Freestanding vs Non freestanding tent for traveling abroad

I started with a copper spur ul2 and let me say that it would be quite stuffy without the fly staked out so imo you would still want to stake it out and therefore wouldn’t avoid using stakes.

Yes, I planned on still using the basic stakes for the fly. The biggest difference I guess is that if it is just for the fly, rocks would be easier on those guylines. I feel like rocks would be harder to use to set up the entire shelter vs. just using it to pull the fly out.

Most people around here don’t give much love to freestanding designs.   I prefer them but you do pay a weight penalty and you still use stakes.    The stakes are just much less critical and you do have additional site flexibility.

For a solo I’m really liking the looks of the new REI QD1.