Bearpaw lair vs. Zpacks hexamid

I went with a ZPacks shelter mostly for weight savings and in some cases, better price. My Solo with bug netting, attached line per factory specs, no beak, 8 ti stakes comes in at 12.6 oz.
Duane

"Bearpaw seems cheaper and offers more options (sewn-in 30D silnylon floor, etc.). "
The Lair is only cheaper if you opt for the silnylon floor. If you get the cuben floor, it is more expensive, and the floor is less robust (.74 oz cuben vs 1.0 oz). ZPacks can do the groundsheet sewn in if you choose.
I have bought from Bearpawwd and I was happy with the experience, but ZPacks go above and beyond in my experience.

I have the lair from bearpaw but its the floorless version. if you have any questions, I will do my best to try and answer them.

josh

I am planning on trying out a Lair later this year because of the new hanging floor option. This is a more traditional tarp tent bug/net/floor arrangement sewn back from edge of the fly. In .51 cuben with a 30D silnylon floor it should end up about an ounce lighter than my Hexamid Solo+ (carry weight, including stakes & guylines.) It would give up some space and the extended beak but it might be worth it for the more conventional floor. The .74 cuben Lair floor only saves about an ounce, and at the cost of $90 and a lot of durability.

Josh, a few queations as I am thinking about the Lair without the extended beak and a pyranet 1 with extended cuben or sil on all 4 sides.
Did you chose cuben or the sylnylon?
Did you add the extended beak and if not are you finding coverage in a storm to be adequate?
Thanks,
BJ

my lair is the sylnylon version.
the dims on mine are a little bit bigger then the norm @ 118" x 36".
mine also has the perimeter netting.

i did not go w/ the extended beak since i'm not the original owner. since i have had the lair for a little while now i'm not sure if it would bother with the extended beak. if/when weather gets bad i just drop the height down a bit. coverage imo is more then adequate.

hth…

I got the beak not so much for rain, but for wind. I figure it will be better in the wind. Without a beak I figure if the wind comes from the wrong direction it will blow in the entry and have unwanted lift… the beak should reduce that.

Haven't use it yet, but judging from the pitch in my living room I'm glad I ordered the beak.. for wind.

bill

Reading Mark Verber's review here

http://www.verber.com/mark/outdoors/gear/reviews/zpacks-hexamid.html

it seems he was having issues with the moisture soaking into the mesh. I think the shelter nearly doubled in weight due to the moisture absorbed.

Any ideas for alleviating this issue? I was planning on using a polycro groundsheet underneath the mesh, would this help any?

"I was planning on using a polycro groundsheet underneath the mesh, would this help any?"
It helps, in my experience. Don't make it too big or water will run onto it. Ours is slightly smaller than the groundsheet minus the bathtub walls.

That's good to hear. Do you use a polycro groundsheet over the mesh or the cuben bathtub floor from Zpacks?

Josh,
Thanks for the info. That really helped with my decision.
BJ

David,
We use the cuben floor, though we have tried using polycro. We found it too slippy (for the sleeping mats). I don't know if silicon sealer or similar on the polycro could help with that.

I have a question Josh, if you are still responding to this post…I know it's old…
Are you able to get a taught pitch on your Lair? Some of the pics on their website do not show a taught pitch so I am curious, since you'd think their own website would show a taught pitch if it was possible. Thanks in advance!

@ Sarah,

Could you please explain what do you mean by "taught pitch"?
:-)

getting a taught pitch with the lair could be a little fussy at times. once you set up it up a couple time and with the linelocks it wasnt much of an issue.

after completely forgetting about this thread i have since bought hexamid w/ an extended beak. :)