TENTS | Utterly Superb! The New Therm-a-Rest Tranquility 4 Man Tent – Review

November 2, 2016 Shell Robshaw-Bryan

Family Camping, Homepage Feature, Latest Posts, Reviews, Tent Reviews

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We think the Therm-a-Rest Tranquility 4 is the perfect weekend camping tent that’s fast and easy to put up by one person and offers spacious standing-height accommodation. Read on for our full review.

What is it?

Therm-a-rest Tranquility 4 tent

Stockists

Check Price On Amazon.co.uk

Technical features

Freestanding tent, 4 or 6 man versions available
Peak Height 1.63m
Floor Area 4.5 sq m
Vestibule Area 2.6 sq m
Weight 5.19kg
Rainfly 68D polyester ripstop 6000mm PU
Floor 150D polyester oxford 10,000mm PU coating

Alistair carrying the Therm-a-rest Tranquility 4 backpack

3 colour coded poles that fit easily together

Seattle-based Therm-a-Rest manufacture premium outdoor equipment, and invented the world’s first self-inflating mattress back in 1972. When it came to designing their first tent range, Therm-a-Rest were keen to put liveability and convenience at the top of their priorities. The result is the Tranquility tent, 4 and 6 man freestanding tents that feature a gothic inspired arch design with a ridge that sheds rain, adds strength and provides great head clearance.

Clipping the inner tent to the poles

The inner tent erected, waiting for the flysheet to clip over the top

The Therm-a-Rest Tranquility tent won’t be available in stores until January 2017, but we got the chance to try one our for ourselves, testing it overnight in the garden and again at a local campsite.

Pitching the tent

The unusual design was inspired by gothic architecture, and because of the arched design, the tent is pretty unique because it is free-standing. That means much like a popup tent, the structure supports itself and will stand up, without the need for guy ropes to be pegged out.

Colour coded poles and loops

We found pitching the tent to actually be pretty straight forward despite the rather uniqe structure and pole design. The poles clip easily onto the frame of the inner tent and are colour coded too, which makes life much easier.

With one end up, we then put a single peg in and that kept the whole structure up whilst we clipped in the pole at the other end.

The tent features two identical covered porch areas

We found it best to fit the two end arches first, before attaching the larger middle pole to the rest of the structure. Once clipped into place, the fly sheet covers the top section and is simply popped on top then easily clipped into place. Putting the tent up, took us under 10 minutes on our second attempt, and around 15 minutes the first time we tried it. Not bad at all.

The tent features two identical doors at either end, which makes for high levels of flexibility, and in summer, you could open both to let the air flow through. Throughout the tent there are various pockets and ample lantern hanging points. The internal space includes a central divider, which if not in use, can be unzipped and stowed away in handy little pockets.

Doors at either end of the tent

We used the tent with a double airbed, so removed the dividing curtain giving us one large space big enough to sleep in and keep our bags in. We used the end vestibules for our small camp table, stove and ice box, the other one to store our walking boots and poles.

We are renowned for our use of much larger than is strictly necessary tents, as we find the comfort factor is much higher when you have space and aren’t living on top of each other, and although the Tranquility 4 is small by our usual standards, we felt it provided ample space for a comfortable weekend camping trip, and really like it.

Best bits

Excellent attention to detail with regards to design with pockets to stow away doors and dividers into, plenty of lantern hanging points and the bag is brilliant; every component of the tent has it’s own spacious section
The tent does not need to be folded to put it away, you can simply stuff it all inside the spacious large chamber in the supplied bag.
The fact that the bag for the tent is also a backpack makes it suitable for more than just car camping.
The tent has a generous head height, meaning no stooping or bending to get in and out or when getting dressed.
Doors at either end add to the tents versatility.
The tent is fast to put up and take down, making it practical for bad weather camping.
High quality pegs that hold the ground well.
Ideal weekend tent for 2 people, or easily sleeps 4 as long as you don’t have much gear and aren’t trying to fit camping furniture into the tent as well.

The verdict

The design of the Tranquility 4 is fantastic, there’s clearly been a lot of thought into creating this premium tent. Design aside, we have found that the backpack style bag is exceptionally practical and we also love how easy it is to set up and take down again and the freestanding design has stood up well when camping in wet and windy weather.

Despite the tent being freestanding, there are two guy ropes on either side and the tent can be secured to the ground easily using the peg loops positioned all around the tent. After two years of camping in this tent we remain impressed by it’s performance, and love it’s unconventional looks.

If you’re looking for something a bit different that is spacious yet easily portable, then this could be the tent for you. We like this tent an awful lot and 2 years on, we’ve got a lot of use from it and it’s still in really excellent condition. The Tranquility 4 makes an ideal weekend camping tent and it’s also really easy to put up alone, making it great for solo campers who want space. When camping in really hot weather, being able to easily un-clip the fly sheet is a great touch and provides maximum air flow and means you can lie in bed gazing up at the stars through the mesh roof of the inner tent.

We think this is a really excellent tent that’s worth every penny.

You can find out more or buy the Therm-a-rest Tranquility 4 tent on Amazon.co.uk.

Thank you to Therm-a-Rest for lending the tent for us to preview. We were not paid for this review.

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Shell Robshaw-Bryan

Editor & Owner at Camping with Style

Shell loves all things travel and outdoors and is a nature-loving, comfy-camping kinda girl. Shell started the Camping with Style blog after a serious snowboarding accident which left her with a broken back. Despite this she used the outdoors and healing power of nature to aid her recovery and she continues to spend time outdoors whenever she can.

From open water swimming, snowboarding and kayaking to hill walks and meditation, Shell shares her travels and microadventures here on the blog and in various publications she's written for, Shell has a particular interest in promoting wellbeing and the many benefits of nature therapy.

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