Help selecting a single wall shelter for 2

Right you are Ben. You brought that to my attention when I was debating between the two. I wound up going with the Lunar Duo in large part because of that and partly because it was available immediately.

I own the Lunar Duo as well. I've not been out in anything extreme, but it has nicely weathered several storms with ease. Ron's been great to work with – I highly recommend the shelter. As for sizing, I'm the runt of the litter at 5'7" but my brother in law hikes with me and he's on the other end of the spectrum regarding height (6'2" ish). He and I fit in the shelter just fine (with even room for gear inside).

SEE: http://www.pbase.com/brian_barnes/image/85597411/large.jpg

Have you considered the MLD Superfly?

http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=65&osCsid=0e21012f9b5c9190bb86dc343030aa7d

I got swamped with work for a bit and now there are too many posts to reply to individually, so I'll just thank you all. Your posts have been informative and helpful.

Ron: Thanks for your input. I love that gear designers and makers offer their input here on BPL. It makes it much easier to make an informed decision. I suspect I'll be calling SMD soon with some more questions for you.

> Do you all know if you can setup the Porch on the Standard Rainbow?

The later/current generation Rainbows ship with the porch feature (along with a zippered beak, dual apex vents, and a few other enhancements).

-H

I think all three are great tents. I think your original assessment is just about right as well. My wife and I use a Squall 2 and we are both happy. I'm 6'0" tall and feel it has plenty of room (sorry, haven't lent it to anyone taller). I've never tried to cook in the vestibule, but I think it would work fine. I think I pretty much flipped a coin between that tent and what Six Moons was selling at the time. I think the Squall 2 is a bit more stable than the Lunar Duo, but the Duo is close. I think the Rainbow lags behind the other two in stability quite a bit (although with enough guy lines could probably handle most anything). I think the Lunar Duo is a bit more breathable than the Squall, but again, it is fairly close. I don't know how breathable the Rainbow is. The other factors (size, weight and features) are easier to determine but never easy to decide between when you have such great products.

Actually, properly staked down, the Rainbows are pretty darn tough against most any winds! If you haven’t seen the DR battling real winds, you should click here to download a video clip and see for yourself. I think you will be impressed. :)

Source: BPL Member – Martin Günther (Tourcard)

Good point, it probably isn't fair to put down the double rainbow. I know someone with one and it took a pretty solid beating from a nasty storm. He thought it was going to break, but it didn't. Lacking any real test data, my opinions are based on my assessment of the designs (take it all with a grain of salt). It would be great to see some real wind testing of these tents. That is probably expensive, I would imagine. Then again, maybe someone can just take a pickup, raise up the bed somehow, attach a tent and drive it down a private road somewhere.

. . . the truck w/pitched tent on top through a car wash.

JRS

Sure looks like that tent can take a beating!!
Where was that?
– Jake