The Big Agnes Flying Diamond 6 tent offers a great combination of spaciousness, easy setup and sturdiness for car campers. It’s the best of all the family tents when it comes to handling snow, wind and rain, and there’s plenty of room for kids, teens or even pets to have their own space in the second, smaller “room,” which can be partitioned off with a removable divider. Reviewers love that the vestibule’s storm door can be turned into an awning on sunny days.
This is a very well-constructed tent that could do with slightly more revealing assembly instructions and a better thought out carrying bag.
We haven’t had the chance to test this in the elements yet, but assembly is just difficult enough that I’d want to practice a number of times in order to do it quickly if we ever find ourselves trying to put it up in the rain or cold. It’s not the most intuitive, and the instructions are mostly a series of pictures. We put the door-pole in the wrong end at first, then clipped it into the wrong holes. Re-reading the instructions got us nowhere, and we had to rely on the intuitive notion that it “looked wrong” to guide us to the right answer–at which point it “looked right.” I recommend practicing assembly a few times before heading into the great beyond (which really goes for every single piece of camping equipment).
The poles are sturdy and snap together well. The tie downs cinch down a treat. Construction is very solid and the tent feels like it’ll last a good while. It’s god a great deal of space inside, plus ample storage space for boots, etc. under the fly around the doors.
The tent is not light. Of course, it fits six people, so it ain’t ever going to be a breeze to carry. That said, I would hate to backpack with this thing unless I was with five other people who were carrying the rest of my stuff. And even then I’d probably still expect them to thank me for carrying it once we were all lying down to sleep. Even for car-camping, I’d prefer a bag that was just a little better designed for ease of carrying: Straps on the bag that double as backpack straps to hump in a mile from the parking spot, or into a festival or similar would be a great addition.
