Big Agnes Scout 2

Thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't run across it yet.

Right off the bat, 90" floor length and vertical side walls means it might do tall guy duty.

Wonder how accurate the 2lb packed weight will be. If it is correct, that's competitive.

I currently own a lunar duo, which is 41oz packed. It looks like I might sacrifice some views and venting with the Scout, along with the additional door and both vestibules.

Now that I'm looking closer, is there no beak on this thing?

Pulled the trigger and ordered the scout. Lets hope it's worth it

I read somewhere of a guy that bought it hoping to use it for single use and was disappointed. I guess there is a rear pole that sits right in the back center of the tent negating anyone from laying down the middle. You have to pick one side or the other.

wouldn't be that hard to offset the pole a bit, plus if it is truly a 90" floor with vertical ends, that's a bit of length. My biggest worry would be condensation from the looks of it.

Anyway, let us know what you think when it shows up!

Heres the link i found to someones impressions.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?92259-Big-agnes-scout-ul2-review

Set it up, looked at it, took some pictures, sent it back. Big Agnes has an image of the back of the tent on the tag attached to the tent, but not on the website. Wish I had seen that. I never would have ordered it.

The back of the tent slopes from the rear peak to the ground at about a 60 degree angle and because of this there is no way to get that trekking pole out of the middle of the floor.

This tent design had so much potentional. I don't see how the designers at big Agnes could frak it up so badly.

The tent does have a large rear vent, but nothing in the front. The side vents are about 4 inches high. Any condensation you got in the tent would run down the walls to the netting And drip on the floor.

There is no view from anywhere in the tent except for the tent. There is one door and it is solid sil nylon and the opening to the tent has the door sill so high it makes it a pain in the butt, if not dangerous to enter.

In short, I would not recommend this tent to anyone under any conditions.

Offensive language aside. People will be kicking that rear pole non stop. Then more bad words will be spoken in the dark. No beak?

Edit: Thank You

Sorry about the language. No, it does not have any kind of beak. That would have been one of the many things they could have done to make this a better shelter. The eaves could have been attached at the top to allow better air flow and a better view. The rear of the tent could have been vertical so the pole could have been outside. A noseeum door could have been added. There is way too much sil nylon and not enough noseeum. Kinda of a shame really. This could have been so much better. And again, sorry for the language..

Personally I dislike having poles inside the shelter. Having said that, the Golite Shangri La 2 and MLD DuoMid both have poles inside set vertically and they are exceptionally stable. I don't often hear about users kicking the poles out of place.

Funny when the mainstream attempts these types of UL shelters. They are never as good as the Cottage manufacturers.

True, this tent had so much potential, but failed miserably. Sometimes I think the designers have never been out in the field, and rely solely on a cad drawing program to come up with ideas.

Doug, just PM'd you.

Backpacker Editor's Choice Award Winner!

Unbeleivable.

Lol @ this thread!

Doug, sorry the tent was a let down!

unbelievable….. just was looking at this tent on the website last night( went to look at Q core SL), then saw thhis , and like the look, but wow from what everyone is saying a real let down.

The q-core SL was a letdown for me…

Well,I admit that I was excited by this tent, for the weight and capacity rather than the name. However, the photos in this thread are much more illustrative than those I found on BA's site, and elsewhere. Those pics, and the commentary, have changed my views and resolved my lust. Well, rats! Good to know, though.

Having one pole inside really isn't an issue. The front pole is ideally outside the tent for set – inside is just an option.

The mid perimeter netting is a great idea.

But they could have created a vestibule and a full mesh door without sacrificing weather protection and any weight increase. Weird.

Couldn't the back pole be angled back to follow the line of the back wall or would this make the shelter unstable? It's difficult to tell in the photos if this would be possible. I've never had a problem with a front entry shelter and the lack of a vestibule is a plus to me (always been wasted space for me and just another flap to deal with).

> Couldn't the back pole be angled back to follow the line of the back wall or would this make the shelter unstable?

Doing that would make that shelter severely unstable. You would loose all tension in the ridgeline and no amount of tightening would get it back.

-H

The Scout looks very similar to the Robens Summerwind http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Robens-Summer-Wind/1449 which has been discontinued, and the High Peak Swiftlite. http://www.highpeakusa.com/swiftlite

I have toyed with a design similar to this in the past. The easy way to eliminate the pole in the middle would be to do something like this on end.

This approach also allows for a covered vent at the foot.

The problem for me with this style of tent is the trekking pole in the entry. If you add a vestibule like I did, you practically have to be a contortionist to get in and out of the tent.

This tent won a Backpacker magazine editors choice award.
Oops didn't see the other post. Just got my issue today

Doug. Now you see first hand why we have such a hard time taking any kind of advice from Bacpacker.

How could it possibly win?

how many non-cuben tarp tents out there dont require sealing?

Obviously the foot end needed to be angled to be able to be placed into wind and shed wind.

Most of the changes people cry about would just add weight.

It was designed to be reasonable cost,not require sealing, simple setup, roomy, and very light for 2P to backpack with.

How it handles condensation is the only real question in my mind.
Looks low on ventillation.

It was designed to be reasonable cost,not require sealing, simple setup, roomy, and very light for 2P to backpack with.

And this is the best they could come up with? Reminds me of my terrible first pup tent. All the bad design elements are still here.