I purchased this tent back in 2002 directly from ALPS, an little known Company based out of New Haven, Missouri.
I was very impressed with the Taurus from day one. All the seams were factory hot-taped and nicely finished. Two doors/vestibles and an full coverage polyester rainfly. 7000 series aluminum poles and pole clips makes pitching the Taurus a breeze. This tent uses the rings and pins in place of grommets. Guylines and an gear loft are included.
As for actual "field use", the ALPS Taurus performed extremely well. I used the Taurus on numerous backpacking/camping trips from the hills of southeast Ohio to the the mountains of Pennsylvania to the Appalachians of SW Virginia. Never had any problems with the performance of this tent EVER. I recall one storm we had while hiking the Ministercreek Trail in Pa. While camped high on top of an ridge an really nasty thunderstorm blew in, bringing very gusty winds and heavy downpours. Never did the Taurus leak once and the tent refused to budge when buffeted by the strong winds. Condensation is never an problem due to the smartly placed mesh roof vents on the tent body (an feature my more expensive Sierra Designs tent lacked for some reason).
All in all, the ALPS Taurus is an very good tent and it's extremely affordable. :)
ministercreek - Feb 19, 2005 11:08 pm - Voted 5/5
Untitled ReviewI was very impressed with the Taurus from day one. All the seams were factory hot-taped and nicely finished. Two doors/vestibles and an full coverage polyester rainfly. 7000 series aluminum poles and pole clips makes pitching the Taurus a breeze. This tent uses the rings and pins in place of grommets. Guylines and an gear loft are included.
As for actual "field use", the ALPS Taurus performed extremely well. I used the Taurus on numerous backpacking/camping trips from the hills of southeast Ohio to the the mountains of Pennsylvania to the Appalachians of SW Virginia. Never had any problems with the performance of this tent EVER. I recall one storm we had while hiking the Ministercreek Trail in Pa. While camped high on top of an ridge an really nasty thunderstorm blew in, bringing very gusty winds and heavy downpours. Never did the Taurus leak once and the tent refused to budge when buffeted by the strong winds. Condensation is never an problem due to the smartly placed mesh roof vents on the tent body (an feature my more expensive Sierra Designs tent lacked for some reason).
All in all, the ALPS Taurus is an very good tent and it's extremely affordable. :)