REI Wonderland 4 + "mud room," first "use" thoughts
Apr 2, 2023 11:30:55 GMT -8
High Sierra Fan and zeke like this
Post by cweston on Apr 2, 2023 11:30:55 GMT -8
First use was in the backyard...
I understand that this is a relatively recent redesign of the Wonderland 4 and 6 as a tunnel tent. (3 hoop poles with on ridge pole running perpendicular to the hoop poles.)
The tent itself is really well designed. Both the tent and fly have multiple guy-out webbing, which really helps with flexibility in bad weather. The fly really has to be guyed out in three places on each side in order to be taut and separate from the main tent body. That makes for a pretty large footprint (including guy lines), but that's typical for a luxury 4p tent, I imagine. It's quite stable with only the four corners staked, but comes with many more stakes and stake loops. I (5-11) can stand up straight in it with some room to spare.
The instructions say to stake the four corners first, but it is a freestanding tent, and I always find it a better strategy with freestanding tents to erect the tent first, and then stake the corners.
My only quibbles with the tent design are minimal. The door "windows" are only on the top half of the door. That offers good ventilation (the doors are huge), but no views when you're lying down. (One could simply open the doors for maximum views, but then you'd have no bug protection.) There are views out the side vent windows, but they are only minimally protected by the fly, so they will have to be closed nearly all the way in rain.
Ventilation is very good, since the fly does not go all the way to the ground excerpt at the corners. It ships with ample heavy shepherd's crook stakes and ample guy lines with tensioners. Poles, corners, etc are all nicely color-coded. It could be hard for a shorter adult to pitch this tent on their own, because of the height.
My only real quibble is something that is clearly not a design flaw, per se, from REI's perspective: They've made it almost mandatory that you'll need to buy the separate "mud room," since the tent itself does not have a true vestibule. It does a small awning over the doors at both ends, which probably allows for the ventilation windows to be at least partially open in all but the hardest rain, but getting in and out of the tent in any significant rain without major wetting of the interior would have to be essentially impossible.
The Mud Room (www.rei.com/product/202983/rei-co-op-wonderland-mud-room):
Works with either the Wonderland 4 or 6. It's perfectly functional, but clearly not as artfully designed. It attaches to the tent body mostly with toggles that are awkward, and one came loose overnight. I had some trouble getting an all-over taut pitch on the mudroom (as evidenced by the one toggle coming loose). It's a very large vestibule which I can stand straight up in at the tent side. One could easily fit a couple nice folding chairs in there, or cook in there. It's certainly large enough to facilitate dry entry into the tent in the rain.
My first thought: 4.5 stars (out of 5) for the tent, 3.5 for the mudroom.
