Choosing a Lighter Tent

[Sergiy Sosnytskiy]

Hi everybody,

I am now in a search for a new tent and would be thankful for some advice.
The tent that I own for several years is a basic double wall dome design with two vestibules. It has two diagonal poles and a short transvrese pole which makes the vestibules a bit larger. The rainfly edge is almost on the ground, may be just an inch higher. The inner body is solid, but the doors in it are double-walled, one of them being mesh. It was advertised as 2+ person, but actually I would rather call it 3p (1.8 m wide, 6 ft).
This tent never failed me, and the only thing that makes me looking for alternatives is its weight – 3.7 kg (8+ lbs). I could shave off a bit by replacing the poles and stakes with lighter ones, may be even cutting off the solid doors of the inner tent leaving only the mesh ones, but the difference would be rather marginal.
Being a rather conservative person, I'm loking for a tent of similar design which is lighter because of smaller space (2 persons) and lighter materials used. I decided that packaged weight of 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) or lower сould justify a purchase.
In my country, there are very few options, so most probably I will be purchasing at US or UK internet shops.
Here are the models I am considering:
Marmot Aura 2P, Marmot Earlylight 2P, Mountain Hardware Drifter 2.
I like the first one because of its weight, but am scared of its all-mesh interior and large gap between the fly and the ground. The last one is the cheapest, but I could not find any user reviews, and the stated packaged dimensions are large as compared to both Marmots, which is quite strange.
I would be thankful for user comments about the mentioned tents, and about any other similar tents if their price is below 200 euros/ 265 us dollars / 170 british pounds (it is a tax-free limit on parcels values in my country).

[Rog Tallbloke]

Hi Sergiy,

It's not easy to suggest a tent without knowing more about the conditions you will use it in. Tell us what seasons you travel in and the wind conditions, rainfall etc in your destination areas.

The mountain hardwear tent may not be suitable in hot conditions, as the welded seams on the flysheet zips have been known to fail.

This ebay.com item may be worth considering: 180473593029
Sierra Designs Lightning Tent

The shipping cost looks a bit high though!

[Sergiy Sosnytskiy]

Rog Tallbloke,

On most important of my travels, night temperature is 0-12 C (32-50 F). Occasionally, it is below freezing, but there was never more than a couple of inches of snow accumulating during a single night.
Bug protection is important.
I do not know wind speed values… On this forum, I saw a video of a Tarptent Rainbow collapsing under a strong wind. Well, walking along a ridge under such a wind is nothing new to me, but I have never pitched a tent in such conditions. I think, gusts up to 15 m/s (35 mph) are possible, but this was never measured, just a comparison with what I occasionally observe in my home city, where I do not backpack, but can view current weather measurements online.
Soil can be very different, so I am very sceptical about non-freestanding tents. In fact, sometimes I know for sure there'll be no wind, and then I do not care about staking my tent at all, except for a couple of stakes just to spread the vestibules.
I do not use trekking poles on regular basis, only occasionally.

[Henry Blake]

I can recommend the SD Lightning. I love my Lightning. I don't use it anymore because of the lighter Tarptents I now use, but this was a great tent. It won the 2004 Editor's Choice Award from Backpacker's Magazine.

I went on two 5 night trips with it, and it always performed perfectly. On one occasion at night, the winds (with rain) were over 40 mph in a canyon in Montana for an extended period. The tent held it's ground without me getting wet. I had the tent setup sideways into the wind (rather than end to end) which makes it all the more remarkable. After that experience, I'd trust this tent anywhere.

I have the footprint as well which allows me to set up in the "fast pack" mode (fly and footprint only), without the inner mesh tent to save weight on non-buggy trips.

[Sergiy Sosnytskiy]

Thanks, Henry!
I'll consider this model too. But it has only one vestibule, right?

[Rog Tallbloke]

Yes, sacrifices will have to be made to get to your target weight. Zips weigh ounces.

It sounds like you will want your tent to be useful in a big variety of conditions, so you'll have to carry the weight of a strong tent on the occasions a lighter tent would do. The advantage of the Sierra designs tent as Henry said, is that you can leave the inner tent behind if you get the extra footprint to catch the pole feet. Still 'freestanding' but more prone to wind damage.

For a lightweight but strong tent I favour the Golite Hex3 or 'Shangri La 3' as it is now called. I made a 500g bug tent to go inside.

[Dean F.]

Well, if you want freestanding, and you're really ok with a 2.5kg tent, then the REI Quarter-Dome is a cheap and sturdy 3-season dome tent. $270, 1.9kg. I used a Half-Dome for years (the Quarter-Dome's predecessor) and was happy with it at the time. Nowadays it is relegated to car-camping.

But this is an ULTRALIGHT backpacking forum. People here will try to talk you into a 180 gram tarp, or a 900 gram tarptent or somesuch.

[Henry Blake]

Yes, it only has one vestibule. And the other potential downside is that it only has one door. I mostly used it alone, so it was a huge tent for one guy. If you went with two people often, as long as only one got up during the night, you would put that person by the door. If both people were "night pee'ers" (dare I say), then one would always have to climb over (and probably wake up) the other. One door zipper is going to be lighter that two zippers (were it in the same tent).

[Craig Roberts]

Sergiy,

You might want to look at the MSR Hubba Hubba HP (high performance.) It's a 2 person 2 skin tent, with 2 vestibules. Only a small amount of mesh, it's very high up. Weight is good at 1.93 kg (4.25 lb.)My friend, who is 191cm tall(6ft 3in)has this model. We used it in the White mountains of New Hampshire last September. 40 mph winds and rain/sleet were no trouble, although we did have it staked and guyed well. This tent sounds like it matches your specification. Price may be a little high at $450 US, but I found it on website riverroadandtrail.com for $355 US.

This model is also made with more mesh, called MSR Hubba Hubba, for $330 US. I found it on website basegear.com for $265 US. The material is thinner on this tent, but has been very popular and was given an award by "Backpacker Magazine" here in the US. I've used this tent in the winter here in Ohio in temperatures to 20 degreesF. It has the same dimensions as the HP model and is a worthy tent.

The HP model is definitely the stronger model, but find them both on the internet. There are many good pictures.

I hope you find something for this season's hiking adventures. Good luck!

Craig Roberts
Mason, Ohio USA

[Robert Cowman]

I have worked in many gear stores being told all the horror stories of single wall tents and how weak and cold ultralight tents are. I jumped right in from a double wall TNF and Kelty tent to a Tarptent Double rainbow. 5lbs down to 2.5lbs, same space and vestibules. on the first trip I took it on in a September trip up here in Alberta in 35degree temps at night with a BPL 90 Quilt, no insulating jacket and thunderstorms all night.

You know what, felt the same as a "Real" tent. Only lighter and was dry in minutes when it was able to air out. sold the other tents and haven't looked back, Tarptents are well worth it, next things I'm trying are sil nylon pyramid tents.

If you buy one and it doesn't work out for you, just sell it online here and make some of your money back.

[C C]

I too went through the process of "Choosing a Lighter Tent" about 5 years ago, I have tried every MSR tent, most all Golite tents, TNF, Mountain Hardwear, many Siltarp tents, and nothing at all. I like to have a few options that I bring with me before I go out into the wild. The main factors are: are there bugs, how many people are with you, how high altitude, and is there going to be wind? Based on that you can choose a few options that are going to be completely different from each other.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Sergiy,

Take a look at the TarpTent website. These are all U.S. made and of high quality. I've owned two of them, the Contrail and my present Moment, both single wall solo tents. The Moment is VERY stable in high winds from my own experience last autumn.

The Scarp 1 and Scarp 2 are excellent very light and decently priced double wall TarpTent options.

TarpTent is what we call a "cottage industry" due to its relatively small size. It has a great reputation for design, quality and customer service.

[Henry Blake]

Sergiy,

I'd love to sell you my SD Lightning—all the glowing things I said about it are true, but . . . Remember I said I lightened up and haven't looked back. I started buying Tarptents. First was a Squall, then a Contrail, a Sublite Tyvek, and also a Squall 2 replacing my Squall (at a 4 oz. penalty. Now I'd like to try a Moment.

So I'm sold on Tarptents for saving weight, space, and ease/speed of setup. I like them all.

Be sure to let us know what you eventually do.

P.S.— There are always Tarptents coming up for sale on this site's "Gear Swap" forum where you can save a bit. Be patient, and one will appear.

[Thomas Burns]

I've also been yelled at (on this forum, in fact) for supporting the Tarptent lightweight option, even in winter.

Granted, the winters here in Ohio are not as difficult as elsewhere, but I've had very good experiences in light snow with the single-walled Moment at only 28 oz. I keep telling myself that I should buy a Squall or some other double-walled extravaganza, but the need has never arisen.

In other words, IMO, you can't go wrong with Tarptent. If you truly need a heavy-duty, double-walled shelter, try the Squall. Otherwise, the Moment is really pretty good for 3+ season use.

For light-duty, three-season BPing, the Contrail or Sublite Sil are superb.

Can't say enough good things about Henry Shire and Tarptent. You'll get treated well, like a person and not a consumer.

Stargazer

P.S. I've also gone the tarp route in the form of the Gatewood Cape. In Ohio, at least, it works best, ironically, during the colder months when the bugs are all dead or hibernating or whatever bugs do. If you can't deal with the bugs (I can't, especially when I'm trying to get some sleep), then stick to a fully enclosed tent.

[Henry Blake]

All Tarptents with floors have netting that protects against bugs.

The Tarptent Squall (and Squall 2, both from Henry Shires) is single wall.

The Black Diamond Squall, a four season base shelter, is double wall.

[Frank Steele]

OK, You guys are going to think I am crazy, but for only $99 (campmor) you can get a Eureka Pinnacle Pass 2A. I have used this for years for tenting with my son because it is a 2 wall tent so we can split the weight.

Mine weighs 4 lbs 12 oz with titanium pegs, that's including the bags for the poles, stakes and tent. The killer thing is this tent is 7'5" by 5' (89" x 59") its is bigger than most of the above mentioned tents and has 2 good sized vestibules. For car camping I put a Coleman Queen sized air bed in there and blow it up, talk about comfy. For back packing with 2 people You get 2 lbs 6 oz for both people to carry.

Caveat, I don't use mine for backpacking anymore, my son and I squeeze into my TT Contrail, which is lighter than even 1/2 this tent. but 2X as expensive and not nearly as roomy. I now let some scouts in our troop use it instead of the 8lb Colemans.

[Sergiy Sosnytskiy]

Dean,
Quarter-Dome is just above my limit, and being sold only at REI it cannot be found cheaper.

Craig,
Hubba Hubba was the first tent to grab my attention, but the ordinary version seems to be too 'airy' (the same actually aplies to Marmot Aura), while the HP would cost me about 600$ after fees and taxes.. that's too much. May be I should reconsinder my views on ventilation, but so far I have never slept at about freezing temperatures and some wind outside of the tent with solid inner body.

Frank,
I was usually overlooking Pinnacle Pass 2 because of that weird cut in the fly. What happens if wind turns and starts to blow from the side of this cut?

Robert,
Selling something ultralight after trying is not a good option for me, because the local ultralight market is virtually non-existent, and overseas shipping is quite expensive.

Speaking of Tarptents, I find then very interesting. Actually, when I tried to imagine a lightweight tent for local summer conditions (hot, moskitos, may be rainy), I imagined something like Contrail.
I am also intrigued with this year Scarp modifications – it looks like it can provide a possibility to vary amount of ventilation in wide range without compromising the rain protection. Can I expect Scarp2 to be as weather (wind) resistant as usual 3-season tents? If I would buy it, would I lose anything other than weight and money? May be I should wait a bit and save some money for the customs..

Thanks everybody for your input. It seems that my biggest problem is that, when backpacking, I never care to determine which features of my gear I really need and which are just present without being used. Maybe, if I staked my tent more often, I would be more relaxed with "freestanding" thing. Trying to sleep on a clear night without wind protection would be also useful.

[Franco Darioli]

Frank
" I have used this for years for tenting with my son because it is a 2 wall tent so we can split the weight."

You can split the weight of a single wall tent too…
Franco

[Frank Steele]

Sergiy,

I have only had the tent up 20 mph winds, but the Pinnacle is great if the wind is hitting the top of the fly, and it does fine from the side too, the wind would have to turn 180 degrees on me, which it hasn't for it to hit the fly from the other direction.

Franco, how do you "Split" the weight of a Contrail? I can have my son carry the Titanium stakes and guy lines i guess, a whole 3 or 4 oz.

[Franco Darioli]

Frank
how do you "Split" the weight of a Contrail?

The Contrail is about 24 oz. You carry the Contrail , then take a 12 oz item off your pack and give it to your son.
Franco

[Frank Steele]

Franco

"The Contrail is about 24 oz. You carry the Contrail , then take a 12 oz item off your pack and give it to your son.
Franco"

Frank "Duh, I'm a dope".

Thanks

[Franco Darioli]

Frank
Believe me I tried (and failed) to explain that on another thread. You are not alone…
Every time someone else mentions "splitting" weights, think of me.
Franco

[Mary D]

Franco, that's how I "split" weight with my dog, too. I carry his sleeping pad (to pad my pack) and he carries something else of equal weight. Same is true of our shelter (I'm not about to trust the dog with any part of my pricey Gossamer Gear Squall Classic)!

[Franco Darioli]

Sorry about the thread shift…

Sergiy
The all point of the Scarp is that it can work in hot humid weather (four vents as well as two large doors and side panels that can be opened up) as well as in the snow as it is for light falls or with the extra poles for heavier ones.
If you like you can just set the fly up or with the extra poles just the inner.
Unlike most US tents it is an integral pitch, that means a dry set up in the rain.
And now it does have the fly down to the ground…

Franco
(Mary, I loved those doggy packs over there…)

[Sergiy Sosnytskiy]

Franco,
Is wind stability of Scarp 2 with extra poles similar to that of an ordinary 3-season tent?

I really can not get this tent out of my mind, even though it is more expensive than I initially planned to spend…

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