Yurtini™ 3 5 2 2
Pilgrimage To Yurt Mecca I would like to start by saying that I really want to say I loved the "Yurtini" - REALLY, I do. Plus I am generally a big fan of Mountain Hardwear. I guide a large group of researchers in Mongolia each summer, and generally speaking we have had a lot of good luck with Mountain Hardwear items. I also really don't want to go on a tirade about how poopy it was, because it wasn't all that bad - besides the tent's death blow was in conditions outside of its recommended use. But at the end of the day, I cannot recommend this product because the price of the tent does not match the overall quality of the build.Generally, I use a buildup and then post the rest of my product review at my blog - it's a silly way of trying to increase traffic. But today, because of the nature of the review I am going to post it all.I would like to start by saying that the concept of the tent is great. The overall area that this tent covers compared to the packed weight and size is quite impressive. It comes in a very compact carrying case and the packed weight is quite low (18lbs 10 oz.). As I mentioned before, I guide research expeditions in Mongolia and when transporting stuff internationally, every inch of space and every ounce counts. Unfortunately when you unpack the tent from the case the problems begin almost immediately.When I opened the instructions for set up I immediately envisioned a nice, clean, well ordered school somewhere in Scandinavia - here you could find good little artists learning how to draw amorphous Ikea directions. The hoodlums there who choose not to go to class and instead smoked cigarettes out back were not rewarded with a job at Ikea, instead they went to work for Mountain Hardwear; their prize masterpiece - the instructions for the Yurtini - were incomplete and downright misleading. Four PhD's, a seasoned guide, 3 do over's, and 45 minutes later we had the thing erect. The difficulty lies in the fact that certain features present in the tent (specifically a set of additional loops along the upper circle) were not illustrated in the directions, which would lead one to believe that they were not needed or intended to be used as part of the assembly process. However, ignoring these loops caused the tent to `droop' downward. Setup of the tent was further complicated when three of the included tent pegs broke in half (cheap foreign materials I presume) during the setup of the tent. For full disclosure, we did not use hammers but did step on the tent pegs to press them into the ground; the soil was moderately compacted with 30% gravels of varying size. This would also not be the end of peg breakage; several more pegs would break over the course of the season during increased winds or when people would accidently step on them.After the tent was erected, it worked quite well during good weather conditions. The tent stood for approximately 29 days and was used as an office space for the research members of the team. They all commented on the ample work space. It is important to note, however, that the tent`s seams are not sealed. Mountain Hardwear does provide sealant, yet for the price of the tent, I would have appreciated if they had sealed it for us. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to seal a tent in the wild. Yes it is my fault for not sealing it beforehand, I take full reasonability here. In the end we were left with a leaky tent that required constant re-sealing.Around day 20, the zipper to the door that served as the main entrance broke. We were then forced to seal off that door and use a second of the three doors on the tent. This would have been an inconvenience; however, the tent was not long for the world. Around day 27 (June 26) we were hit by a freak snow storm that dropped 7 inches of really wet summer snow, the tent collapsed from the weight and several tears formed when the sides of the tent came into contact with items inside the tent (chairs, tables, etc...). It is important to note that they tent is a 3 season tent and cannot be blamed for failure in the snowy condition. However, the nature of the tears was quite disheartening and rendered the tent pretty useless after that.All in all, I am sad to say that I cannot recommend this product. Even in an ideal environment, the basic troubles we ran into with workmanship and quality are not on par with the tent hefty sticker price. April 24, 2013
Yurtini - awesome group base camp tent We are using the Yurtini as a base camp tent on outdoor education trips with students. The Yurtini quickly became a favorite. We are using it with the ground sheet and have carpeting on top.Setup for the Yurtini is quite simple and can easily be done by two people in 15 minutes. The hoop design works great, but one of the two poles bent almost immediately. It is still useable, but one must be careful when assembling the poles.One thing that continues to cause us problems: Mountain Hardwear does not seam seal the entire tent. While usual seams are sealed, the two pockets for the ring poles are not seam sealed. We did the seam sealing ourselves, had water penetration, resealed, and still have water coming through. Not much, but enough to leave a few wet spots.We have used our Yurtini with 17 people having breakfast inside and it still felt spacious.A great tent - we would purchase it again. May 29, 2012
