Background: Our family is in the process of beginning to sell our house so that we can build another one in a different area of the state. As we do this, the four of us are temporarily living in a fifth-wheel that is currently parked on the property we're moving to. Our children are both under 10, so we're fortunate that they're young enough to be able to enjoy their surroundings without being too picky. Having a tight space is a novelty to them and not a hindrance. Because the space is tight, though, I was trying to think of creative solutions to help us with this. I discovered the 12'x12' pop-up gazebos and began to look around to determine what kind of unit was the best fit for us. I found so many varieties at wildly different price points so I made a list of things that were important for our family and how this would be used, and I started there.

1. Bug-proof: We're not a family that is bothered by bugs, but having hornets/wasps/yellow jackets around can be a big nuisance and one of our children is [irrationally] fearful of them. If I had something that would alleviate his fear and that problem specifically, so that became top priority. (Having children live in an RV for a year is probably not a fun experience for them, so I'd may as well make it as comfortable as possible for them and prioritize their needs.) After this, the rest of these are in no particular order.

VEVOR Camping Gazebo Screen Tent 12'x12' Pop-Up Canopy Shelter Tent

2. Easy Set-up - Every person's idea of easy varies wildly, but for me this means I can do it solo at 5'2", or with the help of a 10-year old if all else fails. I have the benefit of having a husband who is 6'5" and strong, but he's also always seems to be doing something on the opposite side of our property when I need him. I hate both having to rely on him and to take him away from what he's working on just to help me with 5% of the setup or the disassembly.

3. Durability - Our property is in the mountains, and the area we're occupying is on the ridge with a view for miles and miles. With those views comes some vulnerability, especially with winds or, at minimum, a constant breeze. I wanted something that could survive a steady breeze of 10-15 MPH since that's typical for us.

4. Mobility: This kind of ties into #3, but in Arizona, we have monsoon season in the summer. (It's my favorite part of living here!) But with those monsoons comes some pretty radical weather that can develop in the course of five minutes, and I'm not exaggerating. Most of the time we have a little bit of notice, but not always, so I wanted to make sure I could take this apart very quickly in the event a monsoon hit without warning. Otherwise, this would end up being a pile of metal somewhere far, far away. I believe this is rated for 30 MPH, but I don't advise testing that, and I think I'll be taking it down if it gets to be over 20 MPH.

4. Space: I wanted to ensure this was large enough to fit 4 people, and not just 4 people themselves but 4 people comfortably. I was looking at pop-ups that are 10'x10' and 12'x12' and a lot of the reviews I'd read in the 10'x10' ones were regretful that they didn't get the slightly bigger one. The cost difference was really minimal so it wasn't even much of a savings by downsizing the space. Before my husband and I had our children, we used to go tent camping with a 10'x10' tent, and I couldn't picture us in that space after adding two kids into the mix, so we opted for the larger 12'x12'.

5. Height: As I mentioned earlier, my husband is 6'5" which makes it difficult to find any kind of pop-up device that allows him to stand up. A lot of these only reach 72" which means he is having to duck down. No one wants to crouch down in a space that is meant for relaxation, so if I want him to spend time with us in here, I have to find something taller. The one I settled on is 90" tall so he has a good foot or so of head space which is a luxury. The only part of this that is annoying for him is the doorway, which is about 70" tall, which means he has to duck to enter, but since it's not a huge structure, hitting his head is not the end of the world in the event he forgets to duck.

6. Features: Many of the shelters I found did not include the additional features that helped make it more weather-proof. In other words, they only included the mesh sides and nothing else. I wanted something that included the rain panels. The Vevor one we settled on is a six-sided mesh shelter, but includes six additional panels that can be velcro'd to the outside in the event of a rain storm. I am sure there was a good reason for making these attach on the outside, versus attaching them from the inside, but I have yet to figure out what that reason is. Either way, they're very simple to put up alone, and I'd say I spent a total of 3-5 minutes attaching all of these onto the outside. In the event of rain, or even cooler weather, this will be a really handy feature to have. To spend more $ to get these six "walls" would be silly when I could find a shelter that included them. Three out of the six rain panels also have 'window' cut-outs which is nice for monitoring the outside conditions, or even to let some breeze in when the panels are attached.

With all of these in mind, I narrowed it down to the VEVOR 12'x12' pop-up canopy gazebo. Since it was Father's Day weekend when I purchased it, I was able to get a promo code that took an additional 6% off the $199.99 cost. (If you decide to do some googling, you'll easily find a 5% coupon.) Be advised that unless you're already signed up for FREE on the Vevor website, it will reflect a much higher price. Once you create your account, it brings the price down to $199.99, as of 7/8/23. I did do some price comparisons and Vevor was definitely the cheapest way to buy this brand-new. There were some sellers on eBay, but this is the kind of product I have hesitancy purchasing through a third-party seller.

It shipped quickly from vevor.com and was nicely packaged. When I began to open it, everything was included in a zipped case like you would find with a traditional tent or pop-up shelter. Despite initially misunderstanding the directions, it was an easy process. Because of the misunderstanding, it took longer than I expect it will next time. Overall it took about 20 minutes, with my husband helping for about five minutes total in both the assemble and disassemble. Some people may not be wild about the color, but for us the tan/brownish color is perfectly camouflaged. Unfortunately we've yet to have any monsoons, but I will update the review once it experiences its first storm to see how it holds up in the rain and report back.

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