Big Sky International – Evolution 2P Tent (Why and How I Got One)

[Chris Scala]

Cool – sounds good to me. :-)

[Keith Bassett]

Too bad. I was interested in the pics also.

There are some serious trolls here, but there are also some gems. You just got pulled under the bridge right off of the bat, instead of meeting the good ones.

Good luck at Whiteblaze, sorry to see you go.

[Todd Dorman]

Chris/Eugene: here are a couple of photos of the Evo 2P

[Chris Scala]

Thanks a lot for those pics, really reaffirms my decision in buying one! Looks like exactly what I wanted.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Chris

Seems you had a rough introduction here, but that is likely to be because quite a few people here had been very badly burnt by BSI and Bob Molen some years ago. But we have many more readers who may be interested in your photos.

Bob's troubles (some years ago) seem to have been caused by a sad combination of factors: big problems with unreliable Chinese suppliers in the first place, compounded by a huge disaster in China which further seriously delayed deliveries, plus a very bad misjudgement on his part over charging credit cards before he could deliver. He got himself into a deep hole, and is now trying to climb back out – witness his current very virtuous card charging policy. Can Bob Molen restore his tarnished image? It would be nice to think so, as the tents look good.

I note that the UPS tracking page does record that parcel as having been accepted at the office. Roll on Thursday.

Cheers

[BlackHatGuy]

Chris,

For what it's worth — how long do you think this negative back and forth would have gone on if you hadn't felt the need to keep answering! There is no back and forth without involvement by both sides. It's why some of these threads get so nasty and just never end, one side just has to get the last word in – and so does the other side. Sheesh.

So let it go. Really. You'll be happier. Talk about the tent when you get it. Share pictures. Share your impressions. Share the actual weights. There are plenty of folks who would/could be interested. Just stay away from the silly arguments and they can't propagate. FWIW.

Edited to add: While I personally think the accusations of being a shill and such were unnecessary, you should take a second to try to see where all that was coming from – it wasn't totally out of left field. You spent far too many posts defending Mr. Molen when you've had fewer dealings with him than many on this site who were not treated very well. For all the bad blood from times past, you might have expected your cheerleading/defending would generate such a backlash. There really are two sides to most things.

So, again, stick to the tent and your personal experiences with it and Mr. Molen, and simply leave the rest of it alone. I'm not the only one who's interested in how this pans out for you, just stick to the Joe Friday piece. ;-)

[Chris Scala]

Thanks guys – sorry, I just got a little frustrated. Long day, came home to check this thread, got the best of me.

Thanks for reminding me to chill out.

[BlackHatGuy]

"Thanks for reminding me to chill out."

And stay excited! Nothing like getting new toys! Woohoo!

[Rakesh Malik]

"Thanks guys – sorry, I just got a little frustrated. Long day, came home to check this thread, got the best of me."

A few fools went after you because they can't go after Bob, and you were a convenient scapegoat because you said something positive about Bob.

The interesting thing is that though there aren't a lot of them, everyone who's ever acquired a Big Sky tent has had a lot of positive things to say about it. It's funny how the people attacking you completely ignored that part in their mindless zeal to put the blame on you for something that Bob did.

But anyway… I'm hoping yours works out and lives up to expectations. Bob has a LOT of digging to do to get out of the hole his reputation is in, and starting with a great product is about the only way to start. Whether or not he can redeem himself, who knows.

There aren't very many American tent manufacturers who are making extreme conditions tents, and BSI is one of them. AFAIK there are really only three; the others are Nemo and MSR. Of them BSI is the only one who seems to be in the same ballpark as Roger Caffin's as far as weight and features. Whether or not the build quality is up to par I don't know, since I haven't seen any reviews of the Montana anywhere.

(I know Warmlite is American… but I read Roger's review. After that, I can't take them seriously as a tent maker.)

Yours might be the first honest review we'll get to see of one of BSI's tents in a long time, since it's been so long since you could get one.

Besides, if it turns out to be a great tent, you'll get to enjoy it, and then you can… enjoy it more. :)

Sigh. I need to do some backpacking. I'm getting wilderness withdrawal. Cubicle jobs suck.

[Michael L]

Chris you can set up your pm.

[Chris Scala]

Set up my PM? Private Message? Premium Membership…?

[drowning in spam]

Private message. You'd need to add an email account to your BPL account. PM's here work only by email.

[Michael L]

What leaftye said. I would have simply pm'ed you long ago instead of posting but it wasn't set up.

Hmmm again. As a long time lurker I'd have thought the term pm would be obvious.

[Franco Darioli]

Rakesh
not sure how you interpret "extreme conditions" but I would think that American brands like Black Diamond/Bibler,Marmot,Sierra Design, TNF and Mountain Hardwear make tents that maybe are almost as good as the ones you talk about…
And another thing, experts sometimes can be wrong and occasionally spectacularly so..
Franco
The expert I had in mind had to do with the Warmlite tent comment.
Odd that they have been around for 40 years waiting for Roger to figure out that they don't work…

BTW, neither Nemo nor MSR are made in the USA , just like the ones I listed …

[Rakesh Malik]

I guess I wasn't clear… So to clarify.
I didn't intend to claim to be an expert.
Also, not many of those, in fact as far as I know none, make anything that's both made for extreme conditions and truly lightweight.

Also, out of curiosity, how many of those are made in the us? I don't think that even MSR tents are us-made, though you're right to point out that they're American designed.

I don't know of any of them making extreme conditions tents that are anywhere near as light as BSI's, though there might be some in the works. Still, the nearest I know of to a Caffin is the BSI Montana that I have yet to locate any reviews of.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Franco

> Odd that they have been around for 40 years waiting for Roger to figure out that they don't work…
I am not sure I ever said that though.

I did say that I thought the construction was poorly done. Others have agreed with me. I think I did say that I thought the taper made the back end almost unusable for a second person to sit in. You try sitting up the backend and see.

Cheers

[Miguel Arboleda]

The expert I had in mind had to do with the Warmlite tent comment.
Odd that they have been around for 40 years waiting for Roger to figure out that they don't work…

Er, Franco, did you actually read Roger's assessment of the Warmlite? He did mention that the recent design of the Warmlite wasn't up to snuff, and he acknowledged that earlier versions were probably better made. If you take a look at the photos of the tent construction of the model he tested, you will immediately see just how bad the sewing is, and how haphazardly thrown together it is. It's obvious that it doesn't take an expert to see what is wrong.

[Chris Scala]

It WAS obvious, which is why I said, "Private Message?" – Are you just trying to bait me at this point?

Either way, it is set-up. I guess I'm inviting more harassment now, but I don't care anymore.

[P. P.]

Are you going to post pictures here or over at Whiteblaze or what?
I'd like to see them.

[Chris Scala]

As promised, I'll post them here. Won't be until Thursday night though.

[Chris Scala]

So unless Bob shipped be a cardboard box filled with rocks, UPS is reporting my tent has been delivered. I'm at work so I'm going only on the tracking information.

Could it be a bomb? Or maybe empty? Or maybe I actually lucked out here and had an amazingly pleasant transaction?

Stay tuned, will post pics ASAP when I get home.

[Derrick White]

Standing by.

[Chris Scala]

Here's an album of pics!

You'll notice in my captions I was having some issues with the fly seeming to constrict the tent. Not sure if I'm missing some important part of it's "installation", but it seemed to squeeze the poles closer together, narrowing each end of the tent to the point where there's a big poof of slack fabric. All taught in it's "net" body format, it's perfect… So I'm not sure if the fly is too small! Maybe sent a 1P fly? I emailed Bob about this, awaiting his response…

[drowning in spam]

Are there velcro loops on the underside of the fly? Those would hold the poles in place. I thought I saw one in the pics, but wasn't sure.

Thank you for the pictures. I'd like to find out what happens with the fit of the fly.

[Chris Scala]

There are! But I'm not entirely sure how to use them properly, since my vague attempt to do so didn't seem to do much.

Any advice here?

[Author]

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