Gazelle T4 Review

[Cool Feet]

Have any of you considered purchasing a Roof Top Tent? Most roof top tents are heavy weighing 90 plus pounds. I want a lightweight tent that's easy to set up ,and take down, and easily stored in the off-season.

I looked at roof top tent for years and decided that climbing down a ladder in the middle of the night to water the plants is not a good idea.

If you are interested in using the Gazelle as the perfect roof top tent read on.

• The Gazelle T4 weighs about 30 pounds and sleeps 4 people comfortably.
• No ladder required to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
• The Gazelle T4 stores in the back of my van behind the passenger seat in the off-season.
• My 2 boys routinely set up the tent in 60 seconds or less by not using the rain fly on a 5 week camping trip. It takes longer to get the tent out of the van.

To qualify as a roof top tent, I store it in my Thule roof top cargo box while camping. I bought a ladder to lean against my van to look cool. The ladder is useful for getting gear out of the Thule.

Besides being easy to set up, it's a comfortable tent for sleeping 4 large adults because it feels big on the inside. Having 2 doors makes getting in and out easy without stepping on everyone.

We camped in this tent for over 5 weeks. We stayed 1-2 nights at every camp site. The tent still looks like it's new after this adventure.








Here's what I like about the Gazelle T4. Fast set up time. Unbelievable head room. I am 6' and I can do jumping jacks inside the tent. The material is robust. I have never owned a tent that has such durable material. It's thick. If Gazelle wanted to reduce the weight of this tent by 25%, they could use thinner material. I see no reason to make this tent lighter. It will outlast me. The zippers are amazing. I am used to crappy zippers on tents that snag and get stuck. These zippers are circus quality. They will never get stuck or break.

The tent handles rain and wind. I never deployed the guy lines as I am sort of lazy. I will practice using guy lines in my back yard. Want to hear something funny? In 50 plus years of camping, I have never used guy lines. This includes a 6 month cross-country bicycle trip, back packing trips, and car camping. The reason I think it's a good idea to use guy lines on the Gazelle T4 is due to the hub design. Strong winds cause the walls to push in. Guy lines solve this problem.

Cons. My wife complained every night about the lack of breeze in the tent. I need to mention that we were sleeping in 80 plus degree weather. In fairness, it's not as breathable as my REI Base Camp 6. I think more screen area will solve this problem.

The doors are small not designed for a normal size human body. However, the design of the tent requires smaller doors for stability.

The aluminum stakes are useless. They are not sturdy enough to handle more than 1 blow from my mallet. Yes, they are light. I stole the expedition grade stakes from my REI Base Camp 6.

***I will update this review with more good stuff and photos.

For $279, this tent is a steal. I looked at REI and Costco for a comparable quality tent. You will not find anything of this quality anywhere for under $600. The Nemo Wagon Top selling for $649 is almost as nice. The downside is the 10 minute setup time and the price.

 

[Viking1204]

I have both a Gazelle T3 and a Rooftop Tent, use them both depending on the situation. I have to agree, Gazelle makes an awesome ground tent that has some of the advantages of a Rooftop Tent but not all of them.

 

[Newlife]

Having had the gazelle and used it all across the western United States we liked it. But it was just a like. Poor ventilation if the rain fly is on often leading to a lot of condensation build up. Very thin inside and out. For the price I understand but we’ve had ground tents before that were slightly a little more that had thicker material. The setup and break down we loved except the whole 90 second thing is just getting the tent up. That doesn’t include stakes, bedding, etc etc. We still own the gazelle but it is not our primary anymore and we will gladly let our kids use it or friends that don’t have a tent.

 

[Viking1204]

Having had the gazelle and used it all across the western United States we liked it. But it was just a like. Poor ventilation if the rain fly is on often leading to a lot of condensation build up. Very thin inside and out. For the price I understand but we’ve had ground tents before that were slightly a little more that had thicker material. The setup and break down we loved except the whole 90 second thing is just getting the tent up. That doesn’t include stakes, bedding, etc etc. We still own the gazelle but it is not our primary anymore and we will gladly let our kids use it or friends that don’t have a tent.

I'm curious, if you don't use the Gazelle what is your primary tent?

 

[Newlife]

Having had the gazelle and used it all across the western United States we liked it. But it was just a like. Poor ventilation if the rain fly is on often leading to a lot of condensation build up. Very thin inside and out. For the price I understand but we’ve had ground tents before that were slightly a little more that had thicker material. The setup and break down we loved except the whole 90 second thing is just getting the tent up. That doesn’t include stakes, bedding, etc etc. We still own the gazelle but it is not our primary anymore and we will gladly let our kids use it or friends that don’t have a tent.

I'm curious, if you don't use the Gazelle what is your primary tent?

We actually gave a rtt one more chance and we’re blown away how far they’ve come over the last few years. We opted for a free spirit odyssey hardshell tent and it has been a total game changer in terms of comfort, ease of setup break down, and overall solid feel. Now I also understand that rtt’s aren’t everyone’s gig and if we had to go back to ground tenting it would be a hard toss up between a gazelle an oz tent but I think the oz tent would win if money were not an objection. We had a change to see first hand an oz tent and it just feels more put together and much thicker material. But then again size and weight are an issue with it as well as more than double the cost of the gazelle for the same size platform.

 

[Viking1204]

We actually gave a rtt one more chance and we’re blown away how far they’ve come over the last few years. We opted for a free spirit odyssey hardshell tent and it has been a total game changer in terms of comfort, ease of setup break down, and overall solid feel. Now I also understand that rtt’s aren’t everyone’s gig and if we had to go back to ground tenting it would be a hard toss up between a gazelle an oz tent but I think the oz tent would win if money were not an objection. We had a change to see first hand an oz tent and it just feels more put together and much thicker material. But then again size and weight are an issue with it as well as more than double the cost of the gazelle for the same size platform.

The Gazelle material might be lighter than the Oz but I can tell you that it is very strong and water resistant/proof. I spent a night on Mount Mitchell in NC at 6200' elevation in my Gazelle T3 with 20-30 mph winds, higher gusts I have no doubt and heavy rain all night and I stayed dry inside. In the middle of the night I went outside during a break in the rain to inspect the tent because it was making a lot of noise flapping in the wind, thought maybe the rain fly tore or a pole broke but it was on solid with nothing wrong with it.

I too have a RTT and use that wherever I can. I find it more comfortable and easier to setup and take down even with the ease of the Gazelle. In the Gazelle I have to setup my Cot and bedding. With the RTT I just have to open it up and throw a pillow in it and I'm ready to sleep since the mattress is already there with my sleeping bag. A have a soft top RTT but plant to eventually upgrade to a hard top when I can afford it. I bought the Gazelle for those times I can't use the RTT like at Mount Mitchell where you have steps to get up to the campsites where they have tent pads with a gravel base.

 

[wnorton]

Have any of you considered purchasing a Roof Top Tent? Most roof top tents are heavy weighing 90 plus pounds. I want a lightweight tent that's easy to set up ,and take down, and easily stored in the off-season.

I looked at roof top tent for years and decided that climbing down a ladder in the middle of the night to water the plants is not a good idea.

If you are interested in using the Gazelle as the perfect roof top tent read on.

• The Gazelle T4 weighs about 30 pounds and sleeps 4 people comfortably.
• No ladder required to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
• The Gazelle T4 stores in the back of my van behind the passenger seat in the off-season.
• My 2 boys routinely set up the tent in 60 seconds or less by not using the rain fly on a 5 week camping trip. It takes longer to get the tent out of the van.

To qualify as a roof top tent, I store it in my Thule roof top cargo box while camping. I bought a ladder to lean against my van to look cool. The ladder is useful for getting gear out of the Thule.

Besides being easy to set up, it's a comfortable tent for sleeping 4 large adults because it feels big on the inside. Having 2 doors makes getting in and out easy without stepping on everyone.

We camped in this tent for over 5 weeks. We stayed 1-2 nights at every camp site. The tent still looks like it's new after this adventure.

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Here's what I like about the Gazelle T4. Fast set up time. Unbelievable head room. I am 6' and I can do jumping jacks inside the tent. The material is robust. I have never owned a tent that has such durable material. It's thick. If Gazelle wanted to reduce the weight of this tent by 25%, they could use thinner material. I see no reason to make this tent lighter. It will outlast me. The zippers are amazing. I am used to crappy zippers on tents that snag and get stuck. These zippers are circus quality. They will never get stuck or break.

The tent handles rain and wind. I never deployed the guy lines as I am sort of lazy. I will practice using guy lines in my back yard. Want to hear something funny? In 50 plus years of camping, I have never used guy lines. This includes a 6 month cross-country bicycle trip, back packing trips, and car camping. The reason I think it's a good idea to use guy lines on the Gazelle T4 is due to the hub design. Strong winds cause the walls to push in. Guy lines solve this problem.

Cons. My wife complained every night about the lack of breeze in the tent. I need to mention that we were sleeping in 80 plus degree weather. In fairness, it's not as breathable as my REI Base Camp 6. I think more screen area will solve this problem.

The doors are small not designed for a normal size human body. However, the design of the tent requires smaller doors for stability.

The aluminum stakes are useless. They are not sturdy enough to handle more than 1 blow from my mallet. Yes, they are light. I stole the expedition grade stakes from my REI Base Camp 6.

***I will update this review with more good stuff and photos.

For $279, this tent is a steal. I looked at REI and Costco for a comparable quality tent. You will not find anything of this quality anywhere for under $600. The Nemo Wagon Top selling for $649 is almost as nice. The downside is the 10 minute setup time and the price.

I’ve been eyeing this tent. I’m curious if anyone has done a comparison to the Shift Pod Mini? Are the comparable?

 

[wnorton]

Yes, that’s the easy one. My thought though was it packs down to a smaller size. In a JL that might be a major factor. No?

 

[Wellspring]

My wife and I love our T4 now going on 4 years of camping with it. Bought it at an Overland Expo East show when Gazelle introduced their tents and Gazebos for the first time (we have a 5 sided Gazebo with sides, as well).

Both are rock solid in any, and all weather conditions. Nothing beats getting into camp late at night, setting up the tent real fast, and climbing into the sleeping bags in a total time of under 15 minutes with all gear stowed away inside that we need to have for our camping experience (sometimes including the dog if he comes along with us on the road). I sold my other expensive Marmot 4 person tent, as we realized we had not used it in years.