Sunday, May 20, 2007

REI Basecamp 6 Tent

A couple weeks ago while REI was running a sale, I bought one of their Basecamp 6 tents for family camping and bug out use. It's a six person dome with aluminum, shock corded poles, and a separate rain fly. (My family is four people but I wanted a bit more space than a 4 person tent.) It's self-supporting but has loops to stake it down if it's windy. The floor is 10'5" x 8'4". This afternoon I finally had a confluence of good weather and free time, so I got to set it up in the backyard.

Here's how it looks without the rain fly:


And here it is with the fly:


Closeup of the vestibule, which'll be handy for gear storage:


In the last two pictures, you can see one of the two vents in the fly. These are held open with Velcro-encased plastic rods, that you access through zippers in the roof of the tent. Unless rain blows into them they should be weather-resistant. They can be closed if you really need to batten down the hatches.

I have several more pictures of the tent here.

Inside, there are several loops and mesh pouches sewn to the tent wall, along with a mesh gear loft up top, for stowing small items. If you don't use the loft there's a sturdy loop sewn to the center of the roof, from which you can hang a lantern. I am very pleased with both the workmanship and design of the tent, and I'm really looking forward to taking it out into the woods this summer.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can I ask how this REI Base Camp Tent worked out for you? Am considering buying it. Thanks, Marg

Dave Markowitz said...

Unfortunately, my schedule has prevented me from going on a camping trip since I bought the tent.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great info and photos of the rei tent!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the pix. I printed and took them on my trip to Big Bear. My girlfriend and I arrived on a Thursday when no one could see that we were Newbie campers. The pix helped us set-up our tent in seven minutes. We are planning to go out again before the end of September as a last opportunity to camp. We'll take the pix with us again; our goal is to set-up in less time to enjoy the wilderness. Lou

jps said...

I bought REI's new basecamp 6, which has awesome ventilation. However most of the camping I do is in snowy weather. So I'm looking for last years model to buy from someone. Would you be interested in selling yours, or swapping with my newer model??

Thanks - jps

Dave Markowitz said...

The older model like mine is a three season tent. If you look at the picture without the rainfly, you'll see that it has a large mesh panel for ventilation.

jps said...

I do see the venting, but the newer one has a ton more, including venting toward the bottom of the tent. It would be awesome for the summer, as I'm sure the tent would stay nice and cozy all day, might even have a nice draft, but in the winter that would work against me.

Check out REI's newer model on their site and let me know if you'd like to swap, or if you know of someone who would like to.

Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

I have a 2007 model. Living and camping in Texas, the extra ventilation would be a good thing. Not sure how to make the swap if you are interested.

jja