Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Coleman Cloudview 2 > Kathryn Doiron > Field Report

Coleman Cloudview 2 Tent- Field Report

Product Information:

With some practice, I have found that the set up of the Cloudview 2 is not as difficult as I first found it. The key I have found is to have the floor of the tent staked down securely. After that it is very easy to lock the poles in the back, tie the middle toggle then lift both poles and lock them in the front. When the floor is not staked down as in when I set up on a tenting platform, I simply had to stand on the tent peg tabs to prevent the tent from shifting while lifting the poles. Then I simply snap them in one at a time. There is enough room to comfortably sit up in the tent and to even walk bent over. With my regular sized bag in the tent, there in about 1 ft (30 cm) of either head or foot space depending if I want the bag close to the door or not. I have assumed the feet go at the end opposite the door as that is where the tent narrows some. Cleaning the tent was easy. It was not so dirty that I had to wipe it down, rather I simply assembled the tent then picked up the whole thing by the poles and shook it out. There was some pine resin on the bottom of the tent that did not seem to affect the performance and refused to come of.

I was starting to wonder if the tent would ever see rain as I was lucking out with such nice hiking weather. I finally did get some rain in the evening and at night. As the tent was mostly protected by trees, I cannot comment on how well it would have stood up to the wind and it was quite windy. The skylight was nice as I could lay down and look up at the rain falling onto the tent and watch the trees moving with the wind. As there was a little wind, the tent did leak a little right over the back air vent that I had left open. There was also another small leak where the rain managed to seep in through one of the velcro tabs for the front pole support. See picture below. With the expectation of rain, I pulled all my gear into either the tent or the vestibule, except for my poles. I laid my poles down beside the tent but under the rainfly. They did get a little wet with rain splash, but the grips were not soaked through and they were otherwise in good shape. As such, I will continue storing my poles in that location rather than leaning up against a tree.

The Cloudview 2 has many tie backs, toggles and pole hooks. I have used all of these features at one point or another and I like the elastized tie backs very much. It was well thought out and help with tying back either the nylon door cover or the whole door easily. They are also available to tie up the sunroof. So I wonder why the vestibule has nylon tie backs. They are also just a little too small and make tying up the vestibule flap somewhat difficult. There are two grommets for the pole above the vestibule to snap into as shown in the picture above. The velcro enclosures that hold the pole in place are actually needed to keep the pole from swinging down as I found out the hard way one day. I do find that the other velcro pole tabs are not needed and in order to attach them all to the fly is not easy to do. I don't bother with them. The fly is clipped into place and is also staked down.

As I was slightly tent bound with rain and drizzle, I made full use of the vestibule and door. I found that the vestibule was small mostly due to the steep pitch of the door which cuts into the space allocated. The door of the vestibule was hard to use. The zipper can open from the top or the bottom and I tried both to see which was easier to use. When the vestibule is opened from the bottom, the flap can be flipped to the side and the entry way is quite large. It is somewhat easy to use in this fashion when it is not raining and the ground is not wet. However, the zipper pull is hard to reach across the vestibule and is quite low to the ground. During nice weather, I find myself mostly using the velcro enclosures (of which there are two) until I am ready to zip up for the night. In rainy weather, I found the zipper pull easily got wet and muddy from being so close to the ground. As I had to flip the vestibule flap over to enter or exit the tent, most things in the vestibule were exposed to the rain. In nice weather, entry is quite easy as I could open the vestibule, sit in the tent and kick off my footwear then close up the flap with my heels resting on my footwear for support, then pull my feet into the tent. This method did allow a little rain into the tent right near the edge.

Using the zipper pull from the top, while much easier to reach seemed to present its own set of problems. The zipper pull can go all the way to the bottom but is a struggle to reach and presents a tipping hazard as I am over-extending. The zipper does not come undone at the bottom but remains attached. This is a good thing, except now there is no flap to flip over. As such, trying to get in and out of the resulting slit was interesting. I felt like I was being born into the world the first time I tried to exit the tent. With the fly pegged out taught, the slit is a little tight. Entering was also difficult due to the restriction and also the pitch of the door. Most of my body was outside of the vestibule while my feet where safely hidden inside, I then had to kick off my shoes and step into the tent then try to duck my whole body into the vestibule and enter the tent. I found it very awkward and I did get wet brushing up against the fly.




Further Testing Plans:

In the course of testing this tent, there are a few things that stood out with the first setup. I have concerns that this tent will be a little tight for two people and gear. As I have mostly been using this solo, this has not been a concern but will be tested shortly as I have a few hikes planned with my hiking partner. My bigger concern is how hard the vestibule and tent door will be with another person in the tent. The tent is wider near the door but as mentioned above, the vestibule is rather small space-wise and the zipper is hard to reach. Due to the pitch of the vestibule, entering and leaving can be difficult and I will be looking into how another person helps or hinders that movement to and from the tent. I will also keep an eye on the slow seep of water in through the velcro enclosure to see if it worsens or not.

Field Conditions:

Most of my overnight camping will take place in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I have a few trips planned that will include an extended trip to the top of Mt. Washington, at 6000ft. Expected temperatures can be anywhere from below freezing to 20 C (70 F) depending on season and elevation. Weather on Mount Washington is very unpredictable. Expected weather conditions in the White Mountains in the spring can be from wintery to spring like, rainy or snowy, with driving winds depending on elevation.

Pros:

- Storage pockets that convert to air openings

- Skylight that converts to an attic

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- Pitch of the vestibule limits space

- Vestibule door pull hard to reach and door hard to use

Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Coleman Cloudview 2 > Kathryn Doiron > Field Report