Product Review: Big Agnes Fairview 3

October 5th, 2010 Posted by Jessica. Published under Gear + Product Review. 1 Comment.

As I mentioned in my earlier post about my new Big Agnes Fairview 3 tent, here is my updated product review since I’ve had a chance to camp in it a few times.

This is a great tent.  Just to remind you of the technicals of the tent, here are the specs:

Big Agnes Fairview 3

Here are the pros I’ve found so far:

• Weighing only 6 lbs when it’s fully packed, the tent is light and packs very small.
• The mesh canopy provides a lot of air circulation in hot weather and provides a great view of the stars in warm weather with no rain fly.
• The rain fly really seems to withstand the elements relatively well.  Just make sure you pull the cords of the rain fly out as far as possible and stake them so the rain won’t get under your footprint.
• I also like that there’s a little loop in the ceiling of the tent to hang a lamp like my Black Diamond Orbit Lantern.
• I LOVE how easy the tent is to set up.  The last tent I’d set up before this one was my parents’– an old yellow tent with little air circulation and sleeves for the various poles to rip through to get the tent set up.  The Big Agnes Fairview 3 is sleeveless– it uses clips which fasten to the poles for easy and speedy setup.  This also seems to hold up stronger in the long run, since there’s no sleeve to push the poles through, either.
• The tent can be set up with the rain fly and footprint in well under 10 minutes.
• There are little storage pockets throughout the inside of the tent which were great for storing our deck of cards and our headlamps.

I really have only found two cons so far:

• While the door to the tent is very large, I’d really love to have two doors on the tent.  It would just make entering and exiting while the other person is asleep much more convenient– especially considering we’ll have our panniers in the tent with us.
• The rain fly is bright yellow.  I’m very much looking forward to stealth camping (much to my mom’s fears) and nothing says, “Hey!  I’m trying to secretly camp on private property!” like a big ol’ yellow rain fly.  I’ll have to figure something out.

So there you have it, folks.  Anyone else who’s used this tent, feel free to tell me your experiences!  It seems to be a great bang for your buck.  I look forward to writing more about it as I use it in the future.  Home sweet home!