No, not second-hand tent; supposedly can be assembled in 2 seconds by tossing in the air.

Quechua Seconds Tents

Now, my kids have various pop-up toys that work similarly, but not something I'd rely on for stablity or weather protection. However, based on this article there might be something to this gadget. Fewer pieces to lose, rapid setup, sounds like it has potential for shelter in appropriate cases.

I wonder how it would pass the Virginia Summer Thunderstorm test...

I saw something similar on the Today show...basically you throw it like a flying disc and it pops open. I don't know how robust it is, but it looked cool.

Those things seams to popup everywhere in holland. it's not something that packs easily. It's like a big disk shape, you can not put it in any backpack. It might be handy for festivals, but not really for the outdoors.

I once had a similar item, called a "quickdraw" tent. It held four people, and was rather nice. However, it did indeed "pop up" just like you would expect, but it had almost no strength. It still had four regular poles that you had to run though, just like any other tent.

My overall opinion is that if you needed shelter "right now" and there was no wind, it would be OK. But if you have to run poles and put up a rain fly, then it has little advantage over a regular tent.

Somebody else mentioned that it stores as a large disc. Make that a "huge" disc. Unless you have a van or truck, it is incredibly cumbersome to pack. It also takes up a large amount of space in a garage, especially since it won't fit on any sort of shelf.

For my money, a standard tent is a much better bet, as long as you practice putting it up once or twice.