I need advice from people with experience using different grow tent brands. Please share both the good and bad experiences you’ve had with these tents.

MarsHydro hands down has the best reflective value of any tent on the market. The light leakage is minimal, material is high quality, zippers very reliable. Spider Farmer, Vivosun and others just don’t compare. Price is comparable to the rest.

I have used a SF tent and secret Jarden tent. I like the thickness of the tent material in the SF but no so much its Velcro connections, I love the modular capabilities of my secret jarden tent, no predetermined ports you pick where they go with their style of tent. The brand does not matter so much. its the tech they use in the tents does. Get something with extra light protection around the zippers and some heavier fabric that can withstand more wear and tear. Ideally the tent should be well sealed and I dislike any velcro style windows or ports. modular inputs like where hydro or the fans are going is ideal but not always an option. Some brands just cost more for not a lot of extra. Mammoth/gorlilla tents are over priced and part of that one brand that makes klights and lotus nutrients. I dislike them, they are just flashy and don't work well. As for smells. you will need to have a negative pressure inside the tent at all times. Eg, a fan running and sucking out the air. that air should be exhausted into the outside and or ran though a carbon filter as to not have many smells. If exausting outside fuck the carbon unless your neighbors are really noisy. even then. carbon filter do not work well in high RH environments and add a lot of resistance to the extractor fan.

Gorilla AC Infinity Spider Farmer Mars Hydro quality-wise.

SF has a major lawsuit pending for infringing on the patent (allegedly) of one of the largest global light diode makers........I wouldn't touch that with a 100 ft pole when adding in their track record of customer service (or lack therof). Be prepared for them to vanish one day soon as they fold due to said court case (not legal advice, NAL) mars hydro is postured like they're vertically integrated but they're mostly a rebrander from China ACI is a rebrander from Cali importing from China with label changed... pick your poison. btw ACI will at least replace a faulty product, with the QC ticket on every item you can point the finger at exactly who shipped you a doo doo product when they do (tent stitching, carbon fiber filters, etc. are things that I have had them fall off a cliff on quality for and be replacing often these days)

The sturdiness of the poles -- relative to size of tent of course... don't need 1" diameter poles for a 3x3. Shoot for 50% weight capacity and you'll be fine even if it's not the thickest metal poles. There are always going to be some pinhole leaks. AC infinity has sturdy poles, but stitching sure isn't up to the same standards. If the frame easily holds the weight of your equipment used, and you don't constantly take it down / put it up, it should last a long time regardless of brand. Reduce wear-n-tear as best you can. Can always shore up an old tent with cardboard or duct tape, lol. At this point i'd probably build my own frame (angled eluminum or metal tubes etc... tent pull replacement venders?) and wrap it in poly film (also called panda film). Use some adhesive velcro and a suitable overlap for complete blackout at seams or maybe some magnets etc. Probably save a lot of money on any of the larger tents. Can customize size and exactly where things will be hung etc... I mostly dark-proof the room the tent is in, so it doesn't have to lift a heavy weight in that regard. ducting will still be a likely avenue for light pollution regardless of which you buy or make. either need a beefier duct fant to handle a light labyrinth or just make sure the room remains mostly dark.