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Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Eureka Zeus 2EXO > Brian Tannehill > Initial ReportInitial Report Eureka! Zeus 2ExoPersonal Information:
I am fairly new to backpacking, but I have hunted/fished/camped all my life in East Texas, Colorado, and California. The majority of the hunting has been done from a well established basecamp, venturing out from there for the day. Because of the young kids I have (2, 8, 10), I mostly do weekend overnight camping trips, or day hikes Geocaching anywhere along the central coast of California. I am also an avid mountain biker. My two oldest kids are boys and are getting to the point where they can come out more hiking and camping with me. I am looking forward to this in the future. For now I live in the Central Coast area of California (Lompoc, Santa Maria area), and am surrounded by many different areas from beaches to mountain regions ranging up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m), with the temperatures averaging about 60 F (16 C) degrees year round.
Manufacturer: Eureka! The locations of my test will be varied from the beaches located in Central California, (Lompoc, Santa Maria area) to the National Forest just east of here ranging up to 5000 feet (1500 m). We are getting into summer now, so temperatures will be around 70 F (21 C) by the beaches to 80 - 90 F (26 C - 32 C) inland. My initial thoughts and description: The product arrived on 19 May 2004 via UPS. My first impression when I saw the box was holy cow this thing is little. The roof, walls, and vestibule of the tent are made of 40D ripstop material that is green in color, and very opaque. There are two doors on this tent. One is just a straight zip from the middle of the vestibule down to the bottom right of the tent. The other is an upside down U which separates the tent from the vestibule. The vestibule is staked out in front of the tent, and has a small mesh opening in the front for air flow. The inner door is divided in half. The top half is all mesh, while the bottom half has a small window that can be opened or closed to help control airflow. The inner door also has two zippers, one that goes across the bottom, and one that makes the upside down U across the top. Both doors can also be tied open. The floor is made of 70D nylon taffeta. Officially there are four mesh vents on this tent. Unofficially I would say there are six. One is in the front in the vestibule, one is on the bottom of the door, one is the main door window, two are on either side of the tent towards the bottom, and one is on the roof. The two vents on either side appear to be adjustable depending on how they are staked out. This set up with one vent in front on the bottom and one at the roof provides a hi/low venting system. For these vents to work right, the tent needs to be pitched into the wind. All seams are also double stitched, lap-felled, and factory seam sealed. The craftsman ship of this tent is very good. Some information from the box/web site about the tent:
Single Wall constructed Also from the box it talks about this StormShield protection. "The StormShield system delivers the three most important benefits in a quality tent...Dry: Waterproof and keeps you comfortable by keeping condensation to a minimum; Tough: Stands up to the weather and frequent use; Fast: sets up quickly and easily." The last two qualities they talk about, toughness and being fast, I have no doubt about. This thing went together in about 5 minutes, and I have no doubt it will withstand most everything. The one thing I did want to comment on though was the dry quality. When I slept in the tent for the first time, there was a lot of condensation on the inside of the tent. So much that if me or my sleeping bag touched any wall of the tent, I got wet, and the condensation rolled down the tent. When my 10 year old and I slept in the tent, weather was clear, low's were calling for low 50's F (10 C) to high 40's F (4 C). I think it was around 53 F (12 C). 71 % humidity, winds at 9 mph (14 km/h). I set it up correctly, and the vents open. This will be one thing I will watch very closely in the future. Just how much condensation will build up when I sleep in it?
I was really impressed by the amount of room that is inside this tent. At one point I had myself, my beagle, my 10 year old who is about 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, my 8 year old who is about 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, and my 3 year old who is 3 feet (0.9 m) inside the tent goofing off, and we really had no issues with space. Two were sitting down and myself and the 10 year old were laying on our sides on either side of the tent. However, there would not be enough room for everyone to sleep inside the tent, but I do feel two adults could be comfortable with the amount of space.
A few other comments/initial thoughts I had. One was the zipper. Whoever sleeps on the left side of the tent, where the zipper closes will have "zipper duty". What does this mean? Every time the other one wants or needs to get out, the zipper guard will have to unzip the tent for that person. At least this is how it appeared the first time me and my son slept in it. This could be somewhat annoying, especially for bathroom breaks in the middle of the night. I think the zipper should work from both sides. The zippers also liked to get stuck in the tent material overlapping the zippers which became really annoying. Setup was a breeze. This tent is a freestanding tent, with no fly so it pitches inner first. There are two sets of poles which are made of 7000 series aluminum and man are they light. Basically you lay out the tent, assemble the poles, lay the poles in an x across the top of the tent. Attach the poles to the corners in the grommets, and then attach the middle carabiner to the point where the poles cross in the middle of the tent. All the carabiners are attached to the tent, which was VERY smart to keep from losing them. After you have the first carabiner attached, you just go around each pole and attach the rest and stake out the vestibule. I think the whole process took no longer than 5 minutes to complete. Conversely teardown is a cinch. Unclip all the carabiners, unhook the poles, pack tent. Some of my questions and concerns:
Can the two side vents be adjusted by staking them in or out? If it is really hot, would the side vents work better if they were rolled up?
I plan to test this tent over the next 6 months at various altitudes and locations. Temperature differences will not be too extreme. I will test it solo, and with another person, usually my kid, but on occasion an adult. The main thing I am concerned about now is the condensation. Will it become worse? Will there be more with another adult in the tent? What configuration works best? How will it stand up to the winds here? It is usually very windy, especially at the beach. The winds are anywhere from 10-15 mph (16-24 kph) and up constantly. With it also becoming summer time, how will the tent stand up to hot weather? Will it vent adequately enough during the day into the evening or will it be too hot? The locations for the test will be varied from the beaches to the mountains about an hour east of here.
Brian
Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Eureka Zeus 2EXO > Brian Tannehill > Initial Report | |||||||||