If there’s one thing that can put the damper on outdoor fun at the campsite or in the backyard, it’s bugs … especially flying, biting insects. Let’s call them what they are … evil mosquitos and flies (aka black flies, gnats, sand flies, deer flies, horse flies, etc.) Sure you can use repellents on your skin or area repellents like ThermaCELL, but they don’t work in all conditions. Thankfully, there is now a foolproof instant solution.

What It Is

The Quick-Set Escape screen shelter by Clam is exactly what its name describes. It is an 11′ 6″ x 11′ 6″ shelter with walls of a no-see-um mesh. Its center height is nearly 8′ tall. And it truly is quick to set up. After having put it up once following the included step-by-step instructions, you can easily set up the Quick-Set Escape in less than a minute and take it down and stow it just as fast. The maker is the Clam company who applied their decades of experience in making instant set up ice-fishing shelters and hunting blinds to the campsite and backyard shelter design.

Until you’ve set up a Quick-Set Escape (or one of the other sizes) you can’t appreciate how easy and fast it is. And once you stake it inside with the six tent stakes (included) the Quick-Set Escape isn’t going anywhere. You can even add optional wind panel screens to Velcro in place, and it becomes a very nice mild weather tent.

Why We Like It

The Quick-Set Escape is Clam’s middle-sized option. There’s a smaller version that is about right for two people and a larger one that’s basically two Escapes put together. We think the Escape’s size is about perfect. It covers a standard size campground picnic table with room to spare all the way around. You could easily have 6-8 adults in the Escape, seated and moving around the table, and nobody’s going to feel crowded. It also has the most head room we’ve seen in any shelter, let alone one that sets up this quickly. At it’s center, it’s a reach for a 6-foot tall man or woman to hang a lantern or grab the loop to take down the roof.

Speed and simplicity of the setup and takedown are phenomenal. It literally takes just seconds once you’ve practiced it a couple of times.

The mesh is very fine and keeps out even the tiniest biting gnats. If there’s any drawback to that, it’s that the mesh is so fine it actually does cut down any light breeze there might be. We noticed that in triple-degree heat while on the 50 Campfires Field Trip: Great River Road. But since it keeps out ALL the bugs – DEFINITELY WORTH IT!!!

We think that once you have a Quick-Set Escape shelter it will become the hub of your campsite or backyard outdoor activities. The list of things you can do in your Quick-Set Escape are nearly limitless. If you need some ideas, check out some of the things we did it in on the 50 Campfires Field Trip: Great River Road.