Sweat Tent Review: An Insanely Hot Wood-Fired Sauna

Exposing your body to high temperatures through sauna bathing is one of the best ways to boost your health and longevity. What if you could get the benefits of a traditional sauna without spending thousands of dollars (or even leaving your backyard)?

I’ve owned and tested dozens of saunas, including multiple full-spectrum infrared, traditional barrel, steam and personal saunas. But Sweat Tent is the first one I’ve tried that is relatively inexpensive, easy to set up and disassemble, and ships with a powerful wood-fired stove that can heat the inside of the sauna up to a blazing 220 degrees. 

In this review, I’ll explain what makes Sweat Tent such a unique and attractive alternative to other sauna types, as well as how easy it is to set up and use. And I’ll give you my take on whether it lives up to its promise of being the world’s most powerful and portable wood-fired sauna.

Sweat Tent Key Facts

Here are the most important things to know about Sweat Tent:

• Offers quick heating and impressive heat retention, getting up to 180 degrees in 20 to 30 minutes (with just two or three pieces of firewood). If you add more wood and wait another 10-20 minutes, you get temperatures at (or in excess of) 220 degrees.
• Has a spacious interior, with more than enough room for four adults. And the tent is tall enough that most people can stand fully upright while inside.
• Made from durable and odor-free fabric (i.e., there are no off-putting chemical smells). 
• Features adjustable airflow for custom heat levels. While dialing in the desired temperature isn’t as simple as with an electric sauna, you can adjust the airflow to encourage more or less heat. There’s also a vent flap in the tent itself for when you need to cool down the interior quickly.
• Is portable and easy to set up. The tent fabric is attached to spring-loaded fiberglass poles that lock into place when you pull on the attached tabs (comparable to pop-up tents you might be familiar with from camping).
• Sweat Tent is not a steam sauna. Even though it comes with sauna rocks that you can pour water over to increase the humidity, those rocks don’t offer enough surface area to evaporate enough water to significantly increase the humidity inside the tent. So don’t expect Sweat Tent to replace a dedicated steam room.

Overall, I was impressed by Sweat Tent’s performance. After a number of sessions, I now understand why some people prefer wood stoves over electric sauna heaters (it just feels more authentic).

I think it’s an excellent choice for anyone who wants to make sauna bathing a regular part of their routine, but who doesn’t have the space for (or want to deal with) a permanent sauna installation.

It’s also ideal for those who have the necessary outdoor space (you can’t use Sweat Tent indoors, unless you install a permanent chimney) and their own firewood supply, but who don’t have the budget to spend thousands of dollars on a barrel sauna.

Lastly, if you own an RV or enjoy camping, it’s worth pointing out that you can bring the Sweat Tent along in its included carrying cases and enjoy hot sauna sessions, regardless of where you are.

On the flip side, if you have dedicated space for an outdoor spa, don’t plan on moving anytime soon, and have the budget for an attractive sauna cabin made with real wood, I wouldn’t purchase a tent.

Unboxing and First Impressions

My Sweat Tent setup arrived via FedEx in several boxes, which included:

• Insulated tent (with a waterproof roof cover).
• Black powder-coated steel stove with a fireproof mat.
• Thermometer/hygrometer combo.
• Stainless steel sauna rock holder with 20 pounds of sauna rocks.
• Mittens.
• Firepoker.
• Heavy-duty carrying bags for both the tent and the stove.
• Instruction manual.

Based on my experience with SaunaBox (a personal steam sauna), I expected some initial off-gassing from the fabric. But I was pleasantly surprised that I couldn’t detect any chemical smell.

I was also thrilled about the durable fabric construction and the heavy-duty, glow-in-the-dark zippers that make it easy to use the Sweat Tent at night (or in low-light conditions).

Aside from the main components, we also received a couple of optional accessories with our review unit, including a cedar sauna bench and a box of European split white birch firewood.

Setup Process

Setting up the Sweat Tent is fairly straightforward and only takes a few minutes.

1. Pop up the tent. Pull the latches on each side until the frame locks in place. (Having a second person to hold one side makes the process much easier.)
2. Install the waterproof roof covering.
3. Assemble the stove and season it (outside of the tent) by burning two logs of wood. Seasoning is necessary and important to allow for any lubricants used during the manufacturing process to burn off. 
4. Move the stove to the inside of the tent and place it on top of the included fireproof mat, which protects the floor from getting damaged if a piece of burning wood falls out of the stove while the door is open. 

I should mention that the Sweat Tent’s chimney flue consists of several interlocking tubes you stack together to achieve the appropriate length. When I reassembled the stove (after seasoning it), I must have failed to push one of the elements in completely, which led to smoke escaping (and building up inside the tent) during our first sauna sessions.

It took me a while to figure out the problem, but once I made sure all the pieces were properly locked in place, we had no more smoke inside the tent.

Overall, I consider the Sweat Tent easy to assemble and take apart. The stove and the tent even come with heavy-duty carrying bags, so you could easily bring the entire setup on your next camping trip, or store the tent during the summer if you don’t want to use it when the temperatures are high.

Another observation I wanted to share is that it’s important to position the tent on a hard surface (such as a concrete slab) if you intend to keep it there for extended periods.

We initially considered setting up the tent on our lawn, but I suspect that would have turned the ground into a muddy mess over time from impacting the soil on the same spot over and over (combined with all the sweat). Having it on concrete also makes it easy to keep the inside of the tent clean, and you don’t have to worry about pieces of burning wood damaging it.

Sweat Tent Performance

For a traditional (non-infrared) sauna to deliver the desired health benefits, it needs to offer temperatures of 180 degrees or more. Sweat Tent reaches that benchmark and then some. It takes less than 30 minutes to heat the air inside the tent to 180 using only two or three logs; if you add two more logs around the 30 minute mark, you’ll turn the inside of the tent into a 230-degree inferno (which I had trouble enduring for more than 25 minutes).

In addition to heating the tent up quickly, the wood stove does an excellent job of maintaining temperatures over 180 for extended periods. During my testing, the stove held 190-200 degrees for at least an hour, at which point I got out of the sauna. In other words, I don’t know how much longer the air inside the tent remained that hot.

For what it’s worth, I performed all my tests during a time when the ambient air temperatures in Georgia were in the 40s. As we transition into winter and temperatures drop below the freezing point, I’ll keep an eye on the Sweat Tent’s performance and update this article, if necessary.

One of the downsides of a wood stove is that it’s difficult to achieve a specific temperature. Unlike with an electric sauna, you can’t easily dial in your desired heat level; instead, you have to adjust the stove’s oxygen and wood supply to regulate the temperature. 

Specifically, you can change how many logs are in the oven, as well as how much air is getting into the stove via the adjustable slider (more oxygen means higher temps). There’s also a flap on the side of the tent next to the oven, and keeping it all the way open allows more external air to get into the tent (thus cooling the interior). 

If you’re used to operating wood stoves, all that is pretty straightforward. But if you’re new to heating with wood, it will likely take some time to figure out what wood/oxygen combination yields the desired temperatures. 

A word of caution: The stove gets HOT! The image below wasn’t taken with a thermal camera – it’s a regular picture that I took at night with my iPhone. As you can see, parts of the stove are glowing hot, and that can lead to serious burns if you’re not careful. Even the knob on the stove door gets too hot to touch without the supplied mittens. 

So be extra careful when sauna bathing with young children. And needless to say that sauna bathing while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a recipe for disaster.

Incredible Heating Performance

Sweat Tent’s stove does an excellent job of distributing heat evenly. In a regular sauna, the higher up you sit, the hotter it is. While the Sweat Tent doesn’t offer stacked seating, it’s worth noting that you get almost equal heat exposure, no matter where you sit (or whether you sit or stand).

That’s because the stove radiates heat in all directions. My wife and I have noticed how it often feels like our shins are on fire — which is something we’ve never experienced in a sauna before. While that’s great for achieving maximum heat stress, it’s not helpful if you’re trying to escape the heat by lowering your head. So keep that in mind when deciding on how hot you want your Sweat Tent to get.

Sweat Tent and Humidity

Sweat Tent comes with a stainless-steel basket and 20 pounds of sauna rocks that you can use to increase the humidity inside the tent by pouring water over the rocks.

Based on the hygrometer that came with the unit, I couldn’t get the humidity inside the tent over 30%. The problem is that 20 pounds of rocks don’t provide enough surface area for water to evaporate as it trickles down.

For comparison, our Redwood Outdoors Barrel sauna has 80-100 pounds of rocks arranged in a four-foot-tall cylinder, providing enough surface area for water to evaporate – even if we pour several cups of water over them. 

In the Sweat Tent, most of the water runs down to the floor before it has a chance to evaporate over the rocks. 

That said, the lack of humidity has not negatively impacted the amount of sweat I produce in each session, or its ability to solicit the desired heat stress. And as I explained in my article comparing steam and infrared saunas, steam only provides limited additional health benefits. So I wouldn’t worry too much about this unless you’re specifically using sauna bathing to treat respiratory issues.

Size and Overall Experience

With most of the saunas I’ve owned, I’ve felt like I would appreciate a little bit more space so that everyone was able to stretch out. That’s not a problem with the four-person Sweat Tent, which feels massive thanks to its dimensions of 6x6x7 feet. In fact, I’m 6 feet tall and I can actually stand up inside the tent and walk around without getting too close to the stove. 

As I mentioned earlier in this review, our Sweat Tent came with a bench that comfortably seats two adults (and, if you don’t mind some elbow rubbing, two adults and a child). If you want to fit more people into the tent, I recommend investing in a second bench so that you can seat four adults comfortably. 

Arguably, one of the key selling points of the Sweat Tent is the authentic wood fire experience that it provides. There is just something unique and ancestral about using fire to produce heat. I love it and truly believe that it elevates my sauna experience (compared to using an electric stove). 

One concern with any wood stove are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, formaldehyde, and other hydrocarbons that get released as part of the combustion process. I’m not incredibly concerned about those because burning wood for fire is something humans have done for a very long time – it’s an integral part of our history.

More importantly, there is a difference between being exposed to low levels of VOCs from a properly vented wood stove for 30 minutes a few times a week and burning wood for heat inside a home for months in a row. 

The only thing I’d recommend is to purchase firewood that wasn’t treated with chemicals.

Potential Risks

If you’re concerned about a potential fire risk, rest assured that Sweat Tent is equipped with fire-resistant fabric in places that could come into contact with embers, or that are near the stove. Specifically, the corner of the tent that’s close to the stove has an extra layer of this special fabric, and you also get a floor mat to place under the stove, which helps protect the floor.

It’s also worth pointing out that you can make the inside of the tent as hot as you like (within the limits of the stove). Using less firewood and restricting airflow leads to lower temperatures, while adding more firewood and allowing the stove to breathe (by opening the air inlets) will lead to higher temperatures. Of course, you can always open the door or some of the vent covers to let cool air in, which quickly lowers the temperature inside the tent. 

If you’ve never worked with a wood stove before, let me issue a word of caution. The stove gets very hot and you can suffer third degree burns if you touch it. That’s why I recommend not touching any part of the stove or the flute without wearing mittens.

Is Sweat Tent Worth It?

Sweat Tent retails for $1,500, which is significantly less than you’d pay for a conventional sauna of similar size. I’d argue that considering the incredible heating performance, non-toxic materials and portability, Sweat Tent is a good choice if you have the space and desire to make sauna bathing a regular part of your wellness routine, but don’t want to spend the money on something more permanent. 

Besides the initial purchase cost, you also need to consider the recurring cost of firewood. Unless you can make your own, you’ll likely have to purchase logs. At our local hardware store, a bundle of firewood (4-6 logs) costs $7.50. If you purchase firewood from Sweat Tent, you’ll pay $50 for a bundle consisting of 10 logs (good for 4-6 sauna sessions).

Depending on how often you plan on using the sauna and the price of firewood in your area, that can add up.

Additionally, you’ll likely also want to invest in a bench or two, a sauna bucket and ladle and (maybe) some essential oils. All those accessories combined can set you back anywhere from a few bucks to a couple of hundred dollars, depending on where you source them.

Overall, I think Sweat Tent is a great value and a budget-friendly option for making sauna bathing a regular part of your wellness routine. 

Shop Sweat Tent

If you decide to give the Sweat Tent a try, make sure to use code KUMMER100 to get $100 off your purchase. The code also works for the Sweat Tent XL, which accommodates up to 10 people.

Sweat Tent vs. Other Saunas 

As I mentioned in the intro, I own several types of saunas, including a full-spectrum infrared sauna, a traditional barrel sauna with an electric stove, a portable infrared sauna, and a portable steam room (SaunaBox). The table below offers an overview over the key differences between Sweat Tent and those various sauna types. Click the links to go to my review of each.

As you can see, there are significant differences between different types of saunas, and which one is best for you depends on your personal preferences, desired use cases, and budget.

In a nutshell, Sweat Tent costs much less than traditional dry and infrared saunas of comparable sizes, as far as the initial investment is concerned. However, here in Georgia where electricity is relatively cheap, using our 11kW barrel sauna or 3.6kW full-spectrum infrared sauna costs less than what I pay for firewood. 

Based on our requirements and preferences, here’s how I’ll continue using the various saunas at my disposal:

• Sweat Tent for inducing maximum heat stress to trigger the release of heat shock proteins and to boost my immune system.
• Sunlighten mPulse to enjoy relaxing sauna sessions while reaping some of the skin health benefits of full-spectrum infrared radiation.
• SaunaBox on occasion, because I love leveraging hot steam to support my respiratory system during the colder months of the year.

The sauna I haven’t been using much lately is my barrel sauna, because the electric heater draws a lot of energy and automatically shuts off after 45 minutes (which makes pre-heating without being forced to get in before it turns off a bit of a challenge).

Final Verdict

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Sweat Tent, nor how much I’d enjoy lighting a fire every time I wanted to jump into the sauna. To my surprise, I actually enjoy firemaking, and getting a fire started is much easier than I thought it would be. 

I was even more surprised at how quickly this sauna tent heated up. With my other walk-in saunas, I’ve gotten used to waiting 45 minutes to an hour before jumping in. Sweat Tent effectively cut my waiting time in half, which has saved time on days I spontaneously decided to use the sauna. 

If you have access to reasonably priced firewood or you can make it yourself from trees on your property, Sweat Tent is an excellent and budget-friendly option to make heat exposure a regular part of your wellness arsenal. 

Michael Kummer

Michael Kummer is a healthy living enthusiast and CrossFit athlete whose goal is to help people achieve optimal health by bridging the gap between ancestral living and the demands of modern society.