I'm looking for a new tent to hold 2 to 4 people and a dog. (They don't all have to fit--this is to supplement a truck camper. ) The Gazelle t4 looks good. The size is right and I really don't want to mess with tent setup. Pop it and stake it is really appealing for overnight stays. The main complaints I can find online are that the tent does not pack up small, it doesn't breathe great, and the door is funky. I'm okay with all that. My concern is weather. We get stormed on more often than we should even though we camp during the "nice" seasons. How do these tents fare in heavy wind and/or rain? Any other instant tents worth looking at? Thanks!
Not sure your type of storms you deal with, but in Florida storms pop up at anytime and can sweep through pretty intense. We have the t4 Overland for about 3 years now and used by my wife, son and myself and Have not had any major water issues. Have had a water come in a couple of times when door zippers aren’t fully closed and towards the top side of the door, but those are our own fault and usually nothing a small towel can’t dry off. Other than that we’ve hunkered down plenty of times with no issues and has given me sense of relief where I don’t even think about it if we’re caught in a storm. Only other consideration is to guy out the wall that could get strong winds, but have rarely needed to do that and it comes with all the extra lines you would need.
Regarding the other comments, it’s a heavier material and I suppose it had a “scent” when it was new, but that cleared out after a few uses. The heavy material also does make it stuffy if there’s no breeze, but with windows fully open and a slight breeze it’s fine even in sticky Florida! If you’re the hot type then add a fan to the utility box and you’ll be fine. It’s a single wall tent so going to have some condensation at times, but I’ve found it tolerable. Yes it’s big but that shouldn’t be a surprise, and the ease of setup makes it a fair trade off.
With my experience, even if I had any failures, I’d get the same tent to replace it. Compared to other traditional ground tents we’ve used over the years, there’s really no other type of ground tent I’d rather use.