You should always use a footprint to protect your tent from puncture or rips. A footprint can greatly extend the life of your tent. This footprint worked perfectly to protect the bathtub-bottom construction of the tent. Not made to protect underneath the fly, this fly does what it is supposed to, protect your tent and prevent water pooling. If you want more, or you are comfortable and knowledgeable enough, you can construct your own footprint with a cheap tarp, creating one of any size, from the tent bottom to fly size. I'd recommend just buying this for your everyday camping usage, as it works perfectly.

OK, tent footprints exist to only cover the area under the floor of your tent. Why? Because it prevents flooding during a storm! Think about it, if your footprint came out from under your tent, and water started to pool there, you'd get water in between that and the tent, making it more likely for it to seep through the floor. Anyways, to any other reader out there, you don't need anything too specific for your tent - as long as its pegged down properly and under the floor, any good waterproof liner/plastic/tarp will do for a footprint. I myself use a tarp that has an emergency (aluminum) liner on one side. I think it cost me around $10.

However, you can't beat the convenience of a footprint that clips into your tent.

The only reason this gets a point deduction is the grommets slip off of the pole ends easily. With both the tent grommet and the footprint grommet, the pole end is too short. The tent itself is so affordable I don't think the footprint is worth the extra weight.

I wasn't real pleased with it. My buddy's completely covers everything under the rainfly, and it made that area more usable. Mine just covered under the tent. I also don't think it fits the tent quite right.

I didn't have any of the problems with the poles that the previous reviewer did. If you stake down the footprint with the tent, it works just fine. It does what a footprint is supposed to do, no bells or whistles. I'd buy it again.