Easy Camp makes quality affordable gear for families and the Easy Camp Tornado 400 is just that. The Tornado 400 is made of tough materials and it has some really nice features to make family camping more fun.
The Easy Camp Tornado 400 doesn‘t use tent poles for structure. Inflatable arch shaped tubes take care of that job instead. A two way pump with a pressure gauge is included with the tent and the flexible hose hooks right up to inflation ports on the two air tubes. When inflating the air tubes, keep the pressure needle in the green area of the gage to prevent over pressurizing. The pressure increases when the air gets hot and that could over pressurize the air tubes on warm days.
The caps that seal the air tubes are designed to keep air in while inflating but also let the air out quickly. The center of the larger cap uses a one way valve to hold the air in. Air doesn‘t escape even if the pump hose falls off. When the tube is up to pressure, the smaller center cap is screwed in to really seal it up. The caps are covered by Velcro flaps on the rain fly. Unscrew the larger cap to let the air quickly escape.
The air tubes make the tent bulky and heavier but they make setup really fast. My two kids and I set the tent up in 20 minutes and that‘s pretty good for a four person size tent. That setup included all the guy lines and setting up the bathtub floor in the vestibule. The soil around here is really rocky as well so driving in the tent stakes took a bit of time too. We set the tent up with the rain fly attached but you can also set up the rain fly first and then attach the tent body to keep things dry.
Headroom in the Easy Camp Tornado 400 is good. I‘m 6 feet 1 inches tall and I can stand up in the tent but my head touches the top mesh. A family of four should fit just fine and you might have room for Fido too. Lying down with my head toward the front, I had a few inches to spare but really tall people might get cramped. An easily removable center divider splits the living area in half so people have a private area to change into a swimsuit.
The Easy Camp Tornado 400 has a generous sized front vestibule. An optional bathtub floor is included and this makes a great place to take off shoes and just hang out. Zippers on either side of the door allow the front to open fully and if you get creative, you can use the flap to make a nice awning. Four storage pockets are located between the two large D-shaped front doors. The vestibule even has two windows with curtains. Vents in the rain fly at the front and back let fresh air flow through. This helps to cool the tent and let moisture out.
The Easy Camp Tornado 400 packs down to 30 by 13.5 inches. The tent weighs a little less than 19 pounds. During testing, we had the tent set up during several days of rain. Some of the weather included heavy thunderstorms. The storms blew down a tree in my front yard but the tent stood up to the beating. No water got inside but standing water on the ground got on top of the floor in the vestibule.
You can buy the Easy Camp Tornado 400 at Optics Planet for $549.99. This is a strong, tough tent with plenty of comfort features for camping. The way the tent handled the weather really impressed me. Click HERE to head over to Optics Planet and check it out.
I‘d like to thank Easy Camp for sending the Tornado 400 for testing and review. We at Industry Outsider have budgets too, and passing along honest information on gear hopefully benefits everyone.