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MLD Littlestar Initial Impressions


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  • #1308268
    Arn Aarreberg
    Spectator

    @aarrebea

    Locale: Northern Bay Area, CA

    I received my MLD littlestar in the mail today and got a few minutes to set it up in the backyard. My initial impression is that this thing is huge. I can see now why people had an issue with the regular trailstar's footprint.

    I set it up with both a panel door and a corner door. Since I am 6'4, I think most of the time I will be setting it up with a corner raised for the door to allow easier entry and exit.

    Compared to previous shelters I have used (solomid and hexamid), this thing has a bunch of room to stretch out and have all of my gear under the tarp. I plan to give the littlestar a good workout this winter in my normal stomping grounds around the Bay Area.

    Here a couple of pictures, and for reference that is a 65 lbs pup to give an idea of scale.

    ls 1

    ls 2

    #2030137
    GD
    BPL Member

    @nsiderbam

    Yeah, the trailstar is a huge tarp. That's why I was originally interested in the littlestar when Ron first posted pics on facebook a long time ago…but I was too impatient so I went with the trailstar. It's a great shelter, but like you said, the footprint is huge.

    The littlestar looks like it would be great in bad/windy weather conditions for a solo hiker who wants some extra space.

    #2030143
    Andrew F
    Member

    @andrew-f

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    Very interesting to see some more photos of one of these. Do you happen to have any pics with a person or sleeping pad inside to give some sense of scale? How would it work for two people?

    #2030216
    Arn Aarreberg
    Spectator

    @aarrebea

    Locale: Northern Bay Area, CA

    I think 2 people could easily fit under the littlestar with it pitched up high, simliar to the pictures seen on th MLD site. If you pitch it to the ground, it might be a little tight.

    I'm going to seam seal the tarp this weekend, I'll try to take a few more pictures of the different pitches with pads underneath.

    #2030362
    Maris L
    BPL Member

    @ablaut

    Please let us know how it works out regarding your height! At 6'3" I had written off this one after seeing a few photos thinking I'd be brushing the walls with my head or feet.

    #2031090
    Arn Aarreberg
    Spectator

    @aarrebea

    Locale: Northern Bay Area, CA

    Here are a few more pictures with a large/wide borah gear bivy and evarest foam pad. I think 2 people under this tarp would work fine if both have a bivy. I had the center pole set at 110cm and could easily sit up in the middle and avoid brushing the walls. I will say that I am used to being cramped in my shelters and only spend time in them while sleeping. The littlestar is a breath of fresh air for me and I feel there is plenty of room to stretch out. If I can ever get Lou dog to stay still at night, this would be a great shelter for me and my dog.

    This is the corner pitched as the door with Lou dog enjoying the shade!

    corner pitch

    My bivy sticks out into the beak area with this pitch. There was a little more room to move back but my feet would probably stick poke out a little bit.

    corner

    Here it is pitched with the mid panal as the door. This solves the problem above with my bivy not being completely covered.

    mid panel

    #2044860
    Michael Ray
    Spectator

    @thaddeussmith

    Ordered mine last night. Looking forward to the smaller footprint from the regular TS since most of my camping is in woods or rocky desert. :D

    #2045746
    Donna C
    BPL Member

    @leadfoot

    Locale: Middle Virginia

    Any chance of giving us measurements? The MLD website just says 15% smaller. Also, do you feel that you really need a bivy for this tarp due to the smaller size?

    Thanks!

    #2045754
    Michael Ray
    Spectator

    @thaddeussmith

    The website says a lot more than that. :)

    35 sqft of usable space vs. the TS 50 sqft
    6'6" baseline vs. the TS 7'2" baseline
    32"-44" standard pitch heights vs. the TS 36" -44" pitch heights

    bivy needs will depend entirely on your height. It sounds like anyone over 6'3" should strongly consider additional protection.

    #2045762
    Donna C
    BPL Member

    @leadfoot

    Locale: Middle Virginia

    well dang!! Where are my reading glasses ???!
    : )

    #2045775
    Michael Ray
    Spectator

    @thaddeussmith

    To be fair, all of that detail is buried within the lengthy description content. :P

    #2049834
    Michael Ray
    Spectator

    @thaddeussmith

    I drove 985 miles yesterday and today from Tucson to Dallas and came home to my MLD package. So of course I set it up after hastily unpacking the car. :)

    It feels smaller than the original TrailStar I sold, but still fits my Yama 1.25 bug tent in bivy mode with more than enough room for gear. Still able to sit up in the middle and move around (I'm 5'11"), all with the slightly smaller footprint. I think I'll be a happy camper with this one.

    There also seams to be some improved stitching around the tie out points and overall construction quality (and the first one was pretty top notch)

    #2049838
    michael levi
    Member

    @m-l

    Locale: W-Never Eat Soggy (W)affles

    This is better than the duomid because it doesn't have zippers. Like the openness of my hexamid too.

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