New Tarptent ;this is the Moment !!!

Franco:
Since you own both the Moment and the Contrail, and presently hold the world records for setup (LOL!!), if you were looking to purchase one of these tarptents, which one would you choose?
I like both, but am having a difficult time choosing which one to buy.
You opinion would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

James
I am indeed the Moment World Record holder because that was a bit of a bet with Henry. He shot for under 1 minute and did it in 55 sec, he retired after that.
I took my time down from about 2:30 the first time to 49 sec eventually, then gave up.
With the Contrail, (58sec, http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1430969/4921727) no one else has tried that, so it was sort of easy to achieve.

My opinion does not count here at all, mostly because I keep changing my mind.
My Moment right now is here :
http://fms.ws/391pB/52.51689/-131.51756
(Queen Charlotte Islands if the link does not work)
A friend of mine is using it whilst he is waiting for new stock to arrive.
Franco

I'd buy the Contrail. More room, better ventilation, and better condensation management. Not to mention lighter.

Never used the Contrail-but I have the Sublite.
With the hoop design and the side door-my Moment has more useable room-more head room.
Both the Moment and the Sublite seem about equal to me concerning ventilation and condensation. The Moment vestibule may give me an edge when it is raining with more air space and air flow when zipped up.

I don’t use trekking poles so my weight comparisons include tent poles and it is more or less a toss up between the two. But the Moment pole set up seems to handle strong winds better. I was very satisfied with the Moment the first night I used it and a wicked storm rolled in with high winds. The Sublite was not there-so no side by side comparison.

I screwed up that last post and as I don’t know how to edit after posting-I will try again.

I'd buy the Moment. As a matter of fact-I did buy the Moment.
Unless you have used both tents-you can not say for sure your choice is better- pull out the spec sheets-study the photos before you buy..

Never used the Contrail-but I have the Sublite.
With the hoop design and the side door-my Moment has more useable room-more head room.
Both the Moment and the Sublite seem about equal to me concerning ventilation and condensation. The Moment vestibule may give me an edge when it is raining with more air space and air flow when zipped up.

I don’t use trekking poles so my weight comparisons include tent poles and it is more or less a toss up between the two. But the Moment pole set up seems to handle strong winds better. I was very satisfied with the Moment the first night I used it and a wicked storm rolled in with high winds. The Sublite was not there-so no side by side comparison.

"I screwed up that last post and as I don’t know how to edit after posting-I will try again."

At the lower left of your posts there is a small square gray icon with what looks like a yellow pencil. Click on that icon to edit your post.

James, +1 on the Contrail. Since you "like both" and could go either way, the Contrail has 360º of even and balanced flow-thru ventilation as pointed out above and slightly lighter. I am sorry I sold mine awhile back.

Just wanted to post a link to a first impression review I wrote recently:

http://goinglighter.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-impression-of-tarptent-moment.html

Great shelter!

I love my Moment. It is so easy to get a rock solid pitch in a minute or two. I have ridden out two very violent storms in it with sideways driving wind and rain.
It is not however squirrel proof. I was fishing last weekend this crazy squirrel decided he liked our camp. He jumped on the moment and my myog flat cooking tent tarp at least twice before I chased him off and dropped the tent until after dark. The little talons on that thing left about 10 to 15 pinholes on each end of my Moment. Any ideas about patching? the holes are right at the ridge about a ft. or 18" from the ends. Would you sew a patch on or just use a silicon solution
to adhere a patch to the inside? I may send it to Tarptent to see if they can fix it better than me.

Just "Pin Holes" ?

Clean each spot with alcohol.
Get a toothpick to dab and spread 100% GE Silicone, or McNett.
Neatly.
Do both sides if you are really paranoid.
NBD.

I just got my Moment a few weeks ago and got to use it this past weekend. So far I like it.

I had never seam sealed a tent and this was a big concern of mine. I have seen tents in the past that were customer sealed and they looked awful. I guess they used really thick sealant. I followed the directions on mixing though and was glad to find that you can barely see where the sealant is. I did find that a few pinholes are still unsealed even after a few coats. I'll go back and try on both sides.

I also noticed that there are pinkish red marks that denote where the mesh is sewed. On one line the sewing is curved off this line by at least an inch and is in my opinion noticeable. I'm sure it won't make a difference but I was surprised that the maker couldn't do a better job.

Here's my questions:

1. What are the buckles for that are just below each vent?

I can't comment on the Moment in particular, but I do have two other Tarptents. The buckles below each vent are to close the vent in heavy wind/rain. At least I THINK that's what they are for on the Moment.

As far as the sewing, you'll have to decide if the "mistake" is purely cosmetic, or big enough to where it's going to affect performance or durability.

Henry is a great guy to deal with, and I'm sure that if the stitching has compromised the performance or durability, he would gladly make an exchange or fix it for you. (I can't speak for Tarptent, so don't hold them to my words.) If its just cosmetic, you'll have to decide if its something you can live with. In any case, you may just want to shoot henry an email with pictures and see what he says.

"1. What are the buckles for that are just below each vent?"

If it's the ones I think that you mean, then they're for keeping the vents open.

On my Scarp1, the vents have stiffeners and some pretty intense velcro on them. When I was out on a calm but drizzly night, I popped the velcro open but neglected to connect the buckles, and awoke to a wet inner. When I emerged, I found that both of the apex vents had blown closed.

The next day ended up being much wetter, but I remembered to clip the buckled through the vents, and they stayed open all night. The tent interior remained almost completely dry.

The buckles don't have anything to connect to. There is nothing in them or around to connect. I thought I might be missing something but I checked on the website and the buckles are empty on the pics of the Moment there also.

Ah — I think I probably answered you about the wrong buckles.

You might be looking at the ties for the supplemental poles. Henry designed the Scarp and Moment, possibly some others in the line, to be pretty stable with just one pole + the struts at the corners, but with additional poles as an option for harsher weather. The optional additional poles also make the tent free-standing, but mainly they add structural support.

Chris,
There is a photo by Franco earlier in this thread where he shows a picture of the buckle. Is this the buckle you're asking about?

If you look at the first post of page 6, the buckle I'm talking about is the one in the bottom picture at the bottom.

I think Eric in this post is asking about the same thing. Franco later answers with a picture of his Scarp, but it doesn't have the same buckle, just the clip.

The buckle is there to hold the optional pole that runs the length of the shelter and which creates a freestanding option. The buckle should have a strap.

The optional pole isn't held on with these buckles if you look at the pictures on the tarptent website. The buckles in the middle of each side of the tent have straps but these don't.

"Thanks for the pics ,Eric.
That "mysterious buckle" is there to tie the vent to it to reduce the size of the opening."

You mean this one? There aren't any other buckles. Every one has been identified.

I don't really know which is the bit in question (a picture would help…) however the instruction sheet seems to have all of the bits listed.
Just in case you lost that :
http://www.tarptent.com/TTmomentInstructions.pdf
Warning : takes ages to download …
Franco
All TT instruction sheets have a link in the FAQ section

Hi Chris,
I wondered about those buckles myself on my Moment and emailed Henry about them a while back. If I remember correctly Henry indicated that those buckles where so light he added them at that location even though they are not being used.

I believe they are basically kind of a "bonus" for the user to use as he/she sees fit.

Just for clarification, just below the top vents on the black circular patch, there is:
1. one of those glove clips attached so some grossgrain ribbon. This is used to hold the vent open (or closed?).
2. a small buckle identical to the one farther down the tent body (the one farther down the tent body is used to attach to the optional crossing pole).

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Thanks Daniel for clearing that up for me. That's exactly the buckle I'm talking about.

Ding, ding, ding, all of the buckles had been explained in previous posts by Franco. Start at post 1.

Actually I did 3 or 4 times. Franco used a picture of his Scarp to illustrate the buckles which did not have the one in question. Maybe check your facts before u post.