I don't mean to totally pan this product, but I'm having an issue with two (now three) poles breaking. Customer service is sending me a new set of poles. It's not the end of the world, but it is aggravating. I'm not abusing this tent in any way. They have rebates on these tents, and the pole issue is probably why. The thing to do is set it up for a few days and make sure you've gotten one of the ones with the bummer poles, then call Johnson Outdoor and get the set replaced. Don't email; call.

Update:  They sent the wrong poles. Their excuse was that they thought I meant I had an older model, not a 2006-7 model. I think they are out of the poles because they are all breaking and they are out of them, and they sent the wrong ones to buy time. The new poles won't be in stock until at least the first week of November 2007.

The Eureka Tetragon 5 Tent is advertised as a 5' x 7', 2-person tent for car camping and backpacking.

This is the first backpacking tent I've owned since the canvas pup tent I camped in as a boy, a tent that saw many sleep-outs in the backyard, overnights on wildlife management land, and two trips to the Allagash Wilderness.

I must admit I have enjoyed the fresh air blowing straight through the Eureka. The many wonderful smells of earth during a summer rain and the sound of rain on the tent are an experience not to be missed.

I've slept out in my backyard for the past five nights (three rainy days and two rainy nights) with my new Tetragon 5, and think I can tell you a little bit about this tent.

This tent is really a little screen house with a rainfly over it. One thing I think I'd have liked, would be a way to secure the rainfly close to the ends of the tent, or down to the ground, as the fly stands off from the frame by 3-4 inches and comes just to the top of the bathtub floor. This is great for ventilation, but it is conceivable that a skunk could come exploring up under the fly. Indeed, on my second night in it, Pepe LePew came visiting at 4:30 am. I have no idea how close he got, but he was strong enough to have been in the tent with me. I could imagine a camper waking up and startling one of these little guys. You may like the ventilation feature if you like to eat camp beans.

Practicing sleeping in it in the backyard for a few nights to get used to it has been a pretty good idea. For some strange reason, I keep getting water puddles under the air mattress, and I'm using a ground cloth. I stayed dry anyway being up off the floor on the air mattress. You should use a ground cloth. I got a blue tarp that fits about exactly for $1.77 at a dollar store.

The 5' x 7' size is the footprint of the tent. I am 5'10". Because I sleep up off the ground on an air mattress, and the walls slope in, my bald head just touches the mesh screen at one end, and my feet touch the mesh at the other end. This could mean mosquito bites through the mesh. (Note: Last night my hand was up against the mesh in my sleep and I got chewed by mosquitos.) I could appreciate a tent about a foot longer.

Another downside is one of the sections of the long tent poles split exactly down the middle, length-wise, on the second day. The roof didn’t cave in. The section that split is the middle of the middle section (there are seven sections of collapsible pole that plug together), where the bend is the greatest, right at the peak of the roof. This seems to be a common problem, and a short Google search will enable you to find other owners who have had this problem with Eureka tents. I used slow-set epoxy to fix mine, but you should fix this problem before it starts by reinforcing the poles. Wrap a layer of duct tape around the middle of the center section to prevent splitting. (Note: Don't bother. The ends of the sections will either split or snap clean anyway. Wherever the stress is concentrated, the poles will split. They'll split wherever they're not reinforced. They will also snap clean at the ferules, so if it splits in the middle, the ends will still snap off where they plug into the ferules.) The Eureka company will doubtless get this problem solved before too long, but a split pole during a hard summer rain in your brand-new tent could be pretty disappointing. I was expecting tent poles that could bend right around like a fishing pole. These poles are not anywhere near as robust as a fiberglass fishing pole. Okay, so my canvas pup tent wasn’t perfect either. I had to make modifications to it. The door let bugs in and got your clothes wet in a downpour if you piled them there to seal the door. But at the time, for 15 bucks, it did the job.

Something I found handy in the Tetragon 5 are the hang tabs inside. There’s one in the center of the peak where you can hang a flashlight (this feature is missing from our big department store tent), and there’s a few more strategically located. There are three mesh pockets, two small and one large. The large one is permanently fixed in front of the window, although you can roll it up. I bang into it a lot moving around in the tent, but it's probably impossible to find a place for it where it's not in the way anyway. I might have liked being able to move this one around like the small pockets in order to keep the window clear. Other tents in this class have two doors. This would be good to have in the case of a broken zipper; just duct tape the broken door closed and use the other door. Do not stake the corners taught. Leave some play in the walls so the zippers will slide easily.

So, is this tent any good? Yeah, it's not bad. This is about the least expensive tent you can find anywhere. For short money, about the price of a new jacket, you get a serviceable shelter that will generally keep the bugs off you, keep you dry, and give you plenty of fresh air. It’s green, and not blue or red like a department store tent. It is high-tech by the standards of tents available when I was a kid. If you can afford it, you might want to spend a little more money and get a longer tent if anybody makes one, if you like to sleep stretched out on your back like I do. I wouldn’t call it a two-person tent unless they were a small-framed couple who needed to save weight on a long trek by packing only one tent. For one person on a rainy night, it’s heaven. It’ll do the trick and doesn’t cost a fortune. If you get the poles replaced right away and it’s treated with care, it should last for years. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, one night I heard the shriek of a fisher cat, something I wouldn't have heard if I had been in the house.

The vestibule is open, and not closeable like on a 3 1/2 season tent. This might require you to bring your pack inside on a rainy night. I would think having the pack in the tent would be a good way to poke a hole in the mattress. Some writers complain about the small size of their tents. You can go with a larger tent, but remember, you will have to carry it on your back. The Tetragaon 5 weighs less than 6 lbs.

One could pick up a used backpack, make an alcohol stove (read my guide on cooking stoves to learn how), get a sleeping bag and sleeping pad, pick up a camp cooking set, buy some dehydrated food and a few other odds and ends, and be good to go backpacking for a few days for less than $200, maybe even less than that if you are a good scrounger. Cheap vacation!

Addendum: I've now had the tent for three weeks, and have slept in the house a total of two nights. If you need to pull the fly close to the tent, use clothes pins. This tent is turning out to be more comfortable than I at first expected. We're having a heat wave, and sleeping out doors is a great way to get a good night's sleep.

Addendum #2: One of the short poles that supports the awning over the window snapped clean at one of the connectors from out of the blue. Also I am going to clothes-pin strips of nylon cloth to the mesh at my feet and head to prevent the mosquitoes from biting me right through the mesh. A drop of epoxy at the corners would hold the cloth on, but modifying the tent will void the warranty, but I'm going to have to do it anyway. Not interested in getting West Nile Virus.

After gaining some experience with the location of the roll-up mesh gear storage thingie that covers the window, I'm beginning to think I may remove it completely. 

Once I get the pole issue settled, I think I'll be good to go.

note: it's the first week of December 2007 now, and I still haven't received my poles. Every single pole has broken multiple times. It's a good thing I have a home shop, because I have the tools to fix them, but it is really aggravating.