"The Zephyr XT is a one-person tent with both front and rear vestibules. It is not a bivy or tunnel design, but a rectangular dome with plenty of headroom for sitting and changing clothes. Eureka lists this tent’s height at 36 inches, but mine is closer to 40 inches inside the tent body. I’m 6 feet tall and have plenty of space to sit up. A fairly versatile circular door in the rain fly mostly covers the front vestibule. The rear vestibule is also covered by the rain fly and is accessed by a zippered panel in the rear wall of the tent. Unlike many tents with front and rear vestibules, both vestibules on the Zephyr XT are plenty large enough to be useful.
This tent weighs slightly more than 5 pounds. This is fairly heavy when compared to bivvies or other one-person designs. Eureka also makes the standard Zephyr, which weighs in at a much more reasonable 3 lbs. 14oz. However, the standard Zephyr has no vestibule space and more limited ventilation options. The door on the Zephyr XT covers one whole side of the tent and offers either full mesh or Eureka’s Hi-Lo venting with a small low vent positioned at the head of the occupant. The XT also has two roof peak vents, one of which is also exposed to a protected peak vent in the rain fly. Combined with the clip design (no pole sleeves), this tent has superb ventilation. While I have not tested this tent in very cold conditions, I do not think that condensation or frost would be problematic in this tent.
Setup is easy and the tent is narrow enough that the rain fly does not need staked out to prevent it from touching the tent. There is plenty of space between the body and fly. The poles are split into 12-inch sections, making them easy to fit into just about anyplace you wish to pack them. There are tie-down loops for stormy conditions and the tent seems to be very stable. The tent allows plenty of light into the tent and also has a clear vinyl window on the fly door that seems to be holding up well thus far.
I have few complaints with this tent, but I want to list them all so that this review is as complete as possible. For the $140 price tag, the Zephyr XT is a very versatile one-person tent and I am quite happy with it. I do wish that it used rip-stop nylon, but that can’t really be expected on a tent in this price range. Quality is acceptable, though the clips for the poles seem to carry quite a bit of stress. I don’t expect them to fail, but they could stand to be beefed up where they attach to the tent body. One thing that I’m slightly disappointed in is Eureka’s own praise of the bottom-venting doors in the fly in the Zephyr XT and some of their other 1999 models. I have now used two Eureka tents with bottom-venting doors in the fly and do not understand how they are supposed to work properly. The doors can be rolled up and clipped to loops, but at most I can only get a couple of inches of ground clearance and it makes the doors sag a bit. This could be a very nice feature if only carried out better or at least explained in the tent manual. The manual lists the feature, but does not offer any explanation as to how it’s supposed to work. The manual is very minimalistic anyway and will only offer help to those who have never set up a dome tent before. Typos, bad grammar, and inaccuracies plague the short manual, though the tent care section is thorough and appropriate. I also would suggest that Eureka cover the top portion of the fly door with a storm flap to prevent water from possibly dripping on the contents of the vestibule during a long rain. I have not had a problem with this yet, but the zipper is not covered and will surely allow water to soak through. Considering how taut the tent sets up, I expect the water to simply run down the door of the fly and avoid wetting the vestibule contents. However, I do think that adding a flap over the uppermost portion of the zipper would be an easy and effective preventive measure that could only add to this tent’s already excellent storm-worthiness.
The Zephyr XT is an excellent one-person tent and if Eureka would spend only a little time and effort on a few improvements, the 2000 model could be nearly perfect."
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