CLAM Pop Up Screen Tent, Outdoor Camping Gazebo Canopy, Venture, 9' x 9', Brown

I really didn't want to buy this. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but after watching several video demonstrations of how easy it was to put up and how cool it looked...I just couldn't resist. We've used a 10 x 10 Coleman sun shelter for a few years now and it has worked well for us. It has built in LED lights, which are very cool, and I purchased the mosquito net walls that were made for it as well. We've used it for special events, yard sales, and camping. Although it has performed well over the years, it is a bit of a pain to set up (especially when adding the net walls around it), it's very heavy, and it takes up a lot of packing space in the back of the truck. Now, I don't plan to throw the ole' Coleman away. I'm just going to reserve it for events at home and take this Clam on the road.This is unbelievably easy to set up. I can do it by myself and it takes less than a minute. It's bigger than the Coleman, giving us a 12 x 12 area to relax in and it provides plenty of space for a table and chairs. It comes in an oversized bag which gives you plenty of room to pack it away. I really hate it when tents and other such things come in bags that are almost impossible to pack them back into. When in the bag, the Clam shelter is definitely longer than the Colman shelter but it has a slimmer profile and is much easier to lift and carry. The bag also has a shoulder sling and I can easily carry it over my shoulder with no problems. When setting it up the first time, I recommend paying close attention to some of the demonstration videos that can be seen online to avoid some of the problems that I've read about in other customer's reviews. I've read that some mistakenly tried to put it up in a "wrong side out" fashion which resulted in some very confusing situations. I try to think of it like "planting a tree". The shelter's central "roof hub" is what rests on the ground while the majority of the tent fabric is up in the air. You just let it open up and blossom like flower in a sense. Then, you just walk to each wall and pop it out with the final step being to walk inside to lift the roof up. It really is quite simple. Now, I saw plenty of videos of people putting it up, but I couldn't find anything about taking it down. I just did everything in reverse obviously and it also was very simple process.The shelter is fairly well made and you the company has put some extra features in to make it more durable. The eyelets that are used to pull the walls out are made of metal and there is extra fabric in the corners which protects those vulnerable areas from tearing. There is also an extra layer of fabric securing the area around the central hub for durability and increasing water resistance. The one thing that I did notice, however, is that the needle holes for the stitching are quite noticeable in the corners making these areas the most vulnerable for water. While the shelter doesn't claim to be waterproof, I will certainly be adding some seam sealer to these areas in order to make it's "resistance" a bit more effective. The shelter does come with small plastic stakes, but I plan on using some longer and more heavy duty galvanized tent stakes to provide extra security. Once the shelter is up, it's quite lightweight enough for you and a helper to position it over a picnic table. I've set it up in the yard twice now (once to check it out and once to show a family member how cool it was) and we had no problem positioning it. I also purchased a set (3 panels in each set) of the privacy/wind walls developed by Clam specifically for this shelter as well. They also go on very easy and are great to have. I plan on setting it up one more time to add the seam sealer to the corners and then it will have it's first run as we take it camping in a few weeks. This shelter will certainly help to reduce the amount of set up time and I am looking forward to using it.Update: 8/19/16 - Just got back from a week long camping trip and this Clam performed very well. We go to a family campground up in the mountains of North Carolina that accommodates both tent and RV campers. We stay in tents but everyone is always walking around and checking other campsites out. The Clam certainly got a lot of attention and I had at least three people (2 who travel in RVs) personally came up and asked questions about the shelter. The folks in the RVs usually sit and eat outside in the evenings and this particular shelter drew their attention because of how easy it is to set up and take down. I put some seam sealer on some of the areas that I had talked about previously in the review and it didn't leak a drop during two light rains and one moderate one. I didn't use the wind screens that I had purchased for it because it was still kind of warm up in the mountains and I didn't want to trap extra heat inside. The plastic stakes that came with the shelter would of been useless in the hard ground where I was at. I was glad that I brought some extra galvanized stakes with me. The wind picked up right before one of the rains and it pushed two of the wall panels in. I ended up using some guy lines around the metal eyelets on the wall panels of the shelter and securing them down with some additional stakes. There were no problems after that. I was very pleased with the performance and it sure made set up and take down a little bit easier.

Update October 2024:As you can see from below, we have had this tent up CONSTANTLY for 2 1/2 years here in Florida. We stay in it 1-8 days at a time in the forest. It has amazingly withstood all that Florida summers have had to offer in that time, including Hurricane Helene. It finally succumbed to Hurricane MIlton a couple of weeks ago when one side caved in due to a limb falling on it and causing the roof to collect water. Couple of the support poles were broken, but Viola', tent was resurrected and cleaned out, and we will be replacing the poles and still having our home away from home. Inflatable mattress and all was still in good shape. Can't say enough about this AMAZING tent.Initial post:We are using this tent in the woods in an off grid area in Florida. We set this tent up the first week in May 2022 and have not taken it down. As you can see from the pics we have a queen size inflatable bed, 2 chairs and a table in it, and still plenty of room. We also have plastic lidded bins that we use for clothes, plus they double as night tables.When we first purchased this we had just the 12.5 X 12.5 ft Pavilion Gazebo tent with the built in side flaps. There was a small bit of leaking at the seams, so we sealed it with Tent Seam sealer - quick and easy - and purchased the tent Fly. This covered the seams at the top and took care of the leaking. We Then purchased (mostly with points from Amazon) a tent basin bottom made for this tent - we had not been aware this was available until we saw a picture of it on the tent box. We felt this was a great addition as being in the woods in Florida, having your bed directly on the ground is not a great idea.Now to PERFORMANCE - This Gazebo tent is AWESOME. We have been living in this tent now 1 to 5 days a week for almost 6 months and no problems, even with this being a very rainy summer for Florida. Even with hurricane Ian that just passed through Florida - although it came ashore about 150 miles south of where our tent is, there was still plenty of wind and rain - we had no problems. I could not believe it, no leaking and the tent withstood the winds. We had initially planned this for short term use and to replace it with a cabin, but now our cabin plans are on hold as the tent is serving us just fine. Oh, and did I mention it was very easy to set up.My favorite part about this tent, when the weather is nice - which it has been most of the time we have had this tent up, we keep all the wall flaps open at night, a beautiful breeze, can see the moon, and wake up in the mornings to see the trees all around us.