Gorilla or AC Infinity ? Ive had cheap. Bad zippers!

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flyawayclyde

Well-Known Member
Pungolian said:
Thank you. Before I retired I was a sailmaker by trade and made many negative and positive pressure tents for other uses, so I know a little about them. When I first made this one it was actually a 5x5x7 and designed to share ventilation with my other tent. The vent sleeves velcro together at the bottom and pulls from the smaller tent. Figured out that wasnt ideal as far as plants go so abandoned that idea. And then after a couple grows it was decided by the admiral (wife), that the 5x5 was too big for my (our) room. Cutting it down to 3x5 and adding another 3x3 it actually works great for my needs. So I compromised and i cut it down to the odd size but it works great. Funny thing is it cost me ~400 in materials and 16 hours of labor to sew it all up.(originally). And then another 8 hours to cut it down and make it look “decent”. I also wasnt aware of light leaks being a bad thing when I first started making my own. So after seeing nicely made tents like ac and gorilla for under $500 , i decided its a lot cheaper to just buy one. Lol. I have made a couple others a closet tent out of white material (herculite), that is a lot brighter imo then the metallic looking material. Also made a drying tent as well. Appreciate the comments, heres my original “flawed” ventilation try, lol.
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Well, that is a very neat tent indeed. Thank you for your insight.
 
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Delps8

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
Vivosun beats gorilla for light reflectance.
I don't like the gorilla door setup it's just not got the convenience of a 1 piece zipper.
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Interesting that you don't light having two flaps. I see that as a feature but realize that it's a cost driver, too. Gorilla Tent is now selling tents with one big door and there's a signficant cost savings.

One comment on tent doors in general - make sure to use lube. Snag a bottle of silicone spray and use it on the zipper tracks. It could add a lot of years to the tent.
 
Beeswings

Beeswings

Well-Known Member
flyawayclyde said:
Please define"use your gear a lot?" you mean getting in the tent daily? using the door as designed opening/closing? because if that's the case, and I mean no disrespect at all. isn't that what the door is meant for?


my current tent- HYDRO-CRUNCH. the zipper for the door is nearly shot just from having to undo the 2 doors from each other to gain access into the tent from the front entrance. it has 2 flaps on the front with a main zipper that starts at the bottom in the middle and it is the piece that you insert into the main body that is frayed and nearly broken. it likely wont make it through a second grow season. and that is why I am asking this forum the hard question here.
Thank you 'olsqueak' for the help in the answer
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Have you considered fixing your current tent?
It's cheap enough to try? I've never tried these adhesive zippers, I fix zippers on ice fishing tents with a sewing machine and patches and or new zippers.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
I've had my gorilla tent for years running insane neg pressure. Some pinholes show now but zippers are still functioning at 100%. Only thing is I hate the setup/style of zippers on the gorillas. So many zippers to undo just to get into the tent plus all the folding over and such to get the flaps to sit right when you close it. Not a deal breaker for me just a tad bit annoying at times
 
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Delps8

Well-Known Member
Delps8 said:
Interesting that you don't light having two flaps. I see that as a feature but realize that it's a cost driver, too. Gorilla Tent is now selling tents with one big door and there's a signficant cost savings.

One comment on tent doors in general - make sure to use lube. Snag a bottle of silicone spray and use it on the zipper tracks. It could add a lot of years to the tent.
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A few of thoughts about the two flap design vs the all in one.

I've had my Gorilla tent for seven years, one grow in 2017 and then started using it again in 2021. It's 2' x 4' x 8'. The extra height comes from an optional height extender. For the past three grows, I've grown "a shrubbery" by using a veg light + lots of LST so my plant is 30" x 20" x 18" tall. That's not using the extra height but when I grew autos, I needed that height because they got to 50"+ in height.

Growing in SoCal, I need a humidifier and I park it in the right front of the tent. With the Gorilla tent, I unzip the center zipper and then the left side at the bottom and so I can lift up the bottom part of the left flap, refill Hugh, and then zip up again.

I go through the same procedure to check water levels in my res (my res if 40" wide by 20" deep) - open the right side, drop in my sensor, take the reading, and zip the tent back up.

Another issue - I take light readings at multiple points across the canopy and, seeing that the reflection from the front of the tent can add 100µmol to the light reading, I unzip the main zipper and then put the sensor (it's on a wand) into the tent. With the flaps closed, I'm able to take readings anywhere in the tent and they accurate.

Similarly, when I want to just look in the tent, I loosen the top zipper that runs across the tent and then unzip the front zipper a few feet and stick my head in the tent.

I did watch Shane's video on his "tests" and, pretty much, blew it off because he completely missed the advantages of the Gorilla tent, as I've discussed above.

What I like about having two doors is that I can do my "daily chores" with minimal disturbance of the environment in the tent. I've put a lot of time and $$ into creating "tent weather" that is very, very stable. The flexibility offered by having multiple doors allows me to tailor my processes to minimize changes in VPD.

I don't recall Shane addressing this flexibility and then discussing how the extra features were cost drivers. That's what I would expect in a fair review or even in a good review.

Another point — how the reflectivity tests were conducted. Yes, the Gorilla tent had lower reflectivity and we saw Shane move his sensor around the tent floor. If growing cannabis involved getting the highest PPFD on a tent floor, I'd take into account the test that Shane performed. In contrast, since I'm growing plants in my tent and the distance between my tent and the top of the tent is about 14", I'm not convinced that Shanes' test is of any value to someone growing cannabis.

I've been around for quite a few years and, one thing that I've come to appreciate is that "every" product we buy is designed to hit a price point. Also, there is no such thing as a free lunch. The market, especially with the advent of the internet which is a superb vehicle for consumer information and products that are mis-priced will either not sell or the price will adjust. In the case of the standard Gorilla tent, it's more expensive than other products because prospective buyers believe the they will get increased value for the increased price. Gorilla has been selling a "premium" price product for many years, a clear indication that they're offering a product that has value to buyers.

In response to market forces, they're introducing tents that have only one door and, lo and behold, those tents are cheaper than their standard line. One change is that the front door has only one zipper and they also do not offer the height extenders that are in their standard line. Those changes production cost and allows them to increase sales into that part of the cannabis tent market.

Shanes video came out before Gorilla launched their new line but, overall, the review he did was, as I see it, poor. He glossed over the features in the Gorilla tent that are unique to the Gorilla line and his test on reflectivity was done under conditions that have little relationship to real world conditions.

As always, caveat emptor.

Just my tuppence.
 
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