Mountain Hardwear Casa 6 Tent 6-Person 3-Season - 2009 BCS

Although I never got to use the tent, I need to post a review that may reflect other MH tent products.

The tent was a perfect size and weight for car camping or basecamp use, and the quality of the materials seemed very good. However, their pole design forced me to return the tent after setting it up in the yard once.

The problem is that the pole ends are force-fitted into the end of pole segments. They don't use glue, but that end is shoved in there so hard it is near impossible to remove it....well, actually impossible for me. So, when I opened the new tent and one shock cord was not secured to the pole end, it was impossible to reattach the shock cord without being able to remove the pole end. I talked to MH customer service, and they admitted that it was extremely difficult to remove the end. (They didn't explain to me why the pole end needs to be so secure.) They did offer to replace the entire pole, but am I supposed to get a new pole every time there is an issue with the shock cord?

Bottom line: shock cords need to be replaced in all tent poles after several years since the elastic eventually breaks down. Since you are probably planning on keeping a $400 tent more than a few years, are you willing to have to replace all of the poles when just the shock cords go bad? Nope, me neither.