View Full Version : Does anyone recognize this Moss tent on Craigslist?
newToThrough
06-01-2015, 23:59
I saw this on craigslist: http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/spo/5049674020.html Does anyone here know anything about it? I've heard good things about "Moss tents" but I don't know if this is really a Moss tent. The photo of the label, where it mentions the "flame," meaning "frame" makes me think it's Japanese, and Japanese is usually good quality, at least when it comes to bicycles and power tools. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Not a Bill Moss design, not even a copy , just the same name.
BTW, I am pretty sure it is made in China not Japan.
Here is another product from that brand :
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Field-belt-edc-moss-2-double-layer-professional-rod-tent/1523140273.html
Aliexpress has a few of those listed including a really bad version of a Moss Vistawing.
The frame of the one you posted is somewhat similar to the real Moss Stargazer/Stardome but that is about it.
newToThrough
06-02-2015, 02:19
Okay, that's what I figured. It's a cheap knockoff. I don't know any Chinese who confuse "l" and "r"; that's usually a Japanese thing. So I was hoping that maybe it was a good tent. And heck, maybe it is but I'm not going to chance it. Thanks for the feedback everyone.
bigcranky
06-02-2015, 07:28
Also, looks like they have it set up wrong - the two main poles should cross twice, which will provide some structural rigidity (and I think that was a real Moss design back in the day).
Yes , it is set up incorrectly.
It is very similar to the Luxe Outdoor FireFly II.
The cross pole similarity with the Moss tents I mentioned above , at least with the Luxe , is coincidental (I know the designer of the Fire Fly and followed the making of that particular design)
I suspect that the same factory that made the Luxe also made the one in this thread.
The Moss versions were front entry tents so the fly is not at all similar to these.
The poles were also not using that angular Gothic Arch design used in the Chinese design, Bill Moss liked curves.
Firesong
06-02-2015, 18:12
I love my moss Stargazer. We slept out 2 weekends ago and the sky view is unreal without the fly on.
Okay, that's what I figured. It's a cheap knockoff. I don't know any Chinese who confuse "l" and "r"; that's usually a Japanese thing. So I was hoping that maybe it was a good tent. And heck, maybe it is but I'm not going to chance it. Thanks for the feedback everyone.
No. It is not a cheap knockoff. A knockoff would at least pretend to look like the original. Polyester. Bill Moss would not approve. This is an expensive imitation of a cheap tent.
The original Moss Tents work force, patterns, materials and skills are alive and well at Tent Repair Services in Maine. I may just get them to build a new Moss tent for me.
http://www.tentrepairservices.com/
Wayne
4eyedbuzzard
06-02-2015, 19:58
I owned a few Moss tents over the years. Probably some of the most innovative designs and quality workmanship ever done in the tent business. Sold the last one I owned a few years back for about $400 - a bit more than I paid for it new in 1991. It was a small (barely) two man Starlite made in Camden, ME, before Moss was sold to MSR (in 2000?). Moss tents are very much sought after, almost "collectables", especially ones with labels that have "Camden, Maine" labels meaning they were pre-MSR. Even a fair condition one won't be cheap unless you stumble across one from an unknowing owner at a garage sale.