Gear Review: REI Base Camp 6 Tent

“My family and I used our new REI Base Camp 6 tent this weekend with great results. I have been looking to upgrade our family camping tent for awhile, since the Wenzel we have been using is a little small for two full-sized air mattresses. I also wanted a tent with more realistic chances of surviving a rainstorm than the Wenzel, since I had heard bad reports of their ability to withstand rain. When I saw the Base Camp 6 on sale for $260 (normally $350) I jumped at the chance to get one.

The BC6 is essentially a very large dome tent. It has four poles used to support the main dome, and another pole used to support the vestibule section of the fly. The poles are aluminum, and they slide into no-snag sleeves on the tent body. There are also clips attached to the tent body that clip onto the poles. The ends of the poles are then set into grommets in straps that are sewn to the tent floor. The tent stakes to the ground through loops at the end of these straps. It's a very tight, effective pitching system.

The fly is full coverage, with two doors to match the tent. The fly attaches to the main body using nylon clip buckles that are on the tightening straps. Velcro straps exist on the inside of the fly to allow the user to further secure the fly to the tent poles. One end of the fly has a large vestibule of about 10 square feet, and the other end is just a door. The vestibule can go at either end of the tent. The fly must also be staked out at each end.

The tent body is about 60% breathable nylon, 40% no-see-um mesh, so it's very well ventilated. With the fly on, the doors of the fly rolled out of the way, and the window covers on each door unzipped, there is still sufficient ventilation. There are two zippers in panels at the top of the tent whose function escaped me until the fly was put over the tent body. They are there to allow access to small stays which prop up vent openings in the fly, for even more ventilation when the fly is on.

The BC6 is 10'5" x 8'4". This is plenty big to hold two fullsize air mattresses, with a little space at one of the doors, or between them. There is also a space about two feet wide at the foot of the mattresses for other gear storage. The peak of the tent is 6'1". This is the first tent I've ever owned that I can stand up in, once I enter it.

The tent has eight mesh gear pockets, two triangular ones on the long walls, and three on each door wall. Also, the BC6 comes with a small gear loft, about 1'x2' that fastens to loops just below the peak of the tent. There are also numerous other loops sewn into the seams of the tent to use for gear lashing.

There are two large "D"-ish shaped doors, and the zippers on the doors have two pulls. They are not circular zippers. There is about a two foot section of the door sewn permanently to the wall. But enough of the door is zippered to allow you to position a door gap just about anywhere you want it.

Each door has an upper section of mesh with a zippered cover. The cover can be rolled up and secured to the door, sort of out of the way. They skimped a little on this, there is only one fastener on each door to hold this panel, two would have been better.

The BC6 comes with all necessary stakes for a minimal pitching, that is, without further guying out of the fly. It also comes with guy cords if you do decide to guy out the fly, but one would need to carry along more stakes to use them. They might also be used for internal guying of the tent using the gear loops inside the tent, but I didn't give that a try.

We were all very pleased with the tent. My wife kept saying how much she liked the new tent. I think however that my daughter would prefer a tent that did not also contain her brother.

It didn't rain during this trip, so I have no idea what its rain resistance is like. With the full-coverage fly I imagine it would be pretty good though.”

“Dang brother! She should sell him on eBay! ;-)”