After watching my poor tent be destroyed at the first Kars Park Boondoggle due to high winds (I needed 9 guy wires on the upwind side before it was over) I decided to start shopping for a beefier tent. I procrastinated a while and kept limping along till some serious rain made more puddles on the inside of my tent than the outside. I started my search with a few criteria; a rain fly that went all the way to the ground, low profile for windy days and an exoskeleton design to make it easier to put up. I knew this would put me a bit higher in price than my older tent but I am too dang old to let cheap stuff ruin my trips.
I settled on the Eureka Timberline SQ4XT, a 3 season tent that reminds me of a larger model of the Boy Scout tent I used to have. In fact, a lot of the reviews I read came from different troops of scouts so I had high hopes for it. It is supposed to be a 4 person tent but I bet those 4 people do not exceed 250 pounds like I do. I would call it a solid 2 man with a small amount of room for gear. I had no issue putting it up solo but had to follow the instruction sheet the first time. The exoskeleton is aluminum and pretty easy to assemble. The rain fly reaches all the way to the ground and it is a good thing because the first 3 day trip in it had rain for 3 days straight. Even in that much rain everything stayed dry on the inside and in the gusty winds it held fast. Granted, it wasn’t a wind like the Kars park trip though! If I had a gripe, other than the price, it would be with the outer door. There is virtually no way to get in or out without knocking water off the door right down the back of your neck. I tried multiple ways and nothing worked so in the end I just sucked it up and got wet. The little wire stakes that come with every tent are like a screen door on a submarine, absolutely useless. They seem to be the norm though so I don’t hold that against Eureka. I am hoping with care this tent will be with me for quite some time. I have been pleased with it so far and will be loading it up soon for another adventure.