Taurus Outfitter

Just a note to let you know that we gave one of the Taurus outfitter series 2 tents a good workout recently. We were camped out just outside St. Louis, when the weather turned sour. We had rain, severe thunderstorms and a wind gust of 60 mph was recorded at the local airport.The weather was so bad that many of our other tents were damaged during the night. In fact, the tent in which I slept, decided to collapse as I was attempting to get dressed. However, the Taurus 2 held fast. It pitched about some, as we had 35 mile per hour gusts, but, stayed in place with the extra guyout points lashed down. In addition to the wind, we had substantial rain fall. The other tents we had were soaked. The area we had camped in was now a low swampy lake. The Taurus 2 was the only dry one in the bunch. All in all, we are impressed with the performance. Thanks and regards.

I know this is kind of a long letter, but it's one of the best we've received talking about our tents ... 13 hours of heavy rain and not a drop inside his tent!

This is Jeff from the Northern region of the great State of Wisconsin. I just had to email you on this. I am waiting for the pictures to develop and will send you the evaluation form with the pics soon. Anyway, the Taurus 2 Outfitter tent handled the rugged camping I do in the Northern Nicolet Forest superbly I might add. The first night was good weather and a mild 40F at night. However, the second day started off raining buckets of cold rain for 13 hours straight. Then it would let up maybe for an hour and start raining again. This continued until we had to leave late Sunday night. Needless to say, the Taurus 2 OF held up very well. Absolutely not a drop was let inside. I was somewhat surprised. Keep in mind that over the course of the last 10 years back country camping deep in the Forest, far off the Forest roads, far off the old logging roads, far off narrow mud, rock, stump, fallen trees, pot holes that swallow some trucks, is where my friends and I enjoy mother nature. This is were I camp. I have spent more on tents that have not survived a single weekend. I am not joking. Some more well known tents have been beat up beyond recognition because of Mother Nature's abuse. Broken zippers, tree roots or sharp rocks that protrude through the floor, broken poles, rainfly buckles that break off leaving sections of the tent body exposed. Just to name a few calamities I have seen in more expensive but lesser quality tents. I eventually had to purchase a $600.00 four season tent just to handle the camping I do. Don't get me wrong. My four season tent has now been time tested. I've owned it for about 6 yrs and I only have had to replace the zippers. I went with over sized ones similar to the ones that come stock on the Taurus OF. Very impressive indeed. No need either for a floor protector with the Taurus OF. The floor material is thicker, heavier, and more abrasion resistant than my much more expensive 4-season. Again, I was very impressed. One less piece of equipment I need to include with this tent. And the polyester rain fly is a great addition to the Taurus OF. Guess what? Polyester rain flies do not sag when wet. Stake it out once and you are done. No need to restake because of the stretching effect of nylon in the rain. Wow, my $600 tent does not have a poly rainfly. I must restake it often in the rain. Other things I really enjoyed on the Taurus OF are the double doors and vestibules. Very easy to enter and exit. I will only own a tent with double doors and vestibules because of the convenience factor. Although in the rain it would have been nice to have a slightly larger vestibule for cooking purposes. However it was manageable and I am spoiled with a large 14 sq. ft. arch poled vestibule on my 4 season tent. Hey, my $600 tent has to have at least one feature over the Taurus OF. But in real world situations it wasn't that big of deal. I had plenty of space for a duffel bag, boots, and misc. items that I didn't want inside the tent. Set up was simple. About 10 minutes from start to finish by myself. Once properly staked out, the tent sat quietly. No flapping. However there was not a great deal of wind. My next trip will be on a known spot for strong gusts of wind. I will be looking forward to testing its endurance in high wind conditions. It is on a narrow peninsula over looking a large lake. For some reason it is always very windy and exposed. I have seen lesser tents literally blow over even though they have been tightly guyed out. I have never had a problem with my 4 season tent and will report back as to how well the Taurus OF may handle.
All in all the Taurus 2 Outfitter handled my rugged style of deep Forest camping very well its first time. Ultimately, time will tell but from the quality that I can see in it, I feel I will be using it and enjoying many adventurous outings over the years.

We give this tent 3 thumbs up. It is by far the best tent we've owned for our needs. Between the 3 of us we own 8 other tents - from Walrus, Eureka, Cabela's, & REI - and in every category your tent rates higher. I can't wait for winter camping season...

With 20-plus years experience as a backwoods camper and BWCA/Superior National Forest paddler, the ALPS Taurus 4 Outfitter is -- by far and away -- the best tent I’ve found for camping out in the sticks. I expected it to be much like the Eureka I’ve been using, with nearly the same amount of room inside and vestibules over both doors. What I expected turned out to be true, but comparisons between the ALPS and Eureka end there, with the ALPS the clear and unquestioned leader.

- Pete T.

We just started a new school year, and I realized I hadn't sent pictures of your tents in action in Ethiopia...sorry! The tents and sleeping mats have been used a number of times now, and have received RAVE reviews - from rookie campers and vets alike! Thanks for a quality, affordable, easy to use product.
Enjoying your tents in Africa!

- Bruce W.

This is just a note to update my tent review. I know I have completed the review, but until last weekend all my trips have been dry. Boy, did that ever change!! I don't know if you saw the news about Southern MN, but we got RAIN last weekend, enough that all of the groups I camped with decided to pack up because everything was wet. Out of 3 tents and a pop up trailer, my taurus outfitter 4 was the only tent that was dry. There was not a drop of water anywhere!!

- Jeff K.

We just got back from riding our bicycles across Iowa for RAGBRAI. The pad was very comfortable to sleep on after riding as much as 80 miles in a day. Also, we had quite a wind & rainstorm one night. We were camped on the driving range of a golf course with the rest of our team. Many other campers with "inferior" brand X tents woke up with broken tent poles, but the aluminum poles of our ALPS Taurus 4 Outfitter performed perfectly. We stayed dry inside the tent, while some other campers got wet. We also go a lot of nice comments about the florescent yellow guy ropes on our tent. We end up camping in fairly close quarters some nights on bike tours, and people said when the got up in the middle of the night to visit the KYBO's for a nature call, our tent was easy to see and to navigate around.
Thanks for such great and reliable products!

- Paul E.