Hotwired
Well-Known Member
This is the 5' x 10' x 6.7' tent made by Secret Jardin. I also have the DR120 which I will setup and review next week.
I ordered the tents thru my local hydro shop and got them within a week. Total cost was $924 ($635 for the DR300W and $235 for the DR120) for both tents with taxes and delivery.
First let me tell you this, if you have a friend you can trust then let him/her help you with the DR300W. You can do it yourself, I did, but another person will definitely be helpful.
DAY 1
The tents come in their own carry cases but the DR300W is very clumsy to carry by the handles because most of the weight is on one side. (The DR120 is very easy and comfortable to carry in its case)
Once you open up the case and pull all the stuff out look for a piece of paper with the "instructions" on it. These "instructions" are just pictures of what they want you to do.
Don't get upset and throw a tantram but if you are stoned....forget about it lol. You really got to figure it out by yourself once you unfold the HUGE ASS skin. There are zippers everywhere and you might get a bit confused. I was confused as hell at first but I took a few puffs before working
Next.......I took the parts out and put them in order. They come with "lettered" poles. A, B, C, D, E, F and I, and also all the corner and middle plastic holders for the poles.
I put these together very easily. The hard part was getting this huge skin the cover the frame. Like I said earlier, you really could use some help with this part. So next I released the zippers and pulled them back as far as they would go. I tried to follow the "instructions" but after looking at the pics and then looking down at what was on the floor in front of me, I just laughed and said fuck it.
Basically you need to start from the back of the frame and work the skin over the top. Make sure the 2 bottom window flaps are in the back when you start. This will save from later problems. Once you have the top on snugly you then work the bottom of the skin UNDER the frame and make that nice and snug.
You will have a huge ass piece of the skin left over and it all seems like a million zippers. Be very careful with this part and make sure you have plenty of room to manuever the skin around and pull it all to the front. If you pull too hard you take a chance of ripping a seam.
Once you fit it into place you can start zipping up the zippers. If you do it right everything should be all SQUARE AND SNUG.
Now you can look up and see what wonders you have built. If you did it all right it should look kick ass.
They also give you a reflective flooring piece that fits snugly on the bottom and has small velcro straps that fit around the poles to keep it in place. I then closed up shop. I had enough for the day.
DAY 2
Finished up with a few things. Took a good look at all the socks and windows from the inside of the tent with a few lights on outside and the zippers all closed.
You can see a lot of the pinholes from inside a dark tent. My eyes were first drawn to the 2 large 8" socks on either side of the tent. The sewing around these particular socks was done VERY POORLY.
I could see light coming in thru the stitches almost fully around one sock and half way around the other. Not sure how to fix this but maybe use black duct tape around the outside.
There were 2 half inch "openings" on the stitching where the sides hug the poles. Could have been me when stretching the skin on tightly but it seemed random. I closed these up with black duct tape.
Thes rest were a few small holes and about 10 or so pin holes here and there. Overall not a bad job, but I'm not extremely happy either.
Off the bat with the work done so far I will now give everything about the DR300W a scoring table. This will be a preliminary score based on what I've done so far,
Side and Bottom Poles - 8 of 10. I give this score because I feel the poles could be a bit stronger. They use 2 poles to make one length of connection between the plastic holders. Overall not bad but could be better.
Top Poles - 5 of 10. I feel these poles are subpar for holding the estimated weight they claim it holds. The poles bend quite a bit in the middle and they seem to be made more cheaply than the other poles. Granted they are still strong, but they can't hold as much as they say they can.
Plastic Holders (12) - 9 of 10. The holders do their job quite well....so far.
Zippers - 8 of 10. Right now the zippers are holding up fine. They get caught from time to time but they hide the light very vell and I have seen no light leaks thus far.
Bottom Window Slots (2 in the back and 2 on the sides) - 7 of 10. Good for air intake with nice screens to keep out pests. Problem is they let light in when they are open. Use at your own discretion.
Top Side Socks (2) - 2 of 10. Poorly done. Almost all the stitches around the socks are letting light thru. Don't know how to fix this problem,
Bottom Side Socks (2) - 8 of 10. I have not noticed any leaks here. I will take a closer look tho.
Rooftop Socks (2) - 5 of 10. These have the same problems as the side socks but not as badly done. Not sure how to fix this either.
Electrical Sock Outlets (3, all in the rear) - 8 of 10. So far no light leaks around the stitches. Will investigate further.
Seams - 8 of 10. Not bad overall. The stitching has random places where it has broke but I can't tell if this was from delivery, installation, or it was made that way. Either way it was still very well done.
Skin - 6 of 10. Pinholes here and there. A few small holes that seem random. Very thin skin overall but has its good points such as reflection of light and absorbtion of heat. This will be reviewed again many times over its use.
Overall score - 6 of 10. I didn't buy something that I deem "expensive" just to tape it up in places where it was poorly made. If the price for the DR300W was about $435 ($200 cheaper than I paid) then I wouldn't be so hard on the overall score.
Remember these scores are for right now. They will definitely change over time as I get real usage out of them. I will update this thread over the next days and weeks with info and maybe some pics if I can get my camera fixed.
Any questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer them
I ordered the tents thru my local hydro shop and got them within a week. Total cost was $924 ($635 for the DR300W and $235 for the DR120) for both tents with taxes and delivery.
First let me tell you this, if you have a friend you can trust then let him/her help you with the DR300W. You can do it yourself, I did, but another person will definitely be helpful.
DAY 1
The tents come in their own carry cases but the DR300W is very clumsy to carry by the handles because most of the weight is on one side. (The DR120 is very easy and comfortable to carry in its case)
Once you open up the case and pull all the stuff out look for a piece of paper with the "instructions" on it. These "instructions" are just pictures of what they want you to do.
Don't get upset and throw a tantram but if you are stoned....forget about it lol. You really got to figure it out by yourself once you unfold the HUGE ASS skin. There are zippers everywhere and you might get a bit confused. I was confused as hell at first but I took a few puffs before working
Next.......I took the parts out and put them in order. They come with "lettered" poles. A, B, C, D, E, F and I, and also all the corner and middle plastic holders for the poles.
I put these together very easily. The hard part was getting this huge skin the cover the frame. Like I said earlier, you really could use some help with this part. So next I released the zippers and pulled them back as far as they would go. I tried to follow the "instructions" but after looking at the pics and then looking down at what was on the floor in front of me, I just laughed and said fuck it.
Basically you need to start from the back of the frame and work the skin over the top. Make sure the 2 bottom window flaps are in the back when you start. This will save from later problems. Once you have the top on snugly you then work the bottom of the skin UNDER the frame and make that nice and snug.
You will have a huge ass piece of the skin left over and it all seems like a million zippers. Be very careful with this part and make sure you have plenty of room to manuever the skin around and pull it all to the front. If you pull too hard you take a chance of ripping a seam.
Once you fit it into place you can start zipping up the zippers. If you do it right everything should be all SQUARE AND SNUG.
Now you can look up and see what wonders you have built. If you did it all right it should look kick ass.
They also give you a reflective flooring piece that fits snugly on the bottom and has small velcro straps that fit around the poles to keep it in place. I then closed up shop. I had enough for the day.
DAY 2
Finished up with a few things. Took a good look at all the socks and windows from the inside of the tent with a few lights on outside and the zippers all closed.
You can see a lot of the pinholes from inside a dark tent. My eyes were first drawn to the 2 large 8" socks on either side of the tent. The sewing around these particular socks was done VERY POORLY.
I could see light coming in thru the stitches almost fully around one sock and half way around the other. Not sure how to fix this but maybe use black duct tape around the outside.
There were 2 half inch "openings" on the stitching where the sides hug the poles. Could have been me when stretching the skin on tightly but it seemed random. I closed these up with black duct tape.
Thes rest were a few small holes and about 10 or so pin holes here and there. Overall not a bad job, but I'm not extremely happy either.
Off the bat with the work done so far I will now give everything about the DR300W a scoring table. This will be a preliminary score based on what I've done so far,
Side and Bottom Poles - 8 of 10. I give this score because I feel the poles could be a bit stronger. They use 2 poles to make one length of connection between the plastic holders. Overall not bad but could be better.
Top Poles - 5 of 10. I feel these poles are subpar for holding the estimated weight they claim it holds. The poles bend quite a bit in the middle and they seem to be made more cheaply than the other poles. Granted they are still strong, but they can't hold as much as they say they can.
Plastic Holders (12) - 9 of 10. The holders do their job quite well....so far.
Zippers - 8 of 10. Right now the zippers are holding up fine. They get caught from time to time but they hide the light very vell and I have seen no light leaks thus far.
Bottom Window Slots (2 in the back and 2 on the sides) - 7 of 10. Good for air intake with nice screens to keep out pests. Problem is they let light in when they are open. Use at your own discretion.
Top Side Socks (2) - 2 of 10. Poorly done. Almost all the stitches around the socks are letting light thru. Don't know how to fix this problem,
Bottom Side Socks (2) - 8 of 10. I have not noticed any leaks here. I will take a closer look tho.
Rooftop Socks (2) - 5 of 10. These have the same problems as the side socks but not as badly done. Not sure how to fix this either.
Electrical Sock Outlets (3, all in the rear) - 8 of 10. So far no light leaks around the stitches. Will investigate further.
Seams - 8 of 10. Not bad overall. The stitching has random places where it has broke but I can't tell if this was from delivery, installation, or it was made that way. Either way it was still very well done.
Skin - 6 of 10. Pinholes here and there. A few small holes that seem random. Very thin skin overall but has its good points such as reflection of light and absorbtion of heat. This will be reviewed again many times over its use.
Overall score - 6 of 10. I didn't buy something that I deem "expensive" just to tape it up in places where it was poorly made. If the price for the DR300W was about $435 ($200 cheaper than I paid) then I wouldn't be so hard on the overall score.
Remember these scores are for right now. They will definitely change over time as I get real usage out of them. I will update this thread over the next days and weeks with info and maybe some pics if I can get my camera fixed.
Any questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer them
