Tierra GardenHaxnicks Garden Sunbubble Greenhouse

We purchased two "bubble" tents - this Sunbubble 12' and the Alvantor 15'. This one is far superior for an outdoor winter room, but was too small for our needs.The quality of the Sunbubble plastic is better - thicker and stays more pliable in low temperatures. In windy conditions, Sunbubble holds 100%. Wind tore two panels of the Alvantor to shreds. Literally, we had shredded plastic flapping around like fringe.The design of the Sunbubble is much better - the supports for the roof are metal and locked into place with a metal plate so it can withstand the weight of snow. The roof is sloped so less snow can accumulate on top. The slope of the roof also seems to allow sunlight to heat up the bubble better. Contrast the plastic supports, absence of a center support, and minimal slope of the Alvantor. In a 2-3" snow, the Sunbubble was unaffected. The Alvantor collapsed in on itself, with the center of roof touching the ground such that the contraption resembled a giant daddy long-legs spider.The Sunbubble has a vent for each panel (thus you can choose how many to open and get good air circulation), sturdy supports to hold the vents open, and a design that keeps rain out even when the vents are open. This allows for good air circulation and convenience. The Alvantor has only two vents, and they are just zippered sections that allow rain/snow to enter when they are open.The Sunbubble is flat to the ground at the single door. The Alvantor has two doors, but each has a piece about six inches high that you have to step over as you enter and exit. It doesn't look bad, but people tend to trip on it.If you are looking at small tents, Alvantor offers easier set-up than Sunbubble. But for large tents, Sunbubble wins. The Sunbubble has side supports that are not clearly marked, so it is easy to get confused and install them upside down. And the sturdiness of the clips is lacking. But even though we broke 2 clips while setting up, the broken clips did not affect the sturdiness of the construction once everything was in place. And getting everything in place did not require a large amount of strength or coordination.In contrast, the Alvantor pops up like a child's play tent - the initial part of assembly is almost comically easy, as it goes from being a small disc to a large structure in seconds. But the part they don't show you in the assembly videos - installing the plastic roof supports - is EXTREMELY difficult. It'd take a lot for me to explain it here, but suffice it to say I'd recommend a 10' ladder, temperatures above 45 F (so the plastic isn't too fragile), and pretty good arm muscles and balance. Alvantor's smaller tents don't use roof supports, so a small tent is indeed very easy set-up. But if you are using a size that requires roof support, it's a tough job.This Sunbubble is meant to be put up and stay up for some time, whereas the Alvantor is meant to go up and down within a few hours. But if you are looking for a winter room during COVID (ie, a place where you can have a friend over and remain socially distanced, in the outdoors, with air circulation, and not freeze in winter), you need something that can stay up. The Alvantor plastic is thin and brittle in the cold, so you need warm temperatures to set it up. But if temperatures are warm enough to set up the Alvantor, it's too warm to hang out in the tent. And moving furniture in and out for each use is inconvenient to say the least.All that said, the 12' Sunbubble did not fit around the fire pit/patio furniture we already own. So I ended up reselling it to a neighbor. We have the 15' Alvantor around our curved sectional with a 4' built-in fire pit in the center. I have purchased heavier-duty plastic and that I'm using to cover/replace the Alvantor plastic. It is not too difficult, but I don't know if it will hold since I'm just using clear tape. When there is a chance of snow and we're not in the tent with the fire running, I have an old patio umbrella that I cut down. I place it on top of the fire pit and open it up so that the wooden umbrella frame/pole support the roof of the tent from the inside.Finally, there's price. Sunbubble costs about 1/3 less than Alvantor for the same size tent. Love, love, love the Sunbubble!

I just put up a large sunbubble. The dimensions are as advertised. No way was it as easy to put together as the video showed. It took me and two helpful friends to bend the rods far enough to fit. The struts also do not look as straight as the pictures, although the could not have gone in any other way. It would be most helpful if the instructions showed very clear diagrams, especially of how the struts should go. All that being said, it does seem to be very sturdy plastic and should have plenty of room for my little summer garden. If there had been an option to get filmy plastic, I would have gone for that. I envision having to figure out how to shade the sunbubble on very hot days. The vents are not very big and I'm guessing I will need to hook up a small fan to keep the air moving. Wish the manufacturer would consider offering plastic other than the clear. I may check back in at the end of the growing season -- but I am very optimistic!Update 8/13/18: The sunbubble has enabled me to have a thriving garden where I would have none (a very cool summer and spring) and I am so pleased with that. However, I am disappointed that the plastic is coming away from the fabric on the door zipper in two places. I have tried duct tape, but it is not holding. I've been very careful with zipping and unzipping, so it isn't caused by carelessness. I've seen this problem mentioned elsewhere, so I believe it is a design flaw; much more reinforcement is needed. I will try the gorilla tape somebody else used. At this point I am not able to zip the door all the way down because it just tears the plastic more. It's been up only since late April and it has not been in any extreme weather. I hope Haxnicks takes a serious look at this issue, because otherwise it is a wonderful product but I would not recommend it unless someone plans a use not involving daily zipping and unzipping. Still leaving the stars because it really is a very cool structure.Update: October 30 2018. The sunbubble has survived its first summer. Verdict is I am very happy to have had vegetables. Not happy about lack of customer support in seeking a way to mend the tearing door (I finally found a tape --T-Rex -- that worked, but their recommendation of PVC tape didn't work at all, not even a little.) Aside from the reinforcement issue, there needs to be better ventilation and there needs to be the option to choose filtered green material instead of the clear. Heat inside was in excess of 95 many days. I hope to use the sunbubble again next summer, but I would not buy it again without the needed improvements. I sure hope Haxnicks decides to do that. It's a great concept and very nice looking.Update: 4/2020. The sunbubble lasted two seasons, flew away like a jellyfish in midair during a storm. I sure loved how pretty this sunbubble was, but had to admit early on that it wasn’t at all practical as a greenhouse (clear plastic made it boiling hot, and inadequate ventilation, as well as wasted space due to the curve.) I have replaced it with a much more boring but utilitarian rectangular greenhouse with green plastic and I can put it up by myself. I still think the sunbubble would be nice for an outdoor room in a protected shady spot, providing you have lots of help putting it up. For gardening — not so much. Alas.

Als Gewächshaus funktioniert es sehr gut. Allerdings wird das PVC dort, wo die Stangen auftreffen, schnell brüchig. Die mitgelieferten Zeltstangen halten bei starkem Wind nicht. Gartenanker sind besser. Ich habe die Bruchstellen abgeklebt und hier und da mit Klebeband nachgeholfen. Wie gesagt, als Gewächshaus funktioniert es und es ist ein toller Hingucker! Für die Ewigkeit ist es allerdings nicht geschaffen.

We bought this as a temporary fix after our previous tomato house was struck by a tornado and destroyed after 15 years of excellent performance. Right out of the box, the zipper on the door did not open all the way because of a defective tooth. Set up was not too difficult, but it does require two people to get the panels pushed apart enough to snap the poles together. Parts of the framing caved in repeatedly under minor breezes. Even with extra, heavy duty stakes that we bought separately, the bottoms of the frame poles pulled out of their tiny pockets and poked holes through the clear plastic. Finally, my husband went to work with some Gorilla tape and stabilized the frame. The company needs to re-engineer a bit and create longer sleeves for the poles to slip into. This would stabilize the entire structure better, prevent the partial cave-ins, and prevent the bottoms of the poles from lifting up and poking through the bubble.After my husband’s modifications, the bubble seems to be holding up much better. It looks like it will get our tomatoes through the rest of their season, another month or so. We just need something to take the edge off the cold summer/early fall nights in our area. If the company does some re-engineering and better quality control (e.g., zipper), they will have a decent product. Overall, we were not thrilled with this product for the price, but we made it work. We will be building a real greenhouse next spring.

The sun bubble leaves a lot of everything. The fact that tape was sent with my order had me worried. The one I bought will not go up, it has a broken metal tube that a pole had to be in at the top which meant it will not be able to stay open because the poles will not stay in place. And where cloth was sewed on a side, so a pole would not rub was not done right and when I tried to put the bubble parts together it tore apart right where it was sewed. There is now a 3 inch rip right where a pole should lay. Now the bubble is no longer a hothouse ! And until the tube part can be fixed it can not be put up. You have to have all the poles in place for it to be used. I watched youtube six times and after trying to put the bubble up by myself I asked for help and even with two others helping the bubble would not come together. That is when the metal tube was found broken at the top since the pole would not stay in it. And the ad says you can take the bubble with you ,well if two people are carrying it that might work or if you have the small bubble that might work. I bought the large one and it is heavy so it might not be a good idea to take it on trips. I am going to be asking for my money back since it was bought to be used as a hot house and with rips and broken parts it is not a hot house. I will say while trying to put it and having to work inside the bubble it was warm in there but with the poles not staying in place you can not use the bubble and the rips will not let the bubble stay warm. Good things about the bubble ,,, it did get to me a few days early. I waited for warmer weather to put it up so, cold weather is not why the bubble broke and tore. It maybe that my bubble is one just one of those that happens but for the money paid for it that should not happen. If I could give the bubble no stars I would have. It might be as easy as shown on youtube but most are very old shows but the one I bought was not. M Norvell