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See the 12 tests

1. In the Box
2. Set Up & Take Down
3. Peak Height
4. Livable Space
5. Base Area
6. Vestibules
7. Doors
8. Storage
9. Ventilation
10. Rain & Wind Protection
11. Quality
12. Portability
13. Pros, Cons, Recommendation
14. Bonus: Must Read!

In the Box

The Base Camp only comes in a 6-person version from REI, so that’s where I bought mine. In the box: a black carry bag, the tent body and rainfly, 5 poles in their own bag, and 12 stakes plus 4 guylines in a smaller one.

• Poles 5, aluminumregular aluminum, not DAC
• Stakes 12
• Guylines 4for 6 guy-out points (not enough, see below)

• Extras Pole repair splintremovable, attached to the white vestibule pole

Set Up & Take Down

The color-coding is the best part of this set-up. Every pole end matches the sleeve it goes into, the grommet webbing matches the pole, and so do the rainfly buckles. The rainfly even has spare webbing and buckles so it goes on either way round. You can’t get it backwards.

• Set-up time (1 person) 17.5 minafter pitching it half a dozen times
• Take-down + pack-up (1 person) 15 min

Two gripes. The pole sleeves are long and snag: my second blue pole snagged four times going in, and the white rainfly sleeve snagged more times than I could count coming out.

And REI didn’t give me enough hardware. There are 6 guy-out points but only 4 guylines, and the 12 stakes are exactly used up by the tent body (8) and the two vestibules (4), so I had to dig out my own stakes for the guylines.

Pro Tip Pack everything up separately rather than rolling it all together. The carry bag is side-loading and not very big, so one big roll is a fight; separate rolls go in easily. I’d much rather have a top-loading bag like the one on my Eureka Copper Canyon LX 6.

Peak Height

• Peak height 73innot the tallest I’ve tested. I can reach the top
• Lowest height ~61in3 small steps from the center, where my head touches

Livable Space

The shape is the clever bit. Two extra black poles on the outside, plus pole clips and a buckle, pull both side walls outward. In a regular dome tent like my Coleman Sundome 6 my head grazes the wall when I sit up at the edge; in here there are a few inches of headroom, and I can walk around a fair bit of the tent.

Base Area

• Base area 82.5 sq ft
• Floor dimensions 9ft 1in x 9ft 1inright on the marketed 110 x 110in

• Single sleeping pads 6shoulder to shoulder, a little gear space by the door
• Queen-sized mattresses 1plus a twin alongside. Two queens will not fit
• People I’d actually fit 3-4

Vestibules

• Front vestibule 31.1 sq ft58in at its shortest, 109in long, 54in wide
• Back vestibule 21.3 sq ft57in shortest, 109in long, only 37in wide

The back vestibule is two-thirds the size and it shows: my camping chair wouldn’t fit at all, and even on a low stool my back and head press into the vestibule door. The difference is the overhanging white pole across the front, which the back simply doesn’t have. That side slopes straight off the inner tent.

• Front vestibule height 62in
• Camping chairs that fit 2 front, 0 back

Both vestibule doors are YKK and completely snag-free, and each has a toggle to hold it open. Pull the vestibule stakes and tie it all back and the front becomes a porch, which is very cool. The back can’t do that without the pole.

Doors

• Doors 2front and back, identical
• Door size 74 x 59in62.5in to the top, so I tilt my head going through

The doors unzip almost completely, and instead of toggles you stuff the door fabric into a pocket above the door, which I find much more user-friendly.

• Door zippers 2 YKK eachsnag-free unzipping; zipping past one bend needs 2 hands
• Windows 2one per door, 5ft x 2ft, no-brand zippers

Storage

• Pockets 14big ones, low and overhead, running most of the way round
• Lantern loops 205 overhead, 12 on the walls, 3 in the front porch

• Vents 42 roof, 2 floor
• Gear lofts / power port / divider None

Ventilation

The four vents are the reason this tent works in bad weather. The two roof vents open and shut from inside the tent, which is genuinely neat. In my hose test I closed the one facing the water and left the other open.

• Vents 42 roof, 2 floor
• Floor vents in heavy rain Stay openfully covered by the rainfly
• Roof-vent Velcro Light dutyI’d add clamps in strong wind
• Extra airflow Gap under the rainfly

Hot days are the weak spot. With the rainfly off you get a small mesh roof and four fairly small openings: two door windows and two floor vents, which are really just mesh panels. With the fly on it gets warm and stuffy in summer.

Pro Tip In summer, leave the vestibules and both doors open for cross-ventilation. If the bugs are out, use the two windows instead.

Rain & Wind Protection

One full hour of hose. Afterwards there wasn’t a single drop of water inside. I checked the inner body, the mesh, the seams, the flooring and the rainfly, and all of it was 100% dry. An hour of that with zero leaks made it an easy pick among the tents that survive heavy rain.

• Heavy rain 1 hr, zero leaks
• Light rain Dry after hours
• Rainfly Full lengthwater drips straight to the ground, not onto the body
• Condensation Nonethe fly never touches the inner walls

Wind is the other half. A budget dome tent runs two poles criss-crossing end to end and visibly moves in light wind. The Base Camp has four intersecting poles plus clips and buckles holding the fabric to them. It didn’t move at all in light wind, and felt solid when I shook it myself.

Quality

• Floor 150D polyester Oxfordthick and good quality
• Body & rainfly ~75D polyesterREI doesn’t state a denier; that’s my eyeball from how translucent it is
• Bathtub floor None
• Zippers YKKwindows are no-brand, but window zippers take little stress
• Mesh Micro-meshlooks like no-see-um to me, not specified by REI

Seams are double-stitched and consistent, with a couple of loose threads near a door that never caught the zipper. The rainfly seams are all taped, as are the flooring and corner seams; the door seams aren’t, but the rainfly is long enough that it doesn’t matter.

• Guy-out points 6black with silver reflective strips
• Reflective points 8+ visible at nighton the guy-out points, the guyline tensioners and the vestibule stake-downs

Portability

• Packed size 28 x 13 x 9.5in
• Weight 20.6 lbs
• Carry Shoulder strap

Pros, Cons, Recommendation

So what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the REI Base Camp 6?

Great weather protection

The best thing about it. A full-coverage rainfly that fits nicely over the inner tent and never touches the walls, so I’ve never had a condensation problem, plus four criss-crossing poles for far better wind protection than a standard dome.

Tons of color-coding

Not difficult to set up for such a big, feature-rich tent. Match the colors and you know you’ve got it right.

Two huge doors

Easily four times my size. I can carry fully inflated sleeping pads in and out without deflating them.

Two spacious vestibules

One holds a load of gear, the other takes two camping chairs, so I’m not worrying about chair legs puncturing the floor. Both measured larger than REI’s marketed dimensions, which almost never happens. Tents usually come out smaller.

Decent spaciousness

A little over 6 feet at the peak, enough to stand on thick air mattresses, and the side walls pulled outward make it feel much roomier than a budget dome.

Tons of storage

14 pockets and 20 loops in a 6-person tent. No power port, room divider or gear loft, though.

The carry bag can be improved

The most glaring one. The material is fine but the design isn’t: side-loading, not zippered but drawstring, and not very big. I’d swap it for a top-loading stuff sack or a duffel.

Not enough stakes or guylines

4 guylines for 6 guy-out points, and the 12 stakes are used up before you get to them. The stakes are heavier duty than Coleman’s, but they aren’t the grippiest either. Worth upgrading if you expect strong wind.

A smaller base area than average

The inner tent is a little smaller than the average 6-person tent: one queen bed at most, not two. I hit the same squeeze in the NTK Cherokee GT.

Less suitable for summer

There isn’t much mesh (four smallish openings and a tiny skylight), so with the rainfly on it can get hot and stuffy. That makes it a 3+ season tent rather than a summer one, which is really what it’s built for.

Bonus: Must Read!

Every figure above is from my own testing. Measured by hand, bought with my own money.