Eureka! Backcountry 4 Tent
By Esther Yu

Eureka's Backcountry 4 has simple design that's hard to dislike because it makes setting up and getting ready for bed quick and comfortable. On my very first try I set the tent up in under two minutes.

I attribute that ease to three of the tent's main attributes: first, it's a free-standing tent, which avoids the hassle of staking down the tent to set it up; second, the equal-length poles are interchangeable; and third, the same poles simply clip to the tent--a much easier system than pole sleeves.

Once the tent is up it has several qualities that make it seem especially comfortable for both campers and backpackers who want to share a four-person tent. First, the space: at 56.25 square feet on a square-shaped floor, there's plenty of room for four people to sit inside with space around and above them. The peak height is 53 inches. That's pretty standard for a four-person tent, but remarkable for a tent weighting just 8 pounds and 4 ounces. That's a low weight for a four-person tent--most other four person tents in the same price range average around 11 pounds.

I wasn't fond of what I felt was a lack of windows because I couldn't enjoy the night sky, but there was plenty of ventilation. The tent is designed with three windows; one on the door, another opposite from it, and small triangular one on the ceiling. This design allows for circular ventilation.

On one camping trip this winter, I closed most of the windows, as it was quite cold - though a mild winter, we were sleeping on at least half a foot of snow. In the morning, there was a bit of condensation on the roof, but because of a sunny day, removing the rain fly for an hour gave the tent time to dry out before we were ready to leave camp.

We've also tested this tent in the rain. The rainfly is not full coverage, so although it does a great job, rain coming in at an angle could possibly get in through the front side. Eureka! makes another tent, the Mountain Pass 4XT with the same design, but offering a full-coverage rainfly for camping or backpacking in harsher weather. (See our review of the Mountain Pass 4XT.) The floor's bathtub-shaped design goes slightly up the tent's walls so that rain cannot get in through ground seams.

Additional features inside the tent include a small, mesh compartment on each side for all the little things you may not want to lose in the night - flashlight, earplugs, etc. A shelf rack near the ceiling works well for laying out wet items, like gloves or socks.

There isn't a vestibule, which makes this tent slightly inconvenient in rain, but we did like the design of the doorway. It's a D-door, which means it is basically shaped like a capital "D." When unzipped, rather than falling to the ground in the dirt or mud, or tripping you as you enter, the door opens to the side and into the tent. This makes it easy to get out except for one thing. Since the zipper is rounded, it has a lot of tension and is less smooth to zip and unzip. Without a vestibule, this could let water in a little too fast in the rain.

Summary

This is one of the best four-person tents you can get at a reasonable price, around $220. A big plus is the tent's lightweight. If all I had was $200 for a tent that could comfortably take a small family either camping or backpacking, I would be happy to spend it on the Backcountry 4.

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