Bear Paw Wilderness Designs

No, but if you buy one, can I borrow it?

I pulled the trigger a few days ago Joe just trying to get feedback. It reminds me of the Old School Golite tarps with beaks except it weighs 8oz. Bear Paw makes some really good stuff with out the long wait time. I will lend it to you in time really..

Jay, how much was the Cuben upgrade? I'm not seeing it on their site.

edit: missed info in my first pass

Eli, I did order the Canopy(2).CF is a case by case project I think. My Canopy(2) was $300.00 at a cool 8oz.

–J.W.–

Danke.

A 6×9 tarp-Canopy(2) with 18 inch beak in front and 26 beak inch rear. Anybody own one? Feedback?

Thanks

Jay be sure to post a report when you get yours, I have been looking at these also.

This is an original sil version.

It was ok but a bit saggy due to the sil. I replaced it with the HMG Echo 2 system.

Thanks Chris, Were you ever in any storms with it? And what bug shelter is that?

I don’t have any experience with the specific models discussed above, but I feel I need to throw in my experience with BearPaw WD. The good: fast turn-around time (2 weeks for a fully custom inner pyramid tent) and very customizable. The bad: seam quality was horrendous (see images below). The fabric was bunched up along every seam, and the stitching was nowhere near straight. In one place the stitching actually went off the edge of the seam. In another place, the raw edge of the fabric protruded from the side of the seam. And reinforced stitching at the tie-outs was hit or miss. Sometimes the stitching only captured half the webbing. So yes it’s fast, but maybe because not much care is taken for construction quality. I like his designs, willingness to customize, responsiveness, and speed. But I can't get over the very poor construction quality.

Update: I contacted John at BPWD and he said that they would not re-do any of the seams, but they would sew over any places that were "missed" (I guess he means where the stitching went off the seam). I told him never mind then, because I could sew over those myself. Plus, judging from the stitching quality on this tent, I don't know if he would make it better or worse. This is the last product I will ever order from BPWD. I am convinced that with a little practice I could make my next tent myself with better quality.

My experience is similar but less extreme. I found BPWD's quality to be unsightly but functional.

If there is a big price savings I would consider BPWD, but at similar pricing I'd look elsewhere. For example, I'd easily buy an MLD DuoMid ($240) over a BPWD PyraTent ($220) but I'd consider BPWD for the solo inner tent ($95 vs $155).

I had one but sold it on gear swap. I liked it very much. Great quality and it was a palace. The reason I sold it was that I decided the beaks were more of a hassel to get in and out of. I went with MLD cuben Grace solo and duo. Though honestly the beak on the MLD Patrol shelter was more of a hassel then the one on my canopy 2, but I did sell both and switched to the grace solo and duo.
If you don't mind the beak, I think the canopy 2 from BPWD is an awesome shelter. Solid construction, looks awesome and a good price.
Also, I have bought many shelters from BPWD and everything I have gotten has been top notch quality..2 bivies (1 custom) and the canopy 2. Never had any issues with the seams or seals or stitching.

Yes, the quality is not quite comparable to other cottage companies. My biggest issue is with their items being overweight. Like 20% over. Consistently.

I purchased one off here and then resold it after a few nights. I could not get a great pitch and condensation was crazy, even with the front beak completely open. I used a net tent 2 from BPWD inside.

Interesting. When I built my shelter I ordered a length of sil nylon pre-sewn to double width to cut down on the amount of sewing I had to do (first project). It was somewhat puckered along the entire length of the seam.

I have a 2P net tent from Bearpaw.

Seams are a little squigly but functional.

I got it second hand so i'm not positive about initial price, but he does very affordable custom work.

If I were buying a complete shelter I would look to MLD, or Zpacks, or tarptent or six-moons. If I had some other shaped tarp or beaked tarp or etc on hand, and wanted a custom built inner, or modifications to the tarp, I wouldn't hesitate to at least give Bearpaw an email for a price quote.

Clarification – This was an inner tent for my MLD DuoMid (outer) pyramid tent. I got it to use my DuoMid in winter and mountaineering conditions, to protect me from snow and from condensation that inevitably builds up on the inside of the silnylon outer tent. When I first received my DuoMid I questioned the straightness of a few stitches, but now I am very impressed with MLD quality. Unfortunately, MLD won't even consider simple modifications, such as replacing the mesh on their InnerNet with DWR ripstop nylon, even though it's the same pattern and seams but with a different material.

I bought a 2P nest from BPWD a couple years ago and the quality was fine at the time. It was cheap and functioned well. I would buy from them again, but the seams above would definitely give me pause. Of the cottage guys who make shelters, MLD is the only one whose sewing skills I respect. It's consistently solid work. Of course, their stuff has been over weight for me. Grrrrr!

Ryan

Those pictures show some pretty ugly seams…

One thing that is clear is that MLD, HMG, Oware, etc are missing the market on inner tents. People seem to want inner tents for their mids and tarps now, and they want more options than just bug netting sewn to a silnylon floor. Tarptent realized this and now offers partially solid fabric inners. Look how popular Ookworks was for offering different inner tents.

Locus Gear is making really awesome shelters that not many people in North America know about since they're from Japan. I highly recommend people check them out:

http://locusgear.com/?lang=en

Locus Gear craftsmanship is better than any of the USA makers, the pricing is similar and shipping from Japan is typically free for a shelter. Locus Gear has some really nice mids and tarps. They also make a huge variety of inner nets in all sorts of shapes and fabrics but you have to message them to see all the options. Just a couple options are shown on the website.

They also make the best trekking poles there is. Their CP3 poles are light, sturdy flick lock poles for barely heavier than GG LT4's and as I recall they're cheaper.

Wated to give folks a heads up that BPWD has horrible customer service, in my experience. John is supremely arrogant and a poor communicator. He jacked up my vestibule modification three times before I had to just give up hope of getting anything resembling what I requested and what he agreed to do. He set my Altaplex up at 36″ to take measurements for a vestibule mod, so I received a completely non-functional tent. Peak height is 58-60″. He claimed to have intinmate knowledge of Zpacks gear but completely failed in the first attempt. When I tried to explain his error, he had the nerve to argue with me and continuously interrupted, even yelling at me over the phone. Finally he agreed to fix it but still charged me again for the materials. He jacked it up a second time and the entire project needed to be done from scratch, which he charged me full price for again. He was so rude I cant even believe he stays in business. If you have any other option, STAY AWAY FROM BPWD! Ill never put my gear in their hands again. Paypal said I wasn’t covered by their protection plan so I had to eat the added cost for a half-ass job. It was a total waist of time, energy and money! What a hack job!

I agree with you Eric!!!!!!  Not a good company.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I was just getting ready to pull the trigger on ordering a Pyranet from him for my BD MEGA LIGHT. One of my philosophies in life is that ONLY RICH PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO BUY JUNK, BECAUSE THEY CAN AFFORD TO BUY IT AGAIN! 

I’ll look at some other cottage makers or see if Paul at ETOWAH will custom make one for me. I simply don’t want to risk wasting my money, time, and energy to potentially end up with an inferior product with no resolution. Cheers!

Sadly this isn’t the only thread I’ve read on BPWD with similar results.

Henri,

My experiences with Ron at MLD have been favorable.  The only caveat to this is that my last order with them was about a year ago, and at that time, there was no communication after the sale, including when the item was shipped.  I didn’t really care too much as my three MLD packs and Grace Solo are well built.  I believe there’s a thread here somewhere that says that they are now emailing the customer during the delivery process, but you’ll have to do your own due diligence to ensure that’s correct.

Anyways, they make a inner for their Supermid that *should* fit the Mega Light.

http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=47&products_id=127