Review: Marmot Limelight 3P Tent

Review: Marmot Limelight 3P Tent

Marmot Limelight 3P Tent

The Rugged Innovations team takes to the woods bi-weekly to hunt Bigfoot and re-apply our campfire musk (it's an aphrodisiac). We picked up a Marmot Limelight 3P ($278.95 on Amazon) tent for the trip and went to Boca Lake in California. I'm going to spoil this whole review right now: we didn't find any sasquatches. 

The Marmot Limelight 3P is really easy to put up. If you've looked at new tents by North Face, REI, and other outdoor manufacturers lately you'll notice they're going towards more complicated tents with more features, more poles, and more crap. The Marmot Limelight 3P cuts the frills. You won't find arched doorways and flying buttresses here. It's a rock-solid tent with rock-solid features. 

The tent package includes a footprint, tent, and rainfly that all go up quickly. There's a lot of gear in the package so it can be challenging to roll back into the bag. The poles are sturdy. One minor annoyance is that the two cross poles are permanently connected in the middle. It can make tear-down a bit complicated - once you unclip the poles, you have to take apart a 30-foot aluminum crucifix, one end at a time. Speaking of poles, I really like that the poles clip to the tent. Lots of tents make you slide the poles through a sleeve. These poles just clip right onto the top of the tent. It's quick and easy. The entire setup takes 10 minutes. 

Stakes -- totally unrugged. 

Unless you're me. I must channel some kind of pent-up white collar rage when putting in tent stakes because I bent FOUR of them trying to hammer them into the hardpacked clay with the butt of my hatchet. What are the stakes made out of? Pudding? Holy crap. Good thing it comes with eight stakes or my tent would've hitched a thermal and been in the troposphere by nightfall. I recommend buying some heavier-duty stakes if you're camping somewhere with hard topsoil. 

The innards of the Marmot Limelight 3P are comfortable and spacious for two people. Three people would fit but would be very snug. This Tauntaun will keep you cozy all night, Luke. As you can see in the picture above, it is extremely well-ventilated. The ventilation is great for hot summer camping and for preventing condensation in the morning. If you choose to attach the rainfly it provides little vestibules to protect gear that you don't want to keep in the tent (wet boots, wet dogs, etc). The rainfly has a window in the side so you can spend all night looking at... darkness? It's a pointless feature. I wish the window were on the top for stargazing.

The Marmot Limelight 3P Tent At a Glance:

The Hot: 

• Light, airy, well-ventilated
• Very easy to pitch
• Sturdy in weather
• Footprint included
• Great looking!

The Not:

• Flimsy stakes
• A bit expensive
• Difficult to pack up into carrying bag

The Bottom Line: 

The Marmot Limelight 3P tent ($278.95 on Amazon) is a great investment for a weekend camper. It's one of the easiest tents to pitch we've ever seen. It's a car trip or day trip kind of tent -- backpackers will want to choose something lighter and smaller when packed. It looks great and has every feature that you will want in a weekend camping tent... and probably a few you wouldn't have thought of. While it's a bit pricier than alternatives, I am definitely happy with the product and feel like I've gotten my money's worth.

Be safe.

Ariel Castro
Rugged Innovations

p.s. After writing this review, I was contacted by a Marmot rep, who mailed me a new set of tent stakes for free. I must say, I am impressed with their customer service!