Mountain Hardwear Bridger 6 Tent

The Mountain Hardwear Bridger 6 Tent with its full coverage fly, a porch and two vestibules, plus many wall pouches, offers lots of space for sleeping and storage.  

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Key features & benefits

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Overview

This Mountain Hardwear Bridger 6 Tent is a sort of a dome type tent but of a particular type. You can realize this when you see it without the fly in the picture below. So what you have here is a freestanding structure supported with two X-crossed poles, plus one short ridge pole that makes the main door completely vertical.

But this is also a tent with a massive full coverage fly that creates a porch and two vestibules. For this, there is yet another large loop added on the front. This is visible in the top picture above.

The floor plan is shown below, so you can understand even more what this tent offers. As you realize, the structure is asymmetric regarding vestibule.

The rear vestibule is quite small and with a central zipper, you can see how it looks below:

This is how the rear side looks when the vestibule and the inner door are open:

When the fly is on, the tent must be staked to be functional, so in general it is not freestanding. The peak height is 73 in (185 cm).

The main vestibule is with two zippers, so the flap can be rolled up as you have seen in the top picture above. But when it is zipped, you have a large covered space to store gear and to use for sitting. This space is larger than the inner floored area.

Storage features: So the mentioned porch and vestibules are the main components of the tent regarding the storage, but this is not all.

The tent comes with a gear loft and with plenty of storage pouches. Some of them are fixed and some are removable, you have toggles and loops for this purpose. See the pictures below so realize what this tent offers.

Note that some of these removable storage pockets, 6 in total, are on the porch walls, see how they look:

The tent comes with a footprint included, and it extends in the porch area as shown in the picture below:

Materials

The poles: You have four aluminum poles and they attach to the tent’s base through grommets. On the canopy you have only clips, no sleeves. There are 10 stakes and 7 guylines in the package.

The fabric: The tent can be described as a true double-layer type, and this includes a mesh canopy plus the previously described fly. The floor is a bathtub style.

The canopy includes a 75D Plain Weave polyester 1500 mm and a 40D mesh. The fly and the floor are the same material 68D 210T ripstop polyester with a 1500 mm PU coating. All seams are taped.

Note that they claim this is all free of flame-retardant chemicals, so the tent may not adhere to CPAI084. I am not really impressed with the color, having a darker fly is always better, this would mean less glare inside and you could sleep longer.

Ventilation

The tent has plenty of mesh on the canopy, so vapor can escape. There are no floor vents but they are not needed, you can always have plenty of air coming from the ground underneath the fly.

More problematic are roof vents. There is a small one on the rear vestibule, but for such a massive fly it would be necessary to have more venting options when you have to keep the vestibules closed.

Please see more in this video:

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Who is it for

Regarding the area, the tent is officially for 6 people. For this you have 89.4 ft² (8.3 m²) of the floored area. This would mean 14.9 ft² (1.38 m²) per person.

So this is not a lot, but this is compensated by the fact that you have those great vestibules, and my rating for the area is quite high.

Regarding seasons & climate, the tent is with a full fly and with a quite aerodynamic and smooth shape, so it will perform well in practically every situation.

With so much mesh it is best suited for the warmer part of the year, but it can be described as a 3-season tent.

Regarding the weight, it may look heavy when you see its floored area and weight, but note that you have more than 17 square meters of covered space here. From this perspective its 23 lb 15.4 oz (10.9 kg) are not much.

But this is a camping tent so the weight is not so important, you will not carry it long distances in any case.

The packed size is also very good and this is more important. The carry bag is particularly nicely designed. It is very easy to pack the tent, you have plenty of space there. See how it looks:

Regarding the price, well, it is incredibly steep. So if you are on a budget, better check some other options. This Slumberjack Spruce Creek 6 Person Dome Tent may be a nice alternative, it also has a large porch.

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Specifications

• Weight: 23 lb 15.4 oz (10.9 kg).
• Official capacity: 6 people.
• Dimensions: 218.1 x 140.2 in (554 x 356 cm).
• Inner area: 89.4 ft² (8.3 m²).
• Inner area per person: 14.9 ft² (1.38 m²).
• Vestibules area: 94.4 ft² (8.8 m²).
• Peak height: 73 in (185 cm).
• Packed size (L x D): 28 x 14 in (71 x 36 cm).
• Manufacturer warranty: limited lifetime.

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Final thoughts, rating, pros & cons

Below you can see how this tent stands against my standard rating criteria that I apply consistently to all of them here in the site so that you can easily compare:

 

BEST PLACEs TO BUY:

Backcountry

For more tents of this shape please check in the category Dome Tents. Let me know if you have questions, there is a comment box below. Bookmark this site and come again, this will keep you informed, as you realize I add texts here on a regular basis. Thank you for reading.