4 season tent??

I have not used this tent myself, but it is highly reviewed on this website and one of my instructors with the Sierra Club's winter snow camping class used it for his wife and him.

http://www.golite.com/Product/proddetail.aspx?p=SH6125&s=1

-Tony

nm

If the condensation is as bad as David described, then I would resist the low price and look elsewhere. When you are wet and miserable (or worse in really cold temps) — you won't be patting your own back, happy that you got the thing at a discount.

No experience whatsoever with TNF but I've played around with a fairly similar tent: the now-discontinued Sierra Designs Baku 2. Similar hybrid design with two vents — and I also got quite a bit of condensation — in relatively dry southern Cal!

If those tents are selling like hot cakes, they likely wouldn't be selling at a steep discount.

EDIT: Oops… just realized I was writing with TNF Vario in mind — got it confused with the Spectrum. Sorry.

nm

Thanks guys. This is EXACTLY the info I needed.

I'm now convinced the Spectrum line of TNF tents has too much conensation – unsafe, in the winter especially.

I MAY go with the MSR Hubba Hubba HP (much less netting in the tent body) B/C it has two entrances and two vestibules, is as light – or lighter – than the single wall, specially laminated Bibler tents and less expensive.

Comments?

Eric

A solid, well-designed double wall tent that weighs the same or less than a single wall sounds like a winner to me.

nm

Hi David:

Email me your photos and see if I may have better luck uploading them for you.

Eric
If I am not mistaken, winter has not arrived there yet in spite of global warming and all of that..
The summer outdoor show is not far and also the European version is starting in a week or so. Maybe something will come out then.
There is another tent that will do what you want but I am not sure of what it is called . I see if I can find out
For a report on the European Outdoor show keep an eye on Roman's blog
http://lighthiker.wordpress.com/
Franco

Hubba and Hubba Hubba: not good tents for bad weather. Two reasons:

1: You have to pitch the inner first and then throw the fly over the top. Meanwhile, the groundsheet fills up with rain.

2: The poles are not sleeved into the fly. Under high wind loads they can and will twist and the whole thing collapse.

Bottom line for a winter tent for serious conditions: the poles must be sleeved into the fly, and the tent must pitch fly first. Personally, i favour a tunnel tent, but there are some heavier domes which meet these criteria.

Sure, you can use a tarp in winter under mild conditions. No worries. But don't try it on a col at 2,000 m in a gale in the snow.

Cheers

nm

> You can use the available footprint and set up the poles. Then you can 'climb in' and set up the inner tent – nice and dry

I understand the idea, but I have three objections.

1: On the third night when the inside of the tent is all wet from condensation from the two nights before, YOU get very wet this way.

2: The footprint is extra weight. Horror!

3: Try doing this in a gale. I can (and have) pitched a tunnel tent single-handed in a 60 mph wind, but the poles were sleeved. I've seen people struggling with unsleeved tents in these conditions: it seemed to take 3 or 4 people just to get the tent up.

But under mild conditions, I am sure those other designs are fine. It all depends on the conditions.

Cheers

Roger, yeah! Pole sleeves tend to get such a bad rap here, for some reason. But I'd rather have them than clips any ole day…

Roger,

I tend to agree about pole sleeves being much more wind-worthy than pole clips as sleeves distribute tension over the entire pole length.

BUT… my old Eureka! 3 man dome tent has sleeves that are in sections & require re-threading each sleeve section. Not good in a storm and can't be done with the fly attatched.

CONTINUOUS pole sleves, a la Hilleberg & others are the very best way to go. A double wall tent that has continuous pole sleeves and a fly that can be left on the body while pitching OR removed (to shake off condensed water or frost)is the best design I've seen.

Eric
P.S. Interestingly Hilleberg offers thicker (O.D.) thus stronger "expedition" poles for most models. I don't know of any other tent maker that does this. I could be wrong but it would be only the second time ever. (1st time was when I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken.)

Hi Eric

> Eureka! 3 man dome tent has sleeves that are in sections & require re-threading each sleeve section. Not good in a storm and can't be done with the fly attached.
That means the sleeves are on the inner tent? Not a good idea at all! Summer tent.

I reserve my 'approval' for those tents where the sleeves are part of the FLY. My reason is that it is the fly which cops the wind and has to stay up, and it is the fly which has the guy ropes. Provided the fly is secure the inner tent is fine.

But having the poles on the inner tent allows the fly to slide over the inner tent. There is a disconnect between the poles and the guys. This is structurally bad news. The inner tent is not guyed and could skew under load. I have seen this happen.

This shows my old Olympus tent pitched at Wilkinsons valley, just under Mt Kosciusko (2,222 m). Fine weather in the evening, but the wind came up the Murray valley overnight and blasted us all night. We slept well.

Yeah, a fanatical attitude, and I am sure there are many much-loved tents which don't meet these criteria. Sad. But here in Oz on the Main Range, and over in Kiwi Land too, we get some bad weather at times, and experience is a wonderful teacher.

This shows my orange tent which I made myself pitched at the head of the Snowy valley, near to the previous photo. You can see the clouds boiling up in the evening. It hammered us all night with high-velocity corn snow. It sounded like a gravel truck dumping on the tent. You can see the creasing in the fabric due to the wind pressure. But the poles in the fly and the guy ropes and stakes held.

We retreated in the morning. Sue skied in front looking out for rocks and cornices, while I followed with compass in hand, telling her '5 degrees more to the right' and so on. Fortunately our backs were to the wind. Typical weather for the area.

Cheers
Roger