Double Rainbow vs. Lunar Duo

"This is turning into a Ginger or MaryAnn question."

True enough, and I knew that to start with; these are both fine tents by companies that provide great customer service . But at some point I have to decide which of the two to acquire (I'm not quite greedy enough to go for both). I've already mentioned that breeziness inside the shelter is a consideration for me, unfortunately that hasn't been addressed yet in regards to the LD. I own a Cloudburst and am very fond of it; however, I don't enjoy cold wind blowing over my face in the night and if it could be lessened by the choice of tent (without giving up the weight savings, I don't want to go back to my heavier tents) I would weigh that in my choice between the two, understanding that it might lead to more chance for condensation. (That's not why I'm considering moving on from the Cloudburst – more headroom and a double-doored tent are the primary factors in that – but it would be nice if I could improve that situation.)

Other than that, this is what I've come up with as comparison factors (weight having been discussed – and for me, not really much of an issue between the two unless I'm not carrying hiking poles):

Double Rainbow: Freestanding, height of ceiling appears to continue more lengthwise, slightly smaller footprint, rain porch option, possibly more convenient setup (re: David's experience with LD), hiking poles not mandatory

Lunar Duo: High ceiling area is wider, slightly more floor space, larger vestibule, vestibule openings zippered, available with heavier floor for peace of mind if not using groundsheet. Vestibule covers appear to extend more to ground, which *may* provide a bit of draft protection (still unknown)

Those are the pluses as I see them for each tent, as far as the info I've been able to gather. There's been discussion on the web about difficulty seamsealing on the DR, but I think I would just opt for having it done by Henry and crew anyway.

I feel sorry for any new member that stumbles onto threads like this. For goodness sake a few ounces more on a tent should not change anybody's feeling towards it.
In this case we are talking about two shelters that are 10 to 20 oz lighter than the competition. As Ron very politely mentioned, seam sealing alone can add one in fact in my experience easily two ounces of extra weight, depending on how is it done. Does it really matter ?
Ideally one should get a chance to set up the tent and sit in it to see how it feels then. Never mind a few inches or ounces.
Franco

Franco, you have been around this website longer than I; counting ounces is one thing we do around this watercooler. You will occasionally see discussions regarding grams, 1/28 of an ounce.

I must say that both of these are very good SUL shelters.

Ron, thanks for graciously clarifying my comments.

The backpacking community is a better place thanks to both Henry & Ron's innovative products. Here's wishing that you put a SUL hammock in your offering. I am available if you need a prototype tester. :)

Regards,
Egads aka Gordon Dunn

>>Never mind a few inches or ounces.

Uh-oh. I think we have a heretic in our midst.

Easy now. Last time I was out it was just my Ti Goat bivy.

Egads

Brett
I was the one that on a thread about hiking naked( it was about super-ultralight hiking), suggested exfoliating beforehand. Nobody took my suggestion seriously.
Franco

I might as well chime in…Since I was the one who purchased David's Lunar Duo a week or so ago.
Thanks again I am so happy with this tent.

Number one reason is:

I am able to get in and out without bumping into the trekking poles. I feel the large L shaped doors are the best.

Number two reason is:

I can sit up in this tent without touching the top canopy!
As well as 4 of us playing cards on a rainy day…says it all!!!

This tent which went though heavy rains and strong winds here on Maui and not a problem at all. In fact I have not even used any seam sealer on it as yet.
I do wish the outside flap that covers the zippers had some Velcro to hold it in place but that was about all. Easy to remedy that, two small pieces later.

And the first day out testing the tent in my front yard…it was blessed by a passing cat with a friendly marking of his this is now my territory.
Good news to report is that 2 boxes of baking soda and a 3 hour soak in cold water…the tent is now smell free and drying this time in my shower.

I also own the Henry Shires Squall and the Brawny Tarptent…both great. But to have two vestibules – two large doors – and sit up and not bump into poles…this Six Moon Designs Lunar Duo WINS hands down to me.

P.S. Yes I will admit it was a little bit of a pain putting in the two curved poles at first … but after a few times doing so…I do not notice it anymore or feel it is a hassle. Looking forward to using this wonderfully designed tent on my upcoming JMT.

I should add by having the trekking poles at the full 45" you have 6 to 8 inches for air to circulate under the vestibules…by lowering the poles to 42" you have more protection for anything stored in the vestibule. I will be testing this tent on the slopes of a very windy Haleakala soon :)

Gail,

Thanks, Good post.

Egads

I just got my Lunar Duo and first impressions are WOW!

I am very pleased.

I was going to seal the seams but hey, the floor has no seams and the roof has no overhead seams. Really not that much to seal.

I snapped a shot of it that reveals the inside layout. Notice the excellent ventilation and see how the floor rises up slightly at the edge. See the two little gear pockets in the mesh near the door. Notice how the mesh doors open offset from the trekking poles and that the mesh door and the fly door can both be tied open. There is PLENTY of headroom plus when it is fully buttoned up, it is still very "airy". It is a very luxurious tent for two (perfect for my wife and I).

Something else that I liked was that it was IN STOCK and it arrived in only a few days. No need to wait months.

OBTW regarding the weight.. Before I took it out of the bag, it showed 43 ounces on a postal scale. That's our cat (Zoey) inspecting it while it is being weighed below.

;-)” width=”550″ height=”413″>

Ron has excellent customer service and makes great products as I am a very satisfied owner with my Lunar Solo E. By the way, are you sure your cat isn’t sinking its’ k-nines into your new tent?

Anyway I’m thinking it may be the way to go for an ultra light two person tent for my wife and I. Thank for your post/pictures and for those who posted above.

I'm really happy that I already purchased one of these two tents (the Double Rainbow). If I would have had both options in front of me at the time, I would still be trying decide which one – talk about decision paralysis!

I think the coolest feature of the DR is the porch set up. I use it every single time I set up the tent. I love it.

I'm not sure if anybody has seen them yet or not, but there are pictures/reviews at Backpack Gear Test if you want to see the new 2007 model of the Double Rainbow.

http://www.backpackgeartest.org

Not to put too fine a point on things, but the Lunar Duo can be configured for a porch. You simply slide the vestibule up the guyline to the desired position. The porch doesn't require additional stakes or poles to work and can be opened or closed from within the tent.

Ron

Ron, you can do the same basic thing on the Double Rainbow without trekking poles or extra stakes – you can roll the vestibule 1/2 way up from inside the tent and secure it.

While it could be done, I think it would be difficult and/or uncomfortable to actually enter or exit my DR in this fashion, and from the picture you shared it appears to be a similar story with the LD. I think that while there appears to be more room to attempt entry in your picture of the LD than in my picture of my DR, I'd still really have to crouch or crawl to get in or out, unless the angle of your picture is deceiving.

The porch on the DR is a different thing. It's very easy to get in or out because it doesn't impede entry or exit much. I don't see these two tents as having the "same thing" when it comes to the porch setup. I'm not saying that one is better or worse – just different in my eyes.

Thanks, Gail – good comments! Can you tell me if you thought the Duo was any less "breezy" inside with the vestibules down than the Squall? You don't say anything about condensation; I'm guessing it wasn't an issue, but was there any, in the heavy rains? a reasonable amount? I can't tell from your post if you were actually IN the tent during the rains, or if it was in your front yard – so maybe you don't know that yet.

Regarding the curved poles which have to be inserted from inside – does that mean one could stake out the floor corners, then get inside and do the rest of the setup, if it were raining? That might be an asset, if so.

Also – are there any loops in the ceiling seams, or places to attach loops? Sometimes I like to suspend a cord for hanging things (socks, flashlight).

I will try and answer your questions…but maybe Ron would be better at this.

1. Breezy? Yes the Lunar Duo is a whole lot less breezy than the Squall but I have the older Squall and the peak does not come down that low…so the mist and cold breeze blows on my face, I usually turn around and face the other way, lol … whereas in the Duo you can adjust the vestibule to either have all the air or hardly none at all really. Just lower your poles as well as sliding the vestibule down.

2. Condensation? I never had a problem yet, with any of our tents here on island; but rememeber we have trades 24/7 pretty much.
Only what I call a blow down…winds so strong the tent and poles bend and cave in on you. As far as the condensation issue I don't forsee any with the Lunar Duo, plenty of flowing air the way its designed.

3. Rains? Been in plenty….and I no longer have to worry about touching any of the sides of the tent. Had my 6 yr old granddaughter with me this last time out. Worried she would touch the sides or worse knock out the trekking pole on the side where she slept. Rained all night…no troubles at all. It passed my tests for the possible worse things for me. She tosses and turns…kicks and turns herself around in her sleep…so I am happy about this.

4. Set up during rain? I guess you could… but the curved spacer poles do not hold up the tent.
I will have to try that out. You would be sitting inside with the body of the tent literally laying on top of you. Then you would still have to set your trekking poles and guylines out though. I do not see how that could be done from inside? Good question….maybe Ron can answer that one.

5. Loops? There are no celing seams or side seams really. There are two gear pockets on the doors. I am sure you could sew a loop on the lower seam by the floor areas…or maybe attach a loop on the top by the door and where the spacer poles go in. I usually use a headlamp so for me its okay. But now that you shared this thought I will have to add a couple of loops to string a clothes line…lol

You really cannot compare this tent to the Squall…totally different. I own both the Brawny Tarptent and the Squall that looks just like the Squall Classic by GG…for the weight and luxury you have a sil-nylon palace with the Lunar Duo.
As far as the Double Rainbow or any double wall tent with two doors and two vestibules you can compare of course.

So far this wins for me…none of my regular double wall tents can you even begin to fit 3 adults let alone four, and not touch the ceiling!

The only tent I have close to the Lunar Duo is my Eureka Pinnacle Pass and it weighs in at 5 lbs 4 oz and only two people can fit inside and only one can sit up at a time.

Hope that helps a little. I did seal seam the top part where the spacer poles slide in on the outside seams, as well as the only seams by the bottom that connect to the netting. I don't think I needed to really. My only trouble I have found for me is this.
All my trekking poles do not fit inside the grommet…but even then in 30 mph winds which is the norm for us, they did not come out. Just a little more tricky in the set up is all.

Thanks, Gail! You really left no question unanswered – I appreciate that. We have a Cloudburst, which I like very much but do find breezy; and we had some condensation on a cold but windless night one time that bothered my boyfriend, though it didn't bother me that much. It sounds like you're exceedingly happy with the tent – it's good to hear the detailed experiences of a user like yourself. Your testimony has put this one seriously in the running (along with the Double Rainbow – guess I just need to figure out which features I want more between the two). Thanks again – Debbie

I just ordered a Lunar Duo and Comet pack, both are part of my first forays down a lighter road (so excited!!!). The Lunar Duo isn't stocked and I won't see it shipped until August 7th. I went with the standard tub but I'm now torn between that and the UL option. SMD raises a concern with the UL 30 denier sil-nylon floor transferring moisture, which, they say, is alleviated with a drop cloth/tarp. Is it assumed that a drop cloth will be used with both the 70 and 30 denier floors, if so, why gain 4oz on the standard tub?

To those who have been testing the LD: what is your experience with this "problem", what floor did you order, and did you also order the tyvek drop cloth?

thanks,
-Michael

Unless you expect to be setting up in extremely wet conditions where there will be pools of water under the floor I would go with the UL floor. One thing to consider is that the 30 denier floor is the same as that used in all the popular tarptents, and people don't seem to be having any problems with those floors.

Just stumbled across this old thread, and thought it worth adding my 2 cents…

I own a Shires DR, and a SMD Lunar Solo E. I was so impressed with the utility of the rain porches on the DR that I have added one to my Lunar Solo. I'm certain that if I were to own the Lunar Duo I would do the same. I only ever use the DR with a hiking partner, so always have 4 hiking poles to spare, which means we can have both porches fully open for cooking, scenery watching and airflow in all but very windy weather. In fact I have extended one of the DR porches to full length at almost no weight penalty. Also worth noting that on newer DRs, there is an option for two grommets at the top of the vestibules to insert trekking poles during very windy weather (not disimilar concept to that used on the Lunar Duo?), thus greatly increasing the stability of this tent which otherwise deflects considerably in strong winds.

Not many have replied and discussed the DR, and maybe you weren't looking for specific info on it due to info you have found elsewhere. Nonetheless, I have a DR and thought I would post a few thoughts though anyway.

First off, I have several tents and have pretty much settled on the DR as my main 3 season tent and my Hilleberg Akto as my 4 season/inclement weather tent. So I obviously really like the DR.

I am 6'-5", and I love the headroom in the DR. As a matter of fact, I already owned a Squall and the head room of the DR is the main reason I decided to buy it. The thing is wonderfully tall, and due to the mono-pole design there is a nice region of headroom where I can still sit up straight in areas out away from the center of the tent.

Seam sealing this sucker is…well…let's just say you better make an afternoon of it. The main seams for the pole sleeve extend the length of the tent, and I am very particular so I sealed both the outer and inner sides of the seams. The outer is pretty easy, but the inner one is a bear due to the way the pole sleeve is sewn in. On a good note you should only have to do this once maybe making some future touchups.

I almost always get some level of condensation in mine. This is true for any tent I use in the SE, and is just a way of life when hiking here. It's just too darn humid most of the time for things to stay dry. I have been using the nylon insert in mine, which adds about 4 ounces of weight. The insert creates a buffer zone between the user and the ceiling of the tent. It works nicely, and all the condensation builds up on the ceiling of the tent rather than the insert so that the insert usually stays dry. Haven't been in a rain hard enough to see if the insert helps with the "misting" phenomena (whether or not you believe in the misting phenomena, I have had it happen in a hard steady rain) associated with sil-nylon yet, but I am assuming it will.

The ventilation in it is great, which can be a good or bad thing depending on the situation. In cold weather with a breeze, it’s like sleeping outside of the tent. I actually got cold in my WM Ultralite in 40 degree weather sleeping in the DR. I am a cold sleeper, but that still shows you how well ventilated it is. This ventilation can also be annoying in a hard rain where the rain causes splashing. I had this happen once where the DR was pitched on some hard dirt, and a thunderstorm rolled in. The rain was hitting the dirt so hard that it was splashing up into the tent through the bug netting. Site selection will obviously resolve most of this problem, but sometimes you are just forced to setup in a less than ideal spot.

I have never pitched mine in the freestanding configuration, nor do I intend to. I like having the four corners staked out, and the tent is fairly solid in this configuration. I have not been in high winds though, so I cannot comment on its stability in wind.

The weight is pretty much as advertised. My DR with everything (including the nylon insert, but excluding the stakes…I weigh those separately) is 44.52 ounces.

Well, I guess my thoughts got a little long winded. Let me know if you have any further questions.

I agree about the free-standing option. In fact I have removed all the pole attachments as they weighed extra and were always getting tangled because of the velcro. We tried using the inner, but since we only ever use the DR as a two person tent, we found the inner tended to drip off the edges and straight onto our bags. This wouldn't be such a problem for one person assuming you sleep in the middle of the tent.

Seam sealing it IS a b**ch, but a once in a lifetime job. I actually sealed the main pole seam 3 times over 3 days. I made a LOT of other mods as well, such as replacing the velcro tabs with loop and toggle, adding a loop to close off the top vents in driving rain so the rain won't blow in, added extra tie-outs on the edges of the floor to create more floor space, extended the rain porches, added 4 main ridge tie-outs, added some pull tabs (12 in all) to the zip sliders to make them easier to find and open, removed quite a lot of what I considered excess velcro (for instance having two rows of velcro on the vestibule/rain porch made no sense to me, and there was a long strip of velcro at the bottom of each rain porch that I never figured out a use for), and I sent it back to Henry to have zippers added to the fly (lacking on the original model) and 2 ridge grommets to insert trekking poles in severe winds (supports the long mono-pole). Also added lots of extra guylines (Spectra Aircore 2) as we often encounter tough wind conditions. This last weekend I used every single guyline, plus an extra 2 to the apex of the ridgeline. 14 stakes in all! So the DR may not be perfect straight outta the box, but the guts of it is a nice tent. When it gets really windy, we unzip the vestibule and cross stake the ends so the fly overlaps itself at ground level (not sure if that makes sense). In this configuration it cuts the inside draft down A LOT, and makes the tent more stable, though it makes it hard to get in and out of the tent.

To be fair, my Lunar Solo has had a lot of mods done to it too!

You make a good point about the insert that I forgot to mention. As you indicated, if excess condensation builds up on it the condensation will drip onto the floor of the tent as the insert is not cut long enough to extend out past the floor. I have had this happen, but I also use it as a solo tent. So this is not as big of a deal as I can sleep in the middle.

I also appreciate you mentioning the retrofit of the zipper. I have one of the original DRs with the velcro closures on the beaks or vestibules or whatever Henry calls them. I think I will contact him to see if I can get zippers put on.

The comparison to the Double Rainbow have been very helpful for me. Does anyone have any insight in comparing the Lunar Duo to some of the free standing tents (such as the Hubba Hubba, REI quaterdome, etc.), with respect to holding up under weather and ease of setup? I know the weight (and weight to size) is better for the Duo. Thanks.

I have the Duo and can honestly say it feels more like a "regular " tent than any other UL shelter I have used or own. The only comparison I can make to a freestanding tent is to my old Kelty Vortex which weighs a ton but has an similar amount of room.