BootsnAll Travel Network



The Coleman Epsilon 2 Tent: A Preliminary Review

Do you remember the old joke about the swing designed by a committee? It ends up with the swing dangling in the centre of a tree with the trunk suspended above it by scaffolding.

All the customer wanted was an old tire, tied to a branch with a piece of string.

You get the picture—the Coleman Epsilon 2 is a tent designed by a committee.
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Yes, I am biassed. In my opinion, nothing stands up to the free-standing dome design. But I can accept that a more aerodynamic shape might be useful in cold conditions and that weight could be a consideration. The CE2 is about 400g lighter than my old Salewa Nevada (no longer manufactured).
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However, it takes over a dozen pegs to secure. Free-standing it isn’t. Perhaps the manufacturers should not have stinged with a rigid central pole. The system of buckles which have to be tightened around the corners had me scratch my head.

Today is a beautiful July afternoon in Tadley, not a breeze stirs the air, and I took my time erecting the tent. It still took me a good while and I’m covered in nettlestings and spiderwebs after crawling through the bushes around the edges of our lawn to find suitable spots for putting the pegs. The skewed ropes indicate that I did not always succeed.

This is not a tent for camping on sanddunes or beaches, concrete patches or ice.

Saying that, the ventilation cannot be faulted.
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I’ll have to see how chilly this gets when the wind blows. Sitting up inside almost inevitably means brushing against the outer sheet and again I will have to see how waterproof this thing is in a monsoon deluge or Scottish perma-drizzle. I may be a little unfair, but the Salewa Nevada is a hell of a tough act to follow.

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