Eureka Tetragon Tent
Design and Feature Walkthrough
The Eureka Tetragon is Eureka's economy dome tent style and their most popular leisure tent line.
The Tetragon has been redesigned for 2013.
Green and white panels help the tent to blend in to campground and open campsite settings.
The 2 pole dome tent now features a squared brow canopy over the doorway. Two ridge poles in the rainfly extend it over the front of the tent.
A roll back door accesses the tent body.
A roll down storm flap in the upper door exposes a screen panel "half window" to allow air into the tent while keeping insects out. A moon shaped storm flap with full zipper closure seals the window against wind and rain.
Small mesh panels at the peak of the tent allow stale air to rise out of the tent body and be carried away by the wind.
A second window on the upper rear wall has a roll down storm flap.
Zippers along the sides and a toggle in the center of the top of the storm flap close the window against wind and rain.
A hanging gear loft and two pockets, one along each side wall, keep small items from getting lost among sleeping equipment.
The Tetragon features side walls of screen netting. The rainfly extends down to the ground on each side to completely cover the screen walls.
The front and rear walls are solid fabric.
The 75 denier rainfly and tent walls are coated to 800mm HH of water resistance to provides good protection against rain for an economy tent.
50 denier no-see-um mesh netting offers visibility and resistance to tearing.
Clips attach the tent body fabric to the pole frame to ease setup.
The Tetragon is available in 6 sizes.
The small and medium sizes have the same tent body and rainfly design and a single door at the front of the tent.
The X-Large sizes divide into 2 rooms and have 2 doors.
Small Eureka Tetragon Sizes
The 2 small Tetragons are not large enough as a main tent for family camping, but are suitable for solo or couple leisure camping or as a secondary sleeping tent for young campers.
Family campers who are looking for a comfortable primary tent should consider a medium or larger size.
The small sizes can accommodate a single twin air mattress for solo camping.
Self-inflating pads are recommended for more than one camper occupying the tent.
Tetragon 2 Dome Tent
The tent body dimensions are 7' wide by 5' deep by 4' high.
The 35 square feet of floorspace is rated to sleep up to 2.
For family camping, this tent should comfortably sleep one adult or a pair of young campers.
Adult campers will need to sleep across the width of this tent. This means, if more than one adult is occupying the tent overnight, one will sleep across the doorway and the other will need to get over the first to use the door.
The 7' floor length and sloped walls may make tall campers feel cramped.
The tent does have more ceiling height (48") than many tents of its size.
Campers should be able to kneel in the center of the tent, which will help for dressing.
The fiberglass tent poles are 7.9mm (5/16") in diameter.
The Tet-2 weighs about 5 lb.
Eureka Tetragon 3 Tent
The tent body dimensions are 7' wide by 7' deep by 4'4" high.
The 49 square feet of floorspace is rated to sleep up to 3.
For leisure camping this tent should comfortably sleep 1 or 2 adults.
Adult campers can sleep along the sidewalls of the tent, improving access to the doorway.
With a 52" peak height, campers inside will be able to kneel, but not get to their feet. Older adults will need to be nimble to dress inside the tent.
A camping couple can get by with this tent, but will be happier in a larger size.
8.5mm (11/32" diameter) fiberglass poles support the tent.
The Tet-3 weighs about 6.5 lb.
Medium Tetragon Sizes
The medium size Tetragons are fairly square.
These tent sizes can accommodate a queen air mattress for a camping couple.
They can also accommodate a couple of twin air mattresses or regular-size camping cots.
Eureka Tetragon 4
The tent body dimensions are 8'6" wide by 7'6" deep by 5' high.
The 64 square feet of floorspace is rated to sleep up to 4.
This tent should comfortably sleep 2 adults.
The 7'6" side wall is suitable for tall campers to lie along.
At 5' high, campers can stoop inside this tent, which means they can at least get to their feet and get around more easily.
Campers will be able to pull on trousers while on their feet, but will need to exit the tent to stand upright.
95mm (3/8" diameter) fiberglass poles support the tent and rainfly.
The Tetragon 4 weighs about 9 lb
Eureka Tetragon 5
The tent body dimensions are 9' wide by 9' deep by 6' high.
The 81 square feet of floorspace is rated to sleep up to 5.
This tent should comfortably sleep 2-3 adults.
6' high at the peak, this is a standing-height tent. It offers a full foot more of height than the next smaller size.
Average height adults will find this a comfortable tent to get around in.
The gear loft will reduce the ceiling height at the peak somewhat.
Tall campers will need either to duck or to consider the next larger size, which has a substantially larger floorplan.
11mm (7/16" diameter) fiberglass poles support the tent.
The Tet-5 weighs about 12.5 lb.
Largest Tetragon Features
The largest sizes have 2 doors, front and back, which is necessary for the number of campers they can sleep.
At each doorway, a winged canopy that reaches the ground extends a few feet out from the front of the tent.
The canopy provides some of the function of a vestibule. It shelters the doorway from crosswinds and some wind-driven rain. Footwear or packs can also be left under the wings.
The winged canopy stakes out in front of and behind the tent body, providing more stability in wind, which is handy for these large sizes.
Storage
These tents also have 2 pockets along the side walls for storing small gear.
A hanging fabric divider separates these tents into 2 rooms.
The divider means that these tents can't have a gear loft. Eureka has instead added additional long, narrow storage pockets above the doors for light gear.
Sleeping gear
These tents can accommodate a couple of queen air mattresses or 3 or 4 large cots.
Ceiling height
These sizes have enough peak height to accommodate tall campers and allow most campers some movement about the tent without contacting the ceiling.
The lack of gear loft allows full use of the headroom at the peak.
Design
Although they are still dome tents, the largest 2 models feature a somewhat different tent body and rainfly design than the other Tetragons.
The large side walls have solid lower and mesh upper panels. The rainfly completely covers the sidewalls of the tent.
These large sizes have pole sleeves at the top of the tent body to better support the larger fabric area in the wind.
Clips attach the lower tent walls to the pole frame.
X-Large Tetragons
Eureka Tetragon 8 Tent
The tent body dimensions are 12' wide by 10' deep by 6'4" high at the center.
The 120 square feet of floorspace is rated to sleep up to 8.
The tent has 4 windows, one in each upper door panel and another next to it on the tent wall.
The half window in the door has a full zipper closure with a straight track along one side and a curved track over the top and down the other side.
The window in the wall has zippers along each side and a loop and toggle closure along the top with 2 loops that attach to toggles on the wall.
The tent divides from front to back into two 6' wide x 10' deep rooms.
The removable hanging divider allows the tent to be used as one large chamber as well.
Tall adults sleeping along the 6' dimension of the floor may find that they are touching the divider or the tent wall.
This tent should comfortably sleep 4-6 adults or a larger family with small children.
Front and rear doors off to one side of the wall allow access to each divided room.
The 6'4" height allows most campers to stand in the center of the tent without brushing the ceiling.
12.7mm (1/2" diameter) fiberglass poles support the canopy.
The Tet-8 weighs about 20 lb.
Eureka Tetragon 10
The tent body dimensions of the largest Tetragon are 14' wide by 12' deep by 6'6" (78") high at the peak.
For campers shopping for a large dome tent, this tent is likely the largest 2 pole dome tent on the market.
This largest Tetragon size has been redesigned to fit on a 15' x 15' X-Large tent pad, which should be helpful to families looking for a safe spot to set it up.
The tent divides from front to back into two 7' wide x 12' deep rooms. These rooms are wide enough to accommodate tall adults sleeping along the 7' walls.
The doors on the Tetragon 10 are in the center of the wall. They are fairly wide and can access each partitioned room.
This tent has 2 windows, one in the upper panel of each door.
Besides mesh panels in the ceiling, the tent also features mesh panels in the upper third of the side walls.
The 168 square feet of floorspace is rated to sleep up to 10.
The Tetragon 10 should comfortably sleep 6 to 8 adults.
15mm (5/8" diameter) poles support the canopy.
The Tet-10 weighs about 27.5 lb.
Original Eureka Tetragon
The original Tetragon is no longer manufactured, but can still occasionally be found for sale.
A brief description of it may be useful for readers to help them find a suitable tent. Otherwise readers can jump to the next section to see how the new tents perform in various camping conditions.
The original Tetragon featured a winged canopy for all sizes.
The wings sheltered the doorway from crosswinds and small packs or footwear from rain. However, most users were likely not making use of the wings, so they were omitted for the redesign.
The tent panels were a darker shade of green but have been redesigned to a 2 tone green and white scheme.
The original moon shaped rear window has now been squared off into a trapezoid. The original full zipper closure has been replaced by zippers along the sides and a toggle closure along the top of the storm flap. Since the top of the window meets the mesh ceiling panel, there is no need for a zipper closure there.
The original Tetragon featured a solid fabric door and a separate screen door at the entryway. The full screen door allowed a lot of air flow through the tent body when oriented into the wind, which was useful on hot and calm days.
The design changes likely make the new tent more cost competitive to manufacture.
The various redesigned Tetragon models have also been renamed.
The new names now reflect the sleeping capacity of the tent, instead of the length of the walls. The following chart will assist campers in comparing the tents:
Tetragon Renaming Chart
| New Tetragon Model | Original Tetragon Model | Floor Dimensions |
|---|---|---|
| Tetragon 2 | Tetragon 5 | 7' x 5' |
| Tetragon 3 | Tetragon 7 | 7' x 7' |
| Tetragon 4 | Tetragon 8 | 8'6" x 7'6" |
| Tetragon 5 | Tetragon 9 | 9' x 9' |
| Tetragon 8 | Tetragon 1210 | 12' x 10' |
New Tetragon Tent Performance
Tetragon in Warm and Cool Temperatures
With mesh sidewalls and ceilings, the new Tetragons are designed for warm temperatures.
The rainfly stakes out from the tent on the sides to allow air to flow under it and over the mesh sidewalls.
Due to the mesh sidewalls, a ground vent isn't needed on the small and medium sizes. However the two X-Large Tetragons could be improved on very warm nights by the addition of a simple ground vent on 2 of the walls.
In cool temperatures, the mesh sidewalls on the small and medium Tetragons will allow a draft through the tent. The center of the rainfly can be staked closer to the tent body to reduce the draft.
Campers are encouraged to bring enough sleeping gear to stay comfortable when camping on chilly nights.
Tetragon in Windy Weather
The fiberglass tent poles appear to be spec'd well enough to support the tent in moderate winds.
Campers are encouraged to guy out the tent via the loops on the rainfly in the wind and when away from the tent. Campers will likely need to purchase cord and stakes for guy lines before camping in the tent.
With covered mesh sidewalls and windows in the upper front and back walls, the tent can be oriented in various directions to catch a light breeze or to avoid a strong one.
Tetragon Tent in Rain
The rainfly hood covers the half window in the front door, allowing it to remain partially open in rain to improve ventilation inside the tent body.
75-Denier, 185 Thread-count, 800mm HH polyester fabric rainfly and tent walls protect the inner tent body from rain.
This fabric is more sturdy than the 68 Denier fabric used in many economy tent models.
A 75D, 210T 800mm bathtub floor resists wear and resists water seepage on damp ground.
The higher thread count in the floor fabric offers more durability. However, campers should still use a ground cloth and take footwear off before entering the tent, in order to get the most life out of the floor fabric.
In wind driven rain, campers can choose whether to orient the tent so that the side or back is into the wind. Each has its advantages.
If rain spray is being blown into the tent, campers can try tarping the tent or clipping a sheet of plastic against the outer wall for more protection.
Tent Specs and Setup
The tent style is 2 pole rectangular dome with additional ridge poles in the rainfly.
The 2 ridge poles that extend the rainfly are a bit smaller in diameter than the 2 main poles that support the tent body.
Eureka Tetragon 5, 7, 8 and 9 tent body attaches to the poles with clips only. The 1210 and 1610 tent body attaches via sleeves and clips.
The poles attach to the tent base with ring and pin connectors. The connectors are attached to the corners of the tent, and each pin slides into the end of one of the tent poles.
The tent fly and floor have been factory sealed, which means that only spot sealing might be necessary to prepare the tent for camping.
Campers should also check any exposed tent body seams and where loops have been sewn into seams to make sure that they are thoroughly sealed.
Setup
The Tetragon pitches like a standard dome tent.
With the smaller Tetragons, the poles are flexed and attached to the floor corners of the tent body. The tent body then clips to the poles.
With the largest Tetragons, the poles first thread through sleeves in the tent body ceiling, then attach to the tent base, and the tent walls are clipped to the poles.
The ridge pole tips insert into pockets in the rainfly. Velcro straps hold the poles in place along the fly. The fly then lays over the tent canopy and clips into place at the corners.
For the tallest tents, campers can lay the flysheet over the tent canopy before flexing the main poles and inserting them into the pins at the tent corners. Campers should be careful to support the tent fabric while flexing the poles, so that the poles do not break.
Be sure to guy out the tent, if more than light winds are possible.
Disclaimer
Please note that Campetent does not own this tent model. Campetent strives to research and to provide accurate information for site visitors, but cannot guarantee every detail.
Tent models are subject to feature changes over time. Tent campers should always perform due diligence to verify any important features before purchasing a tent.
The author hopes that the information provided in this article will go a long way towards that goal.
This tent is not rated for wind. In moderate to strong winds, campers themselves will need to judge when the tent has reached its limit in resisting the forces of nature.
The tent has a limited warranty that covers defects in materials and workmanship. As with all tents, campers should carefully examine the materials and workmanship and make sure that they are satisfied before using the tent.