The Quest Preying Mantis

By Steve Mann

Ratings: Setup: B Vestibule: A+ Ventilation: B Livability: A Rainproof: A Wind proof: A Access: A Overall: A

As a tent reviewer for GearReview.com, I admit my vestibule bias right up-front. I'll take a tent with a decent vestibule over a lighter weight tent without one-or too small a vestibule-on any backpacking adventure. If you're a vestibule freak too, then look no further than Quest's Preying Mantis three-season tent, arguably the best tent vestibule in existence. Hey, even if you're not a vestibule freak, the Preying Mantis deserves a careful look when it comes time to purchase a quality three-season backpacking tent.

What's the big deal about the Preying Mantis vestibule? Last fall in Zion National Park, I spent a couple hours in the Preying Mantis waiting out a pounding thunderstorm. During my rain-imposed confinement in the Preying Mantis I cooked a warm dinner, kept my pack dry and out of the way, then sprawled out for a few winks-thanks to the spacious vestibule.

My packing friend, testing another manufacturer's ultra light tent, shared his sleeping area with his pack and ate a cold dinner for lack of a cooking area. His vestibule was too small to accommodate either the pack or cooking. The Preying Mantis solves these problems, and more, while adding a paltry pound or two over its minimalist counterparts. At a respectable 6 pounds 2 ounces (packaged weight) with poles, fly, stakes, and stuff sack, the Mantis is an easily packable second home, not just a covered sleeping area.

The Preying Mantis' modified dome-style closely resembles a tunnel shape, yet it is freestanding. The tent has a hoop-type pole at the head and foot, joined by a full-length pole along the tent's backbone, joined to the hoop poles by Quest's "sportiva" hubs. The tent clips to the poles to create taut walls. Pole tips slide into grommets at the corners of the tent floor. The rainfly rests over the top of the backbone pole creating a pole-enforced gap between the tent body and the fly. Buckles on the fly secure it to the tent adjacent to the pole grommets.

The rainfly's unique design is the essence of the Mantis. First, an extra pole extends the backbone about four feet beyond the tent door, and connects to a third hoop pole and the far end of the rainfly, creating an enormous vestibule. At 14 square feet, this is one of the largest vestibules of any two-person tent. After the Zion Park thunderstorm, my fellow tent tester cursed his tiny vestibule and muttered something derogatory about our field manager who made the tent assignments.

Another great feature of the Mantis rainfly/vestibule is its ability to roll up the fly up to the main door pole, exposing the mesh side panels for ventilation in summer, while keeping the vestibule in place. Should bad weather ensue during the night, just unroll the fly and clip the ends into the slide buckles at the tent base. That process takes about 30 seconds. On warm nights, this allows you to enjoy the cool night breeze, yet avoid time-consuming set up (in the dark) when those rain drops start splatting against your sleeping face. The full-mesh tent door also helps with ventilation, although the vestibule covers most of the doorway, reducing airflow through the doorway even with a rolled-up rainfly. Still, the only complaint from our testers was a desire for slightly larger mesh side panels for improved star gazing.

As for livability, the Mantis sports ample room for two, with headroom for my 6'1" frame to sit upright near the mesh tent door.

If you're expecting bad weather, you can stake out the fly at various points between the clipped corners. Guy line connections are also supplied, but needed only in the most extreme conditions. The side entry door to the vestibule makes entry/exit simple even with gear stowed in the vestibule.

When the bad weather does strike, the Mantis holds up. For our rain-worthiness test, we pitted the Mantis against one of Utah's Wasatch mountain spring storms, with winds in excess of 40 mph and driving sheets of rain. Nary a drop of the clear liquid invaded our sleeping chamber. The rainfly took the wind gusts with ease-we didn't even have the guy strings staked out.

Set up is simple, although it took a couple of tries to master the vestibule's pole system. Plan on setting up the tent a couple of times at home before taking your first trip with a new Preying Mantis.

Summary: The Preying Mantis is an excellent three-season tent, capable of mild four-season work. Its strengths are its mammoth vestibule and unique roll-up rainfly, good ventilation, durable construction, high livability, and stable frame-all at an acceptable weight. At a list price of $307, it's not an economy tent, but well below other premium tent manufacturers' comparable models. We rate the Quest Preying Mantis an excellent value, with an overall 'A' rating.

A- excellent, outstanding.

B-very good

C- average. Not terrible exciting, but it will get the job done.

D-barely acceptable. There is some inadequacy.

F-Unacceptable, poor. An F grade makes this feature unusable.