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I have very high sauna standards – I have been to a sauna festival (yes that’s a thing), worked and maintained at a very high-end one in Sweden, and often stay inside for hours at a time while nonstop adding water. I also use sauna as part of my business doing rentals, private sessions for clients, public events, etc. I abuse mine heavily.
Being made in Finland, I expect lots from the Telttasaana system.
Skipping more preamble, lets get into the meat and bones here – pros and cons of this sauna tent system.
Don’t forget to read my Best Sauna Tents guide to see what else is on the market!
Table of Contents
Pros and Cons
To quickly list the highs and the lows of this system:
The Pros
- Excellent Narvi stove
- Great benches system
- Tall living space
- Powerful löyly
The Cons
- Difficult to manage drafts
- Tent walls flapping
- Condensation & rain droplets
- Harder setup
I’ll get more into the details now – lets start with the heart and powerhouse of the whole system; the stove.
Note: The Telttasaana coupon code: NOMAD150 will save 150 eur on checkout
Performance – The Narvi Stove
Evidently the metric to define all – how is the performance? We’re looking at stove/heat production and good ol’ löyly here.
In terms of the stove, it’s a collaboration between Narvi and Telttasaana. Narvi is a very respected sauna stove manufacturer from Finland. Immediately this sets the unit apart from the competition as others are typically generic/OEM/whitelabel. They’re not bad, just not nearly as good.
Just starting the fire itself is somehow several times easier with my damp Eucalyptus wood which sits uncovered outside in humid air. A breeze compared to the other stoves I have.
I use a top-down lighting method, as suggested in the user manual. Works great! Managing the fire is easier as the whole firebox is larger and easier to manoeuvre your logs. Additionally the window is large and illuminates the whole tent when the fire is roaring – a lovely sight!
And it heats up very quickly. A double-burn for a smokeless exhaust and better efficacy, an improved path where the heat follows a spiral – the mass of stones heats up rapidly. I’ve loaded approx 50kg of stones onto my stove – more than double of what most other stoves support.
Filling the water reservoir will allow for ambient steam to enter the tent, increasing temperature and humidity. Narvi states in the manual to always run it with water in the reservoir. I like to add a couple drops of Cedar essential oil to add some aromatherapy into the mix.
When it’s hot, throwing a scoop of water shows that the stove is able to provide that scalp-scalding, Finnish Grandma level of löyly, nonstop. While the other stoves I have will require some refractory time after tossing 4-5 scoops, with this stove it’s seemingly endless. Normally 2-3 is the most I will do at once because the heat is absolutely blisteringly intense.
One thing to mention is that the nature of the tent leaves the stove more prone to rust, which becomes an issue as I explain in the next section.
To cut it short, this stove is several levels more superior to the competition. It lights easier, it burns better, it sizzles with vigour, and it looks very pretty. It’s a no-contest win compared to every sauna tent system out there.
Well, except for portability. It’s heavier and bulkier to transport. It’s not impossible by any means but not as practical as the others.
Performance – The Tent
There are things I prefer about this tent system, and things I do not like. Let’s start with the pleasant.
First – the fact that it is made in Finland, a unique design, and well-thought out is a big plus over the generic OEM rebranded white-label units sold by most other portable sauna brands. That in itself is worthy of praise – it is not easy to do that.
The zipper is nice, tall, and robust – I don’t need to hunker down and crawl into the tent. I just unzip, walk in nice and tall, and zip down. Much more pleasant than the other systems. The internal space is rather tall at 2.1m, so it fells more spacious and doing standing stretches or moving is more pleasant. At 190cm tall I’m able to freely walk around without crouching – this is not the case on my other sauna tents.
At 2m * 2m for usable Width * Length, it is long enough for me to lay flat on benches. Very important as I love to lay flat in the sauna to stretch and fully relax! However it seems a bit of a missed opportunity to not have it perhaps 30cm wider, move the stove more into the middle, and increase seating capacity by 2, up from 6 to 8 or more with clever seating placement. Realistically it fits 6 people at comfort, 7 or 8 and it gets really tight.
The material choice is nice and it does feel premium, but there are several points of improvement to make;
First – the tent only has 1 exterior draft skirt – most other sauna tents have 1 inner and 1 outer to improve draft control. As a result I have had to cover the entire skirting in sandbags to prevent cold air from rushing in. With even a small breeze it makes the internal temperature, even with the almighty Narvi stove, difficult to maintain. With the sandbags or rocks weighing the whole skirt down, that problem is mitigated greatly, and then in the end not the biggest problem. However, a second draft skirt would help greatly.
However, the 1-ply nature of the tent still has its drawbacks. Both through the material and the seams at the top window, water slowly drops in. Add to that the condensation from the löyly and you have a mini tropical-rainforest of raindrops every time a small gust hits.
Not to mention that 1-ply construction makes it less insulated by default. Loss of temperature simply by conduction of cool tent walls, and via convection by way of draft. This means running the stove hotter, making more radiant heat, which is what we want to avoid in a sauna (burning shins problem).
The chimney hole is quite open which, perhaps for some improved ventilation (and escaping heat?), allows very much water or snow to come in if you’ve forgotten to remove the chimney and seal the top flap. The result? Overnight rust.
Even with sandbags weighing down the skirting, the fabric likes to flip and flap right along your back, making plenty of sound and caressing your skin with cold soggy walls. Not my favourite sensations.
And so it’s on the fence regarding the tent – there are several things I really enjoy about it, however there are a few points of improvement too, which I hope will be made.
Portability & Assembly
Certainly you can move it around, transport it, and set it up in remote locations. The pack volume is manageable and the weight is similar to most other portable sauna systems.
However, the ease of assembly is not as straightforward as the pop-out walls on many of the other sauna tents. You must individually click the frame into place and erect the tent. Unfortunately the user manual provided was only in Finnish, and certainly needed for the first time assembly. I have been camping in extreme places my whole life and have set up very many tent systems, so it’s not like I am a beginner.
It is manageable by single person, however you must be much more mindful of sand, grit, or other debris as I found I have already abraded the material to the point of porosity in a few spots just after 2 set-up/teardowns on a stone surface with sand. Grit will enter the joints of the frame easily if you setup in a dirty environment, giving a jarring grinding when you click them into place.
For me, my flooring outside is all stone & sand – so for you if it’s grass & dirt it may be a better situation.
As a result I am very hesitant to bring it to the beach because I fear the wear & tear is worse than the pop-out systems. Too, the A-frame shape is much more vulnerable to wind than the dome-shape of others. I was also not provided with any stakes in the kit, even if there are tie-out points along the tent.
If you remove the stones from the rock cage when transporting, it will take an additional 10 minutes to properly lay your stones again in the basket. I would say I take a good 45 minutes to very properly setup the system as 1 person.
Naked, the Narvi stove weighs 30kg. As per the manual, you can load it with 30-40kg of stones, and the water tank supposedly must also be filled when operating. You’re looking at an additional 20-40kg if bringing the stove, compared to the typical systems which are around. The water tank holds 10L water, so add 10kg to the carry weight if you want to abide by that rule.
Another massive thing that the Telttasaana system has going for it is the benches. They are brilliant, made of heat-treated Finnish Birch. 2 benches fold into a very reasonable flatpack, coming in at 24kg, nice and high 85cm height and feet at 45cm – feet at rock level as they should be! They smell lovely, setup easily, and pack well. Among the best portable sauna bench systems on the market for sure.
Overall though, I have a hard time convincing myself to bring the whole setup to the beach or into nature frequently over my other sauna tent systems – it’s certainly possible, but not as easy as the other systems on the market simply due to the tent assembly.
Note: The Telttasaana coupon code: NOMAD150 will save 150 eur on checkout
Overall
The benches? Great. The stove? Absolutely fantastic! The tent? Needs some improvements.
I find the overall experience is as close to the genuine hard-walled sauna experience that there is. The benches are high and smell great, the stove is beautiful and absolutely powerful, and the sauna space itself is spacious and inviting.
I’ve had dozens of guests and clients use my various sauna tent systems – they all have their preferences and their thoughts mirror mine – the löyly is incredibly hot and enjoyable but the ambient temperature not warm enough when windy (due to the draft problems) and the raindrops and wall flapping slapping a bit unpleasant.
Some prefer the tent by other manufacturers and some prefer this one, but all prefer this stove.
The benches are likewise great and I can only recommend them!
I think the Telttasaana system is better for those who are more ‘experienced’ in the sauna domain and want the authentic sauna experience, and only plan to rarely take it down and move it. For those who will properly seal the drafts at the bottom and love a monstrously powerful löyly. I also cannot understate how much easier it is to do fire starting & maintenance in this stove than the others!
Note: The Telttasaana coupon code: NOMAD150 will save 150 eur on checkout
If you are thinking of frequently moving it to the beach, forest, lake, etc – I would perhaps recommend otherwise as the setup and wear & tear is simply more involved that the other systems.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and any questions comment them below! Read my Bast Sauna review and Hott Sauna review to see how the stack up, and read my Best Sauna Tents guide to see what else is on the market!
Telttasaana Sauna
100% Finnish sauna tent system? My Telttasaana review will let you know if it's worth it, and if that Narvi stove is really as good as they say!
Product Brand: Telttasaana
4.75
Pros
- Excellent Stove
- Great Benches
- Large internal space
Cons
- Flapping tent
- Harder assembly
- Draft difficulties