Tentsile Stargazer Rainfly for Connect Review

A rooftop window for looking up at the trees and stars is the selling point of this rainfly for the Connect Tree Tent. The page says it fits both Gen 2.0 and 3.0 Connect tents, is fully removable and uses 70D PU coated waterproof polyester with a 5,000 Hydrostatic Head, with multiple loops and fixing points. It stresses that this is not a full tent, just the cover. The price is $189, in Forest Green.

Options and pricing

There is one option at $189: Choose Rainfly Color offers only Forest Green, and it was not marked out of stock when read. The price covers the rainfly alone, since the page says this is not a full tent, just the cover. The material line reads 70D PU coated waterproof polyester, with 2,500 of UV protection and 5,000 Hydrostatic Head. No weight, packed size or dimensions appear in the listing.

How it compares

The Stargazer Rainfly for Stingray is the same style of cover for a different tent and lists $229 against $189 here, with a spec line of 70D PU coated waterproof polyester and a 2,500UV figure. The Walls Triple Pack (Zipped) lists $199 for 3 x 5000HH walls, and the Wall (3.0) lists $80 for a single wall.

Shipping, returns and warranty

Shipping is free on orders over $199 sent from the US (lower 48) and EU countries; for Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand the page says its rates are kept as low as it can and gives a rough guide of $10 for most accessories and $20 for heavier items inside the US mainland. Average delivery is 3 to 5 working days in the US and EU and 7 to 10 days for the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. PO Box addresses are refused. The page says no extra taxes or duties apply to purchases from the US, EU, Canada, Australia or the UK, optional cover from Route can be added at checkout, and free shipping covers the first delivery attempt only; stack and accessory parts can come from different warehouses and arrive in separate packages. Returns: unused, unopened products in their original packaging can go back within 30 days of receipt, and opened or tested products can too, with a restocking fee the page gives as $20 for an unopened box and $50 for a used product (another line on the same page says $30 for all non-warranty returns). You pay return shipping on opened products unless they are defective or were sent wrongly, pre-loved and clearance sales are final, Canadian returns go to a US return centre with duties paid, and EU returns that are not warranty cases go to the UK. Warranty: products bought on tentsile.com after January 2025 carry a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects when used as the manuals say; straps and ratchets are covered for 5 years and a rainfly is meant to be replaced about every 3 years. The exclusions include poles and pegs, wear and tear, UV degradation (fabric rated for 1,500 hours for black mesh, 2,500 hours for green fabric and 3,500 hours for Safari fabric), snow load over 1 inch, high winds and products bought from third parties. Orders from $35 to $2,000 can be split into four payments with Zip, ClearPay, PayPal or Afterpay.

Before you buy

Tentsile's page header says "Rated 4.5/5" with "1100+ reviews" and "120,000+ Happy Customers"; these are the store's own figures and were not checked. Independent coverage we could open is thin: a hands-on review of the Connect by TechGadgetsCanada (March 2024, about 8 set-ups and 4 to 5 nights) found a steep learning curve, workable trees at only about half of its stops and one cold night, and a Wilderness Times write-up of the Stingray summarises specs and owner feedback without showing any hands-on testing. Tentsile's own pages set limits that matter, for example a recommended set-up height of 1.2m / 4ft on its Trilogy page, a 1 inch snow-load limit in its warranty terms and an FAQ warning that tension loads can reach 15kN, so only healthy trees should be used. The store also warns about copycat sites, and its returns and warranty terms apply to purchases made on tentsile.com.