Does a trekking pole tent make sense for me if I don’t use trekking poles?

I’m not sure if I’d go free standing per say, but a trekking pole shelter doesn’t make as much sense for someone that doesn’t use trekking poles.   What about something like the Tarptent Moment?

You could get a trekking-pole tent and start using trekking poles. :-)

Weight savings and multiple use items aside, the thing I like most about trekking pole tents is pitching the fly first.  Pitching a traditional tent inner in the rain is a miserable experience.

I’d take a close look at something like the Tarptent Double Rainbow before going with something that requires additional poles.  I picked up a well used older version that needed a few small repairs (zippers, sealing, etc) for my kids to use on backcountry hikes.  The setup is something they can easily manage, and livable space is pretty great.

If you’re set on silpoly, maybe grab some cascade mountain tech poles at first to get the hang of things?  I like the pole length being adjustable, I think going to something fixed could cause some learning curve headaches as well as take away from some of the tent’s adjustability for conditions.

I like the pole length being adjustable, I think going to something fixed could cause some learning curve headaches as well as take away from some of the tent’s adjustability for conditions.

^This.  It depends on the tent, I guess.  I occasionally use fixed-length poles with my Tarptent Notch, and it’s always worked fine, but I’m not at all confident my X-Mid 2 would be as forgiving of dips/rises on the site.

A lot of vendors do sell separate poles specifically for their shelters, since some folks want to use them bikepacking, paddling… They look like they break down to be easily packed.

From a weight perspective, not really. I don’t use trekking poles so when looking at trekking pole tents I need to add in the weight, bulk, and cost of added support poles for an apples to apples comparison with “free standing” tents. Usually the weight savings of a trekking pole tent becomes moot or insignificant enough that the additional fuss factor isn’t worth it (for me). With that being said, single pole mids are a different equation and you can still see decent weight and bulk savings over more traditional options. Currently, I use a Locus Gear Khufu (16 ounces) w/ a Ruta Locura carbon fiber adjustable pole (~5 ounces). Add a groundsheet, or sometimes an inner net tent if bugs are bad, and I’m still seeing a decent weight, and bulk, savings over a more traditional “free standing” tent.

Trekking pole tents are certainly less compelling from a weight perspective if you don’t use trekking poles. But with trekking pole tents at least the poles are useful for something other than pitching the tent. :)

One huge bonus with with trekking pole tents is that even without the trekking poles, it’s super easy to get a stick and put it into there with a sock or something on the top tip against the tent. Makes for nice backup for if someone is using a single trekking pole and breaks it. Just swap in a stick.

That’s harder to do with free standing tents.

I do think there are a large variety of trekking pole tents that have much more headroom than their freestanding competitors in the same weight class, so if headroom matters to you it could be worth it just for that. Headroom while sitting up, that is. While lying down they tend to be worse.

I just made this trekking pole substitute for my Zpacks Pocket Tarp from 3 pieces of 18″ CF tubing I had in my shop. Large wire nuts screw onto the ends for more contact area. I suppose I could get away with just one for the top. For the top I hot glued 2 furniture/stool “feet” feet together, the smaller of which has a hole that the wire nuts fit into perfectly. I made this for bikepacking, primarily because my trekking poles are 2-piece and only pack down to 30″ long, which is a pain to pack on the bike. This pole packs down to 19.” I could get it down to 16″ if I cut all 3 segments, but I wanted to leave two of them at 18″ in case I want to use them for something else some day. The 3 oz weight savings is nice too.