CLAM Pop Up Screen Tent, Outdoor Camping Gazebo Canopy, Traveler, 6' x 6', Tan

This quite literally saved our camping trip. Without it, our group would’ve been stuck in campers for a day and an half. Other than our Starlink, this is the best purchase we’ve gotten for our camper. We used in our camp as a shelter from rain and wind and comfortably fit 12 grown adults in lawn chairs around the inside edge. We all stayed dry and out of the wind. The setup/take down takes at least 2 people, but my husband set it up by himself with no problem when it first arrived (he also had a Clam Ice shelter previously so he was able to without help). Stores perfect in the front compartment of our camper (we have a pop-up high wall). Overall, solid purchase. Would consider buying the floor as well but our outdoor rug worked well too.

We’ve been sitting with this box for a few months because there just hadn’t been an opportunity to use it, but today was the day!! I was a little leery about setting it up myself but after understanding the instructions it went smoothly. Yes, the tent is sort of inside out, but that’s the beauty of the easy set up. I floundered a bit before I realized I had to step outside of the canopy to pull the handles on each side to get them taught.It is so nice to enjoy our backyard with shade from the sun and no mosquitoes. It does get a little warm when there is no breeze blowing, but a small fan would fix that. We bought 3 side panels for sun protection. A trick I’m using is to not connect the bottom 3rd of Velcro and the hooks so the lower panel can blow open for wind.The zipper seems strong and overall I’m super pleased with the quality. We won’t leave this up all season long because it isn’t designed to be a permanent fixture. Many complained of rot or fabric tears and I can see if left open to the elements for months on end it might not make it long term.We haven’t experienced rain to know how or if it leaks. It is very stable. The only thing that would have made it perfect is if it came with a bottom? But that’s ok.

I really didn't want to buy this. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but after watching several video demonstrations of how easy it was to put up and how cool it looked...I just couldn't resist. We've used a 10 x 10 Coleman sun shelter for a few years now and it has worked well for us. It has built in LED lights, which are very cool, and I purchased the mosquito net walls that were made for it as well. We've used it for special events, yard sales, and camping. Although it has performed well over the years, it is a bit of a pain to set up (especially when adding the net walls around it), it's very heavy, and it takes up a lot of packing space in the back of the truck. Now, I don't plan to throw the ole' Coleman away. I'm just going to reserve it for events at home and take this Clam on the road.This is unbelievably easy to set up. I can do it by myself and it takes less than a minute. It's bigger than the Coleman, giving us a 12 x 12 area to relax in and it provides plenty of space for a table and chairs. It comes in an oversized bag which gives you plenty of room to pack it away. I really hate it when tents and other such things come in bags that are almost impossible to pack them back into. When in the bag, the Clam shelter is definitely longer than the Colman shelter but it has a slimmer profile and is much easier to lift and carry. The bag also has a shoulder sling and I can easily carry it over my shoulder with no problems. When setting it up the first time, I recommend paying close attention to some of the demonstration videos that can be seen online to avoid some of the problems that I've read about in other customer's reviews. I've read that some mistakenly tried to put it up in a "wrong side out" fashion which resulted in some very confusing situations. I try to think of it like "planting a tree". The shelter's central "roof hub" is what rests on the ground while the majority of the tent fabric is up in the air. You just let it open up and blossom like flower in a sense. Then, you just walk to each wall and pop it out with the final step being to walk inside to lift the roof up. It really is quite simple. Now, I saw plenty of videos of people putting it up, but I couldn't find anything about taking it down. I just did everything in reverse obviously and it also was very simple process.The shelter is fairly well made and you the company has put some extra features in to make it more durable. The eyelets that are used to pull the walls out are made of metal and there is extra fabric in the corners which protects those vulnerable areas from tearing. There is also an extra layer of fabric securing the area around the central hub for durability and increasing water resistance. The one thing that I did notice, however, is that the needle holes for the stitching are quite noticeable in the corners making these areas the most vulnerable for water. While the shelter doesn't claim to be waterproof, I will certainly be adding some seam sealer to these areas in order to make it's "resistance" a bit more effective. The shelter does come with small plastic stakes, but I plan on using some longer and more heavy duty galvanized tent stakes to provide extra security. Once the shelter is up, it's quite lightweight enough for you and a helper to position it over a picnic table. I've set it up in the yard twice now (once to check it out and once to show a family member how cool it was) and we had no problem positioning it. I also purchased a set (3 panels in each set) of the privacy/wind walls developed by Clam specifically for this shelter as well. They also go on very easy and are great to have. I plan on setting it up one more time to add the seam sealer to the corners and then it will have it's first run as we take it camping in a few weeks. This shelter will certainly help to reduce the amount of set up time and I am looking forward to using it.Update: 8/19/16 - Just got back from a week long camping trip and this Clam performed very well. We go to a family campground up in the mountains of North Carolina that accommodates both tent and RV campers. We stay in tents but everyone is always walking around and checking other campsites out. The Clam certainly got a lot of attention and I had at least three people (2 who travel in RVs) personally came up and asked questions about the shelter. The folks in the RVs usually sit and eat outside in the evenings and this particular shelter drew their attention because of how easy it is to set up and take down. I put some seam sealer on some of the areas that I had talked about previously in the review and it didn't leak a drop during two light rains and one moderate one. I didn't use the wind screens that I had purchased for it because it was still kind of warm up in the mountains and I didn't want to trap extra heat inside. The plastic stakes that came with the shelter would of been useless in the hard ground where I was at. I was glad that I brought some extra galvanized stakes with me. The wind picked up right before one of the rains and it pushed two of the wall panels in. I ended up using some guy lines around the metal eyelets on the wall panels of the shelter and securing them down with some additional stakes. There were no problems after that. I was very pleased with the performance and it sure made set up and take down a little bit easier.

I don’t know what magic this screen house is created from… I got the 9x9 to put on my back deck, and so far it has survived the chaos of 5 dogs that like to try to get each other through the screens, barrel through the doors, and chew on the poles 😆 It has also survived my two cats that have tried to climb the screens after bugs trying to get in. There isn’t a single snag or tear to be seen. And finally, it has even survived a horrendous pop up thunderstorm with insane wind and nickel size hail! In addition, it was a piece of cake to put up by myself. 10/10 recommend!!