Marmot Limestone 4 Review

As the strongest and lightest 4-person tent in our lineup, the Marmot Limestone 4 is a force to be reckoned with. You get great weather options, outstanding durability, and set up and tear down are a breeze. However, what the Limestone 4 gains in low weight and superior weather resistance are lost when it comes to headroom and comfort. This tent is relatively small with a max height of just 5' 3", a footprint of 59.7 sq ft, and a 21 sq ft vestibule.

Performance Comparison

Space and Comfort

The Limestone 4 wasn't built as a leisurely family tent. It was built for serious campers who have different expectations of space and comfort. You can sneak in a full and twin air mattress with a little extra room for bags, and the vestibule is big enough to store extra packs, shoes, and dirty dishes easily. But neither affords enough space to make things as comfortable as other contenders.

The Limestone 4 does have great pockets scattered throughout the tent, with probably the cleverest being a waterproof pocket on the rainfly, accessible from outside the tent. It's a great feature for stashing car keys and phones.

Weather Resistance

Now we enter the real strength area of the Limestone 4. This tent is built to handle the weather, and we put it to the test in Joshua Tree National Park. While other tents were flapping in the 50+ mph wind, this one held firm. It comes with smaller, backpack-style stakes, but with the structure and shape, they did their job perfectly. The rainfly also fully wraps the exterior and extends to the ground --meaning rain will have a hard time finding its way into the tent unless you allow it.

The Limestone 4 also excels in hot weather. The main tent structure has a full mesh roof, and about half of the sidewalls are also mesh. This not only allows for great ventilation but also excellent views. With the rainfly on, heat will escape out of the top vents and from the sides (if you guyline the rainfly) and under the vestibule.

Ease of Use

This is another top-performing metric for the Limestone 4. Color-coded clips and poles, a low profile, smooth sliding pole sleeves, and a lightweight overall design make this tent easy to use. It went up in 4 minutes and 46 seconds without any frustrations or missteps.

The Limestone 4 weighs in at 11.3 lbs and because of its size, packing and carrying this tent is lighter and easier than some air mattresses. Likewise, tear down, rolling, and packing scored high, and fitting the tent back into the bag wasn't a struggle.

Family Friendliness

Not a great score here for the Limestone 4. While the additional top two poles add room to the ceiling, this tent simply isn't very tall. Unless you are 5' 2", don't plan on changing while standing up. The vestibule size makes doing anything in a downpour for more than one or two people a little rough, and because of the vestibule's height, you will still have to sit inside the tent to take off your muddy shoes. Outside of height, the Limestone 4 does have some great family-friendly features, though, including eight storage pockets, an external quick-access pocket, and solid material ready to take on a family with pets.

Quality

The materials on this tent are of superior quality. A 150D polyester floor, 68D polyester taffeta rainfly, and thick, pre-curved aluminum poles give it high points in durability. The mesh is a 40d 100% polyester No-See-Um material — basically, a super tight micro-mesh that looks and feels as cool as it sounds. This is the same style found in some of the best camping tents.

Because the included stakes are a lightweight style, we did have to knock off a point. These stakes easily bent while pounding them in with a rock, the official way of staking for our testing. While strong and simple, the bag could also use some cinching straps to help keep the profile down if your roll is a little on the loose side.

Should You Buy the Marmot Limestone 4?

Quality construction, simple and easy to set up, and built to withstand some weather, the Marmot Limestone 4 is a great tent. As a value grab, this tent fares well. But it falls short in size, height, and vestibule area. If you want to maximize quality and don't need to stand up or bring too much gear, this is likely a good choice for a high-quality, 4-person tent.

What Other Camping Tents Should You Consider?

With superior quality and great weather resistance, the Marmot Limestone 4 is a great buy, especially if you emphasize quality and build more than space and comfort. The MSR Habitude 4 is the next step up, offering a bit more space and height without adding substantial weight. If you decide extra space is a premium quality in a tent, the The North Face Wawona 6 offers the best usable space of any tent we tested.