I once had a tent from a major brand that was marketed solely as a pop up instant tent. That one relied on a single proprietary irreplaceable single point of failure that was under built ,and that experience caused me to avoid instant tents in general. This Fanttik Outdoor Zeta tent does have a similar single point of failure, but that piece is studier and less complex. The poles, fabric, stitching, and interconnects are of decent quality. I suspect this tent will last a fair amount of time, possibly justifying its wow factor – the cost.
First and foremost this is a tent, being a fast setup tent is secondary. That's a good thing – generally tents marketed primarily as fast setup suffer in many other aspects. You might go camping for a weekend, the percentage of time spent assembling a tent is really sort insignificant compared to the amount of time spent in the tent, and it really shouldn't be the primary focus. The Fanttik Outdoor Apex is very large, and the traditional cabin shape allows for mattress placement that takes the least amount of space. There is quite a bit of mesh – windows, roof, doors…. if you're camping in the summer, you'll be happy with how much air can pass through this tent.
You can stand up in this tent… I can stand up in this tent and I'm 6'3".
Somewhat average, but not below average by any means, the fabric is what you would expect in this price range. The waterproof floor extends up the walls a few inches, so even if you pitched in what will be a puddle in the middle of the night, the floor should stay dry. There is a rain fly which is easy to attach initially, but requires traditional guylines. Don't worry, they made them black like every other tent company so they're really hard to see by kids running around at night. There's a lantern hook, power inlet hole, wall pockets… all the stuff you would expect.
There are some below average features. The canopy is disappointing. I've been caught in the rain a few times too stubborn to leave but too unprepared to have brought a canopy, huddled in one of these tent canopies. This canopy has no walls, and doesn't fold out from the tent walls like most canopies do. The advantage to this is that you don't have to use it, and that's the right move really. If you do choose to use this, you stick two poles in the corners and hold those poles up with guy lines. Picture keeping a massive kite on the ground by balancing it on two poles with string…. yeah the canopy isn't great.
And just like the big tent companies with similarly priced tents, they include coat hanger stakes that get pulled out of the ground instantly by well tensioned guy lines. Turns out, you can buy those beefy yellow plastic stakes premium tents came with in the 80s… or those aluminum V shapes stakes from the 90s. If you're considering this tent, you should.
Fine, I'll talk about the instant setup. The main advantage is that a single person can assemble this without much difficulty. Is it as easy or as well designed as an instant canopy? No, of course not… none's saying anything like that… but we all know that technology is reserved by every manufacturer of canopies, and tent manufacturers aren't allow to use that. It's easier than other tents is all.
Most tents this size require a very specific action/reaction balance in areas about a half inch away from holding one pole and grabbing the next. This can by lifted easily by one pole, and the poles are rigid… not made of that specialty material so bendy that the more you lift it, the more it sags on the ground. Still, 60 seconds for one person requires sprinting corner to corner and definitely doesn't include the rain fly. 4 people could reasonably get this tent vertical in 15 seconds, which is coincidentally about the amount of time the average family member will assist with setup.
The downside is tear down… there's a specific specific sequence. Everyone knows- just as checkout in a hotel is always too soon, the same checkout time at a tent campground is far too late. The goal is the get out of dodge in 3 minutes… you'll shower at home. It's the only day the whole family gets up early. Honestly, give me a tent that stows in 60 seconds and we're talking. Did they make the bag 1/2" smaller than the collapsed tent and vacuum sealed it in the bag at the factory?… it wouldn't be a tent if they didn't, right? You can get it in the car in reasonable time, but it will take some practice to not have to repack it at home.
It's fine. None of the disadvantages hold a candle to the issues the big tent companies design into their products. It's sort of crazy expensive for what it is… yet somehow reasonable when compared to similar things. Funny, that perfectly describes campsites too. If it were too good or made any sense at all, it really wouldn't be considered camping.
