Reviews You Can Rely On

Eureka Tetragon 8 Review

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eureka tetragon 8 camping tent review
Family Tents
Credit: Eureka!
Price:  $260 List
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Manufacturer:   Eureka!
By Devin Chance ⋅   ⋅  Mar 23, 2015
57
OVERALL
SCORE
  • Comfort - 40% 5.0
  • Weather Resistance - 30% 5.0
  • ease of set-up - 15% 9.0
  • Workmanship - 10% 4.0
  • Packed Size - 5% 9.0

Our Verdict

Tetragon 8 Discontinued as of March 2016
REASONS TO BUY
Easy setup
Removable divider
Big plastic stakes
Free standing
Gear loft
REASONS TO AVOID
Floating rain fly poles
Not a lot of standing room due to dome shape
The Eureka Tetragon 8 is a great value. It almost won the Best Buy award, but it wasn't as comfortable as the Coleman Instant Tent 6 because its dome shape makes it hard to move around in. The rain fly was also a little bit loose, which we didn't like, but it will keep you dry as long as the wind isn't too strong. Overall we recommend this tent to someone who is on a budget but needs room for their whole family and wants to be comfortable in a bigger tent.

Our Analysis and Test Results

Comfort


This was the lowest scoring tent in comfort that we tested. That is mainly due to its dome shape design. We like being able to move around a tent comfortably, and that includes being able to stand up in as many places as possible. We also didn't like that the walls were slanted inwards, taking away from the comfort level.

We really liked that you could basically split the tent in two, creating two separate rooms, each with its own door.

Storm Resistance


This tent does better than most in the wind and rain, but we rated it lower in this category because we believe the rain fly to be too unstable in the wind unless the rain fly is totally staked out and taut. So if you are expecting a storm, stake out the tent completely. The other tents we tested are weatherproof enough so that they don't require you to make their rain flys taut, which takes a little more work.

This tent also doesn't have a vestibule that comes to the ground, just a little roof over the doorway. We didn't like this, but it will still keep you dry in a little rain.

Workmanship


This tent is pretty durable for its price but lacks some of the quality that the more expensive tents offer. We did like its internal divider and loved how easy the tent was to set up. It also had big plastic yellow stakes that are nice because, unlike most of the stakes with other tents we tested, these can't bend. Another thing to note is that there are plenty of pockets for all your stuff.

Ease of Setup


This is the second easiest tent to set up that we tested. The fastest and easiest tent was the Coleman Instant Tent 6 that, like its name suggests, goes up in one minute. The Tetragon 8 took us 12 minutes to set up. Attaching the rain fly took the longest amount of time because we wanted to make sure it was as sturdy as possible because there are two floating poles that go into it.

It took us 13 minutes to carefully roll this tent up and slide it into the bag, which is just big enough to hold it.

Packing Size


We like how small this tent got when it was in its bag, although it's a pain to put it away. The small bag is nice when packing a car and you want to make sure you have enough room for your other camping gear.

Devin Chance