[adouglas]

Okay, so I bought the 3-person Connectent. Weather FINALLY broke this past weekend so I set it up.

Initial impressions:

- I have a 12x12 canopy and the tent is made for a 10x10. I compensated for this by rigging simple paracord loops a foot long that I attach to the canopy frame everywhere the tent hooks up. An extra step but no biggie.
- Tent takes up exactly half the canopy footprint, which leaves plenty of room for bike, table, chairs, cooler etc. at night.
- After initial setup and the inevitable lessons learned, it takes less than five minutes to rig the tent start to finish, working alone. That includes collapsing the canopy legs to reach the hooks at the peak. You'll probably need something to stand on.
- Quality is what you'd expect for the price. Floor is made of poly tarp material. I'm going to lay a second tarp down under it, because that stuff will inevitably get holes in it.
- LOTS of ventilation. Top is open mesh. Windows are huge.
- Bag is too small (they always are) and there's little point in trying to cram the thing back into it. Just use a tote.
- 8-foot headroom! 'nuff said.

My idea of just leaving the mattress and bedding in the tent, uncorking the mattress, loosely rolling the whole shebang up and chucking it in the car for the day looks like it's going to work.

Photos eventually.