swampwalker wrote:
I also have the Mantis. Over a decade now. The pole sleeve has never been a problem, but there must be some variability in the sleeve width as quite a number of people have complained about this. It's too warm for southern Ontario summer camping, and too low for hanging out, hence my interest in the Nemo above. But for storm and wind protection, the Mantis is a reliable shelter.
My recollection is that the pole sleeve diameter on the Mantis was made larger at some early production point, as difficulties in threading the extremely long pole through the too narrow sleeve resulted in numerous complaints.
I had one for several years and used it occasionally. It was a first year Mantis with the too-tight sleeve and I disliked it for that reason alone, especially when trying to extract the pole from the grippy, worse when wet sleeve.
I eventually gave it to a friend who (thought) he liked it. He gave it to another friend.
I did use the Mantis on a couple of trips with a companion who worked in the outdoor gear business and had a hand in product design. We (he) came up with a list of deficiencies and improvements. A few from memory:
The long pole sleeve being the biggest hassle. That pole attachment should be sleeves at the last foot or so on each side and clips across the rest of the run of pole. That alone would make set up wayyyy easier.
It could use some kind of simple covers over the screendoor in case of windblown rain. Those wouldn’t need to be zippered or velcro’ed, maybe just a simple overlap between two triangular side pieces that could be tied off open on either side or tied closed in windy rain.
That door cover could be vee’ed and staked a bit further out than the screen for a pseudo front vestibule, which would help make yawning mouth less of a windcatch when the breeze changes direction. One of my biggest complaints with the Mantis was when a front moved through and the wind changed direction. I couldn’t simply drop the other end as with a tarp and I sure as hell wasn’t pulling all the stakes or sod and spinning it 180 degrees.
A couple of interior webbing loops to allow hanging a ridgeline or etc inside. I recall he had a simple improvement for the sod cloth design as well.
One of the Mantis’ subsequent owners used a long webbing strap with several grommets at each end. The ends of that long arch pole could be held in a variety of grommet positions and that simple grommet strap helped speed the set up by restraining the pole in a given arch.
We used the mantis on a couple of four person family trips, and the lack of headroom along the sloping walls forced us to huddle together in the middle.
The Mantis worst possible venue was on fine sand. The material was a sand magnet, especially on the inside. When setting up or taking down sand would get stuck to the roof. On the inside. Where it would inevitably sprinkle down onto our head, gear or food.
I was not a fan of the Mantis as is, but a few simple and lightweight improvements might have changed my mind.
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