Sierra Designs Convert 3 Tent, 4-Season

2023-02-02T19:00:00

I like the concept of a below treeline 4 season tent that is lighter than a mountaineering tent. This tent is replacing a Mountain Hardware Trango 3. Good: Very spacious, and the wall shape does a good job of optimizing interior volume. The fabric and seams both seem very well done. The solid fabric walls are a plus over mesh walls when it comes to blowing sand and snow. This is my first tunnel style tent. My initial thought is a dome style is more stable, and will require fewer stakes to stabilize. Bad: The pole set seems to be the offspring of an eel and an octopus! The tent design does require that poles are placed in a certain orientation. Not the end of the world, but it might be a hassle factor sometimes. The poles are decent quality. Conclusion: Should be a versatile tent that is fairly weather resistant at a fair price. My intended uses are below tree line winter camping, river trips, and car camping.

J

Originally posted at

2022-08-31T20:00:00

This is Lakota Schulze on the left, with his buddy Bowen. Lakota is the one who chose and purchased the tent for a back packing trip over this coming Labor Day Weekend. Because Bowen likes to roll in mountain goat poop or get soaked in a rain storm , then charge into the tent. Lakota chose the Sierra Convert 3 to have a foyer available for Bowen to dry off. Ask Lakota next Tuesday how the trip went with the new mud room.

Lakota S.

Originally posted at

2020-12-30T19:00:00

I just set it up in living room and it is lightweight and sturdy. Has nice features. Will test it in the snow hopefully, in six or seven weeks when Covid restrictions might be lifted. Looking forward to snow camping with sons.

Joseph S.

Originally posted at

2020-12-20T19:00:00

Took this tent (3 man) up Mt Rogers and climbed in it with the wife and 5 boarder collie mixes. Fit snug and stayed toasty. Snow didn't penetrate the floor and it stood up well to all the winds. A piece of tarp was nice to have for the equipment storage area because of the wet snow. Extremely impressed with this tent overall and look forward to all the adventures ahead. Small tear in the storage bag tho, kinda bummed about that. Prob a branch cought it on the trail. Confident taking this tent anywhere.

Jonas A.

Originally posted at

2020-12-06T19:00:00

Great tent. I was able to use the tent over the weekend to determine how well it and the footprint worked. The combination worked as designed. I will wait until it snows to fully test the tent and footprint but so far I'm happy with my purchase!

Anthony T.

Originally posted at

2020-11-07T19:00:00

Overall this tent is great! I had the older the version and replaced it with the new one and this tent is very versatile and light. The burrito bag works great, and when I was opening it for the first time I was sure that something was missing, but I was wrong. It packs very small and light. The only two issues I have found are 1) the storage pockets are too small, and 2) the pegs bend easily; I will be using the pegs from my previous Convert 3 (DAC pegs), as they were more sturdy.

kostas s.

Originally posted at

2020-10-07T20:00:00

The Convert 3 has become one of my favorite tents because like SD states in their description, it converts to three different setups - three tents in one. I had the Convert out on a ridgeline without the vestibule with wind gusts sustained around 50 mph, and the tent never showed any structural stress, pretty amazing. This is a fairly light tent without the vestibule and for winter camping with the vestibule the Convert is lighter than most true winter backcountry tents. This tent design is really clever with quality materials and build.

CT

Originally posted at

2020-09-21T20:00:00

THE GOOD 1. Super light. At 2 pounds of weight per person, this is fairly light. 2. Roomy. Very roomy! Sure, you're still cozy with the other 2 in the tent, but you have enough room to put your arms out a little and to sit up. 3. Double-zip doors. There is an outer zipper that covers the mesh and the tent wall, and an inner that just does the tent wall. What is nice about this is that the tent wall portion falls limp inside the tent, not on the outside, and stays clean. 4. The vestibule extension gives you so much additional room for your gear for so little additional weight. Heck, it can even serve as additional living space for your pet in good weather. 5. Easy to set up. Once you set it up the first time, it's pretty simple after that. 6. So far, it appears to breathe pretty good. I didn't take it into sub-40 weather, so I don't know how much, if any, condensation is to be expected. 7. The flaps at the bottom appear adequate for reducing snow blowing in. I didn't take into snow, but it does appear like it's designed to be effective. THE BAD 1. The pockets are small, and the angle does have me concerned about objects falling out. 2. The lightweight stakes are a bit too malleable. Too easy to bend out of shape, but it's understandable considering the focus on being lightweight. 3. Because this is designed to have a vestibule extension, you don't get the typical fly extending out on both ends like normal. Where this is a negative is that if you want to shed a few more ounces, but still want room for your gear on one end and shoes on your other, you don't get that. You only have one end where the fly gives you that cover. 4. The fabric is delicate. Be very gentle. Our pack bag ripped on our first trip, and it's the same material as the tent. Again, it's the trade-off for having light-weight materials. THE UGLY 1. Nothing ugly about this. At the price you pay, you get an awesome tent. I have not regrets buying this.

Ryan L.

Originally posted at

2020-07-22T20:00:00

This is a great tent for the Rockies, where it is possible to get winter conditions in the middle of summer at 10,000 feet. It's a great balance to have this four-season tent that offers no-worries storm protection while not being as heavy as an expedition tent built for the Himalayas. It easily fits a couple with a toddler and a medium size dog. Setup did take a while (about 10-15 minutes), but that's expected for a tent that offers this much comfort and security against the wind, rain, snow, etc. Only three suggestions: some people might prefer a less-bold color, there aren't very many pockets inside the tent for organizing or drying stuff, and the stuff sack is a little too small to easily cram everything in there, if you are including the poles. But all of that is just minor complaints for a tent that can protect the whole crew for years to come. It was interesting that the tent was not widely available on some of the gear retail sites, and it wasn't reviewed on any of the major review sites either. We had to go searching for it. Bought it direct from Sierra Designs with the Memorial Day discount, thanks to the videos on the website that gave us confidence. For a tent that fills a special niche of being light-weight, full-function and four-seasons, seems like more marketing would be good. There were a couple of good reviews on YouTube that sealed the deal, but they didn't cover the 3-person version. It wasn't totally clear from the website whether the detachable vestibule is included in the 3-person version, but it does in fact come with the tent.

Gregory N.

Originally posted at

2019-06-20T20:00:00

Used my new Convert 3 tent for the first time this week. It performed very well, pretty easy to set up and take down. Only real complaint is that there's no way you can get it back in the bag after you've used it a couple of times. I now have a separate bag for the fly/vestibule/footprint. I only use it for car camping so it's not a big deal.

Tim Q.

Originally posted at

2019-06-16T20:00:00

I bought my first Sierra Designs four-seasons tent 20 years ago and it is still going strong. The first tent was over-engineered - in a good way. I referred to it as a little bomb shelter - free standing, and impervious to the elements. The Convert 3 is a very nice tent but I feel that some of that structural soundness of my old tent has been sacrificed for ultra-lightness and ultra-compactness for a tent of its size. In particular now it’s less free standing and needs stakes or guys to get a similar structural integrity as the old tent.

Jeff H.

Originally posted at

2019-06-10T20:00:00

Well, the poles bent the first week of using it in a crazy micro-burst windstorm in Fruita, CO. I sent in for a repair and that went super well. I really like the design except for the inside pockets (too small) and the rope-bag sack it goes in (so hard to get back in there!). Pretty sweet overall!

Smith M.

Originally posted at

2019-03-01T19:00:00

I practiced putting up in my living room. The first time while successful I realized pegging the tent would be very helpful. I then watched a couple YouTube videos and got some good ideas for setting up. My second living room escapade went smoothly. Next will be the outdoors. One suggestion, I would like to see a video on packing the tent into the carrying bag. I also bought a foot print separate, some durable stuff to protect tent floor. My one question, is the tent without the fly cover water proof in a lite rain?

Bruce H.

Originally posted at