North face bastion setup and first impressions
North Face Bastion, 4 person tent looks awesome once you set it up. We got it quickly, thank you Altitude Sports. I would recommend to anyone who buys this tent or its smaller 2 person version to set it up before the first trip. It easy but we got confused when setting up front vestibule and put poles into wrong holes. If it was raining and windy, it would be quite stressful experience. Other than that tent is awesome. It looks really sturdy, lot of pockets, spacious, lot of ventilation points and included stakes look of a good quality. Not something where you need to look for a replacement right away. Maybe if you are going to be camping in deep soft snow, you would want to get bigger stakes, but included ones are otherwise really good. We had before this a 17 year old 4 season North Face tent, and this one looks even better built than previous one that lasted that long. Vestibule is as big as you would want it on 4 season tent. The only thing is that this tent is not light, and if you are going to be backpacking with it, I would say, split it between 3 people or more. Otherwise weight is considerable for one or 2 people. If it is just for two people, go with smaller version if you will need to carry it. Tent profile is low enough and poles look really strong, so I am not worried about wind or snow. Materials and workmanship look quite good, so I am not worried about things falling apart. I think you should be able to use it in summer too, but obviously not in desert. It has lot of ventilation points which should make it cool enough. I would buy it again. It is expensive, but if you are going camping every year, maybe multiple times, over span of multiple days, the last thing is that you want, to setup tent for eg 5th time, go to sleep and wake up in a pool of water in a tent with crashed poles,. . .