Dan_Millsip
Paddler
I picked up a North Face Heron 33 tent -- this is a 3 person, 3 season tent that has a claimed trail weight of 2.7 kg (5lb 15oz).
My first impressions are quite positive. The tent is well made, the design is very nice allowing near vertical walls on the sides, the colour provides a pleasant atmosphere when inside the tent (making it much more pleasurable on rainy days), and the tent is very well ventilated.
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The tent comes in a compression stuff sack, with separate bags for the poles and pegs. Packing the poles separate from the tent will make the tent easier to pack in a kayak hatch. The pegs (inset) are light aluminum and don't look like they'll stand up well to hard ground -- we'll have to see how they fare:
Tent body layed out with assembled poles:
One of two hubs. Four poles are connected to the hub by shock cording. A separate pole (the vertical pole in the photo) joins the two hubs together (not shock corded). Note the different pole diameters:
Nylon clips are used to fasten the tent body to the poles. The clips are easy to attach and hold quite securely. Removing the clips is also easy -- even if you had cold or gloved hands.
Attaching the tent body to the pole frame is a quick process -- which is nice if you're setting up the tent in pouring rain:
Front view of the tent body:
End view of the tent body -- note how vertical the walls are:
Close-up of the vestible "antennas" (that's what North Face calls them):
YUCK! Nice to have the warning, but it's huge! Printed on the floor at one of the entrances is this gargantuan warning sign. At 14" across you won't miss it -- but then I wouldn't have missed it if it were 4 inches across either.
There are four large mesh pockets -- 2 at each end of the tent:
Beside each doorway is a convenient stash pocket for storing the door:
The tent is plenty long for a standard length Thermarest:
The fly attaches to the antenna poles with a grommet in a web strap. (there is also a velcro strap that attaches around the poles on each corner):
The tent set up with the fly. The structure is very sturdy when staked out with the guylines:
There is a roof vent above each of the doorways. There is no way to close the vents but the openings through the fly are set back far enough and have a mesh covering (seen in the bottom photo) so they shouldn't create a problem when it's raining:
The doors roll up and can be held in place with toggles and elasticized cord. It would have been nice if there was an second set of toggles for holding the door up in the halfway position. The doors are quite large, making access and exit from the tent a breeze:
The vestibles are HUGE! Both vestibles are 14 sq ft -- that's a lot of storage space. As you can see, my size 10 1/2 shoes don't take up much of the available space. The antenna poles extend the top of the vestible over the doorway making it possible to leave the door open on all but the most rainy days:
An aerial view:
I'm looking forward to using the tent over the next couple of weekends and will further evaluate it's performance.
*****
My first impressions are quite positive. The tent is well made, the design is very nice allowing near vertical walls on the sides, the colour provides a pleasant atmosphere when inside the tent (making it much more pleasurable on rainy days), and the tent is very well ventilated.
---
The tent comes in a compression stuff sack, with separate bags for the poles and pegs. Packing the poles separate from the tent will make the tent easier to pack in a kayak hatch. The pegs (inset) are light aluminum and don't look like they'll stand up well to hard ground -- we'll have to see how they fare:
Tent body layed out with assembled poles:
One of two hubs. Four poles are connected to the hub by shock cording. A separate pole (the vertical pole in the photo) joins the two hubs together (not shock corded). Note the different pole diameters:
Nylon clips are used to fasten the tent body to the poles. The clips are easy to attach and hold quite securely. Removing the clips is also easy -- even if you had cold or gloved hands.
Attaching the tent body to the pole frame is a quick process -- which is nice if you're setting up the tent in pouring rain:
Front view of the tent body:
End view of the tent body -- note how vertical the walls are:
Close-up of the vestible "antennas" (that's what North Face calls them):
YUCK! Nice to have the warning, but it's huge! Printed on the floor at one of the entrances is this gargantuan warning sign. At 14" across you won't miss it -- but then I wouldn't have missed it if it were 4 inches across either.
There are four large mesh pockets -- 2 at each end of the tent:
Beside each doorway is a convenient stash pocket for storing the door:
The tent is plenty long for a standard length Thermarest:
The fly attaches to the antenna poles with a grommet in a web strap. (there is also a velcro strap that attaches around the poles on each corner):
The tent set up with the fly. The structure is very sturdy when staked out with the guylines:
There is a roof vent above each of the doorways. There is no way to close the vents but the openings through the fly are set back far enough and have a mesh covering (seen in the bottom photo) so they shouldn't create a problem when it's raining:
The doors roll up and can be held in place with toggles and elasticized cord. It would have been nice if there was an second set of toggles for holding the door up in the halfway position. The doors are quite large, making access and exit from the tent a breeze:
The vestibles are HUGE! Both vestibles are 14 sq ft -- that's a lot of storage space. As you can see, my size 10 1/2 shoes don't take up much of the available space. The antenna poles extend the top of the vestible over the doorway making it possible to leave the door open on all but the most rainy days:
An aerial view:
I'm looking forward to using the tent over the next couple of weekends and will further evaluate it's performance.
*****
I look forward to your feedback. 
