Finally! Wife wants to come with me on longer section hikes. Need a bigger tent. Recommendations please!

[Myles Booth]

Plus 1 for the lunar duo.
It is one great tent, with more than enough room for my wife and i. I was recently in your boat, and needed a tent for the both of us. I picked the duo up, and am happy i did. Weight is great. Set up is a breeze, with some practice, and the dual vestibules are great sizes.

[Cesar Valdez]

Okay, so now I have talked my wife into the possibility of getting a tarp and net tent combo. It's pretty much like a double-wall tent, after all. Her biggest complaint was privacy, but this was any easy fix with a net tent with solid doors. After a lot of research, here is what I think might be a good solution for us:

Bearpaw WD net tent 2 with sil botton, doors, and sides. Also going to get 10 inches added to the height to have more head room, so it will be 52 wide x 86 long x 50 high.

For tarp I am thinking a Borah sil 8 x 10.

John at BP said he does not give weight estimates for custom jobs, but the stock net tent 2 with sil bottom is listed as 16oz. The tarp is listed at 11.5oz.

Let's stay my custom net tent is an extra 3oz and the tarp comes in a bit heavy at 12oz just for easy math. For this set up it would be 31oz / 880g (and this is a high estimate) without any guy lines or stakes. This set up would also save us money, as the net tent would be $195 without shipping costs, and $95 for the tarp (total of $290).

I have a lot of experience setting up tarps, so that doesn't bother me. And it seems like the net tent is easy to set up.

Any couples have a similar set up or experience with one that want to chime in here?

Anyone have a net tent from Bearpaw, and if so what do you think?

Are there any other good net tents out there for two people that fit the above specs (or close) that I missed?

Seems like a win-win-win situation here, as I am saving weight, money, and it's a solid, versatile system (net tent only for star gazing and trail shelters, tarp only if no bugs, etc.) But before I pull the trigger, wanted to get any last minute feedback, naturally.

[Maris L]

Just wanted to mention that my Borah Gear 8×10 stock tarp came in at 13.1oz. They included a thank you note with this weight listed and my scale confirmed it. Not a big difference, but maybe it matters to you. Otherwise I'm extremely pleased with it, especially at that price point and free shipping included.

EDIT: Just thought of the net tents that Gen at Yama Mountain Gear makes. He has a stock two person listed at 14.5oz and $165 – but this is entirely mesh. I seem to recall he's done custom net tents with sil front and backs before, but you'd have to double check.

EDIT 2: HERE is an example of a custom Yama net tent with a full sil back and half sil front, weighing 14.5oz. Maybe worth contacting him?

[Jorge Falcon]

Congratulations my friend, having the opportunity to share these experiences with your girlfriend is a luxury we both share! ;-)

Personally, I prefer a mid. They offer good weather protection and great space.

My HMG Ultamid 2 in the mountains.

However, my girlfriend prefers shelters with ground floor and insect protection, even when it's not necessary! since that gives her a psychological security.

My Sierra Designs Flash 2. Good tent, not "ultralight" though.

If your wife prefers a more enclosed shelter, I would definitely recommend the "double rainbow".

[Stephen M]

Lucky you both getting your wife out on trips and her
Going for a UL shelter.

My wife will coming backpacking if I carry a 3 man tunnel tent :-)

[David Maxwell]

I sure wish TarpTent would have been at TD's. They weren't. So we walked around and checked out everyone else's tents. Zpacks wasn't there either, but out of my price range right now. We were really impressed with HMG, but again, not enough in the wallet.

We found LHG and checked out her new prototype for the DUO. We really liked it and she said it would be for sale on her site in about a month. So we said our goodbyes and headed for the backpacker give away. My wife won a pack and some Xero sandals which she gave to me! We decided to get something to eat so we headed back through the vendors one more time. When going by LHG I asked her if she was sure she didn't have one more hiding in her truck. Nope, but said she could drop the one off on her way home if we met her. We were all over that idea. Then she started taking it down, handed it to me, and we were all smiles. .. I set it up today and forgot to take pictures. I guess I'll have to do it again tomorrow.

[Cesar Valdez]

After much friendly debate, discussion, research, etc.–my wife and I finally decided on the Cloudburst 3 from Tarptent.

I plan on doing a full review of it in the future after we take it out to Kungsleden.

Just thought I would let everyone know what we settled on.

Thanks again for everyone's tips and feedback. It was all very helpful. In the end we decided a bit more weight for a bit more comfort and easy set up was cool by us. Plus, for two people, roughly 1.5kg of weight ain't so bad.

Looking forward to our new toy!

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