Which shelter?

If you aren't any taller than 5'10" you might want to look at the single wall Black Diamond Firstlight. The EPIC fabric works surprisingly well in tents, though it can leak under heavy downpours or continuous duration gentle rains. In rainy weather the vestibule is almost a must for gear storage and not getting rain when entering/exiting. The slighlty larger Lighthouse is a little better in this regard as there is an overhang over the door.

not sure what conditions you'll be using your shelter in, i.e. mtns, high humidity and rain, dry and arid, etc.

just keep in mind ventilation when you consider single-wall shelters. HS Tarptents are quite superior in this respect (as are SMD shelters).

i had a Mtn H/w Waypoint 1 which i purchased when i was trying to lighten up on my own w/o the benefits of this website. ventilation was NG.

so, in the rainy, humid NE, this shelter was the horizontal equivalent of "sweatin' to the oldies" or simply a giant solar still. it had insufficient netting for the application i put it through. then again, i didn't really know what i was doing (it was my first single-wall, non-bivy, shelter) and i shouldn't have bought it for rainy/humid climes. of course, it would have been nice if Mtn H/w had made that clear – at least i didn't see anything cautioning such on their website.

It would be used around Adirondacks and Catskills in NY. Mostly Fall/Spring camping. I tend to camp mostly between 20-50F so I only use full tents. What are SMD shelters, I'm not familiar with that?

Tarptent Contrail
http://www.tarptent.com/contrail.html

Width: 42F, 30R with bathtub floor setup
Length: 84 with bathtub floor setup
Height: 45 (adjustable)
Weight: 24.5 oz with stakes and lines
Cost: $199 (on 15% off Sale right now)

SMD Six Moon Designs

SMD

Andy,

fall/spring – typically rainy season in areas of New England that i'm familiar with (or snow mid-to-later fall way up north in Maine). Never camped in the NY Mtns, but i would imagine it would be somewhat similar. Personally, under those assumed conditions, i'd skip the TNF you mentioned and go with a TarpTent.

—
Thanks, Roger, for handling my omission.

As a former northeasterner, I'd also advise against the TNF Solo 12. Having crawled inside the Solo 12 and inspected the vents, I have to agree with pj that it would be a condensation factory in the conditions you are describing.

Andy,

I'm also a newbie to UL gear, about a year using it. Based on that I can say pj & others here at BPL are excellent sources of advice and info — IMO best single source on the Internet.

I also highly recommend reading the gear reviews, techniques and features articles here at BPL.

That said, pj, Dondo and others are right on as per always.

So, as one newbie to another: I highly recommend checking out the Henry Shires Tarptents' Squall 2 and the Gossamer Gear Henry Shire's design Squall Classic 2 person tents. Websites at:

http://www.tarptent.com/

http://www.gossamergear.com/

GG-HS Squall Classic:

After checking around this is the first UL tent for me. It is not as light as a tarp, but pretty close.

It weighs right around 1 1/2 pounds with stakes, rear curved pole, front pole, and floor, w/ stuff sack.

It holds two comfortably enough and with gear stuffed in to be validly called a 2 person tent, which is why I bought it for my partner and I. I absolutely love it.

It ventilates without any issue, and the sides can be staked down to cut down on flow through the side mesh.

It is sturdy, durable, but you need to treat all UL gear with care IMO. It also packs well if you take it out of the stuff sack, shove it in the bottom of your pack on top of your ground cloth, for protection. The poles fit standing upright in the pack, I put them next to the side near by back.

Notes on HS Tarptent Squall 2:

Specs at: http://www.tarptent.com/tt2specs.html

The Squall 2 has more headroom than the Squall Classic, note the spreader piece holding the front top spread out. Also, two front poles is supposed to add more stability.

The fabric from which it is made is a softer, heavier fabric than the fabric in the Squall Classic (if it is like the fabric in the Tarptent Rainshadow 2), but there is a weight penalty of several ounces over the Squall Classic.

So from one newbie to another, hope this was helpful .. take it for what it is worth, from a newbie … but I thought I would take the time to fill in some newbie gaps after pj'Dondo/et al. gave you such good advice re: check out the Tarptents. (I have no experience with SMD, but they are also supposed to be good).

I do like most of the tarptents. The Squal Classic is just too expensive for me, but the Squal 2 looks nice. I considered the Contrail also, but just seems less like a tent than the Rainbow. The freestanding feature still makes me lean towards the rainbow. I'm going to read through some BGT now.

When recommending the Squall designs I forgot about reading that you were looking for more of a stand alone. My partner prefers a stand alone. Super easy to use.

So, we often use a stands alone MH Tri-Lite 2 w/o the rain fly (no longer available, concept similar to Big Agnes Seedhouse w/ mesh tent under fly). We split the weight of the poles (approx. 1/2 – 1 lb.) and mesh body w/ floor (approx. 1 1/2 lbs.) for good weather overnights.

We like the view at night with the almost all mesh body; especially seeing all the mosquitos on the outside looking back at us. Poor buggers, hungry.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm gonna use a GG polycro large ground cloth and see if I can rig up a tarp like rain cover to go over the freestanding mesh tent. If it is going to rain unexpectedly then I can use the ground cloth for a rain fly/tarp cover.