on my stuff. I just carefully lifted the tarps and shook them off outside. I also brought a dust pan and a little broom to sweep the tent floor (very slowly) and it made my tent a great dust-free place to chill.

I also used the blanket clipped on top of my tent method.

[AntiM]

Our tent is only as big as the bed! Everything else we do under the carports. Sure, that's dusty, but it isn't so bad as the carports are tilted over. We only use half the legs, the stubby legs are made from a scrap trampoline frame.

[Antranik]

I have a springbar tent, on top of it being an awesome tent... what helps keep the inside very very clean is to have a large fake-fur-blanket inside the tent right in front of the entrance door. That way when you walk in and out, or if the door is open and dust blows inside, most of it gets trapped by the carpet. Works very very well.