Name: Tyler Nagel
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Height: 183 cm (6' 0")
Weight: 76 kg (168 lbs)
Email address: twsnagel [at] shaw [dot] ca
City: Calgary
Province: Alberta
Country: Canada

Backpacking background: I'm an avid hiker with many years of experience in the Canadian Rockies. I am experienced on many light, moderate, and difficult hikes as well as some scrambling. I am just getting into backpacking and am in the process of upgrading and selecting equipment. I tend towards a heavier load since I enjoy a tent over my head and cherish my creature comforts, but I'm searching for ways to lighten my pack.

Product Information (from website)
http://www.golite.com
Manufacturer: GoLite
Model: Eisenhower Tunnel Shelter
Area: Area: 31 sq ft + 11 sq ft / (2.88 sq m + 1.02 sq m)
Height: 42 in / 107 cm
Weight: 3 lb 1 oz main (1.39 kg) + 9 oz poles (.25 kg) + 6 oz stakes (.17 kg)
Colors: Stone/Lignite or Lignite/Night
MSRP: $300 USD

Warranty from manufacturer website: GoLite stands behind its products. We will replace any gear with a manufacturing defect for the lifetime of the product, free of charge. If one of our products fails to perform as advertised, return it to us for a repair, replacement or refund. Damage due to wear and tear will be repaired at a reasonable charge to the user.

Description: The versatility of the Eisenhower Tunnel is virtually unmatched in lightweight 3-season, 2 person shelters! Designed with optimal ventilation in mind, the Ike utilizes catenary-cut retractable side awnings which can be staked out, rolled up or zippered down based on the weather. Full length no-see-um mesh intakes allow for increased airflow while keeping the bugs out. The roomy vestibule has a reverse J two-way zipper with a draft flap, plus twin exhaust vents to help keep condensation levels down. Our ultra-lite, waterpoof, super strong SilLiteHG™ fabric is used in the main body of the shelter, with a polyurethane-coated nylon bathtub-style floor. Comes with two Easton® pre-bent 7078HS poles, 9 Y-stakes, a SilLiteHG™ stake sack as well as a SilLiteHG™ stow sack.

Product Information (as tested)
Length: 83.5 in (2.12 m)
Width across main door: 61.5 in (1.56 m)
Width across rear wall: 42.0 in (1.08 m)
Height at door: 42 in (1.07 m)
Height at rear: 19.5 in (0.50 m)
Weight-tent: 3 lb 1 oz (1.39 kg)
Weight-poles: 9 oz poles (.25 kg)
Weight-stakes: 6 oz stakes (.17 kg)
Total Weight: 4 lb (1.81 kg)
Color: Stone/Lignite

Packaging information:
After anticipating the arrival of the tent for several days I finally received the tent. UPS handed me large cardboard box that was almost spookily light.

Concerned that there might be something missing from the shipment, I sliced open the box at a stoplight on the way home, and found a mostly empty carton containing a medium-sized tent bag. After groping the bag to confirm that the poles were there, the light turned green and I drove home.

Included in the box were a packing slip and the tent bag. The SilLite tent bag held the instruction sheet, a SilLite pole sack, and a SilLite peg sack.

First Impressions:
This section can be summed up in one word: Light!

Every component of this tent is impressively light. I spent much of the unpacking time picking up each component and marveling at how light it was.

Bucking all male stereotypes, I started with the instruction sheet, printed on a Tyvek-like material. The sheet contained information on site selection and care (even advising tenters to replace pinecones before leaving the tenting site), tent erection, and tent care.

Of particular interest to me was the section on seam sealing. Quoting from the GoLite website, “Hydrophilic thread at seams expands when wet, sealing the seams (which are flat-fell seams, meaning four layers folded together) eliminating the need for a liquid sealant.” However, the instruction sheet said that seem sealing might be needed if the tent is exposed to constant rain. Since my main trip with this tent will be in a deluge-prone area, I’m quite concerned by this. I will be subjecting the tent to the sprinkler-test to see how it fairs under heavy rainfall and will report on the results. I’ll make my decision on seam sealing after this.

After finishing the instruction sheet, I decided to erect the tent. Since it was raining outside, I decided to set it up in my living room.

I unrolled the tent, and had a surprise – where was the fly? There was only one piece to the tent! I had assumed that all modern tents had flies, but I was wrong. This tent only has one layer and no fly.

The seams were stitched beautifully; I could not find a loose thread on the entire tent. The zippers appear robust and operated smoothly.

The next task was pole assembly. I took the poles out of their SilLite pole sack, amazed once more by their light weight, and began snapping them together.

There are two Easton-branded poles included: one short one for the foot of the tent, and one long one for the head end. The head pole is bent less severely than the foot pole. The poles are shock-corded for easy assembly.

And now comes my biggest complaint: it was a very difficult endeavor to find the sleeves for the poles. The sleeves are not made of a contrasting fabric, and finding the end of the sleeves took nearly 6 minutes of searching. Now that I know where they are, I’m sure that it will go more quickly, but I was very unimpressed by the lack of user-friendliness in the design of the pole sleeves. It would have been simple to make the sleeves a contrasting color, or to put some reflective tape on the ports at the end.

The poles didn’t slide through the sleeves very easily, either. On the setup, it was only moderately inconvenient, but on the teardown, it took several minutes of fiddling to get the poles out of the sleeves. The instruction sheet suggests lubricating the poles with McNett Silicon Spray, and I plan to do this soon.

Once the poles were in place, all that remained was to raise up the shelter. A pegged-out line from the foot end tensions the canopy of the tent, and the staked out vestibule at the head end provides the anchors for the tension.

Total pitch time in the living room was 12 minutes.

I was surprised at the roominess of both the vestibule and the tent. The tent features a reverse-angle door, meaning that the top of the door leans out to provide more floor area for the vestibule. The door between the vestibule and the tent is made of black screen that is very fine. The sides of the tent are made of screen. This screen is protected by side awnings that can be staked out in foul weather, or rolled up in fair weather.

At the foot of the tent is a screened porthole that can be opened for fair weather or closed for foul weather. On each side of the main door are mesh bags designed to hold flashlights and the like for easy access.

The interior of the tent is surprisingly bright, given the dark color of the fabric. The gray panel at the top takes on a bluish hue when viewed from inside the tent and the sides seem very green. There is plenty of room for feet at the end of the tent, and there seems to be enough room to sit up and read at the head end. Changing clothes inside the tent will be a joy.

The nine stakes included with the tent are as impressive as the rest of the package. They are fashioned of aluminum, and have a Y cross-section. They seem very rigid and bend-resistant. As a notorious stake bender and loser, however, I would have liked to see an extra stake or two included.

Each of the stake loops on the tent has an adjustable tensioner, making it simple to adjust the tension of the tent. The rear guy has a tension-lock that makes it a breeze to pull the “back” of the tent tight. I wish that the guys from the side awnings had this feature – they are just cords with nothing attached to them – not even a loop. I had to tie loops into the ends of these guys.

I’m disappointed that a custom footprint was neither provided nor available from GoLite. I will be fashioning one from heavyweight polyester to protect the floor of the tent.

I later set the tent up in a local park. I was impressed with the taughtness of pitch, and the ease of setup. I found the pole sleeves much more quickly this time, after only slightly less than two minutes of searching this time. Total pitch time this time was seven minutes.

Test Plan:
Although I backpack primarily in the Canadian Rockies, I am going to hike the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island this summer - a seven-day, 75km (46 mile) trek along the coast and beach of British Columbia.

Drenching rain is all but guaranteed: it often rains heavily, and nonstop, for the entire duration of the hike.

I will also test this tent in the Alberta and British Columbia areas of the Canadian Rockies.

Elevations will range from 0 metres (0 feet) on the West Coast Trail, right up to1800 metre (5906 foot) high campsites in the Rockies.

Weather will vary from a deluge to hot muggy nights, I also expect that I will encounter snow at the end of the season this summer, during overnighters in the Rockies. Temperatures will range from 30 C (86 F) to -5 C (23 F).

I plan to focus on four areas in testing this tent.

Construction:

The manufacturer states that the body of the tent is made of SilLite fabric and that the tub is made of polyurethane-coated nylon. How durable is this fabric? I’ve never used any silnylon product before, and I’m curious if the silicone coating will be durable. Will it be susceptible to tearing?

How easy is the tent to pitch in the rain? In the wind?

Does the tent have a good wind profile? Does it shudder or require re-pitching in windy conditions? Will the dark color of the tent be depressing if you have to sit out a storm? Is the tent bug-proof?

I plan to spray the poles with the suggested silicon lubricant. Will this make the poles easier to insert?

I'm very interested to see whether the awnings will have any utility for keeping dry under, or whether they are really too small to matter?

Is there enough room in the tent to sit up and read? Is there enough room to change clothes?

How durable are the pegs? Do they bend? Do they hold well over a long period of time? Does the peg stuff sack wear through? Do the provided pegs hold well in sand? In dirt? In a tent pad?

Water resistance:

The manufacturer makes a stunning claim - that the fabric used in the construction is not just water resistant, but waterproof. I intend to subject this tent to a lot of rain, so this matters greatly to me. Are the seams in the tent also waterproof? Will the bathtub floor be resistant to ground water leakage? If the tent does leak, when and where will it leak?

Does rain enter the vents when they are open?

Ventilation:

The manufacturer brags about the ventilation properties of this tent. I am curious to see whether GoLite has truly conquered the condensation beast. I will be taking this tent into a very humid location along the coast and I plan to see whether the venting that is provided - full length along the tent body and twin exhaust vents in the fly - are enough to keep the inside of the tent moisture-free. Also, do the vents function even when it's raining or must they be closed? What about rain and wind together?

Weight and Bulk:

How does this tent measure up in the comfort vs. weight equation? Is the weight in my pack worth the comfort the tent provides? What about the bulk? Does it take up an unreasonable amount of space in my pack? Will I be able to cinch the tent down with compression straps?

I’ll be sure to report on any other issues I come across.

Photographs:

The front of the GoLite Eisenhower tent. Note the side awnings.

The rear of the tent. Note the rear guy line.

Facing the rear of the tent. note the porthole is open. Also note the side screening and the bluish tint of the roof.

Looking back at the door from the foot of the tent.

Read more reviews of GoLite gear
Read more gear reviews by Tyler Nagel

Initial Report

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