Best Family Camping Tents "Browning Camping Cypress 2 Person Tent (5 x 7 Feet 6 Inch)" 8.9 out of 10. based on 299 ratings
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
A well made travel tent.
By William N. Abbay
When I purchased this tent in October 2011, there were no reviews yet. I figured some initial impressions might help other Amazonians evaluate it for their needs. At this point, all I've done is unpack, set up, and look it over. But I've had a couple of similar tents before and have put up and taken these things down dozens of times. From that perspective, this one looks like a keeper.
I need a decent tent for camping off a motorcycle, so, because weight isn't of prime importance but travel size is, I can tolerate a more heavily constructed tent so long as it's well made. This style tent, while maybe not appropriate for monsoons, should give reasonable protection from an unexpected drizzle or rain. Since this tent is made by Alps, appears to be of similar design to the Alps Meramac, and has all the design features I wanted, I decided to give it a try.
For me, a major feature is that it's totally "clip hung". Having to thread your poles through fabric
tubes sewn onto the roof of a dome tent, then lift the tent without overstressing a pole is a pain. With the Browning Cypress, as with a few similar designs, you loop each pole from corner pin to diagonal opposing corner pin, pick both up, fasten the roof at the apex, then clip the rest of the tent to the poles. Couldn't be easier, quicker, or more intuitive. When taking the tent down, you don't have to fight with bunching up fabric when pulling the poles out. You just unclip and it's down.
The poles feel slightly larger than normal and have aluminum ferrules. They fit together very quickly, almost assembling themselves.
The two doors have the "windows", the only windows. The upper fabric half zips open from the inside leaving a mesh bug screen. When both windows are zipped open, you have cross ventilation but, because the lower half of the door is opaque, a bit more privacy, also. On the other hand, in hot weather where a lot of ventilation is needed
and privacy isn't of concern, one of the mostly mesh designs may be better. The lower door panel laps over the tent opening so water drains out over the side instead of inside.
Whether you expect rain or just want a bit more of a barrier against the cold, the fly goes on easily. You insert the ridge pole into pockets sewn into the edge of the fly, flip the whole thing over the top, and with adjustable "trident" type snap buckles secure each corner to the tent corner rings. Unlike designs with vestibule type flys, the entire tent erects within its own footprint. For windy conditions, additional guy-outs are provided, but it's hard to see how this would be necessary if the corners are staked. I suppose if the wind is high enough...
There is a generous 2" or more space between the fly and tent roof/wall. Because the fly is well tensioned, it doesn't sag onto the tent and should provide decent ventilation over the top.
On the ends (the 5'
dimension), the fly fully overlaps the bathtub bottom. If the tent is oriented sideways to the rain, this should shed water nicely.
Many two or three man tents are only 7' long. The Cypress is 7'-6". While I'm not especially "long", my sleeping bag is. That extra 6" keeps the bag away from the tent fabric, which means it should stay drier if it rains.
The floor and fly seams are well sealed at the factory.
I couldn't find the instructions (they were sewn into the packing bag) but it still only took 7 minutes to set up the tent the first time.
Besides the packing bag, there are separate bags for stakes and poles. The stakes are the typical "shepherd's crook" shape and I wouldn't expect them to last long driven into rocky soil. I always replace these with standard steel stakes that will survive a pounding down with a rock. There are two small gear baggies permanently attached to the inside walls and a removable mesh gear shelf
overhead.
Overall construction appears to be good.
A note about weatherability, perhaps in anticipation of unhappy campers getting their stuff wet: The fly of your tent should be sealed periodically so that it sheds water like oiled canvas or those ubiquitous blue tarps from Harbor Freight. The fly is the roof of your tent and, usually, it and the floor are the only parts that are remotely waterproof. If the walls of your tent get wet, water will wick through into anything that touches them. This isn't a design defect, it's the price we pay for lightweight and affordable camping shelters. If you keep this in mind while setting up your home away from home, you will survive that gullywasher that sends your camp neighbors packing in the middle of the night.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Great Tent!
By James Rasmussen
Meant for 2 people but probably could fit three average sized adults in there! Really happy and will have this tent for awhile.