Big Agnes Scout UL2 Plus – Initial Impressions

On this type of shelter you should not apply tension on the side guylines.
Most of the tension should be longitudinal , so the front apex and rear apex guyline need be be taut , then the four corner guyouts should also be pulled out .
If you pull the sides out you change the shape of the tent and lose longitudinal tension.
Try that.
BTW, this is why a sideway pole at the front does not work well, however two can.

You didn't try the front poles inside the tent?

By the way, ProLiteGear has the tent on sale for $279.98

I think Franco is right. The issue is especially apparent in the photo that you took in the snow.

Good points Franco, I'll stick to that method next time.

I start each night out that way, with little tension on the side tie outs, and the majority of the tension being longitudinal. Over the night, as it sags, I have to re-tension. This time I tensioned the side guy lines, along with the longitudinal guylines, which helped keep the roof off of me. But it did change the shape of the tent a bit.

Interestingly enough, the photo in the snow was pitched at the same time as photo #1. I left it there for 24 hours, and it snowed that night, causing the roof line to sag from the weight of the snow. I'm sure keeping the pole straight would have helped significantly to reduce the main roof sag.

I'm a big fan of the double poles up front, I'll definitely be doing it that way moving forward. Sounds like I have some more experimenting to do.

I should also note, that when I pitched it with the two poles in front, they were fully extended to the "stop" mark on them.

@ Paul,

No, I haven't tried the poles inside the tent yet. I don't really see a point, and I'd rather have them poking the ground than poking the inside of the tent.

This tent seems almost identical to the Yama Mountain gear Cirriform, only with a silnylon roof instead of the cuben found on a Yama, and with a vestibule that goes all the way to the ground. If money were no object, I'd think about getting the Yama. I prefer the way cuben pitches taut and stays taut. However, I like the way the vestibule goes all the way to the ground on the scout UL2.

More experimentation to come, but in the end, the Yama seems like the perfect combination of materials, albeit with a beak that's too short. If the grey part of this tent were cuben, it'd be a winner for me.

I gotta agree with 6string Steve about the windblown dusty sand getting into the Squall 2 through the floor level mesh vents. I had the same problem with my single wall Moment and that's one of the reasons I sold it (to a midswesterner, where there is far less sand than in Nevda).

So yeah, for windy desert camping the Squall 2 may not be the best. It would be nice if there was a way to seal off those mesh vents but it would also add weight.

@sixstringsteve: You would place the poles tip up inside the tent. Did your trekking poles come with rubber tip protectors? The Komperdell ones that are included with their poles weigh 2g each. How sturdy is the reinforcement at the apex of the tent?

Placing the poles inside could eliminate the need to stake the two front corners of the tent.

If you don't wish to bring more than two trekking poles, a carbon-fiber rear pole from Rutalocura would weigh approximately 2 ounces.
http://www.rutalocura.com/Tent_Poles.html

I could place the tips either up or down inside the tent, but it looks like the floor is more reinforced than the roof. I don't have rubber protectors, but they're cheap.

I still don't understand how pitching the poles inside the tent would be an advantage. I'm going to have to pitch the corners regardless.

Time for an update.

I've bagged 6 nights in this tent so far. I've had it in rain, snow, wind, sand, and calm weather. Here are my experiences:

On clear nights, with the vestibule all the way open, this tent breathes great and condensation is a non-issue. I love the tent in these conditions

On rainy nights in the desert, with low humidity before the rainstorm, it keeps us completely dry and condensation isn't an issue, even with the vestibule completely closed. I was surprised how well it ventilated this way.

It the ground is humid or moist when you pitch your tent, it seems like no matter what you do you're going to end up with condensation on the roof inside the tent. This past weekend we slept the San Rafael Swell river. It was so humid with the river nearby that the tent was dripping condensation from the roof. Most of it made it through the mesh vents, but some of it trickled down to the floor. Granted, even our cars were covered in dew that day, but the inside of our tent fared far worse than everyone else who had a double-wall tent (as could be expected). In this instance, any tent would have condensation on the inside, but this had so much that the outside of my bag was soaked in the morning.

We've had the same experience when camping in snow, just too much condensation on the roof no matter what we do. This has been the case with other single-wall tents we've used, so it's no worse for this.

In the wind and the sand in the desert, with the vestibule closed it completely keeps sand out of the tent and still allows it to vent. I bought this tent for sandy desert, and I think it'd perfect for these environments provided you're far away from humid water sources (like rivers). The design of the high bathtub floors really keeps the sand and dust out, which is nice. In the desert, there aren't many lightweight tents that can keep the sand out. This one does a great job.

Here are the things I absolutely love about this tent:

1) the bathtub floors come up high enough to block out any sand or dust blowing around, yet it still has decent ventilation. I will never own a tent with short bathtub sides again!
2) fast, intuitive, and easy to set up
3) fantastic value. The weight/price/quality balance is fantastic
4) sturdy. I haven't seen any construction issues, and it has zero signs of wear.
5) the vestibule comes all the way to the ground. Love it! That's huge for me, when sand only needs an inch to to blow under your vestibule into your tent. It's tough to find vestibules that come all the way to the ground.
6) this tent has cool features like pockets, reflective guy lines, intuitive hang and tie-out loops, etc that a lot of the cottage manufacturers leave out in their designs.
7) warm. This tent is warm, despite the vents all around.
8) the ability to pitch with trekking poles. This is huge for me. I'm carrying trekking poles anyway, so I might as well put them to good use while I'm sleeping. No need to carry dedicated tent poles
9)the design allows for poles to be pitched outside the tent, making setup much easier. I also like the ability to adapt the front to take two trekking poles in an "A" shape to allow an easier entry.

All that being said, no tent is perfect for every condition, and I've found a few things that bother me just a little bit.

1) Not enough headroom. I'm 5'6" with a long torso, and my wife is 5'5" with long legs; we aren't big people. Once we're lying down, there is plenty of extra space past our feet. Tall people shouldn't have a problem lying down in this tent. In fact, we'd be able to stash our packs at our feet if we wanted to.

However, I don't feel that the tent is tall enough inside. When lying down and rolling over, or reaching for something in my pack, my bag often comes in contact with inner roof/walls of the tent, spreading condensation to my bag. On a single-wall tent, it's imperative that you don't come in contact with the ceiling since it is usually wet. To me, that means a design that keeps the roof/walls off you in the night. On dry nights with the vestibule open, coming in contact with the ceiling isn't a problem at all since it's dry. However, if it's humid outside, or below freezing, you're going to have a ceiling that's covered in dew, even if you leave the vestibule open. If the walls were 6" taller before they came in contact with the roof, it'd be ideal and I wouldn't mind the condensation since it would stay off of me. Even 4" more would be great. Big-bodied people would have a really tough time avoiding contact with the ceiling. If used as a 1-man tent, it would be just fine.

Sitting up in the tent can only be done near the tent entrance, and you need to be careful not to brush the walls of the tent. If it's arid, you can touch the roof all you want, but if there's condensation you'll get wet. I can only imagine two tall people sharing this tent while waiting out a 10 hour rainstorm, trying not to bump the ceiling. For single-man use, none of these complaints apply.

Also, since the foot area is shorter than the head area, climbing around to reach something at the foot of the tent can be tight, and often involves contact with the ceiling.

2) Snagging zipper on the vestibule. The main zipper for the vestibule often snags on the storm flap. In my opinion, it'd be better not to have the storm flap at all. The vestibule sits up to 24+" away from the tent body, so even if it weren't a waterproof zipper, it'd take quite a bit to get water to reach the tent. This past weekend the zipper got stuck in the storm flap no less than 3 times between me and my wife, even being very cautious as we zip. We were always able to unsnag it without damage, but it took climbing outside the tent to inspect
the flap and see what's really going on.

Other observations:

With the vestibule closed, you can't see outside the tent. This isn't a big deal AT ALL, just an observation. The primary objective of a tent is to shelter you, so being able to see out the tent is just a nice bonus. Sometimes it's tough to tell if the sun has come up or not yet, so I have to sit up and unzip the vestibule, which isn't a big deal at all. Most tents on the market don't allow you to see outside when in storm mode.

Stretchy, flappy. Unlike cuben tents, the silnylon construction of this tent caused it to loosen up over time. I learned to stretch the main line taught, which prevented the roof from sagging, but due to the stretchiness of silnylon, this tent will never pitch as taught as a cuben tent. This means rustling in the wind, and sections losening up over time. These issues aren't unique to this tent, all silnylon tents suffer from this.

Overall, I really like this tent. I'd give an 8.5 out of 10 stars. If the walls were higher and I was able to keep the ceiling off of my all night, it'd be a strong 9.5. That being said, the tent would be heavier, and it may not be easy to pitch since my trekking pole is almost maxed out at current height.

If the grey material were cuben fiber, and if the walls were 4" taller, this would be my ideal tent. I would happily pay double for those features. That being said, I'm really pleased with big agnes' aggressive approach to lightweight tents. The more lightweight tents we have to choose from, the better, and it's nice to see the big guys dipper their toes into trekking pole shelters.

I think you should work for BPL given this is a proper review of a tent. Nice job.

"Unlike cuben tents, the silnylon construction of this tent caused it to loosen up over time."

I thought the fabric was a PU coated nylon?

Thanks, it would be a dream job to work for BPL or any other company reviewing gear. I love testing new gear, and I appreciate thorough reviews from other people, so I'm trying my best to pass my experiences on to others to help them make more informed decisions.

From Big Agnes:
Tent body is silicone treated nylon rip-stop with 1200mm waterproof polyurethane coating.

I assumed that meant silnylon?

Nice review Steve. One of these days I'll actually get out on the trail and meet you in person.

Absolutely. Let me know when you're in Utah next.

"Tent body is silicone treated nylon rip-stop with 1200mm waterproof polyurethane coating."
Generally that kind of fabric does not refer to silnylon. The nylon is coated on the inside with PU for water-proofness and a silicone treatment is added to the exterior of the fabric for additional DWR. Most larger gear makers prefer to use a PU coated fabric because they can seam tape it. To my knowledge there is no such thing as a silicone based seam tape.
Generally PU coated fabrics do no have the stretch that silnylons have and thus are less prone to sagging once they get wet.

Thanks for the clarification Jesse.

Campmor lists it as RS Sil/Nylon.

This tent fabric is far stretchier than any other tent I've used, it almost feels like lycra when you're staking it out.