AO Review – White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent (Sandstone)

AO Review – White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent (Sandstone)

A short backstory on myself in regards to camping is necessary as a precursor to the review of this White Duck Outdoors Rover Scout Tent. I was blessed to have spent my childhood hanging out of trees, scraping my knees, and exploring the world around me nearly unsupervised. Building dams like a beaver in small creek beds, starting fires with magnesium and flint firestarters, and lots of hunting. By the time I was 18, I had been black bear hunting in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota, mule deer hunting in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, bowfishing for carp on the Mississippi River, and trapped every furbearing animal that you can in my home state of Minnesota. Glorious, childhood adventures like this forced allowed me to go camping in pup tents in both beautiful and horrific weather alike. I once slept in a pup tent while elk hunting near the Canadian border, and a tornado passed by me less than 1/4 mile away. All this being said, I am grateful for my life experiences and am utterly burnt out on camping… that is, until I met and married my adventurous wife, Andrea. While I still hunt, trap, and scrape my knees to this day, she has inspired me to go camping again (I have more than once told friends how I will gladly pay for a $200 hotel night’s stay because of the repeated rite-of-passages I endured in my youth). Yet, the perfect storm has beset me. My vibrant wife loves camping and White Duck Outdoors reached out to AllOutdoor to try one of their tents. So, today we are going to review the experiences Andrea and I had with the White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent in a Sandstone Beige colorway on the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Let’s dive in!

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Specifications – White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent (Sandstone Beige)

I have been out of the game for awhile when it comes to camping, but what I can remember from my youth is that most tents were light, flimsy, and merely a thinly-veiled cloak separating you from Mother Nature. My very first impressions of the Rover Scout Tent is how sturdy, thick, and essentially, trustworthy it felt. This is not a paper-thin tarp and haphazard pile of poles. This felt like something of high-quality and Andrea echoed those thoughts (and she has much more experience camping than I do). All of the specs for the Rover Scout Tent can be read below as presented by White Duck Outdoors.

• Weatherproof DYNATEK fabric for superior performance
• Sustainable manufacturing with BCI Cotton and recycled ocean-bound plastics
• Completely water-repellent, exceptional performance in winds
• Generous dimensions with ample stand-up space inside the tent
• Rectangular floor dimensions make it easy to customize your space
• Roll up the doors and windows completely to enjoy 360-degree views
• Open up the mesh on front and back doors fully
• Sewn-in groundsheet makes setup and cleaning a breeze
• Quick pitching, set it up in under 15 minutes

White Duck Outdoors has a Limited Lifetime White Duck Warranty that covers all of their products against defects in materials and workmanship. This applies to the Rover Scout Tent in the rare event you may need components replaced or warrantied. In all honesty, after handling all of the pieces to the Rover Scout Tent, I wouldn’t foresee anyone cashing in on the warranty for years to come. It feels, handles, and functions like a high-quality, reliable tent.

• Canvas Type: Weatherproof DYNATEK Canvas
• Fabric Options: Fire Water Repellent
• Doors: 2
• Windows: 2
• Bug Mesh: No-See-Um Mesh
• Stove Jack: Not Included
• Floor Material: 7.5 Oz Biodegradable Sewn-In PE Groundsheet
• Guy Ropes/Adjustable Guylines: Polypropylene UV Resistant Reflective Rope
• Frame Material: Aluminum/Steel

White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent

• Door Pole: 0.984" Diameter | 0.063″ Thickness
• Zipper: Top Grade Waterproof Zippers
• Electric Cable Outlet: Included
• Rubber Mallet: 1
• Center Height: 7′
• Door Height: 7′
• Door Width: 7’9″
• Wall Height: 3’2″
• Total Weight: 51 Lb

Field Use – White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent (Sandstone Beige)

When it came to assembling our tent, I always try to do things without reading the instructions. Whether I am putting together IKEA furniture late at night, or “pitching a tent” with my wife (innuendos and jokes abound), I wanted to see how easy it was to put together the Rover Scout. To kick things off, we cut open the box that the Rover Scout Tent was shipped in. The cardboard was thick and protective which assured me the tent and other contents shouldn’t be damaged.

All of the tent stakes and the poles were neatly rolled up in a protective, organized pouch which impressed me, too. They also provide you with a rubber mallet which was very thoughtful. I have shattered a lot of plastic tent stakes in my day using a metal hatchet to pound them into the ground (inevitably destroying them with a 50% success or failure rate – depending on how you look at it).

After assessing everything we had to work with, we began the process of putting together our tent. First, we rolled out the main tent body. The floor to the tent was thick and felt like it would be less likely to wick moisture from the ground.

The stakes for this tent came in 2 different kinds/sizes. One set was what I would call “shiny rebar” looking metal while the other was an aluminum eyehook looking stake. Based on the number of stakes of each kind that the tent came with, we decided to use the shiny rebar stakes for guylines predominantly and the eyehook ones for the tent bottom. I would highly recommend reading the directions so you use the correct stakes in their intended locations. It was my stubborn confidence in assembling the Rover Scout Tent without directions from keeping us knowing precisely where the stakes were meant to be placed.

“Shiny Rebar” Tent Stakes used on Guylines

Aluminum Eyehook Tent Stakes used on Tent Body

All the stakes were crisply embedded into the earth with the provided rubber mallet. While setting the guylines in conjunction with the tent stakes, I checked out the plastic piece thread into the guylines for tightening and loosening them. It was a thick chunk of plastic. I wondered how that might hold up under harsh, cold temps, but the converse of metal might cut the guyline ropes. So, White Duck Outdoors likely already factored that in opting for a sturdy piece of plastic.

Tension setter for the guylines

Rover Scout Tent all set up!

White Duck Outdoors advertises the Rover Scout Tent as being something that can be setup in 15 minutes or less, and I believe Andrea and I beat that time. This was a straight-forward tent to put together, the materials felt strong, and it is very spacious. You can roll up the sides to let more air flow through the tent. If you want them down, they can be secured in place with Velcro to stay put. Also, the entry or door is the same height as the inside of the tent. You don’t need to duck to get inside. By many of the metrics that I used to harshly judge tents when I was younger, the Rover Scout does a fantastic job. I appreciated the height of the Rover Scout Tent because – being a 6’0″ tall guy – I am usually having to crouch down or hunch over in order to move around in a tent. It was a relief to be able to walk in-and-out of this tent as well as be inside while standing all the way up.

Final Thoughts – White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent (Sandstone Beige)

So, what are my final thoughts on the White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent in a Sandstone Beige colorway?… Overall, coming from this self-proclaimed guy that fell out of enjoying camping, I am very impressed with this tent! It is spacious, high-quality, easy to assemble, retains heat (keeps out the cold), and is leagues beyond the cruddy tents I used to inhabit as a young outdoorsman. Andrea also liked this tent appreciating the material feeling a lot more like canvas making it durable, having a strong wind resistance, and simply better longevity if you’re going to invest the money in a high-quality tent like this. For the MSRP of $750 for the 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout and $830 for the 8′ x 13′ size, both Andrea and I believe the Rover Scout Tent is worth the money.

In closing, I want to say thank you to White Duck Outdoors for allowing AllOutdoor and myself the opportunity to try out their White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent in a Sandstone Beige colorway. That is greatly appreciated. Also, we would like to know what all of you guys and gals think? Do you believe that the White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent in a Sandstone Beige colorway is something worth spending your money on? Would you deploy one for hunting this fall? Take it with you camping? As always, let us know all of your thoughts about White Duck Outdoors in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.

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Source: AO Review – White Duck Outdoors 8′ x 9′ Rover Scout Tent (Sandstone)