Backpacking Background:

Field Conditions

Daily temperatures for the field tests ranged between 55 - 95 F (13 - 35 C).  The test series began in the winter, although long term testing occurred throughout the summer months.  It's been a very dry summer for this part of the world, although we did have rain on occasion.

My Thoughts on the Parkview

I have many good things to say about the Parkview.  First, it's very durable.  I have spent upwards of thirty-five nights in the Parkview during the Long Term phase of testing.  Half of that time was spent in the woods near my home, or close by.  These camping trips were with my smaller children.  I'm not saying they're purposely destructive, but anyone who has spent time around kids can attest to the fact that things get broken.  The Parkview received its fair share of abuse.  I can honestly say that I'm very impressed with how well it handled this part of the test.  The inner screen house, fast fly and pole/hub system all held up beautifully.  I've closely gone over each piece of the Parkview, and have found no major failures.  The screen house is in good shape (It got quite a workout this summer).  The screening is still intact.  There are no pulls or stress point failures.  The zippers work great.  The Fast Fly is in fine working order too.  There are no strains on any of the seams, the zippers on the vestibules are working great, and the tie outs are all intact.  The pole/hub system is in great shape too.  I was concerned that the shockcord would fail rapidly, but this has not been the case.  The footprint has been used every time the tent has been up throughout the test.  Sometimes it provided a floor in the Fast Fly mode, but mostly it was used as a ground cloth under the screen house.  Outside of a couple of scratches, there are no puncture holes anywhere in the footprint.  It is a very rugged piece of material.  There were several times I was forced to setup on very rocky conditions, particularly in the Allegheny National Forest.  These times really put the footprint to the test!  I cannot find any sign that it was compromised.

The Parkview was a great tent for car camping.  It's very roomy.  Many times I fit myself, my nine-year-old and my eleven-year-old in it.  The Parkview offers plenty of headroom.  Changing clothes is easy in the Parkview, plus there's more than enough room to string a clothesline across the ceiling.   The large mesh pockets in the corners worked great with the kids.  They really helped everyone stay organized inside the tent.

Personally, I feel the Parkview is overkill for the summer months.  It's just too much tent for me.  Many of the places I hike in the warm weather are bug infested.  First come the black flies, and if you make it past them, the mosquitoes are waiting to finish you off.  I really loved the screen house for this time of year.  That's why I included a picture of it above.  I spent many great nights inside the screen house, safe from the bugs, really enjoying the night.   Air circulation was awesome in the screen house too.  The rain fly (aka Fast Fly) was really too much protection for me in the summer months.  If it looked like rain, I preferred setting up the screen house under a tarp.  There were several advantages to this.  First, great air circulation was maintained.  Under the Fast Fly, air circulation was really reduced.  If the vestibule doors were closed, it was all but eliminated.  During the hot summer months, this was simply not acceptable to me.  Secondly, by setting up the tarp first, then the screen house, the inside of the screen house stayed dry.  If I used the screen house with the Fast Fly, I had to set up the screen house first, then the Fast Fly over it.  One night while out with the Boy Scouts, I had to dry the inside of the screen house with my bandana after getting caught in a summer thunderstorm.  The tarp setup resolved this issue nicely.

That's not to say I had no use for the Fast Fly.  During the spring months, and now in the fall, it is the ideal way for me to utilize the Parkview.  Now, the inner screen house serves very little purpose.  The Fast Fly is strong, warm and offers great wind resistance.  The footprint is plenty big enough for two adults. 

It's in this versatility that I found the Parkview really shined.  I was able to configure the tent to the conditions, and even marry it to other equipment outside of its immediate design to find a system that met my needs.  As I mentioned in my Field Report, I extended the size of the footprint by adding Tyvek to cover the areas defined by the vestibules in the Fast Fly mode, and in essence transformed the Parkview into a three-person tent.  The beauty of the Parkview is how easily it lends itself to these alterations.  It is exceptionally flexible in my opinion.

Accessories that need reporting include the tent stakes.  They are light and strong.  I never bent any of them, which is quite a compliment coming from me!  I've never needed any more than six of them to secure the tent with the screen house and Fast Fly attached.  The others I simply left at home with the other parts of the Parkview assembly I didn't need.  They may prove handy as winter approaches. 

Also, I never liked the stuff sack for the whole system.  It began to tear almost immediately in the test series.  Eventually, it worsened and I repaired it.  I still think it's too big, even when all pieces are in it, including the footprint and its own stuff sack.  I would like to see it shortened up a bit so the whole package takes on a more rigid shape.  That's about my only criticism of the Parkview, and I really had to dig for that!

What I love about the Parkview:

My nits with the Parkview:

The Parkview 2 is a great tent.  It's strong enough to extend into winter conditions, and adaptable enough to apply to spring, summer and fall.  With each season, the tent takes on a new personality, allowing the Parkview to be ideally suited to the conditions.  There really was no time throughout the test that I needed the complete configuration for sleeping. 

I really want to say Thank You to Backpackgeartest and Big Agnes for a delightful test!

Tim