Crua OutdoorsReviews of cruaoutdoors.com

I bought the Crua Duo Max tent this summer to use on an 8 day sea kayaking trip in Glacier Bay National Park. It rains heavily here and can be very windy. I wanted a tent with plenty of room for 2 people with a large vestibule for wet gear. I compared big brand name tents against this relatively unknown brand(to me) and decided to try it. I was not disappointed. The tent was completely waterproof and the vestibule allowed plenty of space to leave wet gear and not take it into the sleeping area. I love that you don’t need a fly or a ground cloth. It is the perfect tent for me for sea kayaking adventures.

1 + 9 straight days in Crua Xtent Maxx with my wife and son in Hanko Archipelago, Finland. First night was with my son and daughter on a friend’s island using just the inside tent in the raised position. Very easy to pitch, has lots of room and obviously you get fresh air and see the stars. Lovely. Then in real use in the Archipelago. With my wife and son there’s not much room for gear but for sleeping there’s plenty and you can use the Culla inside it (have thus far only tried it at home). My wife and me switched between the tent and hammock so with only one adult and child there was enough room for gear and to sleep comfortably. There are three zippered ventilation openings for fresh air. During our trip it rained very heavily (one stormy day as well) on three days and nothing leaked nor were there even any condensation. Very, very nice. The porch mode is great and in the raised position there’s enough head room for an adult person to stand. To be honest I have easier tents to pitch and I consider Xtent a more technical tent but it does offer immense value with the functionalities, versatility and weather proofness. And after pitching it a few times it only takes a minute or two to have everything in order. I’m more a hammock person but I think I’ll use Xtent with Culla during Fall and Winter trips with my kids. As I live in Finland it does get really cold and it can rain a lot. I’m sure Xtent will serve us well and become a valued piece of gear. Thus far I’m impressed.

I recently purchased the Koala hammock and stand. The hammock is so lightweight, yet it can take the weight of our whole family, I was very pleasantly surprised by how strong it is. It also packs up very small, so easy for travelling. I also bought the stand as wanted to be able to use the hammock in the garden, where we don’t have tree to tie it to. It’s so sturdy, very happy with it.

Happy to have received a Crua Duo tent we purchased. It arrived sooner than I thought it would and pleased to say that our first experience setting it up was a breeze. Looking forward to many happy weekends camping. Thank you Crua.

Very excited to try out our new Core Max System, we partially set it up in the back yard today to get a feel for it and given the lack of reviews out there about these tents, I wanted to express my unvarnished impression of the tents. Things we liked: -Duo Max was super easy to set up -Culla fits seamlessly inside the Duo -Vestibules are amazing! an actual useful size -Duo's attach very well to the Core(with covered zippers) -Guidelines are clearly visible -Not hot inside tent with 80+ degree weather, this is very impressive -Love the modular system Things we are worried about: -Steaks it came with hurt hand to push in and need to be hammered into ground - Tent Steaks have poor hook provision to grab guidelines(we will need to purchase new steaks, given the price of the system, this is very disappointing) -Storage compartments in core tent lay on floor rather than hang from the wall -Floor Material drags on shoes(soft material) -Optional rainfly's attach strangely -Main door(this is a tough one, with it fully open it is a very nice large opening, but there is no fast way for the kids to open and close the door, its kind of all or nothing. We are a bit worried this will lead to damage with children operating it, or bugs entering the tent. -The Core being the center piece of the system does not appear nearly as refined as the Duo's or Culla's. We are leaving in a couple days for a week long camping trip with this system. I'm excited to test it out in the woods! Follow up after 5 days in the woods of northern Minnesota with this system. First thing I have to say is to the weatherproofing is amazing! The last night a line of sever thunderstorms rolled through with heavy rain(a couple inches)50+ mph winds, lots of lightning. The tent stayed dry and hardy shook in the wind, the kids were in a Duo with the Culla; thanks to the light blocking and soundproofing were not bothered by the thunder, lightning or wind. Also the tent took some hits from branches getting snapped off the trees. Inspection in the morning found no damage at all to the tents. The steaks were as we thought, hammer in and remove with a plyers, but they hold firm! Floor material worked perfectly, Main door did work well with the kids thanks to the high end zipper. Only complaints we would have after a real world use of it is the storage. Core and Duo's could really use storage up higher above the doors, like there is in the Culla. Due to where the storage pockets are located, they are useless for us. A mesh pockets above the main doors would be amazing and perfect for glasses and cell phones.(Things you don't want to risk being stepped on). Storage in the vestibules would also be VERY useful. We did find bugs(spiders for us) can come in where the Duo's connect to the core at the bottom, putting a towel down at the threshold solved that. In general we are very happy with the system!

We did a lot of research (including a wonderful call with their support) when looking for a tent and decided on a Crua Core. We were not disappointed. It is a cavernous tent with a minimum of fuss to set up. Seriously; I can jump up and down inside of it. ;) Our first outing in it was for four days of very hot and humid weather. Pointing the large vestibule into the wind kept it much more comfortable in the sticky nights than it had any right to be. This also included a very active thunderstorm that dumped 2-2.5 inches of rain on us in a couple hours and winds to 25-30mph for an extended amount of time around the rain. The Core? Water-tight and unphased by the winds once we closed the vestibule door. If it weren't for the wind in the trees we wouldn't have know how strong the gusts were after that. That airbeam construction is no joke. The company uses an innovate and iterate design philosophy that seeks feedback from their customers to improve. We respect them immensely for it and look forward to helping the process along over the years to come.

I just wanted to update an old review of the Crua Clan a few years post-investment. Every time we take it camping, in any of its many configurations, we mention how happy we are with it. My kids are all still under age 5 so simplicity is the current key, and with all of the options it offers, it just works so well. It’s probably had 15 outings now and held up very well in all kinds of weather. Occasionally I’ve considered whether a trailer would have been smart, but honestly this gives us so much more freedom and way less hassle. I couldn’t think of a more perfect setup.

Very happy with the Crua Xtent Max!. Very easy to set up, and take down. Roomy and comfortable inside. Just camped where there was no dew, so slept without the rain fly. So gorgeous to look up and see the stars from my bed, I had trouble fitting it all back in the bag and crua made a video for me to show me how to fold it up to fit!! What a nice and responsive company! I’m very happy, was worth the wait!