The L.L. Bean Northwoods 6-Person 3-Season Cabin Tent isn’t really something you want toss on your back and head out on the trail with, but for car camping or backyard excursions, it’s the perfect shelter for the whole family. In typical L.L. Bean style, this tent offers exceptionally roomy design with an easy set-up and dependable construction.
On Performance and Design…
When you’re sharing a tent with three, four or even five other people, space is essential. Towards those ends, L.L. Bean’s Northwoods 6-Person 3-Season Cabin Tent offers a capacious 90.5 square feet with Canopy spreader poles that pull the sidewalls to near vertical, ensuring that this tent is big enough to accommodate six people—sleeping or standing—and all their stuff.
At 23 pounds, the Northwoods tent is several pounds heavier than other comparable six person tents on the market. But the good news is that this family tent isn’t something that you’ll be tossing on your back and heading out on the trail with. Rather, you’ll simply grab the duffle-style bag this tent stores in, toss it in your trunk, and head to your camping destination of choice. And the really good news is that in exchange for the extra three to five pounds, the Northwoods offers some additional quality square footage.
Specifically, the Northwoods has three more square feet than the Mountain Hardwear Optic 6; seven more square feet than the lauded REI Kingdom 6 man tent; four more square feet than the North Face Kaiju; 9.5 square feet more than the Big Agnes Big House and an impressive 10.5 square feet above and beyond the Kelty Trail Ridge 6 person tent. And while some of those measurements may seem like small potatoes, the reality is that whether you’re camping with little tikes, or college buddies, every square foot counts.
Of course, with a family tent this big, you get lots of features. The extra-large door makes it easy for everyone to enter/exit, and internally, each corner is equipped with three-tiered organizer pockets so there’s a place for everything. Heavy-duty large diameter ridge and leg poles are exceptionally durable, and the webbing and buckles make set-up convenient enough that Mom and Dad can crack a brew while the kids put this tent up. And unlike other tents that only have tent stake loops at the corners, the Northwoods has an additional webbing loop on the right and left side of the tent. This not only helps further secure the tent, but ensures that you get every extra inch of floor space from the design.
The L.L. Bean design team also ensured that you get lots of weather protection and durability out of this massive tent. A 1500mm waterproof polyurethane coating on the fly and floor resists rain should your trip get hit with a storm. As an added weatherproof bonus: all seams taped with waterproof, solvent-free polyurethane tape (No PVC or VOCs).
The fly is made out of polyester ripstop and the floor is polyester, while the body consists of polyester taffeta and polyester mesh fabric that offers ventilation. One of our personal favorite features is the brow pole which inserts into the rainfly over the door to help keep rain out and give a little extra shade to the front end of your tent.
Notes from the Field…
We loved the style and spacing of the Northwoods tent, however, there are a few critiques we had with a few of the design elements. Specifically, we missed a color coded webbing tab on the tent and fly. This simply makes for a quick set up that would also help ensure that the brow pole sleeve is in the proper position. We’d also like to see the addition guy out pockets on the fly to make storage of the guylines a simple and straightforward process. Both are small issues, but make a significant difference when setting up the tent in adverse conditions.
Lastly, the Northwoods 6-person tent struggled significantly during severe winds. Admittedly, not everyone will spend time camping in exposed sites which subject your tent to high winds. But for those who do, this is an issue worth considering. We partly attribute this issue to the spreader poles which help extend the rainfly slightly beyond the windows. While offering additional weather protection, the design also served as a wind catch on exceptionally blustery days. This in turn subjected our rainfly to a significant beating which resulted in limited physical damage where the spreader poles meet the rainfly.
Bottom Line…
Who needs a cabin when you and your family can camp inside L.L. Bean’s Northwoods 6-Person Cabin Tent? Big space and big performance all backed by L.L. Bean’s industry leading 100% Satisfaction Guarantee makes this an impressive family camping option.
*Gumption Gear Review received the items featured in this review from L.L. Bean at no cost and receives no monetary compensation for this or any related review. The items featured were provided solely in return for our honest views and opinions.