This is more of an introduction to my Seek Outside six man tipi tent then it is a review. I haven't had a chance to actually camp in the tipi yet, but wanted to share a little bit about my buying process and first impressions of the tent. Overall I've been very happy with my decision to buy the Seek Outside Tipi, I really couldn't be happier with it.
I’ve hunted a lot of years, but most of them have been hunted out of wall tents, trailers, the bed of a pickup truck and of course my own home. A long time hunting buddy and I decided that this year we would try to get a little farther away from the crowds as well as try our hands at bow hunting. This was going to require a lot of education and some new gear (I love new gear!) ….and all the research that goes along with buying that gear. I should add that I'm a research nut, probably to a fault; I can spend hours and days reading reviews, specs, etc. and then weighing the positives and minuses of each individual piece of gear. I really like to do things right the first time and don't mind spending a couple extra dollars to make sure I don't have buyer’s remorse.
When my buddy and I talked about shelter for the backcountry hunts, we tossed around all sorts of ideas. A four man tent, two-man tents for each of us to have our own shelters etc; after speaking with a few other backcountry hunters I knew that a tipi some sort was going to be the way we’d go. We also really like a little bit of comfort and the idea of a stove to dry things out should we end up hunting during a wet week in Washington seemed to seal the deal on a tipi with stove combo. No reason to be miserable for 7-9 days if you don’t have to be.
The decision then became what brand of tipi to go with and what size to buy. I looked at all the regulars like Kifaru, TI Goat and Seek Outside, as well as a handful of others that I don't remember. I quickly realized that it would either be a four man or six man tipi, nothing smaller or larger made sense, so I only had to decide between those two. I knew that I’d want a stove as well, large enough to warm the place up and take decent sized wood, but small and light enough that it wouldn’t be a burden. My hunt for my perfect setup began.
Did I mention I like research? To help with my decision I had made a spreadsheet; all the square footage sizes, weights, costs, benefits and the like. In the end I came to the following conclusions:
6 Man Tipi was the size I wanted – The extra room to stretch out, bring gear in from the rain and the overall comfort it would provide was a good tradeoff for the slightly larger packed size and weight. The larger tipi would also let me use it for a summer trip with my hunting partner and our two sons, big enough to comfortably sleep the four of us. Technically it could sleep my own family of four, but what are the chances really of getting my wife out in it?
“Large” Stove – I put large in quotes because compared to the large stoves I used to have in wall tents the “large” is more of a mini. Again the size/weight tradeoffs were easily worth the extra capacity that the large provided over a mini. Both would heat the tent easily I’m sure, but the large stove allows for larger sticks and logs. The larger pieces of wood obviously burn longer, but as important is the ease of breaking/cutting larger pieces vs smaller ones.
As I gave away in my opening paragraph, in the end I made the decision to go with the Seek Outside 6 Man Tipi, I really think it’s the best hunting tipi for my wants and needs. In the end the final decision had come down to Seek Outside and Kifaru, both great options. While I’m sure the Kifaru would have served my needs the Seek Outside weighed less while providing more features like two peak vents, two doors, sod skirts and zipper storm flaps.
I set the tent up in the yard so that the kids and I could play in it a little and make sure that I knew how all the pieces went together before I got up in the middle of nowhere with it. I watched the video that Seek Outside has on youtube.com for tent setup, it’s really quite a bit easier than expected. First time I think the tent took a whole 5 minutes to put up. The stove went together just as fast and in no time we had that tent up to what felt like 80 degrees. The kids were thrilled to have lunch in there and we all were having a good time adding wood to the fire….who doesn’t love a good fire? I had some dry kindling to get it started and then the kids threw all sorts of wet sticks in there and the stove just burnt them up. I’m real impressed with the stove’s ability to draw air, the damper and spark arrestor combo, etc. With all the wet sticks burning I think the neighbors thought we had just elected a new Pope.
The maiden camping voyage is coming soon…..My son and I will make a quick overnight trip and post our review.
I’ve hunted a lot of years, but most of them have been hunted out of wall tents, trailers, the bed of a pickup truck and of course my own home. A long time hunting buddy and I decided that this year we would try to get a little farther away from the crowds as well as try our hands at bow hunting. This was going to require a lot of education and some new gear (I love new gear!) ….and all the research that goes along with buying that gear. I should add that I'm a research nut, probably to a fault; I can spend hours and days reading reviews, specs, etc. and then weighing the positives and minuses of each individual piece of gear. I really like to do things right the first time and don't mind spending a couple extra dollars to make sure I don't have buyer’s remorse.
When my buddy and I talked about shelter for the backcountry hunts, we tossed around all sorts of ideas. A four man tent, two-man tents for each of us to have our own shelters etc; after speaking with a few other backcountry hunters I knew that a tipi some sort was going to be the way we’d go. We also really like a little bit of comfort and the idea of a stove to dry things out should we end up hunting during a wet week in Washington seemed to seal the deal on a tipi with stove combo. No reason to be miserable for 7-9 days if you don’t have to be.
The decision then became what brand of tipi to go with and what size to buy. I looked at all the regulars like Kifaru, TI Goat and Seek Outside, as well as a handful of others that I don't remember. I quickly realized that it would either be a four man or six man tipi, nothing smaller or larger made sense, so I only had to decide between those two. I knew that I’d want a stove as well, large enough to warm the place up and take decent sized wood, but small and light enough that it wouldn’t be a burden. My hunt for my perfect setup began.
Did I mention I like research? To help with my decision I had made a spreadsheet; all the square footage sizes, weights, costs, benefits and the like. In the end I came to the following conclusions:
6 Man Tipi was the size I wanted – The extra room to stretch out, bring gear in from the rain and the overall comfort it would provide was a good tradeoff for the slightly larger packed size and weight. The larger tipi would also let me use it for a summer trip with my hunting partner and our two sons, big enough to comfortably sleep the four of us. Technically it could sleep my own family of four, but what are the chances really of getting my wife out in it?
“Large” Stove – I put large in quotes because compared to the large stoves I used to have in wall tents the “large” is more of a mini. Again the size/weight tradeoffs were easily worth the extra capacity that the large provided over a mini. Both would heat the tent easily I’m sure, but the large stove allows for larger sticks and logs. The larger pieces of wood obviously burn longer, but as important is the ease of breaking/cutting larger pieces vs smaller ones.
As I gave away in my opening paragraph, in the end I made the decision to go with the Seek Outside 6 Man Tipi, I really think it’s the best hunting tipi for my wants and needs. In the end the final decision had come down to Seek Outside and Kifaru, both great options. While I’m sure the Kifaru would have served my needs the Seek Outside weighed less while providing more features like two peak vents, two doors, sod skirts and zipper storm flaps.
I set the tent up in the yard so that the kids and I could play in it a little and make sure that I knew how all the pieces went together before I got up in the middle of nowhere with it. I watched the video that Seek Outside has on youtube.com for tent setup, it’s really quite a bit easier than expected. First time I think the tent took a whole 5 minutes to put up. The stove went together just as fast and in no time we had that tent up to what felt like 80 degrees. The kids were thrilled to have lunch in there and we all were having a good time adding wood to the fire….who doesn’t love a good fire? I had some dry kindling to get it started and then the kids threw all sorts of wet sticks in there and the stove just burnt them up. I’m real impressed with the stove’s ability to draw air, the damper and spark arrestor combo, etc. With all the wet sticks burning I think the neighbors thought we had just elected a new Pope.
The maiden camping voyage is coming soon…..My son and I will make a quick overnight trip and post our review.
