I had to tape the tent together with military issue 100-mile-an-hour tape. Yes, I had to tape the tent poles together at night because the snaps failed miserably when the wind blew gently and caused the tent to completely collapse… in great weather, with little wind, and no rain. The only drawbacks to this tent are that there is a weather protecting flap over the door zipper that is kept in place by an elastic band which causes the flap to pull in toward the zipper and snag occasionally. It comes loose easily enough but over time this has put lots of little holes in that flap. I have the JW-7607 which is a 2-3 (read that as two) person tent. It has held up to kids camping in the living room and back yard, many camping trips to desert / forest / lake environments and even survived a bear “attack” with only a small tear.
One could, in theory, purchase a new Ozark canopy every year (which they might need to!) and still come out ahead over the years vs. purchasing a more expensive alternative. This design consists of, you guessed it, two stainless steel walls as well as a vacuum sealed chamber that sits in between the two walls. With a traditional single wall thermos, convection occurs transferring the internal heat out or vice versa, impacting the liquids temperature over time and at a greater pace.
An argument can be made as to whether this is good or bad. From a positive perspective, the lightweight design increases portability which is certainly important in carrying the tent to its intended location. From a negative perspective, the weight is indicative of a lack of high quality material and components used throughout the shelter. The included carrying bag does not have wheels to aid in transportation, but at only 29 lbs. We don’t find that to be a noteworthy drawback as the nylon handles and shoulder strap work just fine in carrying the tent.
I have found that the seams of the tent do drip a little when it rains (after all machines put tiny holes in things when they are sewn together) it is nothing that cannot be fixed with a little time and patience. I bought a $3 bottle of seam sealer followed the directions and have not had a single issue with water ozark trail backpack since. My husband and I decided to head to the Texas coast for our 10yr old’s first camping trip. I LOVE the room first of all , and the looks were very eye pleasing too. We set the tent up in the yard, only took us about 15min. I called North Pole (the makers of Ozark Trail tents) not to get much help!
There is no way we can camp with this tent, if it would rain it would ruin everything. We, like some others, know that tents are NOT waterproof, so we sprayed the seams etc. with water replant. When we reached the beach everything went great, first night 30 mh winds. Next night still calm, took cover off and loved looking up at the night sky.