REVIEW OF THE QUALYQUALY 10 PERSON ICE FISHING TENT

 

An in depth review of the 10 person ice fishing tent made by QualyQualy

 

I have been on the look out for a good tent for winter camping that I could use a wood stove in.  For a while I was aiming at a standard wall tent, but I didn't like the amount of effort that went into setting them up.  I had spent a few nights in a friend's Eskimo FatFish 949i with nothing more than a buddy heater to take the edge off in -10 degree celcius weather.  It wasn't too bad but a wood stove would have made it way better.  I thought about getting one of those Eskimo tents and installing a stove jack into one of teh windows.  But then I found the QualyQualy 10 person Ice fishing tent on Amazon.  

 

At first I was sceptical, as most of us are with unknown brands on Amazon.  There was almost no information on the internet for reviews except what the manufacturer had put out.  In the end I broke down and bought the tent in the fall as I knew it would be a while for delivery and I had a hunting trip planned for the winter and I needed a shelter.  I also knew I would be able to return it if it showed up and was poorly made. 

 

When the tent arrived I was excited to get it out of the box.  It was big!!  it got even bigger when it was taken out of manufacturer's box.  I set it up on my back deck immediately.  I was amazed at how big it was and began thinking about how I could lay out cots to maximize the number of people I could fit inside.  I figure with no wood stove I can put 4-5 cots comfortably inside.  You might be able to squeeze 6 in there but there would be much room left to walk.  

 

Then I got looking at all the features.  The tent comes with a floor that connects to the base of the tent with velcro.  The floor has four zippers that allow you to open up the floor to access holes in the ice while ice fishing.  Pretty cool feature but I dont know if I will put the floor in while on the ice.  We will see.  

 

The tent itself is made of oxford 600D and oxford 300D that is fire resistant. And it gives great insulation.  The construction seems well made and the fabric is doubled up on all the rub points.  I guess that only time will tell on how long it lasts.  There are mesh pockets sew in to the interior walls near the base.  But I wish there were some up higher.  The windows all have bug mesh so this tent may be great for the summer too.  

 

There is a stove jack for a wood stove wich is fantastic, and the stove jack cover removes completely via velcro.  So there is no worry that the flap will fall down and get burnt.  The tent also has two through ports near the base that would work great for those who want to use the diesel electric heaters that have become so popular on Amazon.  

 

There are two doors, and one of the can be removed completely.  I did notice a small draft through the zipper on one door when we were hunting. But the temperature did get down to -20C and it was windy.  On that note, the tent's shape makes it very resistant to wind.  Even though it was blowing a gale outside, we would have never known isnide the tent.  

 

I mentioned earlier that the insulation was great, and it is.  Once we got the stove warm we could have turned that tent into a sweat lodge if we wanted to.  I slept in minimal clothing and ended up flipping my sleeping bag open through the night because I was hot.  And even on the day we left when the weather was -20C and windy, the stove had been shut down while we packed up.  the inside stayed warm up until we put the tent back in it's bag.  

 

The set up and take down is just as fast as any other pop up ice fishing tent.  I can set the main body of the tent up in a minute or less.  Pack up is a little slower because you have to gather the tent up.  But the tent comes with two starps to assist in squeezing the thing down to fit in the bag. The bag is huge and I promise that you will not struggle to get this tent back into its bag.  When it is all packed up the whole thing is an oversized hockey bag and easy to carry.  Although I wouldn't want to have to carry it too far.