Double wall tent

Hi Darren,

I'm based in Tassie and I have just decided on the Nallo 2 (or maybe 3) as my all-year-round 2-person tent. I think the genuine double wall (rather than a mesh inner like the Hubba Hubba) will be valuable in the depths of winter. Also, I think the tunnel design of the Nallo will be considerably stronger than the HH.

If you go to moontrail.com and find the Nallo there, they have pages full of pictures, including some with people sitting inside the tent to give you a good idea of how much room there is. Also, for only a little more weight, the Nallo 3 will give quite a bit more room.

The Hillebergs are expensive, but I have only ever heard good things about them. I saw one in the flesh not long ago and it was exceptionally well put together.

Hope that helps.

You get what you pay for.
At least the Nallo WILL work.

Cheers

I agree, and buying the best I can afford has always been my motto, and they do look nice.. I am jus a little worried how hot it might get on a summers night in some ware like Yengo or Wollemi. I see they have foot ventilation now that would help. I spend many, many nights a year in a swag and I now the feeling of having to pull the canvas up to keep out mosquito’s while lying in a pool of sweat.
Is there anyone who uses a nallo in warmer conditions?
Thanks
Darren

Hi Darren,

I forgot to mention before, if you buy the "pole holders" with the Nallo it is possible to pitch just the inner tent on its own. That might do the trick for warmer weather. There are pictures on moontrail of the inner by itself if that helps. You lose the vestibule of course, but if you're confident of good weather and really just want bug protection, it might be a goer.

Cheers,
Stuart

I've never been to Australia so I can't speak for the conditions there but my girlfriend and I use a Hubba Hubba here in the SE US and find it exceptional for the conditions we experience here. So far it's been through temps from low teens (not including wind chill) to high nineties (not including heat index), thunder storms, light snow, and sleet. It has been fine in all of the above below treeline (there is no above treeline in the SE US) and we find it has plenty of room for the two of us and all our gear including packs. All we keep in the vesitubles are trekking poles and shoes.

Thanks Stuart
It looks like a winner.

Chris
The temp ranges you describe is just like the east coast of Aus. Thanks for the help

You know up untill now when my wife comes with me we sleep under the fly of one of those outer limits starlight cheapy tents that i have modified to stand alone. We use a piece of tevek for the floor. This set up spent 7 days in tassie with us too.
I think my wife will be happy when i buy HER a new tent.
Darren

Well I have a Nallo 3GT (similar to Nallo 3 with bigger vestibule) and thinks its OK, not great, just OK. See my review on this site.

Other than the exceptionally lightweight fabric, the ventilation isn't as good as it could be and the slope of the rear wall means your sleeping bag foot will touch the sometimes wet inner on occasion. None of this is deal breaker stuff but it doesn't make these tents works of art either.

Have you considered the Golite Hex3/Shangri-la 3?
Mine weighs 750g for the outer in its stuff-sack. My nest weighs 1146g in its stuff sack. If you use trekking poles, the pole extender weighs 48g. Around 2kg with pegs.
Outwith bug season, leave the nest behind. The Golite floor weighs 626g. Or use your own. Lots of options.
Tons of room for 2 and their gear. Huge overhead space. The front can be opened right up in good weather. I've not used it in extreme wind yet, but it has stood up well to 20-30mph winds and rainstorms.

Take a look at the Hilleberg Kaitum models as well. They don't have the rear slope at the end like the Nallo and have two entrances; there's also a GT model that's new this year.

I own two Hillebergs and really like them – though mine are the self-supported dome models (a Saivo and a Jannu) and really more suited for winter and mountaineering use.

My biggest piece of advice is to size them one person more than however many you really want inside. So, a Nallo or Kaitum 3 would be a comfortable fit for 2, especially in winter.

I shared my Jannu one night in Yellowstone this past winter with Will Rietveld, and while we fit and had room for some gear, it was tight. The Saivo is great for 2 in winter and the vestibules are wide enough that I can park a pulk or two in one end and unpack/get to stuff without having to go outside, and use the other end as an entrance and for cooking.

Oh – and I find that pitching them inner-only is an awful lot of work; it might be less so on the Nallo or Kaitum because I assume there are fewer attachment points, but basically it involves unhooking each of a couple dozen toggles, then adding pole holders at the base. And, if you get caught in an unexpected storm, there's no quick and easy way to put the fly back on, other than to drape it over everything and try to hook up some of the toggles.

So, I don't do that. Ventilation on my models, especially the Saivo with vestibules at both ends able to be completely opened wide along with the top vents, is quite good, so I find I don't really have a need to pitch inner-only. The Kaitum would be similarly airy, and the new Nallo designs less so but still able to be vented at the rear by rolling up part of the fly.

– Steve

If 2kg is really your limit, then the Nallo 2 has potential unless you are tall (feet will hit the end wall). It CAN be pitched without the fly in warmer weather, but is still a pretty warm tent and pitching it without the fly is not stright forward (you need 4 pole holders and extra guylines to pull it off.

A Anllo2 GT will give you a lot more space for living/cooking, but is well over 2kg. Another option is a Stephenson's 2RS (with side walls). The side walls increase ventilation quite a lot, and you can cut the insect mesh out of one of the side walls to provide you with awesone rain protection for cooking and entering/exiting the tent. Of course, if bugs are a prolem you would have to leave thise side window down, but this will be a problem for any tent you try to cook in.

Personally we are finding the tarptent Double Rainbow to cover most of our needs. Great spaces for cooking or storing gear, add the inner liner for a nearly double wall effect, and add two hiking poles via grommets to the centre strut to increase wind stability.

Allison

that's a very funky suggestion (cutting the insect panels out of one of the 2RS); so by doing that do you unzip the window and have a higher level porch/canopy, and sit in the tent cooking outside and underneath the porch/canopy? Sounds a great idea. I wonder if you could put a zip into one of the window insect panels, thereby having the best of both worlds?

Thanks heaps all thats great info. I still think ill go for the nallo 2 though. Ive already gained a bit of weight since my original plan. I currently use a gatewood or luna solo as my solo shelter and love them. I had my heart set on a lunar duo but last Friday night i camped by myself in the snow and as my world got ever smaller around me i had time to think. You see my daughters are 5 and 8 and obviosly just starting out. My wife is also just starting to accompany me on a few trips and I thought would they enjoy the challenge like me or just want to have a nice night in the bush. Obviosly i chose the latter.
Thanks Darren

Mr. B and I use a Hubba Hubba when backpacking together, because he's willing to carry it and scoffs at my focus on lightweight gear. Otherwise I prefer Shires' tarptents.

Several weeks ago we were in the Scottish Lakes area of Washington in one super doozie of a thunderstorm that lasted over 4 hours. I've never seen rain fall so hard. It was pummeling the tent with a vengeance, and we also had over 2 inches of hail. We could feel the water pooling under the tent, even though it was pitched on a slight slope.

The tent held up amazingly well. The water never seeped in through the bottom, nor did it drip through the rainfly. I was very impressed, plus glad I didn't have to sleep in a lake until it was light enough to skedaddle out of there.

So I can say from personal experience the Hubba Hubba holds up very well in heavy rainfall. I can also say I still prefer Shires' tents.

Peter, I have also thought it would be a great idea to add an inner zipper to one of the mesh windows, but that takes some sewing skill and you would want to get it right the first time. So if you are good at adding zippers, you could have an incredibly verstile twoperson tent for under 1.5kg. Yes, the porch created by the side window is huge and would be perfect for cooking and storing gear, plus solve one of the other problems with the current Stephenson's tents…having to come in the unprotected vestibule in heavy rain or snow lets in a lot of water. Using the side windows would solve this. The only down sides are that you need two poles to pitch the side awnings high enough for cooking, and you have to get out of the tent to lower/close the side windows. I think a YKK #3 zipper would be ample for such an application. If Stephenson's offered this as a stock option, I think they might sell a lot more tents! Likewise it would be nice if Hilleberg offered a lighter summer mesh/silnylon inner for their tents. Not just lighter, but better ventilation in hotter weather.

Allison
thanks for the tip, I think I might give it a try. It has to be said that Stephensons and Hilleberg are so close to having the most fantastic products, just a bit of tweaking… but certainly in the case of Stephensons they are so inflexible to amending their product in any way. I'll let you know how I get on if I do this mod.

Darren
I also own a Nallo 3GT that I use for 'family camping' and it's great for this, in all conditions, but as reported it's heavier than you want. Great tent tho.

Hi Darren

Realistically, I think you have to look at having TWO tents. The Nallo will be fine for the winter in our Alpine regions, but it may be a bit warm (maybe) in mid-summer in the middle of the Blue Mts or Wollemi. Happens.

Cheers

In the immortal words of Vinnie Barbarino “I’m so confused"
The funny thing is that if we had no choice we would just buy a tent and work around its inadequacies.
When I’m with my wife or girls there’s probably less chance I’m going to be on a windswept ridge and more likely in a clear patch of Great Dividing range bush and in spring summer autumn as well. I’m probably better off going back to my original plan of a lunar duo and then if a need arises buy a nallo. I thought the hubba hubba would be a little more stable than the duo but it’s probably not.

Is that a tail I can see ahead? Hang on its mine…
Darren

As my Friend Don says, you can never have too many tents.

This is the four of us sitting out a day and a half of rain, all in the one tent. A Megalite with home made nest and a 8' x 10' tarp out the front. We all sleep in there. The kids are 6 and 8.

My experience with the Nallo is that it is extremely hot! It can probably keep you about 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside temperature if you have 4 grown people in there. If you have kids that don't have very warm sleeping bags, than you probably could do well in the Nallo. The one I used had the huge vestibule and was fine for sitting up in, playing cards, and even cooking, with plenty of room to keep all of your gear dry. Also, condensation wasn't even an issue, it dealt with it fine.
The downside is the heat. I wouldn't want to be in that tent if the outside temperature was any more than 40 F. I thought the ventilation was poor also…
Maybe you should look at a Black Diamond Skylight or their new Guiding Light! I would think it would have better ventilation than the Nallo. Also smaller footprint and easier to set up than the Nallo!

Rod
That looks great mate. I think no matter what I chose for a 2p shelter I’m going to get a set up like that for the family. Lots of room and not too much weight for dad to carry.
Max
You have confirmed my suspicions. Looking at it there is just no ventilation. There website has all these pictures of tents with snow in the distance. It’s probably better for me to add a bit of loft to our sleeping if it gets very cold in a cooler tent.
This is all good info
Thanks
Darren

Looks wonderful!

Hi,

Did you guys check Allak? It looks more ventilated than Nalo.

> Looks wonderful!

I'll second that!