North Face Docking Station?

[Mike]

Re: North Face Docking Station?

@Mike... the whole foot print / size of the tent is not bad and the whole purpose of the tent is for family camping. I have a backpacking tent that I use that is about a 1/5 of the size or even smaller by comparison. .. My key was finding a tent big enough for the whole family, but built like a 'real' tent with a fly that extends to the ground, and could withstand weather if necessary, but at the same time be vented well enough to keep us comfortable during nice weather. I like having 2 doors and vestibule space as well. In the current situation I can stick two older kids in the smaller area and if they need to use the bathroom, they don't have to run through the main area of the tent.

I have a 'cheaper' Coleman tent that is more of a fair weather tent that I could always bring as well but I would prefer that 'family' camping we all go together. I don't expect privacy by having the separate area, but just an easy way to say kids, keep your stuff in this designated area and enter/exit the tent here versus the other side. but they will probably have fun running through the tent regardless.

Well, you know, if you actually own a North Face Docking station and it works for you, then you are two steps ahead of me. I don't own one and my opinions are exclusively from watching the video.

[sarahspins]

Re: North Face Docking Station?

The more frame poles you have beyond two means you are heading to necessary complexity. Three?... well, OK. Four or Five - nah, forget it. four or five poles usually also means lots of corners which means lots of unusable floor space.

Actually I think 2 poles in tents larger than 4 person means more unusable space because of the sloped walls. Modified domes usually often offer more vertical walls which means more interior space in a tent which can be a bonus for families. the extra poles usually don't extend all the way to the ground so they don't create extra "corners". Are they often more difficult or time consuming to set up? Sure, but for some that may be a fair trade off for the space you gain inside. I think it's great if people prefer multiple smaller tents for all of their family members or extremely heavy canvas tents but those don't fit the needs of ALL campers. I feel like some of these threads just turn into "lets bash this tent because it's not a Kodiak" and that's just plain silly... I like many car campers, have absolutely no desire to own a 70-80lb tent.

That, and there's something to be said for an individual's ability to put up a tent without problems.. I've read reviews on my own tent and they run the gamut from "I can't figure this thing out at all" to "requires super human strength to assemble the poles" and neither of those is even remotely true... unless you didn't bother to read the instructions or you're trying to force it together. Follow the correct steps and it goes up quickly and easily. Plenty of people have near impossible times trying to set up basic dome tents, so even a simple design isn't always successful.

[swebob]

Re: North Face Docking Station?

What is really making you a slave to this Northface docking station is that after you set up the main part of this tent and add the sleeping additions you still have to go back after all of that and add the part of the tent that has the floor..

This adds a whole new meaning to Gear slave.. The only privacy this adds is visual privacy and the only thing to seperate you from hearing noise is the ball and gag.. And there is a reason these setup video's are done in fast forward, thinking they can trick your mind that its easy to setup.. Good luck to anyone who wants to own one..

[mikado777]

Re: North Face Docking Station?

I took a look at the comparable tents and decided on the NF docking station. It is all I needed and more. The set up was simple, although I did watch the video a couple times before we left the parking area. Our trek in was less than a mile and the bag(s) weight were not an issue. The versatility is what we needed. We even set it up over a picnic table without the mesh insert and attached the 4 person and 2 person sleeping pods. We enjoyed putting our daughter to sleep in her room and not having to disturb her when we were ready to get into our separate room.
I noticed in one of the other posts a concern about the integrity of the attached pod. The gasket system they use is tight. No leaks at all when the rains came down. We pulled the table out and quickly attached the inner mesh room and floor.
I have been in many tents and campsites for many years. I could not see using any other system for family camping out of a vehicle or for short hikes in to the site.

[Matt Palmer]

Re: North Face Docking Station?

Hi kcscout, I think you made the right choice. What The North Face docking station really has going for it is that it's huge. The vertical walls really maximize interior volume, giving you a lot of living space. It is a really neat idea in theory, but complicated in practice when you have multiple pods to setup. The Capstone 6P is an awesome tent. Of the 6-person tents I've investigated it's tied for the 3rd highest capacity, and has some pretty stout waterproofing.

I'm not into shameless self-promotion, but I echo your sentiments that:

It would be nice if there was one spot to go to really get the low-down on all of the different tents.

I run a website that does just this at www.thetentfinder.com. I was frustrated when deciding on a backpacking tent last year and really started this research for my own personal use, but thought that it would probably be useful to a lot of other people as well.

Finally, I'm really glad to hear you got the tent setup by yourself! I was wondering about just this issue when I was looking into these tents because the design is not conventional.

I'm really looking forward to hearing about how this tent performs! Keep us posted.

All the best!