The Armour Archive

I have long been considering what kind of tent to get and have finally narrowed it down to a Panther Regent or Marquee. I would appreciate feedback on these two - how they hold up in wind, how many poles they require, which is faster to set up and how many people it takes, and any other insights you can provide.

Thank you!

Stephen

We looked at both the Regent and Marquee. We ended up going with the Marquee for a couple of different reasons. The Canvas for the Marquee is in several sections (Top, 4 Sections of Walls) which makes it lighter to set up sections or move the canvas around. The Regent is all one Piece walls and top are sewn together so your dealing with a lot of canvas depending on what size you get. having removable walls you can use the Marquee for a Day Shade if you want or drop the walls to move items in and out of your tent. Also you can configure were you want your Door were as the Regent is fixed. The Regent I believe uses less poles and from what I gather from people that have had them they tend to sag and collect water on the top more than a Marquee. Also depending on your size requirements the Marquee goes quite a bit larger than the Regent. Also as a Side note I wanted straight walls because I'm 6'4" and don't like to duck or crawl over to get to tubbies and such that I've put by the walls the regent has slanted walls.

Rey

Marquee:
Lots of tall side poles + ridge pole assembly
Removable wall panels
MOVABLE wall panels (means you can put the door anywhere)
Lots of stacks and ropes
Straight vertical walls
Usually larger tent
Generally takes 4 people to set up (you can do it with fewer, but it gets consecutively harder)

Regent:
5 pole assembly
NO removable walls
NO MOVABLE walls
sloped walls
8 ropes and much fewer stakes
Usually slight smaller in size
Generally takes 1-2 people to set up.

Well here is my experience - the wife and I own a square marquee from Tentsmiths, in fact it the one on their web page http://www.tentsmiths.com/period-tents- ... rquee.html (I've sent them multiple photos that do not include the blue & black camp chairs and finally gave up).

The pros:
I can set it up alone - not the best solution but with only one center pole I set up the four corners, the center pole and then put up the rest of the poles
It has two walls with D-Ring and snap connectors that make raising/lowering the walls VERY easy, so getting everything in to the tent at the start of an event and out at the end is easy. It also means you can open up large sections and get great air movement to get the Pennsic funk out.
I've used it multiple times as just a day shade, or put up just one of the walls to cover the back/block wind and weather.

The cons
At 14 x 14 and had 20 Perimeter poles.
The top takes one 18 gallon rubber made tote, the two side walls take 1 and the stakes/ropes/accessories take 1, so we have three rubber made totes and 20 poles to transport anywhere we go.... it takes up a lot of space.
It's not worth the work/storage/transporting for a small event, and I would love to convince my wife to get a smaller tent for weekends and only use the pavilion for Pennsic, but we're actually talking about going bigger 'cause with a 3 yr old it's tight at Pennsic for 10 days.

If I had the money and places to store it all we would have a 16 x 20 marquee for War and a 10 x 10 or 12 x 12 Regent for everything else that involves camping (War Practice, etc)

Hope that helps
Will

I own two "regencies" including a large Panther that I have had for about 16 years.



While I appreciate them sometimes being called "Landsknecht" tents I cannot find a good period example of one. The up sides are that they are excellent tents. I have never been hit by a single drop of water through my panther pavilion. While other earth-pimples are being blown away and flattened in storms my pavilion feels as solid as a house. The Panther uses 5 poles which I had made myself out of old Appalachian (solar) kiln dried oak planed to octagonal like Army tent poles then spar varnished. I use 18" 5/8" steel stakes and heavy natural ropes. They have all proven to be well worth the trouble. If you take care of a Panther Rengency and always store it bone dry, you will love it. Panther's repair service is excellent, if you should ever need it.

We have an 18 x 18 Panther marquee and it's a great tent, but this year we are going to sell it and downgrade to a smaller regent. Our marquee has weathered several bad weather Estrella's, between heavy rain and high winds it's held up really well. With all the ropes and stakes, if you secure it down pretty well and close up the doors, then drop the rain fly if you have one, it will stay put in heavy winds. The down side is, it takes a lot more work to set up and it's a lot heavier and takes up a lot more space to haul.

I own a Panther 12 x 12 Regent Pavilion. I love it. Don't get one! As much as I love it, the ONLY advantage the regent has over a marquee is that the regent can be put up by one person. Other than that, the marquee is equal or better.

I love:

- It's built like a tank and stands up to VERY severe weather without leaking a drop or threatening to blow over.
- It uses minimal poles (5) and I can (and frequently do) put it up by myself.
- It's a good looking tent with a very period look to it.

I hate (and you will too):

- One piece makes it CUMBERSOME (I can only IMAGINE trying to wrangle a 16 x 16!). Oh and FORGET using it as a dayshade! I store mine in a 30 gallon wheeled plastic trashcan which weighs a ton, takes up a lot of room but rolls very easily.
- 12 x 12 is the FOOTPRINT. Because the walls slant the head dimension is 8 x 8 and you DO notice. (16 x 16 Regents have a 12 x 12 head dimension)
- The walls sag...badly. I run extra poles from top corner to top corner to keep it tight...works well but now I have 9 poles.
- Because the walls aren't removable, there are two fixed openings that are triangular in shape. Don't wear hats and don't expect a lot of airflow.

In closing, I love my Regent. It is VERY well built and I can put it up by myself, but for the price, I will always wish that I had bought a marquee.

People keep posting that you can set up your regent with only one person and I would say if you can do that with a regent you can do it with a Marquee of the same size. To set up the Marquee you put up the Same 4 corner poles that a Regent has then put your center pole in place. The only difference is with a Marquee you will go back and place the side poles after that which could be a 1 person job as well.

Good Murray; as a parent and grandparent in the SCA may I make a suggestion?

Instead of going bigger to include your child; add a small tent exclusively for them! When they are small have it set up so that entrance/exit is *only* through the parental tent. Customizing a door in a side wall for it is not that much of a problem.

With two kids I always tried to have separate tents for them; solves a lot of bickering and allows for time outs in their own space.

When they get older you might configure the campsite so that their tents flank the main door ground of your tent---close but no longer totally controlled.

Thomas

I have a 15x21' marquee that I set up by myself all the time. It's not that hard, just takes some time due to having to hammer all the stakes.

If possible I do like to get help putting up the ridge pole, but it is definitely doable with one person if you take your time and walk the two uprights up.

Thanks very much for all the recommendations. I'm still leaning toward the Marque. I think my son and I could set it up pretty easily. I like that it is not just one piece and can be configured so many ways.

Does anyone have an opinion on the 10.38 oz. Sunforger versus the 13 oz.?

If you're expecting to camp in "weather," the 13 oz is your better bet.

Hello,
I have no experience with a regent tent, but we have a Tentsmiths 15x24 round end marquee, with the front tarp. We have the perimeter poles, but it is truly easier to set it up without them. It takes 4 people to set it up the first few times right, though we have done it with 2 (carefully). Ive never attempted it myself. As for wind load, we have never had an issue. We havent been out in hurricane like conditions or anything, but I never felt worried. Overall, we have been very pleased with it. For a family of four, this tent has been very nice, with 2 small bedrooms at the ends, and a center common room. I dont know if Panther has the option of a roof vent, but we have found that this helps to keep ours cooler longer. Ill be digging it out and setting it up in a few weeks, to inspect it. I'd go with the heavier canvas.

Dougal

Galvyn Lockhart wrote:If you're expecting to camp in "weather," the 13 oz is your better bet.

10.38oz is PLENTY heavy. Remember, even with the walls seperate, that is A LOT of canvas in one piece for the roof. 13oz will be VERY heavy to haul around.

Panther will sell sloped walls for their Marquee's which is the period configuration. I had them make 3' slope on my 7' walls to make them a more correct profile. I also had them add height to the roof for a more period profile.

The problem with the Regent is that I've never seen a period example of a rectangular or square roofed pavilion with a single peak.

I have a Panther Regent (16x16) and have ordered a Panther Marquee through Icefalcon. The pluses of the Regent 5 poles. The negatives: if you are on uneven ground you will get sagging, that one huge piece of canvas weighs a ton when wet, unless you lay out perfectly square you will get sagging, sagging turns to pooling, pooling leads to mold in the top seams which leads to drips. Slant walls are great if you have enough space that you can have the fly up, but two people's space allotment at Pennsic does not allow that much space so you will have rain coming in the door every time you enter and exit, and the hat thing, my wreath is always snagging on the door, my brim hat hits the door, My Regent was a good move up from a nylon tent, and I will still use it for some events, but I am very eager to get my Marquee

-Thorpe

We've had it two years now, so I cannot attest that Panther will still do this, but my Lady and I purchased a Panther 16 x 16 Regent with removable walls. We paid extra, but it eliminated the problems many have written about.

My wife and I have owned our Panther 12x16 Marquee for a couple of years now. With 6' poles and slanted walls. Very nice space. Then we bought a sun shade afterwards. We have custom colors so we have heavier material. MAKE SURE TO USE 18" SPIKES FOR PERIMETER! You'll feel alot better in heavier storms that way...

many of the same pro list as previously mentioned.

14 perimeter pole count for non-seam engineered canvas. 2 roof poles and a ridge pole between them. We went with the 16x10 sunshade and it takes 9 more perimeter poles.

Cons: 6' poles dont work well for height conflicts with sunshade. We had to elevate the perimeter poles on the 16' side to keep shade from scraping my head. I'm 5'10".

Heating the tent (if applicable) is costly. We were using a propane heater and it used almost 60lbs of propane after 3 days (running mostly at night).

We have found that we don't actually need all the space and we had 2 dogs (kennels included) and now a baby.
The Marquee can be placed by one person, strenuously, except for the roof's center poles. I did the perimeter in 45 minutes by myself once...only once.

A friend of ours has owned a 12x12 regency for years and does put it up by himself and he loves it.

Enjoy whatever you get!
Vladislav Dragomir

As a note, you can buy marquee's with 7' walls (my husband is 6'3" and makes a huge difference.

We ordered the roof 1' taller in height and the walls 3' slope instead of a 1.5' slope which is the default.

It has a much more period profile.

We ordered ours with 7' walls too because my husband and I are both giants.

I own a 12x12 Panther Regent.
I second everything LegioofOrkney said regarding the pros and cons.
The only leak we have ever experienced was at Pennsic after 3 days of uninterrupted rain. Water had pooled over the rear door where I had failed to unroll the rain flap that would have extended over a fly had one been in place. I now make sure to drop that flap.
I added three poles ( Legio uses4) from top of corner pole to top of corner pole. I only place them at the sides and back walls. The three interior pole where added to open up the insides. It makes a hell of a lot of difference. I have seen squared up wall ridge lines achieved with three ropes at each pole rather than the standard 2 ropes.
The newest catalog no longer mentions removable walls. That would increase your side poles by 4 two and really reduces usable interior room.

pagesunshadow wrote:I have a Panther Regent (16x16) and have ordered a Panther Marquee through Icefalcon. The pluses of the Regent 5 poles. The negatives: if you are on uneven ground you will get sagging, that one huge piece of canvas weighs a ton when wet, unless you lay out perfectly square you will get sagging, sagging turns to pooling, pooling leads to mold in the top seams which leads to drips. -Thorpe

Most of my friends who've purchased single peak square marquee's or regents have the same pooling/leaking problem in wet weather. I believe this could be the reason I haven't found a rectangular or square top in period that does not have at least a small ridge.