This here is my review of my James Baroud Space Evolution RTT after setting it up and my first weekend camping in it.
When I bought my m101 trailer, it came with a Tepui Kukenam RTT. Not a bad tent... but not the one I wanted. I wanted something that was faster to setup/take down (most of my camping is while on the go, and rarely do I spend more than 1 night in the same place). I read all the reviews, on the Autohome and James Baroud (the only 2 brands that I was interested in). I wanted the headroom of the Columbus, but wanted more foot room, and didn't like the stories of water getting into them... and decided on the JB Escape Evolution, as it had the headroom, and the foot room.
So at a huge cost (when it was all said and done (tent, shipping and duty) ~$5100 - yeah I know) I ordered exactly the one I wanted. Had a rack fab'd up, and got it mounted. And before having a chance to use it... scored a sweat deal on a teardrop that's practically in my backyard (neighboring Alaska). Having my departure to Alaska delayed, I decided to go camping and test out the new tent!
Some thoughts. Some is on the tent... some is on my setup (mainly COG I believe). Traveled 90 minutes to Pine Lk campground (just outside of Haines Junction, YT). Got to my camp site, and deployed the tent. Took all of 15-30 seconds. Tossed my bedding in, and then grabbed some beer and went and visited my friends at the next site. Four hours later, and several beers in, my buddy decided that midnight was late enough and we called it a night. Decided to open the awning to pose for a shot (taken at midnight).
Then went to go to bed. Now as to the tent... There's way too many zippers (and this goes for all 3 doors/openings). Both the door and the interior screen door (there's 2 completely separate doors) have 4 zippers each, and a Velcro bottom (I mean really... couldn't put a zipper there... or just run it past the bottom of the tent and let it hang like the Kukenam did!?). Anyway this is a pain in the *** after having a few beers and trying to see which zipper to use to get out to take a pee. The Velcro is also annoying as it touches, then makes it hard to get the zipper to close without adjusting it. And if you don't get it all the way to the bottom you'll have a small hole... while from the looks of things would allow water in if it's raining.
Good news is that even with the never ending daylight in the Yukon come summer, the tent was still fairly dark inside. The built in fan works great, as does the light (it would just be nice if the button was a tad closer - or my arms were longer). Was very warm the first night (had the fan off, and was all buttoned up). Opened up the vents in the doors, and turned the fan on the 2nd night and was too cold (only had a sheet and a microfleece). Buttoned it back up, and turned the fan off and it did eventually warm up. This tent (white with a black vinyl wrap) gets fairly warn during the day. Fan and partially opened doors (just the tops) was easily enough to cool it down fairly quickly when I went for an afternoon seista (aided by beer and a light rain). We had some very mild rain (1-3mm) and inside was completely dry.
As for the ladder... in simple terms it royally sucks ***. When I was setting it up in my driveway after mounting it on my trailer... I found that because it doesn't lock (just 2 sliding pieces) and that the top part hangs off the side of the tent... that me at 245 will flex out the side of the tent when I put my full weight on the top portion. Which means you have to place it in such a manor that your weight isn't on that top section*. Also as I found this weekend if you have your toes between the different portions/rungs and step on the wrong one, it will compress on your toes. It's also damn narrow, and the hooks on the end are not long enough to prevent a user who's not completely sober from knocking the ladder out of them, and having it fall away. Fortunately I caught it, and was able to get it back in place. Just a note... even sober I knocked the ladder off when testing the setup in my driveway. I ordered the same ladder I have on my Tepui where each individual rung will latch, thus allowing all the weight to be on the ground, and not off the side of the tent. I'll have my local fab shop make up a couple of mounts to mount to the stock points. I'll also make sure they lock/latch to the tent. More on the ladder at the bottom.
The mattress which I initially thought was pretty decent, needs to be upgraded. Again, at 5,9 and 245 I'm not light... but while it's manageable, 2 nights was rough, and left me really looking forward to my very nice mattress at home tonight. I'm thinking that a pair of cheaper thermarests under the stock mattress should do the job. If not I'll return them and figure something else out.
The tent is 55 inches (4.58' wide). Lots of room for 1 person... enough for 2 people - as long as you're on good terms with that person. For me, I would not share it with another dude... but would if it was a someone of the female persuasion that I liked. For a couple on an extended trip... it would be cozy. I could easily sit upright... and had to to reach the button for the light. The tent is 78" long (6.5'). With my two pillows, and stretching out, my feet frequently hit the end of the tent. I just angled myself somewhat. Not a big issue (again, was just me), but would otherwise have to either lose a pillow (oh no!), or re-adjust how I'm setup. I did neither, and dealt with it. For me (5-9) this is a non issue. However if I was much taller, I think I'd have to look at the extra long version (if they have one). Other than the ladder, and all the zippers on the doors, getting in and out through the large doors wasn't an issue. Not quite as easy as my Kukenam, but easy enough. With a better ladder, shouldn't be an issue.
Take down time was maybe 1-2 minutes. MUCH faster than the Kukenam - especially with my 4" thermarest in there (that had to be deflated) and prevented me from keeping all my bedding in it. I left my pillow, sheets and microflece in there (as I would if I was traveling). The tent latches down with 4 hooks/latches (2 front, 2 rear sides). You have to do the rear first, and with the pillow in there, getting the first one in was hard. However after the first was in, the rest were easy. Just go around tucking the doors in as you latch it up. I didn't put the ladder in there. I'm assuming with with more practice (both in stowing it, and how/where I store my pillow(s) and bedding), it'll get easier.
Other than the ladder (which I'll touch on again in a min) and the crappy mattress (which was miles ahead of the stock one in my Kukenam) the tent was very good. My only other issue is that tiny movements in the tent will really rock the trailer. With just myself in there it's annoying, but manageable. But if I had company, it would be annoying... In addition to these tiny movements that rocked the trailer, when going over small bumps they would really rock the tent/trailer. Even after buying the TD I was planning on taking this down to BC on a wheeling trip and taking it on the trail (one I've never been on).... however I'm not so sure that's a good idea now, seeing how top heavy it is. And having just bought a TD (that I won't take on the trail), I won't have the funds this summer to make any adjustments to try and deal with this (new lid/new lower rack). The weight (loaded, sans water) is 1300 lbs (full cooking gear, spare tire, lots of firewood, etc). Some sort of stabilizer would likely help with that issues... at least while deployed for sleeping. I'll explore this more once I figure out what I'm going to do with both trailers.
*Now as for the ladder, I decided to replace it (at a cost ~$185 + fab work for the mounts) for 2 reasons. One because when I put my weight on the top part, it would flex out the whole side of the tent. One side (my tent is offset slightly) where there's more overhang flexes out a lot more than the other. Considering that the shipping cost me 1k the fact that there's a warranty means very little (unless they're going to cover the shipping... which I highly doubt). I might be able to ship it to one of the two Canadian dealers and have them deal with it... which would likely cut the shipping in half.... but basically unless the tent falls apart, of something little breaks where they can just send me the part, the shipping costs make it prohibitive to have the tent replaced. The 2nd reason was 2 fold. A the way it latches in royally sucks. I knocked it off when testing it after setting it up, and I did so again after a few beers when getting out to pee this weekend. B, it's way too narrow. I haven't measured it, but it's roughly 12 inches wide. Which when you're climbing out backwards after a beer or two, makes it hard to find - especially as it's easy to knock out of the mounts. I'd be terrified to use this if I had this mounted on my jeep.
Conclusion.
Very very nice tent. Very fast deployment, very fast takedown. Very very expensive. The breakdown (for me) was ~3300 for the tent (stupid exchange rate), ~1k for shipping from NJ to Whitehorse Yukon, and ~$800 for duty (18%) and GST (5%). Had I ordered it from one of the 2 Canadian dealers (both on the west coast) I might have saved $3-400... however one was explicit on their website that they wouldn't ship (and didn't have this model in stock), and the other never responded to emails - even after being prompted by the US office. They (per JB USA) didn't have this model in stock either. Mediocre mattress (which I've come to accept as par for the course for RTTs). Atrocious ladder design - yes its light and likely strong, and easy to setup... but I really can't believe that a tent that costs this much would have something this ****ty for a ladder. It's unfortunate that a tent that goes for 3k, one will still need to upgrade the mattress and make some changes to the ladder (either replacing as I will, or some other minor ones to at least keep it in the holders).
That said... it's a damn nice tent, and even knowing what I do now would still have likely purchased it. It sucks that it cost me what it did... but then that goes hand in hand with where I've chosen to live. For someone in the lower 48, this would cost maybe $3500 shipped. At which point... it becomes a very good tent. Expensive... but one that should last a lifetime. Even if I sell both trailers and go with something else (I can easily make a profit on the TD) I'll keep the tent. Partly because of the cost for me to get it up here, partly because I could never re-coup that cost, and partly because it's a damn nice tent.
I ordered mine from James Baroud USA/OK4WD (it's the same people/company) and dealt with Craig Davidson. He was great, helping me through the process to import it into Canada, and answering all my never ending questions. I can't say enough good things about his service, and how helpful and patient he was.
http://4wheelauto.com/
http://www.jamesbaroudusa.com/discoveryspaceevolution.php
http://www.jamesbaroud.com.au/ (more specs here)
Some pictures. With my 2012 JKU. (taken around 11pm - God I live the Yukon in the summer!)
Taken before I attached the awning (bar is to set the pole width, awning will mount to it). I had it raised to see about entering/exiting from that side. I had less flex, but while camping, used the passenger side, and just tried to say on the rungs from the bottom part of the ladder.
Glad to see that if the weather is bad, I can setup the ladder on this side, and enter/exit under the awning. Until I sort out the flex issue, will have to use this side.
Hopefully this is useful should anyone else be considering one of these tents (they are nice).
When I bought my m101 trailer, it came with a Tepui Kukenam RTT. Not a bad tent... but not the one I wanted. I wanted something that was faster to setup/take down (most of my camping is while on the go, and rarely do I spend more than 1 night in the same place). I read all the reviews, on the Autohome and James Baroud (the only 2 brands that I was interested in). I wanted the headroom of the Columbus, but wanted more foot room, and didn't like the stories of water getting into them... and decided on the JB Escape Evolution, as it had the headroom, and the foot room.
So at a huge cost (when it was all said and done (tent, shipping and duty) ~$5100 - yeah I know) I ordered exactly the one I wanted. Had a rack fab'd up, and got it mounted. And before having a chance to use it... scored a sweat deal on a teardrop that's practically in my backyard (neighboring Alaska). Having my departure to Alaska delayed, I decided to go camping and test out the new tent!
Some thoughts. Some is on the tent... some is on my setup (mainly COG I believe). Traveled 90 minutes to Pine Lk campground (just outside of Haines Junction, YT). Got to my camp site, and deployed the tent. Took all of 15-30 seconds. Tossed my bedding in, and then grabbed some beer and went and visited my friends at the next site. Four hours later, and several beers in, my buddy decided that midnight was late enough and we called it a night. Decided to open the awning to pose for a shot (taken at midnight).
Then went to go to bed. Now as to the tent... There's way too many zippers (and this goes for all 3 doors/openings). Both the door and the interior screen door (there's 2 completely separate doors) have 4 zippers each, and a Velcro bottom (I mean really... couldn't put a zipper there... or just run it past the bottom of the tent and let it hang like the Kukenam did!?). Anyway this is a pain in the *** after having a few beers and trying to see which zipper to use to get out to take a pee. The Velcro is also annoying as it touches, then makes it hard to get the zipper to close without adjusting it. And if you don't get it all the way to the bottom you'll have a small hole... while from the looks of things would allow water in if it's raining.
Good news is that even with the never ending daylight in the Yukon come summer, the tent was still fairly dark inside. The built in fan works great, as does the light (it would just be nice if the button was a tad closer - or my arms were longer). Was very warm the first night (had the fan off, and was all buttoned up). Opened up the vents in the doors, and turned the fan on the 2nd night and was too cold (only had a sheet and a microfleece). Buttoned it back up, and turned the fan off and it did eventually warm up. This tent (white with a black vinyl wrap) gets fairly warn during the day. Fan and partially opened doors (just the tops) was easily enough to cool it down fairly quickly when I went for an afternoon seista (aided by beer and a light rain). We had some very mild rain (1-3mm) and inside was completely dry.
As for the ladder... in simple terms it royally sucks ***. When I was setting it up in my driveway after mounting it on my trailer... I found that because it doesn't lock (just 2 sliding pieces) and that the top part hangs off the side of the tent... that me at 245 will flex out the side of the tent when I put my full weight on the top portion. Which means you have to place it in such a manor that your weight isn't on that top section*. Also as I found this weekend if you have your toes between the different portions/rungs and step on the wrong one, it will compress on your toes. It's also damn narrow, and the hooks on the end are not long enough to prevent a user who's not completely sober from knocking the ladder out of them, and having it fall away. Fortunately I caught it, and was able to get it back in place. Just a note... even sober I knocked the ladder off when testing the setup in my driveway. I ordered the same ladder I have on my Tepui where each individual rung will latch, thus allowing all the weight to be on the ground, and not off the side of the tent. I'll have my local fab shop make up a couple of mounts to mount to the stock points. I'll also make sure they lock/latch to the tent. More on the ladder at the bottom.
The mattress which I initially thought was pretty decent, needs to be upgraded. Again, at 5,9 and 245 I'm not light... but while it's manageable, 2 nights was rough, and left me really looking forward to my very nice mattress at home tonight. I'm thinking that a pair of cheaper thermarests under the stock mattress should do the job. If not I'll return them and figure something else out.
The tent is 55 inches (4.58' wide). Lots of room for 1 person... enough for 2 people - as long as you're on good terms with that person. For me, I would not share it with another dude... but would if it was a someone of the female persuasion that I liked. For a couple on an extended trip... it would be cozy. I could easily sit upright... and had to to reach the button for the light. The tent is 78" long (6.5'). With my two pillows, and stretching out, my feet frequently hit the end of the tent. I just angled myself somewhat. Not a big issue (again, was just me), but would otherwise have to either lose a pillow (oh no!), or re-adjust how I'm setup. I did neither, and dealt with it. For me (5-9) this is a non issue. However if I was much taller, I think I'd have to look at the extra long version (if they have one). Other than the ladder, and all the zippers on the doors, getting in and out through the large doors wasn't an issue. Not quite as easy as my Kukenam, but easy enough. With a better ladder, shouldn't be an issue.
Take down time was maybe 1-2 minutes. MUCH faster than the Kukenam - especially with my 4" thermarest in there (that had to be deflated) and prevented me from keeping all my bedding in it. I left my pillow, sheets and microflece in there (as I would if I was traveling). The tent latches down with 4 hooks/latches (2 front, 2 rear sides). You have to do the rear first, and with the pillow in there, getting the first one in was hard. However after the first was in, the rest were easy. Just go around tucking the doors in as you latch it up. I didn't put the ladder in there. I'm assuming with with more practice (both in stowing it, and how/where I store my pillow(s) and bedding), it'll get easier.
Other than the ladder (which I'll touch on again in a min) and the crappy mattress (which was miles ahead of the stock one in my Kukenam) the tent was very good. My only other issue is that tiny movements in the tent will really rock the trailer. With just myself in there it's annoying, but manageable. But if I had company, it would be annoying... In addition to these tiny movements that rocked the trailer, when going over small bumps they would really rock the tent/trailer. Even after buying the TD I was planning on taking this down to BC on a wheeling trip and taking it on the trail (one I've never been on).... however I'm not so sure that's a good idea now, seeing how top heavy it is. And having just bought a TD (that I won't take on the trail), I won't have the funds this summer to make any adjustments to try and deal with this (new lid/new lower rack). The weight (loaded, sans water) is 1300 lbs (full cooking gear, spare tire, lots of firewood, etc). Some sort of stabilizer would likely help with that issues... at least while deployed for sleeping. I'll explore this more once I figure out what I'm going to do with both trailers.
*Now as for the ladder, I decided to replace it (at a cost ~$185 + fab work for the mounts) for 2 reasons. One because when I put my weight on the top part, it would flex out the whole side of the tent. One side (my tent is offset slightly) where there's more overhang flexes out a lot more than the other. Considering that the shipping cost me 1k the fact that there's a warranty means very little (unless they're going to cover the shipping... which I highly doubt). I might be able to ship it to one of the two Canadian dealers and have them deal with it... which would likely cut the shipping in half.... but basically unless the tent falls apart, of something little breaks where they can just send me the part, the shipping costs make it prohibitive to have the tent replaced. The 2nd reason was 2 fold. A the way it latches in royally sucks. I knocked it off when testing it after setting it up, and I did so again after a few beers when getting out to pee this weekend. B, it's way too narrow. I haven't measured it, but it's roughly 12 inches wide. Which when you're climbing out backwards after a beer or two, makes it hard to find - especially as it's easy to knock out of the mounts. I'd be terrified to use this if I had this mounted on my jeep.
Conclusion.
Very very nice tent. Very fast deployment, very fast takedown. Very very expensive. The breakdown (for me) was ~3300 for the tent (stupid exchange rate), ~1k for shipping from NJ to Whitehorse Yukon, and ~$800 for duty (18%) and GST (5%). Had I ordered it from one of the 2 Canadian dealers (both on the west coast) I might have saved $3-400... however one was explicit on their website that they wouldn't ship (and didn't have this model in stock), and the other never responded to emails - even after being prompted by the US office. They (per JB USA) didn't have this model in stock either. Mediocre mattress (which I've come to accept as par for the course for RTTs). Atrocious ladder design - yes its light and likely strong, and easy to setup... but I really can't believe that a tent that costs this much would have something this ****ty for a ladder. It's unfortunate that a tent that goes for 3k, one will still need to upgrade the mattress and make some changes to the ladder (either replacing as I will, or some other minor ones to at least keep it in the holders).
That said... it's a damn nice tent, and even knowing what I do now would still have likely purchased it. It sucks that it cost me what it did... but then that goes hand in hand with where I've chosen to live. For someone in the lower 48, this would cost maybe $3500 shipped. At which point... it becomes a very good tent. Expensive... but one that should last a lifetime. Even if I sell both trailers and go with something else (I can easily make a profit on the TD) I'll keep the tent. Partly because of the cost for me to get it up here, partly because I could never re-coup that cost, and partly because it's a damn nice tent.
I ordered mine from James Baroud USA/OK4WD (it's the same people/company) and dealt with Craig Davidson. He was great, helping me through the process to import it into Canada, and answering all my never ending questions. I can't say enough good things about his service, and how helpful and patient he was.
http://4wheelauto.com/
http://www.jamesbaroudusa.com/discoveryspaceevolution.php
http://www.jamesbaroud.com.au/ (more specs here)
Some pictures. With my 2012 JKU. (taken around 11pm - God I live the Yukon in the summer!)
Taken before I attached the awning (bar is to set the pole width, awning will mount to it). I had it raised to see about entering/exiting from that side. I had less flex, but while camping, used the passenger side, and just tried to say on the rungs from the bottom part of the ladder.
Glad to see that if the weather is bad, I can setup the ladder on this side, and enter/exit under the awning. Until I sort out the flex issue, will have to use this side.
Hopefully this is useful should anyone else be considering one of these tents (they are nice).
