MLD Littlestar Initial Impressions

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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

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

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)

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