Sell me on a perfect Shelter for 2 people.

What's your price range? That'll narrow down the options quite a bit.

If money is no object, then I would recommend these. Around $600-650 depending on options:

1. zPacks Duplex. Not a true double wall, but it's a well ventilated hybrid

2. Locus Gear Khufu Hapi. Dual wall, 4-season bomber 'mid. Dual doors at the head or foot end (depending on sleeping arrangement) – I assume you wanted ease of access when you mentioned the need for side entry…?

My usual answer is the Six Moons Design Lunar Duo.
Dual vestibles/entry. Great ventilation.
Taller than competeing tents with spreader poles at the ridge.
Hybred single wall.
Good elbow room for a light weight tent.
I haven't looked at tents lately. When I bought the Lunar, it was the roomiest in it's catagory, price range.

I would like to stay below $400 if at all possible. But that zpacks looks pretty amazing.

Locus Gear also offers them in silnylon and other fabrics. The Hapi (71" by 106") are about $275 USD, or $295 USD for the reinforced bombproof version.

I think MLD has a close equivalent called Duomid XL which is 104" by 90" for $335.

Both manufacturers have even larger pyramids.

Pretty easy to see why I went with Locus Gear when I bought mine back in September, especially with the current exchange rates.

But if we want more headroom, then I would look at hexamids (eg. Seek Outside, Titanium Goat)… Just saying.

I asked a similar question a few months ago:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=98044

My price target was lower than yours. The two top recommendations from that were the Haven and Lunar Duo. I went with the Haven but my needs are different than yours, I'm about 5'8" and this is to share with my daughter who is under 5', you probably would be better with the roomier LD.

One thing that can really make a diff in amount of space, especially for shared space, is how vertical the walls are — if they slope in then no matter how high up the measured headroom, it can only be found in the center of the shelter, whereas near-vertical walls will give you a lot more elbow and head room to share, even for the same square footage and headroom spec.

We have a Lunar Duo. I'm 5'3" and he is 5'9". There's plenty of room at our feet for our stuff. The floor is very slippery and magically so because I always end up with about 1 foot of room. Is it true that every time we set up the tent it's on a slope toward me? Or is he just a big giant bed hog?

I wouldn't say it has a lot of ventilation unless you open the vestibule doors. There have been times that condensation has dripped onto my face. I'm pretty sure this can happen in almost any single-wall tent that you close up tight to keep the warmth in.

We did endure a huge summer downpour where so much rain fell all at once our little tent site was probably a foot deep in water. No water came inside and the floor stayed dry. The bathtub floor goes way high if you set it up right.

As long as it stays tight there's plenty of room. There are these spreader poles that give it extra headroom. You can set the tent up without them and then you get a more pointy roof and a little less headroom. My main annoyance is these spreader poles. There's really no way to put them in without exposing the inside of the tent to rain (if it's raining while you set it up.)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Right now the lunar duo is looking like the top contender. I may compare that with the TT stratospire.

Looking at some pics of some mids just makes me uncomfortable. Even Ron on the MLD site looks uncormfortable inside the net tents for his mids.

I would actually consider the Duomid and Khufu a 1 person tent, or 1.5 if he has a dog. Theoretically, one could get more headspace by using inverted poles to stretch out the skin, but I havn't really found that they improved the head space at all. Hence the recommendation to go larger to Hapi or Duomid XL.

But I do like the Ti Goat Vertex 6 (a type of hexagonal tarp tent) that I was in once. So I am considering Seek Outside BT2 ($229, 25 oz, 56 ft2) or Cimmaron ($349, 36 oz, 94 ft2) for roomier experience. Haven't pulled the trigger yet though.

Requirements:

-side entry (dual vestibules is a plus but not a deal breaker)
-double wall (will consider single if it's roomy enough)
-tall enough for us To sit up and talk/play cards/whatever
-lots of ventilation (we are in NC)
-"elbow" room

The Tarptent StratoSpire 2 ticks all of those boxes..
This is mine :

BTW, hard to tell in this shot but the two apexes are not in the middle but back from each other so that at the highest point you are not shoulder to shoulder)
franco@tarptent

> 1. zPacks Duplex. Not a true double wall, but it's a well ventilated hybrid
>

I ordered one of these for my wife and I, but haven't told her it is more see thru than a pair of Lulu Lemon yoga pants.

This item may come up for sale on this website shortly after I receive it.

Check the TT cloudburst 3 and the stratospire 2. I had the stratospire 1 and it was a wonderful shelter (just not exactly big enough for me and the pup).

I hear the two person is ginormous for 2 – and it would have the vertical walls – much better for 2 I think.

You may want to look at the mids from HMG – quite a bit bigger (and WAY pricier!). Even the MLD duomid XL makes one person scrunch at the back and have to crawl over the front person. The idea of the side being the entrance seems like it would be a winner for a 2 person mid.

Looking at some pics of some mids just makes me uncomfortable

Spoke to one of the cottage makers before their busy season started and the goal of many UL
shelters is a place to sleep that is relatively weather resistant as per design limits. My XL mid is relatively "bombproof" – loving it for serious weather mountains – , but that basic pyramid design will always have sloping walls going up to one apex for wind-worthiness. Add that there are always trade-offs but sounds like you want a more boxy design to move your shoulders around.

Ed: Add .

Yeah. That's why I ordered it in camo :)

My wife had the same concern – cuben being translucent and not allowing for privacy. However, where we've been backpacking there aren't high concentrations of people in camp, and even then, someone would have to quite close to see 'something'.

For car camping with lots of people around we have a silnylon pyramid that allows for total privacy, though.

Do post pics of the camo duplex when it comes!

It's kind of like frosted glass on your bathroom window.

The Big Agnes Scout 2 is roomy light and affordable but it is a single wall tent with not so great ventilation. I still think it's worth taking a look at.

I have a Copper Spur UL2, and a UL3. Great tents.

The Zpacks Duplex (I have two of those), pitched properly (lifted such that bathtub floor has 6-8" sidewalls) is not going to be that much roomier than that UL2 as far as floor area, and, you will likely feel FAR more cramped as the sidewalls on the tarptent are not vertical like the UL2.

In your OP, you never mention lower weight as a criteria???? Any of these super lightweight options are going to be less comfortable, more difficult to set up, be single wall with resultant internal condensation under some conditions (making you feel even more cramped in morning).

I am not slamming these options: I will never use my Copper Spurs for backpacking again. I have two Zpack Duplexes, and expect delivery on a new Zpacks Triplex in a few weeks. My wife and I like to have extra room to bring gear into tent and still stretch out.

…but be clear, if your main driver is INCREASING COMFORT, then I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment with most options discussed above. Those Copper Spurs are like castles :)

Until severely lowering your base weight becomes a compulsion, and, you are prepared to sometimes make either financial or comfort (often both) "hits" in ALL areas: backpack, tent, sleep system, etc.), you may be on the wrong path today.

>"Yeah. That's why I ordered it in camo :)"

I just couldn't do it, the camo added 1.5oz… and I was worried she'd hate the camo more than being an exhibitionist. I'd ask her about it, but then she might say "doesn't matter, we don't need a new tent". Better I spring it on her after we hike miles from where anybody can hear her screaming at me.

Can’t disagree more with some comments on pyramids being somewhat limited in space and comfort or specialized in weather-worthiness and/or lightweight at the expense of anything else.

Pyramids are light because they’re simple and they’re solid because they’re aerodynamic. And because they’re simple.

Most of the weight in traditional tents comes from the design complexity. Get rid of that and you get a naturally light shelter.

Sure the walls are slanted but vertical walls are only needed in tight shelters. Vertical walls need a lot of frame to be able to stand up to any wind so you get a heavy and still cramped space. Pyramids on the contrary can be made big size with no big penalty on frame weight or wind-worthiness. The central part offers all the elbow room you might need and the periphery is perfect for gear.

The only part where mids are not a perfect match for the OP’s criteria is the double wall: mids are big and need a lot of fabric so double walls increase the weight. But the OP said it could be single wall if big enough so a near-perfect match.

This mid here below is 1.7 kg with its own pole. If a hiking pole is used, take a half kilo off that:

It’s a Golite Hex3, not available anymore but there are similar ones.

Pyramids are light, solid and comfortable, all the same time.

Some current designs out there I don’t understand, some others may be more focused on one or two of the three criteria above and less on the other(s). For general use for two, a hexagonal mid of the right size is just perfect. The former Hex3 was very good except for a few minor details.

If interested, you can find a thorough discussion on mids in my website

Duplex and User Height…

The Duplex is a palace for me and my 60lb dog. I've made no secret that I love that darn thing.

But my height is 5'9" and I'm pretty sure that if I were 6'2" I would feel differently. My feet and head get pretty close to the panels already, so add 5" to my height and it would be extremely marginal indeed.

If it were me, I'd seek out the opinion of someone 6'2" who has used it with another person a few times. I wouldn't want to put that much waiting time and money into a catch-n-release.

IIRC the Solplex length is the same as the Duplex, which is why Joe V came out with the Altaplex for taller folks.

D D, If you want to see photos and detailed film of the duplex in camo then look HERE

I'll second the TT SS 2 if you want a double wall… Nice thing is the inner is removeable so it can be set up as a single wall too. TT build quality is very high in my experience.
Another option you might consider are the Oware mids. I've got a 9×9 which has a ton of room (I'm 6'3") and doesn't weigh too much. Simple/fast to pitch, relatively inexpensive as cottage gear goes ($220 or so?), no wait time, proven track record.

Good luck :)

Thanks everyone for a little help. I think we are going to try out the stratospire 2. My girlfriend has been wanting trekking poles, so this is going to work out well. Hopefully, haha.

Looks like a cool tent. Just want to point out that you are trading out a BA Copper Spur UL2 that is the same exact weight (no gain there, and frankly heavy at 2.75 lbs), nearly the exact floor area, four inches shorter than than the Copper Spur (and you are tall), and not nearly the same four vertical sides as the Copper Spur. Although it appears in specs to be taller inside, beware of how these tarp tents erect and where their high points are (at trekking poles). That can be misleading.

Although a double wall, it looks like loose netting that if it is not taught, will behave identically to a single wall (you sit up in morning and wet your hair on the wall). True double walls (like the Copper) have mechanical separation between inner/outer walls.

Ease of setup, self erecting and consistent setup on varied terrain, that Copper Spur is a castle by comparison. I struggle to see any advantage in this next step for you. In fact, all I see are disadvantages.

…..really thought you'd end up with a three person tent, as that floor area seemed to be your main gripe.