Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Post by grapefruit on Dec 11, 2010 12:19:02 GMT -5
what tent are you using this year? what tents have you used and how have they stood up? how big was your tent?
'11 is going to be my first 'roo and i'm thinking of buying a columbia bugaboo. it's 12x9 though, i'm concerned that it may be too big. i don't want to crowd anyone!
My best first tent, Eureka Timberlite 2 person. Tough as hell, easy to set up once you know how to do it. It's called a 2 person, those 2 people better be pretty friendly though. That tent saw me through Woodstock 94 and a lot of backpacking. Currently, I've been sleeping in this; www.rei.com/product/794294 (mine is a generation or two back but pretty much the same tent). Again, tough as nails, not too heavy, easy to set up, spacious for 1 person, livable for 2. I've never had a Columbia tent, in general I've gotten the impression that they are somewhat 2nd tier, I could be wrong. If you're only ever going to use it for Bonnaroo it might be worthwhile, what's the price? 12x9 is a bigish tent, how many people will be in it?
It all depends on your set up. How many people will be in it and what other gear you've got going. I currently tent in this: www.amazon.com/Coleman-Ara-4-Person-Tent/dp/B000LWGG1Y Technically, it's a 4-man (9x7) tent, but it's just right for my husband and me. There's plenty of room for an air mattress, while still leaving room for your other stuff. It's lasted me 3 festie seasons now, including 2 major storms and has never leaked. Just remember to seam seal your tent every year. The best part is the little "porch" area up front. It's great for tucking a cooler under a flap, and for taking a shade nap if you don't have a shade canopy. But, if I keep doing fests alone like I did last year, I want a 2-man like what Leo posted. I want an easier setup, and I could tuck it under my shade canopy. You will definitely want some kind of a shade structure at Roo. If you are deciding between a giant tent or a small tent plus a shade canopy, definitely go with the small tent/shade canopy combo.
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I say go for it! It looks like a great tent, and Coleman is always quality. And you can't beat that price! Try to get a shade canopy, as well, if you can (shade is a must). But if you can't, you can probably rig up a tarp from the front of that porch part to your vehicle. I've done that with my Ara before.
It was pretty easy to put up and slept 3 of us with plenty of room. Also you can stand up in it which is really nice. At some point we just removed the rainfly because it was so damn hot and that was a nice option because the tent itself is very open. I've not used it in bad weather but as long as you waterproof and seam seal I am sure it would be fine.
I can't tell you what to buy but I can tell you what not to get. We upgraded to a larger tent to take the kids to LEAF fest. It made it one night in the wind and we had a busted pole and a torn tent. Got it at Dicks sporting goods and it was a Field and Stream Estate series.
Luckily they not only took it back but instead of store credit they refunded our money. If anyone has a recommendation for a two room tent that's going to hold up I'd appreciate it.
we used a coleman kvika last year kinda like an ara. great tent but this year we want something taller and with more ventilation. with the rain fly on you could not go inside the kvika during the day it had a really bad oven effect.
Best advice I received last year was getting an EZ UP with my tent. It really is a MUST have and a life saver. Also, bring a large tarp, and once you set everything up, tarp off the side of the EZ UP that the sun rises on. This saved my fucking life. Combined with two battery powered fans in my tent, I would sleep until 11am every morning comfortable as hell and still cool. While my neighbors who only had a tent and no EZ UP or tarp were up at 8am every morning just baking in the sun, I felt so fucking sorry for them and would even let them catch some Z's in my tent after I had left go to to Centeroo.
As a noob this year, can someone tell me the aproximate space I will have behind my pick up truck? I would like to have a tent under a 10x10 ez up and not feel like I'm in my neighbor's "space". Thanks!
Post by belltwala1 on Dec 18, 2010 21:59:58 GMT -5
i have a four person columbia and its great. keep in mind when they say four person..its a two person tent. i dont use it at roo because i use a small tent and an ez up i think everyone needs to plan an ez up or a tarp. you need shade period. you spend more time hanging than sleeping anyway. if you have a van or an rv you may be able to hang a tarp off the back and sit it up with two poles in back...but invest in some plan for shade. trust me dear
Post by belltwala1 on Dec 18, 2010 22:01:23 GMT -5
by the way...my little small tent is easy to set up in about five minutes and suits me fine. could hold a couple bt not two buddies,. you can move it easily and easy take down,.. some of you folks may want to do separate small tents and one big shade tent to share
Post by laurensmackho on Dec 28, 2010 12:22:24 GMT -5
My girlfriend and I are trying to acquire a friend's pop up camper for Roo next year. I was wondering if there was a size limit of camping equipment used in the normal areas, or are we going to have to buy an RV pass for this thing?
Eureka Grand Manan 7. Great for two people (would be tight for 3). Could easily hold an air mattress, and it has awesome ventilation and entrance flaps on two sides.
I'm taking a very small two person tent for me and my boyfriend. It's super small, my brother used at bonnaroo 2009 and he had to sleep on a diagonal. The top of the tent comes up to my waist. But he's a big guy, so I think it would be good for my boyfriend and I. It is old, but it's lasted through so much. It survived the storm at bonnaroo 2009, no leaks or anything, while my friends tent that she spent 100s of dollars on leaked a lot. Plus, since its small we'll be able to put it under our canopy and still have room for our chairs and table and stuff.
I just bought a Coleman Sunlight Ridge... Seems like a good tent.
My friend bought that tent and we used it once this past summer at a fest in NY. Weather conditions weren't comparable to Roo (we were a bit cold and stayed in the tent a lot cause of it), but seemed like a good enough tent. I like the lil covered area in the front and it has a back vent too on the bottom of the tent. I even attached some battery operated string lights to the edge of the covered front area, which made it easier to find and festive.
As noted before, you can stand up in it (most people, at least) and the windows/top halves of 3 walls are all mesh, if i remember correctly, so if you take the rainfly off, it'll get lots of fresh air and can easily see outside and whatnot. Therefore, if it could rain, leave the rainfly on or at least keep it under a canopy. It also had a lot of string to tie it down, which'd be good for wind. we never used it on our NY trip, but I'd definitely want to use it if I had that tent at Roo.
Just remember "camping is in-tents!", it gets [glow=red,2,300] HOT [/glow], bring some kind of shade structure, easy pop up, build a monkey-hut(aka a quonset hut).
As a noob this year, can someone tell me the aproximate space I will have behind my pick up truck? I would like to have a tent under a 10x10 ez up and not feel like I'm in my neighbor's "space". Thanks!
I'm not the best at exact sizes and all that, but to give you an idea, last year I drove my Honda CRV, directly behind it I set up my 4 person tent (not huge my any means), and about a foot in front of that I had an EZ-Up. I was really nervous about space but we were fine. When I was parked I also kinda swung wide to give a little more room.
My festival tent that I have had with me at my first festival has finally had enough. It was a four person dome tent from target and cost me all of 30$. It's been with me since 98.
But I also have a Coleman Montana 8 for my family of 5.
I'm contemplating getting a new tent for festivals or just bringing the family tent. We are starting to bring the kids to festivals with us more and more anyways.
We purchased this last year: store.eurekatent.com/products/347379/N!ergy_9_Tent it is spacious for 2 people and fits perfectly under a 10' x 10' ez up. After 6 years of trial and error it has been the best combo so far for us.
Post by firsttime11 on Jan 7, 2011 12:19:34 GMT -5
Yeah after alittle looking around, 90$ doesn't seem that bad. And unfortunately I work at wal mart so I'd even get a discount. I was finding em for hundreds and that seemed alittle high.
