The only Wheelchair-Accessible Tent
2006 Da Vinci Award Winner
Rating:
***** 5 Stars
Full Review:
After setting up this tent over a dozen times my husband (T-12 paraplegic) and I have decreased the time to a matter of minutes to do so. With more than 25 days of camping in it over two years, this tent has proven to be a road warrior for people in wheelchairs. The advantages of this tent definitely outweigh the disadvantages, but let’s take a full look at Eureka’s Freedom Tent.
We continue to find this tent highly impressive. Worth first mention is its low price. At just $329 it’s a bargain; a normal tent of this size with these specialty features would easily cost $500. This is one of the best tents for the money on the market!
As for the features, the front vestibule’s size and versatility are what make this tent valuable for wheelchair users. We’ve used it for one wheelchair and a dog, but it’s wide enough for two wheelchairs, one additional person to sleep, all your excess gear, or to be used as a changing room.
The Freedom Tent also uses a unique rigid sliding front door design, which is something we’ve never seen on a tent before. This door makes entering the tent easier for all users, but especially for wheelchairs. The typical zip-doors collapse into a pile on one side and can make rolling over them difficult, so the sliding door is a much better design.
Another feature we found useful for all campers with disabilities, and especially their companions, are the two additional inside window-doors to this tent. If there is a wheelchair in the front vestibule and the companion needs to enter or exit the tent in the morning or during the night, these side doors provide easy access to do so. They also make for putting in the bedding easier, without having to go through the front door and make transferring from your wheelchair to a cot or raised airbed much easier, as most wheelchair-users find it easier to transfer to the side.
The final unique feature for campers with disabilities is the addition of large, loop-pull handles added to all zippers. These pull tabs are excellent for people with arthritis and other hand-mobility limitations. We think this would be a beneficial addition to all tents as it makes it much easier to pull open and closed in the dark or on the fly no matter what your ability.
Our main complaint is that the instructions were the hardest part of the setup. Once we figured out that the rounded poles should go in first, we felt we had mastered it! The claim of this tent is that anyone in a wheelchair can set it up alone due to the closed-end pole slots (avoiding the circling pole-to-hole laps around the tent you do for most setups), but we found that average arm and hand strength and hand mobility, as well as chair-to-ground reach are definitely needed to set up this tent if doing it alone. Although this claim is a noble attempt at independence for campers with disabilities, and is likely mastered with these abilities and practice, the set up of this tent is indeed much easier with help. In addition to set-up, pulling the poles back out of the sleeves for breaking it down requires help as well, as the elastic pole pieces pull apart and do not easily slide out of the sleeves. Having another person pushing on the closed-end side remedied this issue however, and again, once we practiced this technique, it wasn’t an issue.
In addition, the weight of the tent in its bag may be too heavy to carry for those with less than average arm strength. However, it does fit in on a lap well and so long as you’re not rolling long distances, this too is not an issue. Weight is at least worth mention for this group to know, the tent’s full package is 16 lbs.
Overall we found this tent to be very spacious, and we loved sleeping in it. There are many features that are standard on tents that this one also has, such as the huge sky-viewing roof, an easy-to-assemble rain fly, and rugged, durable materials. Even though the instructions are a little difficult to follow, upon additional use the set up and breakdown will come with ease; it’s always a little awkward figuring out a new tent for the first setup.
We highly recommend this tent to anyone with a disability, as well as those with arthritis or anyone in need of additional storage and added features (such as the side doors) in their tent design! Way to go Eureka and Blue Sky Designs!
Rating:
***** 5 Stars
Full Review:
After setting up this tent over a dozen times my husband (T-12 paraplegic) and I have decreased the time to a matter of minutes to do so. With more than 25 days of camping in it over two years, this tent has proven to be a road warrior for people in wheelchairs. The advantages of this tent definitely outweigh the disadvantages, but let’s take a full look at Eureka’s Freedom Tent.
We continue to find this tent highly impressive. Worth first mention is its low price. At just $329 it’s a bargain; a normal tent of this size with these specialty features would easily cost $500. This is one of the best tents for the money on the market!
As for the features, the front vestibule’s size and versatility are what make this tent valuable for wheelchair users. We’ve used it for one wheelchair and a dog, but it’s wide enough for two wheelchairs, one additional person to sleep, all your excess gear, or to be used as a changing room.
The Freedom Tent also uses a unique rigid sliding front door design, which is something we’ve never seen on a tent before. This door makes entering the tent easier for all users, but especially for wheelchairs. The typical zip-doors collapse into a pile on one side and can make rolling over them difficult, so the sliding door is a much better design.
Another feature we found useful for all campers with disabilities, and especially their companions, are the two additional inside window-doors to this tent. If there is a wheelchair in the front vestibule and the companion needs to enter or exit the tent in the morning or during the night, these side doors provide easy access to do so. They also make for putting in the bedding easier, without having to go through the front door and make transferring from your wheelchair to a cot or raised airbed much easier, as most wheelchair-users find it easier to transfer to the side.
The final unique feature for campers with disabilities is the addition of large, loop-pull handles added to all zippers. These pull tabs are excellent for people with arthritis and other hand-mobility limitations. We think this would be a beneficial addition to all tents as it makes it much easier to pull open and closed in the dark or on the fly no matter what your ability.
Our main complaint is that the instructions were the hardest part of the setup. Once we figured out that the rounded poles should go in first, we felt we had mastered it! The claim of this tent is that anyone in a wheelchair can set it up alone due to the closed-end pole slots (avoiding the circling pole-to-hole laps around the tent you do for most setups), but we found that average arm and hand strength and hand mobility, as well as chair-to-ground reach are definitely needed to set up this tent if doing it alone. Although this claim is a noble attempt at independence for campers with disabilities, and is likely mastered with these abilities and practice, the set up of this tent is indeed much easier with help. In addition to set-up, pulling the poles back out of the sleeves for breaking it down requires help as well, as the elastic pole pieces pull apart and do not easily slide out of the sleeves. Having another person pushing on the closed-end side remedied this issue however, and again, once we practiced this technique, it wasn’t an issue.
In addition, the weight of the tent in its bag may be too heavy to carry for those with less than average arm strength. However, it does fit in on a lap well and so long as you’re not rolling long distances, this too is not an issue. Weight is at least worth mention for this group to know, the tent’s full package is 16 lbs.
Overall we found this tent to be very spacious, and we loved sleeping in it. There are many features that are standard on tents that this one also has, such as the huge sky-viewing roof, an easy-to-assemble rain fly, and rugged, durable materials. Even though the instructions are a little difficult to follow, upon additional use the set up and breakdown will come with ease; it’s always a little awkward figuring out a new tent for the first setup.
We highly recommend this tent to anyone with a disability, as well as those with arthritis or anyone in need of additional storage and added features (such as the side doors) in their tent design! Way to go Eureka and Blue Sky Designs!
