Clips or sleeves?

[Tony Fleming]

It's my turn to have a Big Sky Revolution tent order filled and I have a choice clips or sleeves. Any recommendations? Anyone have clips and care to comment on how it's holding up?

Thanks, Tony

[EndoftheTrail]

In terms of durability, there's no practical difference. But for me, I think I would go with sleeves — so the tent and fly can be pitched together.

Curious, when did you place your order?

[Tony Fleming]

Hi Ben,

Mid summer. I new it would be a while, and I was willing to wait. If you can be patient then everything else sounds great about their products.

So, clips vs sleeves? In rain I thought clips would be easier pitching the fly first then clipping on the tent. How do you pack it, and pitch it together with it in the sleeves?

Tony

[Denis Hazlewood]

If you will be dealing with rainy conditions (Rocky Mountains) then sleeves will probably be better in that you can leave the fly attached to the tent body and thus keep most of the rain off the tent. If wind is your primary nemesis (Sierra) the clip version will allow you to peg the tent to the ground before clipping on the poles.

If you look at the photo of the 2P tent body on the Big Sky website you may notice black "tabs" about half way up the pole sleeves. I believe these are velcro tabs to fasten the tent body to the fly. These tabs are located at the guyline loops on each corner of the fly, transfering wind loads to the pole structure.

Most of my hiking is done in either the Sierra Nevada, Desert or Costal California and I deal with more wind than rain. I have the clip version. It has been through some fierce winds and is holding up fine. I tend to use the aluminum poles if I know there'll be a lot of wind. Given the various combinations of door/fly configuerations (open/tied back, closed) I find it good practice to fasten the fly/tent body velcro points at all four corners.

Good luck getting delivery of your tent. Please keep us informed of Bob's performance. I would like to order a Revolution 1D0V in the Znorkel fabric. I'm holding off until I hear that Big Sky is delivering on their promises.

[EndoftheTrail]

Just as Denis wrote above.

While pole sleeves allow you to set up tent and fly together, there is one potential disadvantage. If a pole should snap and you fix it with a spare tent stake and duct tape, you may not be able to thread the thing through the tent sleeve because of the added thickness and possibly 'weird' pole curvature.

[kristin hostetter]

Hi Tony,
Just wondering about the chain of events regarding your order. Sounds like you ordered the tent (online?) last summer ('06)? Did you recently receive a message from BS saying that the tent is getting ready to ship? Please let us know when the tent arrives.

Dennis, regarding the Znorkel: One thing to note. I tested the Revolution in a 2p version last fall and some of the ceiling seams weren't taped, so you have to hand seal them. But I was told that because BS was switching factories, that might change. Just something to be aware of, and ask about.

Cheers.

[EndoftheTrail]

Hmmm… it's May — and BS is still trying to fill orders received LAST SUMMER??? I thought Bob Molen told Kristin (and everybody else) that he will be all caught up by Spring? Typical Bob — always telling people "a few more weeks".

Kristin: It's good to know that you are reading and tracking buyers' order experiences. Thanks!

[John S.]

=

[kevin davidson]

I notice that Outside's new Gear Guide favorably features one of Big Sky's tents. I wish that Outside (and Backpacker, which did the same thing earlier) would be responsible enough to indicate the slow/no shipment of these puppies. Backpacking.net had the courtesy recently of removing Big Sky's banner ad due to many complaints on that forum.

[Brett .]

Ben,
From your post I suddenly realized that company many people are having trouble with is initialized "B.S." How ironic.

[Brian Curtiss]

I ordered the pole clip version of the Evolution 2D2V back in early September 2006 — about 7.5 months ago — still no tent. Repeated emails do no good. If you ordered yours mid-summer, I might "get luck" and get mine in another two month or so. I feel so lucky!

[Tony Fleming]

Can anyone tell me. Do the poles sleeves on the Big Sky Evolution 2 have a break in the top or is it one continuos sleeve?

Thanks,

Tony

[EndoftheTrail]

Not answering your question or anything… but if I were shopping for a tent, I would be a lot more concerned about this non-delivery issue than whether the sleeves are continuous or have a break near the apex…

Aside from the focus on non-delivery, another reason why you aren't getting a definite answer is simply because up to now, every little batch of tents that Bob eventually coughs up is a little different from the batches prior. So who really knows what the next batch will look like???

[Denis Hazlewood]

Tony,
The sleeves have been continuous. I believe the latest sleeve version has one-way sleeves. You may only insert or remove the poles fron one end.

As ben2 reminded us all: Order from Big Sky at your credit card's peril. You might consider offering to pay for the tent you order when it arrives. That's putting the shoe on the other foot.

I love my Evolution 2P2D2V Clip version. It took me 373 days to get delivery.

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