There’s always been some looseness to how the fabric hangs for both the bug netting and rain flys. This hadn’t reduced anyone’s ability to use their campers. I’ve camped in this one in everything from deep Sub-Zero temps in Glacier National Park to atmospheric river storms with torrential rains and and measured wind speeds of 75 mph during a three month trip to Baja earlier this year. Just this weekend we had 30 mph winds in elk camp. This is after owning a V1 from 2018 to when I upgraded.
Know what’s been a problem through all of that? Nothing.
As explained clearly above, and in the tent design article linked above, the fabric body inside the rigid GFC wedge tensions differently than ground tents that use flexible poles. The pro goes further to move tension off zippers, and it’s doors now zip all the way around rather than hanging from the top. Each body is stitched by hand in Bozeman.
These are intentionally designed products made with the upmost care. Go camping, and I think you’ll begin to understand that.
I’m saying that talk of “problems” is overblown and led by a misunderstanding of how these tents are designed and produced, along with a culture on this forum that gives too much space to too few voices. The fabric on these campers is not designed to tension like a ground tent. Pro is an all round impressive upgrade, you’ll appreciate the smoother zips, improved ventilation, and larger/more versatile door design. Pro works in wind as well as previous iterations
When I owned V2 flapped like crazy in the wind and was extremely drafty. I was also one of the few to hit 50+ nights via the forums. 77 in total for 2023.
GFC pulled in external help from Aeronaut (Brandon) with the design of the pro tent. He has a lot of experience in the outdoor industry which is great. However, I imagine the sewing process of the pro tent is a nightmare. I’m no seamstress, but just looking at the rear door…it has so much more going on vs traditional tents or the older V2 tents.
No one also knows how much testing went into the tent since it was still in the works from what I saw in January. Would have been cool to see actual testing footage of what they put it up against prior to releasing it (i.e. wind, snow, rain, etc.)
We offered to be valuable test subjects for the redesign, but never heard anything, too bad. We have a lot of options on the matter after roughly 720 total nights in ours…
@GFC are you still planning to provide visual examples of good and bad units? Right now when you click through the website to buy a camper, the only graphics that show what the tent looks like with the outer panels closed are these renders. I’m no betting man, but I’d wager this thread wouldn’t exist if our tents looked this good:
Because the issue was limited to such a small number of units (single digits), we decided it was more effective just to reach out to those individuals and work with them on resolutions.
You can find plenty of actual photos of Pro on our social media channels, build gallery, and website. Here’s a great one:
Almost looks like there is a cross wind going against that side on that ranger photo you posted.
Edit: companies want to make photos look good so you buy the product too. Like literally doing the smallest adjustments to get the perfect conditions or setup.
I’ve noticed if there is a cross wind blowing the door panel into the camper, the visual slack appears to be taken up and the panels look relatively decent when viewing from the outside.
There’s three full-time employees sitting on the other end of that process, and their entire job is to help you guys out.
Let’s note again that the V2 Pro fabric is entirely different from our previous tent bodies. Tension has been moved entirely off of the doors. These changes were made to accommodate the wrap-around zippers, help those zippers run more smoothly, to facilitate improved air exchange, and to increase durability and strength. All those functional changes do add up to visual differences.
And as you note, photographing fabric can be tricky. There’s an entire industry devoted just to walking around in it, photographing it, and coming up with tiny changes to it. Lighting, wind, and closure are all factors in how the camper looks in photos, and the fabric we use, while incredibly weather resistant, lightweight, and extraordinarily durable, does tend to get wrinkly when it’s all folded up under pressure inside a closed camper.
The best suggestion I can give you here is to go use your camper. Not only will those wrinkles disappear after a few nights of changing temperatures, precipitation, and flowing air, but it’ll also highlight just what a great setup this thing is.
