At some point in most folks’ lives, they will inevitably get fed up with purchasing cheap, mediocre ‘stuff’. I recently hit that wall and have been pushing to buy higher quality products. Whether it be for my home, my attire, tools, or in this case camping gear, I want the product to last. For years, I’ve bought “name brand” tents from big box stores with exceedingly disappointing results. After being nearly suffocated, and simultaneously drowned, in a collapsed name brand box store tent during a hellacious thunderstorm, we took the time to really ponder our needs.
Being a family of four with two young daughters, we had a few things to consider when shopping for a touring tent. We quickly assembled a list of bullet points of our needs and wants. Not only did we need a tent to fit our family, but we wanted extra room to bring in our gear and even stand up to change our clothes. Beyond that, we required a tent made of robust, weather-tight materials and of quality construction. Furthermore, because of our style of travel, we wanted a tent that was time efficient to set up, take down, and be mostly weather resistant when doing so. I quickly learned that my criteria narrowed my selection to a few quality tents, with certain drawbacks and limitations.
My research led me to choose the Jet Tent F30 model, which is made by OzTent. As the name suggests, OzTent is an Australian company which is world renown for their fast erecting, high quality tent designs. The Jet Tent is of a more conventional design when compared to its more popular brother, the OzTent, but is made of the same heavy duty and weather tight poly-cotton canvas, alloy frame, and heavy PVC tube floor. The Jet Tent F30 we purchased is labeled as a six man tent with dimensions of ten feet by ten feet, and an impressive seven foot center height. This goliath has fit our family of four plus a friend (and all of our gear) with a bit of room to spare. But, due to its size, heavy duty materials, and quick set-up features, the tent is heavy. It weighs in at nearly 65 lbs and measures five feet long and one foot square. The packed bag is quite bulky and we often laugh, feeling as if we’re hoisting a body bag onto the roof of the truck!
There are several notable features that we appreciate. First and foremost is the quick setup time. With some practice we can have a weatherproof shelter within about three minutes. Not as boastful as the OzTent’s 30 second deployment, but with the help of your travel companion (and the motivation of a cool Rocky Mountain rainstorm) setup time can be squeezed down to under 2 minutes. Another great feature that we enjoy is the built in awning. The awning is large enough to allow us to back our vehicle up to the tent, attaching its end to the roof rack, instantly giving us extra shelter from the rain to cook dinner. While we have not made the investment yet, Jet Tent offers additional attachments which enclose the area under the awning plus an additional awning, providing far more usable space out of the weather.
One thing that I admire about this tent is the attention to detail in its design. Two side windows are sheltered by a zippered gusset which allows adequate airflow, but still provides total protection from the elements; while still given the ability to roll the windows up during non-inclement weather. There are several guy lines which stabilize the tent during higher winds, each one has its own storage pocket built into the tent, reducing and hiding the number of stray strings around the tent. The guy ropes also feature a quick cinch attachment, making guying out and tensioning the tent, well, a cinch. The Jet Tent also features handy inside pockets to keep things off the floor; we generally store our glasses, cell phones and flashlights here.
For our readers, please note that the tent is large and heavy in its packaged, transportable form. I highly recommend this tent for families who use a pick up truck or trailer to haul their camping gear; especially those who set up base camp. I load this onto the seven and a half foot high roof of my SUV; needless to say, it’s a work out. In fact this is my only real complaint about the tent. The tent was purchased through the 'United States’ OzTent distributor, FamilyTentCamping.com, and I have received very noteworthy, borderline phenomenal, customer service repairing two minor issues that arose (failed stitching and a broken buckle). Our new Jet Tent has served us well and we’ve now taken refuge in it for over forty nights of camping this year. I humbly say these things as the end consumer who researched and purchased this tent for his family. The retail price is over $1000, which made its purchase a difficult decision, but considering I’ve bought and thrown away nearly $500 worth of tents in recent years, I feel there is value in this product not found in lesser tents. There are few options on the market that compare.
For additional Jet Tent models and sizes visit our Jet Tent selection and watch the Jet Tent setup video
Review by Scott Brown Lifestyles in Light Photography
