GigaTent Mt Craylock 8-10 Sleeper Family Dome Tent Review (3 Rooms)

In this GigaTent Mt Craylock 8-10 Sleeper Family Dome Tent review you can read about a 3-room cabin-type pleasant summer camping tent with 3 doors, 6 windows, and a great price tag. If this sounds interesting, please keep reading.

Key features

Where to buy

• This tent is available on Amazon. They have global shipping service so follow the link and check from your side.
• You can find it at Walmart as well.

What type of tent is this

This tent is on Amazon under the name given in the title above. But on the manufacturer’s site it is under the name GigaTent Mt. Greylock 15’ x 10’ 3-Room Tent, just to know.

This is a 3-room structure built as a typical cabin-style tent, and this means very tall and with straight and steep walls. So the word ‘dome’ used in its official name makes no much sense. The peak height is 84 inches (213 cm), and in the picture below you can see how the height changes to the eave.

The sleeping area is behind a divider, there are two units there with a removable divider between them. Each of them has its own huge inner door. On the front is a large living room with two doors, one extra door is on the rear side behind the sleeping rooms, this is visible in the floor plan above. The picture below is the front view from the narrow side so you can get some idea about the inner space:

The tent is freestanding with its 6 legs poles, but you have all stakes and guylines included so do not miss to stake it down properly. The partial coverage fly is there only to protect the roof, but this is why you have unobstructed views on all sides through its 6 gigantic windows.

What is included

The package includes the following elements:

• 3 Fiberglass poles.
• 8 Steel poles (6 legs and 2 eave poles).
• 6 Hub elements preattached to the tent.
• 16 Stakes.
• Tent.
• Fly.
• 8 Guylines.
• Tent bag, poles bag, stakes bag.

Who is it for

Capacity-wise: The declared capacity is 8-10 people and the picture with the floor plan above shows what the manufacturer suggests for using the tent floor. The inner area is 150 ft² (13.9 m²), so in the case of 8 people this would mean 18.7 ft² (1.7 m²) per person.

No doubt there is enough place for such a number of users, perhaps even for 10 as the manufacturer claims. Note that their another tent, the GigaTent 10 Person Family Tent offers more space if you need one for 10 people.

But in the case of family camping, I would say this is a tent for a family with two kids. In such a case you have one sleeping unit for kids and one for parents, and the front room you can use as a living room with all your camping stuff inside.

Seasons-wise & climate-wise, this is a tent for summer camping. It is very tall and pleasant with lots of mesh for ventilation. This is a great structure for a warm climate but not suitable for a cooler environment.

The tent is tall and boxy, with many windows and zippers, with a partial coverage minimal fly which would not last long in strong winds. So I see it best suited for calm weather and without much rain, in such an environment this is a camping palace.

Weight & packed size: The tent is heavy with its 38 lb 8 oz (17.46 kg) so you would not want to carry it anywhere. Yet they describe it as ‘portable’ as you can see on Amazon.

The packed size is normal for such a tent, it measures 34 x 12 x 12 inches (86 x 30 x 30 cm). So all in all, this is a car camping tent, and it is best to ignore their statement about its backpacking and hiking use.

Materials

The poles

So the poles are a combination of fiberglass (on the roof) and 19-millimeter steel (the legs and the two eave poles). Because of its eave poles, the tent looks almost like a framed tent, see the picture below. The structure is strong and stable from every side except from the top, so do not think of using it at a place where you might expect snow, such a large span cannot stand lots of pressure from above.

The tent and the frame are connected through pin and ring elements at the base, you have them 6 in total, then you have sleeves on the roof, and clips in the middle.

The fabric

The fly and the walls are a 190T strong polyester. The waterproof rating for the walls is 600 mm and the fly is with 1200 mm. This is enough for a summer camping tent. The floor is a robust polyethylene, highly waterproof material. The mesh areas are 50D no-see-um mesh.

I like the fact that all those large windows are with zippered panels, so this adds a lot of value to such a budget-friendly tent.

There are no floor vents here. This may not look important with so many mesh windows, but the sky is not always clear. In the case of rain, you have to keep all of them closed.

Specifications

• Declared capacity: 8 people.
• Weight: 38 lb 8 oz (17.46 kg).
• Dimensions: 15 x 10 ft (457 x 305 cm).
• Area: 150 ft² (13.9 m²).
• Area per person: 18.7 ft² (1.7 m²).
• Peak height: 84 in (213 cm).
• Packed size: 34 x 12 x 12 in (86 x 30 x 30 cm).
• Warranty: Gigatent tents and canopies include a limited three-year manufacturer’s warranty against defects in materials and workmanship.

GigaTent 8 Person Family Tent vs Competitors

It is always good to see how such a tent compares with some other built in the same style and with the same declared capacity. So here you have them two. Both are lighter but they are also smaller.

Wenzel Eldorado 8 Tent also has huge zippered windows, the price is almost the same, but it is with two rooms only. Eureka Copper Canyon Tent 8 is also smaller and with 2 rooms, but it is twice more expensive. Please follow the links for more details.

Summary, rating, pros & cons

Please see how I rate it. I use the same criteria for all the tents, so you can make an easy comparison:

GigaTent Mt Craylock 8-10 Sleeper Tent

$299.00

8.2

Area per person

8.0/10

Weight

7.6/10

Packed size

7.6/10

Protection

7.8/10

Ease of use

9.2/10

Features

8.9/10

Pros

• Tall and pleasant tent.
• Multiple rooms for privacy.
• Multiple doors.

Cons

• No floor vents.
• Only a few small pockets.

Check at Amazon

Check at Walmart

If you would rather have something smaller and from the same brand, check this GigaTent Six Person Family Tent.

Please note that this is not a sponsored text and I am not paid by the brand. What do you think about this tent? Any experience with it? Do share your thoughts, there is a comment box below.