New Tarptent ;this is the Moment !!!

[Franco Darioli]

He who dies with the most Tarptents dies happy
Franco 18/07/09

[. .]

"5' high bathtub floor"

Now that's some serious weather protection: a new concept in ultralight comfort – the Japanese soaking bathtub floor.

[Franco Darioli]

5" bathtub floor.
That is one of the new features. Saves you looking it up, here is the pic with the floor up and one with the floor down. It's for wind/rain splash protection.


Franco

[Stuart Allie]

Hmm, looking at those last two pics, it looks as if there is no bug netting on the far side. Is that the case or is it just not visible in the pics? If there is no netting then it's not really bug proof even with the outer fabric lowered, unless that fabris is attached to the floor somehow…

[Ashley Brown]

Hey Stuart, there is bug netting there. Look at the bottom pic and you can see some faint dark creases in the bug netting on the right below the bottom of the fly.

[Franco Darioli]

All the Tarptent models available now are fully bug proof once you zip the door.
Franco

[Stuart Allie]

Ashley – well spotted. I see what you mean. And know I look closer I think I can see where the mesh joins the fly further up. The cutaway diagrams now up on the tarptent site confirm it too. Whew. Glad that's solved :)

Franco – I hadn't thought about it like that but you're right. It would be odd for a new tarptent to be less bugproof than all the others. And it's not.

I'll go back in my box now.

[Franco Darioli]

Stuart
All of the earlier models were available without the floor, so not bug proof particularly here were we have so many crawling insects. However due to lack of demand (I think) and a much wider choice of other tarp tent like shelters the new ones are a bit (or a lot…) closer to a tent than a tarp.
A lot of people that comment on theese shelters are not aware of that.
BTW I already have 4 Tarptents, so a lot of the design elements are very easy for me to spot and understand. However if you have never seen one even pictures sometime are difficult to interpret. That is why I like to see user pictures. Eventually by comparing you can work out the correct proportions .
Franco

[Martin Rye]

Why is it better than a Terra Nova Laser Photon ?

The Photon has as much space and a inner tent to protect against condensation. The flysheet on the Photon will come all the way down keeping out the wind better and the porch is much larger. The Moment looks good but looks are not every thing. Can it deliver in the hills. I got a Scarp 1 and wish I had not. To many flaws for the windy damp UK. The Moment is one tent I will not be buying. I would get a Photon.

[Brett Peugh]

Let's see,

1. Price. The Moment costs at least $150 less even with the optional pole.
2. Freestanding with optional pole. It should perform much better in any sort of wind or rain than the Photon which has a similar design but no optional pole.
3. Space. TN lists the length as 86.6" but this is to the corners. I would highly doubt a person over 5'10" could fit into one of these while Henry already has had someone 6'2" has fit into his.

The Photon may be better with condensation but the above reasons far outweigh that for me. With the money I would save I could take 15,000 paper towels with me, one at a time, with a negligible weight cost.

[Martin Rye]

The length of the Photon is the same as the Competition inside and good for 6'2 people. The protection from condensation in the UK would be a must for me. Having a tent that has a flysheet that keeps the wind out on cold nights is a must as well. I would spend the extra money. Carry less weight and not have to use more clothing to keep warm in camp with the wind blasting through the tent, or worry about condensation being sprayed all over my kit in a storm when the tent gets shaken.

I have used a Scarp 1 in the UK and it might stand up to the wind well with the cross over poles but with out or if the wind changes direction it does not. The wind just blast through it as the fly has too large a gap from the ground and the top vents let in wind driven rain. The porch is to small to allow cooking in foul weather and to get round this you need to peg back the inner to create space. While doing that the wind still is blasting through the tent. The adjusters that tighten the guylines are poor and the guylines slip. The centre pole does not even have guylines attached as standard. Where on a Laser Competition or Photon the flysheet keeps the wind of you, the inner protects from condensation and it is very storm worthy in its performance. The Photon has a small porch compared to the Competition granted. The Moment will have all the flaws of the Scarp as far as I am concerned and have worse condensation protection from lack of a inner tent. Low cost is good and Henry is a creative designer and respect to him.

[Brett Peugh]

Really, because I have read a few review of the Photon where people saying they were 5'8" had a few inches of space.

As for condensation, it looks like the Moment has the canopy that can slide up and down for ventilation and to reduce condensation and wind like my Contrail does. It looks like the Photon has a higher bathtub floor but when you have the the Moment staked out down to the ground I think 5" would suffice quite well. I would assume that the Moment has as much or more ventilation than my Contrail and I have not had a problem with that living in a very humid area where is has been raining hard and heavy the last two months. But then again if there is that much moisture in the air, your stuff will get damp to some degree and you just deal with it.

As for a Moment being not as stable as a Photon, I really can't see that because they are a very similar design. You just can't say that your Photon is more stable than a Moment without the optional pole and definitely not with.

if you compare your Photon to a Scarp 1 without poles, of course the Photon will be better because it presents a smaller cross section for the wind to push on. But that is why there are optional poles for the Scarp 1. Any wind that would deform a Scarp 1 with the optional poles so that is no longer useable would have blown your Photon a league down the road by the time that happened.

Buy the poles, carry the extra weight when needed and you have something that close to a good four season tent. Much more versatility and range for less money.

[Franco Darioli]

Reading the UK forums seems to me that more over there relay on the tent to keep them warm whilst in the US it is much more common to use extra clothing as a multi use solution, including sleeping with them on.
In my mind , at the same temperature a drier environment feels warmer than a humid one , as long as you are out from direct wind blasts (wind chill) . So although you may be protected from drips under an inner, if the tent traps condensation you will still need extra clothing to keep you warm anyway.As noted above, the Moment does have an extended bath floor so that it will deflect the wind if pegged up.
I feel that it is a mistake to state that one shelter is better than another because in the end we make the one we like work for us.
See for example a certain guy here that has repeatedly criticised a TT shelter for lack of floor lenght only to end up with one that has less space but he pitches high so that he can fit under it…
Franco

[Chris Townsend]

The Photon inner tent is 220cms long, the Scarp's is 218cms long. There's no significant difference.

I've been using the Scarp 1 in the Scottish Highlands most of this year and I've found it fine for our wet and windy conditions. The wind can blow under the flysheet but closing the inner doors keeps it off you and with a door either side I've always been able to cook in the vestibule without problems. In May I used the Scarp for two weeks on the TGO Challenge across the Highlands and it stood up to some wild weather. That was without the cross poles but with guylines added to the pole sleeve.

As has been said, there is no perfect tent for all conditions. I wouldn't use the Scarp in the High Sierra (I wouldn't use a tent at all – the last time I was there I used a tarp on a five week walk and didn't pitch it most nights) but in wet and windy places it's a good choice.

The new Tarptent looks interesting. I've tested many single skin tents in Scotland and condensation is too big a problem in most of them in our humid climate. And those with good ventilation are too drafty! I prefer two-skin tents here.

[Martin Rye]

The comparing the stability of each tent is pointless considering the difference in design.

Chris the Scarp 1 is a cold tent and you have to zip up the inner to keep warm. I do as well with it. The Moment does not have a inner to fend of the wind – it has lots of mesh. The Scarp is good in the wind except when it changes direction and you find the ends are not facing into the wind (not so good then). Also the large surface area (flat) of the Flysheet where the cross over poles attach is easily pushed down by the wind with out the poles as it is not a wind shedding profile. I would say the Scarp (and you have said ) needs to have the flysheet come down to the ground for UK conditions and in your TGO review you did comment on the porch size. The inner is huge and wide for one. Better to reduce the size and have bigger porches. With a few adjustments it would be unbeatable.

[Henry Shires / Tarptent]

Since the inevitable comparison has come up, here is a scale model comparison of the floorplan and driplines for the Moment and Laser Photon. I have drawn lines at the ends of the floors to demarcate the edges of the "porch." By my calculations (using the demarcation lines), the porch area is slightly larger on the Laser photon (less than 1 square foot) while the floor area is slightly larger on the Moment (less than 1 sq foot). With respect to height, note that the peak interior height of the Moment is 40"/101cm vs 37.4"/95cm for the Laser Photon. At the floor ends, canopy height of the moment is 20"/51cm vs 15.75in/40 cm for the Laser Photon. Tall people will have an easier time fitting into the Moment due to the increased height and increased usable floor length (including distance beyond the floor edge to a wall).

Martin, can you please contact me offline re: issues with your Scarp 1. Thanks.

-H

[Chris Townsend]

Martin, my favourite design is still the Hillenerg Akto, which is perfect for my needs – other than now being a bit heavy compared with alternatives. However the Scarp 1 comes a fairly close second. I can live with closing the inner when it's windy. Pulling the inner back and holding it in place with a peg isn't a hassle either.

I've found that all single pole tents – Akto, Photon, Scarp and others – resist winds better when pitched with their ends into the wind. They all have large panels that deform when strong winds come from the front or back. The best single pole tent I ever used in this regard was the Phoenix Phreeranger because it had three rear guylines and so resisted winds from the back quite well.

[Martin Rye]

"However the Scarp 1 comes a fairly close second" I can understand that Chris. With a few changes as I said it would be unbeatable. It has the potential to be a tent I would never want not to use in the UK. The Moment looks a clever design but I think would be flawed in it design as it is for the wet UK. Other places it could be a superb choice. The Akto is a classic and I used one for three years and three coast to coast walks across Scotland. If it had 10cm more hight and lost 200g or so in weight I would go back to using one maybe……then I do like the Laser Comp a lot. I don't dislike the Scarp 1 I have as well. It just has a few issues that annoy me.

PS Henry I will send you a E-mail.

[Aaron Sorensen]

I just want the cuben version with the carbon pole option???

[Dennis Park]

anybody know what the pack size is?

[Jeff Moody]

Henry,

Any chance you might add a zipper to the other mesh side? Seems like this would allow fly adjustment totally from the inside as well as utilizing that vestibule space as well.

[Ashley Brown]

.

[Pedro Arvy]

Hey Franco,

I heard a rumor that you would be personally testing this tent for two weeks in the Cascades in August.
Is that true?

[Franco Darioli]

Yes, as soon as my mate Pedro orders one for me.
Maybe I will wait for the Cuben version
Franco

[Mark McLauchlin]

"Maybe I will wait for the Cuben version"
Bring it on…..

[Author]

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