Rab (UK) is going eVENT in their shelter line

…or…

is it just more sensible product liability laws in the UK vs USA, where people, being provided with adequate info and warnings on flammability and use, are expected to have some personal responsibility for their decisions? Maybe GE made me do it doesn’t fly in UK courts?

Nope, not Rab. Those are Outdoor Designs tents that have already been on the market.

Being sister companies and all. The questions still remain.

That’s why they looked familiar – they are Outdoor Designs. However, they weren’t available in eVENT. BaseGear used to sell them, but they were in GTX fabric. I also couldn’t locate a RidgeRaider bivy in the States. Maybe I just didn’t know where to look?

I’ve emailed a Stockist in my ancestral lands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland about obtaining eVENT shelters from them. I’ve heard back from them, but some more details need ironing out. Not sure if I can get them shipped here. Also, don’t know the cost.

When I know more, I’ll post back.

Our Outdoor Designs Summit Extreme review is here: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/outdoor_designs_summit_extreme_tent_review.html

You’ll notice that Outdoor Designs tents are now labeled Rab and no longer available under the Outdoor Designs name. But the fabric label is sure interesting- they call it Exchange Lite eVENT. This is odd becuase Exchange Lite was the type of Gore Tex they used in previous models. And now it’s Exchange Lite eVENT?!? Weird.

And your previous comments were correct- my understanding is that when GE bought eVENT, it was the North America rights and they ceased usage in tents- some of which are still available in Europe. HOWEVER, there’s some agreement with the original company that they can produce eVENT fabric without use of the name- some contractual agreement. If you check out the Exped Polaris you’ll see what I mean- it’s sold in Europe as an eVENT tent but in the U.S. the fabric is labelled PTFE…and it’s the same tent as far as I can tell. And now it’s Exchange Lite eVENT…eVENT and its usage in tents in definitely interesting.

And to make things even more questionable- Nemo Equipment is still marketing their Tenshi tent with eVENT in the U.S…(http://www.nemoequipment.com/products_tents_tenshi.asp)..and it’s a U.S. company!!! Who knows!?!

According to a telcon I had with Evan Jones over a year ago, He told me that for USA sales, if you can’t reasonably cook in a shelter, then use of eVENT is ‘ok’. So, ID still makes bivy shelters and bivy sacks for the US market. Wonder if anyone’s fired up a JetBoil in their Unishelter and lived to tell about it?

Doug,
to answer your question: Exchange Lite is a term only used by Outdoor Designs/Rab; it’s not an official designation of Gore. So OD/Rab can use the term for whatever they want.
It appears that an official designation for the air-permeable gore-tex is something like gore-tex®starlite/starlight.