Performance Appraisal of the Tarptent Moment

[David Ure]

Yup and every double walled Hilleberg out there. Not to mention most Terra Nova's, etc.

[Rakesh Malik]

Reading your post, I realized that I implied that the Scarp was the ONLY double-walled tent that works that way… which isn't the case, nor was it my intent. Oops. :)

[David Ure]

Hey Rakesh,

I was agreeing with you. Should have been more clear.

[Rakesh Malik]

It wasn't you, David — I was just making fun of myself more than anything. :)

[Christopher Wilke]

I found this review to be substandard for BPL.

+1 on the BD First Light being an odd comparison to the Moment.

Also, I thought the struts that make up the A-frame were carbon fiber not plastic…

Very disappointing. I didn't feel like this review gave me any insight on the performance of the tent.

[Ken Thompson]

Not a review. Just an initial impression.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I've owned my Moment for 2 years and have had a generally BETTER experience than the tester. Therefore I place much more weight on my own appraisal than his.

The Moment is a suprisingly easy tent to pitch taught, something the tester never seemed to be able to accomplish. And his not-to-high rating of ease of pitching seems very odd. Can he find a FASTER-pitching equivalent solo tent??

'Nuff sed.

[JR Redding]

I also found the review to be disorganized and not of the usual BPL quality. As an example, several times it is mentioned pieces of the tent "seemed flimsy". Seeming flimsy versus actual use and longevity are two different things. Comparing a TT to the BD tent to me was also pointless.

I hope in the future BPL reviews "reviews" such as these a little more closely before publishing.

[Jerry Adams]

I thought your article had good info, thanks.

I have experimented with several small tents similar to the Moment and had the same problem with condensation.

The Moment vent looks to be way too small to do very much. I've tried a bigger vent but that didn't make much difference either.

I am beginning to think the only solution is to use a tarp with sides raised a foot or more off the ground. Then condensation is minimized.

[Pieter Kaufman]

This was last weekend. Overnight low was estimated high 40s-low 50s (tent inside was 55 when I woke up before dawn), calm with almost no wind, clear skies, but a lot of ambient moisture in the soil from a thunderstorm earlier that day. I had both end vents open, vestibule closed, and the interior was bone dry in the morning. Sharp contrast to some nights in Joshua Tree in January and February below freezing in which there was significant condensation on the inside of the tent.

I should note that last weekend, during our climb Sunday morning, a powerful thunderstorm rolled through, and when returned to camp, the Easton and extra shepherd's pegs with guy line were pulled out of the ground at one end. They were embedded in fairly standard Sierra granitic soil. I probably should have weighted the top of the pegs with a rock though, as I did on the other end, and as I often do in such soil.

[David Ure]

No wind and no condensation? I bet there was wind when you slept. Even a tarp in those conditions would likely generate some condensation.

[Ryan C]

I have had my Tarptent Moment for a few months now. For the most part, it has been just fine. Condensation CAN be an issue but the end vents do help some. In the humid conditions I use mine in, ANY tent becomes soaked by morning! I do look forward to the add-on liner though.

As far as rough weather, I have not experienced a bad thunderstorm but did survive a freak unexpected "wind storm" one night with gust probably into the 40+MPH range. The Moment arch pole did flex and collapse but this would not have occurred if the two side guy supports had been used. One of the Easton tent pegs did snap in half that night. I now use some of those spiral rectangular shepherds hook steel stakes that work great but are heavy.

This "review" did seem somewhat lacking compared to other BPL articles. More experience in adverse testing conditions rather than opinions would have been nice.

[Tom Bender]

I have used the Moment on 2 trips for a total of about 12 nighte. There was condensation only one night when the other more traditional double wall had condensation also. Jury is still out on that.

At 5 ft 6in there is plenty of room and my face and feet are not near the tent. Those of you who are vertically challenged may struggle a bit if nature has cursed you with a view of the world from above 6 ft. I find it roomy and pleasant.

My Easton stakes did not bend on the first trip but I replaced them because they will not get a good grip in sandy ground. I normally use 4 stakes in case the wind kicks up. In moderate breezes the tent works perfectly.

Setup is flat out awesome! Drive one stake, insert the pole, drive the other stake, make a couple of adjustments, drive the optional extra stakes and load in your gear. With a traditional tent you have to drive the many stakes where they have to go. With the Moment you can move any stake around to find good ground.

Big problem for me; the stuff sack is impossible to use. I had a replacement made. It is styled like an envelope. Tuck in the pole and stakes, wad up the tent and tuck it into the envelope, roll and secure the velcro. Takes one minute and you can do it standing up in a field of mud and sideways rain. Henery Shires was unimpressed. I guess the stuff sack is easy on a table.

[Rex Sanders]

Just returned from my first trip with Tarptent Moment, 6 nights in the Santa Cruz Mountains, central California coast.

My impressions:

– Incredibly easy to set up. Even while sober in the daylight :-) Every time I finished, I thought "that's it, it's done already?"

– On the other hand, take down is harder. The pole sleeve is so narrow, I have to fight to get the pole out without separating sections.

– Tip: roll the doors starting from the vertical edge, and they tie up nicely. Roll from the horizontal edge, and it doesn't really work.

– Used MSR Mini Groundhog stakes. Worked great under these conditions.

– Plenty of room inside for one 6' 2" man and all my gear. Used vestibule only for trail runners, but plenty of room there, too.

– Just enough headroom inside for me. I spent several hours sitting and reading inside without trouble. My head touches if I move an inch or two in any direction from the center.

– Five nights with no condensation, but some of the nights were almost too hot to sleep.

– The ground-level bug netting around one side and at each end, picks up lots of grass stems and seeds, which is annoying at best.

– Like all Silnylon, this tent is a dirt magnet. Which normally isn't too big a problem, except …

On the last night, thick fog rolled in. Almost got lost 50 feet from my tent, even with a full moon. 20 mph winds and nearby trees created Horizontal Tree Drip. Very similar to horizontal rain, except much fatter drops. I had to close both upwind vents to keep water out.

I slept OK, and all gear inside the tent stayed dry.

Next morning, same weather. Impossible to clean the now muddy tent (remember "dirt magnet"), and certainly could not dry it. Condensation film all over inside tent wall. Wiped off some of the mess — a cotton bandana is NOT sufficient for these conditions. Crammed tent back into bag without too much struggle, but the whole package was noticeably heavier.

Under these conditions (100% humidity for 12+ hours, plus HTD) virtually any tent-like structure would have trouble. I've been in traditional double-wall tents where both the rainfly and inner tent wetted out from condensation.

Got home, set up wet-&-muddy-everywhere tent, and spent an hour cleaning and drying, inside and out. Could not have done that on the trail.

One disadvantage of one-piece tarp-tent style tents: you can't separate the wet & muddy parts from the relatively dry & clean parts, so everything gets wet & muddy, and everything needs to get cleaned. This could be a big issue at the beginning or middle of a multi-day trip. Around here, we can get thick fog many days in a row.

Also, this tent seems complex to me. Lots of fiddly parts: bungie cords, nylon tape, glued-on patches with snap hooks, and more. I didn't have any serious problems with this complexity, but I worry about things going wrong a long way from home.

I'll keep using this tent, but it's got some issues. I won't be switching to a tarp any time soon. Ticks are NOT my friends.

[Franco Darioli]

The pole sleeve is so narrow, I have to fight to get the pole out without separating sections.

Try this way :

Hold the pole up with your left hand about 1 yard in and with the pole tip against the palm of the right hand.
Push the sleeve with the left hand towards the end of the pole and then pull the fabric off the pole once it has bunched up at the end.
Repeat.
The pole cannot come undone doing it that way ..
you can see that here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSTJMdjOql4&list=UU0PuLUKvG7Fxxex5BMVK4vw&index=25&feature=plcp
at 6:30 into the video.
Franco

[Rex Sanders]

Thanks for that tip, and I learned several more tricks from your video.

Henry should link to it!

Here's a shorter URL:

[Alex Wallace]

I used the Tarptent Moment on a couple of overnight to week long trips last year (2012), summer through fall, in the northern and central Sierra, and I gotta say I'm still really happy with it and I'm looking forward to using it again this year.

[David Ure]

I like that first picture. Might come in handy the next time someone says, "Just give me half a moment."

[Alex Wallace]

Ha, I never noticed that. I think the fly door is tied back and I'm really good at taking a terrible photo.

[Franco Darioli]

Alex
"I'm really good at taking a terrible photo."
Not at all. That second shot reminds me of why I like hiking (when I get the chance)
I do views, not distance/weights/speed…
Why did you change the end tie outs ?

(thanks for the reply. Makes sense)

[Alex Wallace]

I switched the lines partly because after a season of stacking rocks on the ends in high winds the lines were beginning to abraid from rubbing against the sharp rocks and needed to be replaced. Since I was replacing the lines anyways, I wanted to sideline the slipping problems that I've experienced in pulsing winds.
I swapped the guylines on the ends with ones that offered a little more bite in the linelocs. I believe they're under 3mm thick, so not much thicker than the stock lines, but the outter sheathing is not as slick and holds much better.

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