GM 8x8 Pop up shelter preview

[3300]

haven't seen these any where else for us to see what they are and if it's a value or not. it is set up in my yard so i took some pics to share. you can't go wrong with this buy with all of the extras tossed in especially. the bag comes with the shack in the large pocket of the carry bag and one chair in each of the two outer pockets. i haven't checked the weight posted to see if it includes chairs yet or not. i think it does and those will stay home. the shack once opened has a license holder and over the only door it has a loop to pin it to included in the holder. the windows do come out all of the way and held with velcro as is the insulated window cover and the door to keep it opened on the outside. the windows are wrinkled. maybe some sunlight will ease them out some. the only door has a flap to keep wind and rain out and is well thought out. i was really impressed to see that extra effort being put into that. it is 300 denier outer fabric and 150 denier inner fabric with polyester insulation and is heat welded diamond shaped to bond the fabrics. the skirt has no grommets, but i probably will buy the grommet kit from harbor freight and add them to it after the one year warranty is over. for now it has for nylon web straps one in each corner to add anchors and for more anchoring it has the usual hub anchor points as well. light does come thru the diamond shaped heat welds but is dimmed by the fabric, it's not pin hole light. it feels as solid as my shappell wide house 6500 and is about the same size also. the reflectors are rather small compared to shappell, but it has them on each pull tab/anchor point. they used it to help reinforce that area. the zippers are really nice wide loops in the zippers and the handles have extra long pull straps so you can leave mittens or gloves on and no problem grabbing it. they have two pulls one on each side of the door. so there are a total of 4 pulls. they move very easy. pulling the zipper up from the ground does lift the hub w/o an anchor. the roof is black so free solar heat! should be very nice and warm during daylight with the vents closed and door shut. it has conventional vents like shappell uses with a full length velcro cover so you can control how far it stays open or closed. the bag seems sturdy enough and the should straps (if you use them) are down low so as the bag is up high on your back so it doesn't hit your legs walking as much. it has three inside pockets.
i like it!
i will spray it with a uv and water protector to help it last.
the extras are a great addition to a really nice shanty. the two gm chairs have the rod holder pockets in the center front corner of the chair and are solid, meaning they don't move up or down, it's just a pocket sewn in to hold the rod. the chairs cost 15$ each if you want more.
last is the best add-on is the EIGHT eskino ice anchors. those sell for 15$ per pair retail and no pouch to carry them. this comes with the roll pouch carry case.
the retail cost of the anchors would be 60$, the chairs 30$ so we are at 90$ for just those.
the normal retail on the box says 260$, but the web page says 300$. the sale was 100$ off that, but that's over and back to retail for any one looking for a nice deal.
sold out online, but local store may have some left. mine had 7 left in coldwater.

rumor has it it is a eskimo for a few reasons, one is the obvious ice anchors and pouch that come with it and the other is the removable windows.clams are sewn in, so it shouldn't be clams.

UPDATE: i weighed it alone on digital bath room scales. it is 38 pounds, 1 pound less than the shappell fx100. the 49.5 pounds is for anchors and chairs. that's really light weight for a thermo!
shappell is lighter not by much 33.8 pounds, so only about 4 pounds lighter and not thremo.
another update;
the shappell wh6500 is smaller, it is 90" x 90" floor area, 56 square feet.
so this gm 8x8 is 96" x 96" floor area and 64 square feet. i thought it was just as big. 8 more square feet!

[river rat78]

Nice. Gander Mountain still has this shelter online for $199.99 and if you use the code GMT5 you can get an extra $15 off or add something really cheap to go over $200 and get $20 off.

[javabone]

I just ordered, $200 with free shipping, they did back order it.....3300 how much did you get it for?

[matzilla]

That looks like on heck of a bargain! Nice fabric and great accessories for the price

[3300]

i got it for 150$. i thought it was 180$, but i had a 50$ off over 250$ code. bought me and the wife some boots on sale. depends on how you divide the 50$ saving code. she needed boots and they had a nice price on columbia boots and i wanted some thing i can slip on and not tie like my really old sorels. they look just like them. if they are junk then they go back, i still get the discount.
the shanty alone is 199.99 on sale then any discount codes. even at 200$ it's a great deal. those anchors are the real deal and do cost 7.50$ each. no need to have a driver, but it does speed things up because you have the drill anyway on the auger. easy to change it to the eskimo anchor driver. those are 15$ retail.
it was online only sale, but if you add it to the cart, it stayed 299.99. i called it in and asked them to adjust it, they did after i paid full price minus any discount code.

[javabone]

Nice!  Cant wait to get it.

[hamms]

I have that hub I picked it up last year on Black Friday. Mine has line green top. It is a great shelter for family. I have my wife and 2 kids in there no problem. Warm too. The anchors are great also.

[Nutsicles]

I finally bought one myself. I seen they were on sale again, but for $224.99. They're sold out online, but if you have a store near you they may have them.

I called my local store last Saturday and the clerk said they just got 4 of them in. I left right after I got off the phone, guy actually had to go in the back to get it. Store price was still marked $299, but they price matched the website.

Taking it for the maiden voyage this weekend. Taking some friends out for their first time. Still have my one man flipover for my solo trips, but this will be great for friends and family.

[3300]

nice! let us know what you think. i bought another shanty after this one. i bought another shappell fx100 and sold my old one since my ol lady didn't want it.
my new gm8x8 nor the new fx100 has been on ice yet. any day now, the fx will be out first. it's my primary shelter. they fixed those to be better too. that's why i bought another one.

on the gm8x8, i hear the insulated shelters soak up more water and need to be dried out. the bag for the gm hub is rather tight w/o ice/snow or water and so i might not use it and use more velcro straps instead.

watch how yours is bagged so you can try to match it when putting it away.

[northernnyice]

My brother has one just spent/slept the whole weekend in one. Solid shack, retains heat decent. Plenty of room. Good price! Pain in the butt to get back into bag if it's frozen or wet at all. But that is true with many models. Not something I would want to throw around for one guy but for 2-3 it's awesome.

[Nutsicles]

I set it up in my basement to test it out. Afterwards, I found out how big of a pain getting it back in the bag is, and that was inside with heat, no snow or ice. I also hate the backpack straps on it. They're off center, so trying to carry it like a duffel bag, just moving it around is akward.

I'm just going to use two or three bungees to keep it together and toss it on the smitty sled. Then just use the bag for storage during the week and the off season.

I have a 80,000 btu propane heater for my garage, so I'll dry it after each trip. Or after the weekend if I'm fishing multiple days in a row.

[Nutsicles]

My brother has one just spent/slept the whole weekend in one. Solid shack, retains heat decent. Plenty of room. Good price! Pain in the butt to get back into bag if it's frozen or wet at all. But that is true with many models. Not something I would want to throw around for one guy but for 2-3 it's awesome.

I'm interested in doing a few overnight trips in mine. Good to hear it works well for that. Did you have any issues with the skirt freezing to the ice after sitting for extended periods? Any tips for staying a weekend in the shanty?

[3300]

I'm interested in doing a few overnight trips in mine. Good to hear it works well for that. Did you have any issues with the skirt freezing to the ice after sitting for extended periods? Any tips for staying a weekend in the shanty?

i have been hearing about skirts freezing down too. i never had it happen with my shappell wh6500. when it happens i guess you chip the ice and bring the shack back with ice all over the skirt.maybe a good water proofing would be key. the shappell is water proof on the ice side of the skirt, maybe that's why i haven't had trouble yet. guess i need to get that water proofing on the bottom of the skirt.

some info here in general going on now on camping in them on ice
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=325954.0

[Fishgod]

I'm interested in doing a few overnight trips in mine. Good to hear it works well for that. Did you have any issues with the skirt freezing to the ice after sitting for extended periods? Any tips for staying a weekend in the shanty?

I would definitely get foam interlocking floor mats if you are spending the night on the lake.

[3300]

got it on the ice and i put it up because two friends were standing in the rain fishing. i thought about how much water it will probably absorb before doing that, but i wanted them to have shelter. i used my flip over to haul it out so i would have my own space. i set it up and they just sat in the rain while i had my flip half way closed so i stayed dry while watching my new hub get soaked for no reason. i only used one ice anchor to keep it from blowing away and it was on the windward side outside hub.
they took off later after they got completely soaked. so i won't be doing that again. i kept telling them i set it up for them.

anyway, i took it down and could feel it had a lot of water in it. it weighed maybe twice as much. got it home and set it in  the garage for over night. it left a lot of water on the floor. i brought it in to drain more in the bathtub for a couple more days.
then because i don't have space to set it up, i had to try to dry it while partially opened and the heater it took over a week.
so i ordered 303 water proofing and it will be here tomorrow and i'll have to set it up at the bar in the basement here in town so the water proofing can dry. i should have used it to dry it the water out too.

while it was pouring down rain i wanted to see how bad it leaks. one roof seam has some drips in about 2 inches where the thermo stitch made it possible for water to come in.
the windows all had water coming in too just like any window would that's velcroed. even my suit case shanty and the other pop up shanty and my flip over shanty does.

so it is more water tight inside in a soaking rain than shappell is, but MUCH harder to dry, so far. i still haven't used it for myself. i prefer the flip shanty over pop up's and suit case shanty's.

[willisdotcom]

i picked up one of the chairs that comes with this last week and i like it way better than sitting on a bucket!

[Lavman]

I hadn't thought about drying a thermal hub shanty out, thanks for posting your experience.

I have a Frabil Headquarters hub and a Frabil Refuge suitcase shanty. Neither of these are insulated. I don't think I have fished in the rain with either one but have been out in the snow before. My moisture comes from the propane heaters in the tent and the anglers breathing and any water that gets splashed on the walls when drilling holes or pulling feisty fish.

After each use I set the shanty up in the house to dry. The Refuge is pretty easy, I even vacuum the carpeted floor inside the Refuge out while it is inside drying (I tip my Hali jigs with spikes, the spikes are packed in sawdust, sawdust gets all over the floor.)

The Headquarters shanty, on the other hand, is a little more of a PITA. It is BIG! My house is SMALL, I am able to pop out the hubs on the short ends and one hub on each side, and the two roof hubs. This gets it standing up and able to dry. I heat the house with wood so it is a dry heat. Often it only takes a few hours for them to dry, if they are really wet I leave overnight. for the Refuge I use a small round electric fan to blow air over the carpet to dry it out.

In your case, maybe a fan inside the tent to circulate the air will help dry it faster. I would want to be sure the thermal layer is completely dry before applying the waterproofing.

Very kind of you to take care of your friends like that, good on you.