HMG Ultamid 2 vs Tarptent Stratosphere li

I’m looking at the MLD Duomid and the Stratospire Li as well so following this thread…

For solo or duo use?  Bugs?

I’ve not had the Ultamid 2, but I did have the Ultamid 4, a Duomid, and a Stratospire 2.

I’d take the SS Li. You’re getting a lot more useable volume/headroom with the two pole design, you don’t have a central pole, you have much more vestibule area, and the price is much lower. The SS Li is a much more liveable shelter.

If you think about the underlying geometry, one pole is not a lot of structure for a 2P shelter (e.g. it won’t give a lot of volume). If you have two poles on hand anyways, why not use both of them to get a lot more volume? Yeah the UltaMid does use two poles strapped together, but still at one peak which provides a lot less volume than two peaks spaced well apart. With the SS Li (and other two pole designs) you get a large increase in volume, plus no pole in the living space. The main functional reason to choose the UltaMid IMO is the pitching simplicity. Rectangle based tents are a lot simpler to stake out/setup. The ultimate IMO is a rectangle base and two pole design because then you have both a simple pitch and more spacious shelter with efficient geometry. I wrote a blog post on this topic that explains why single pole mids are “inefficient”. They are simple so intuitively we may think of them as light, but they actually have poor area:volume ratios so they are heavy for the space they provide (e.g. the UltaMid2 may use more fabric than the SS Li to provide less volume).

The DuoMid is quite a different shelter. The same rationale applies but it’s way smaller than the UltaMid 2 and really a 1P shelter. For 1P, a single pole is more justifiable because there isn’t a pole between two occupants and the headroom is less limited because you don’t have two people trying to share a single high point to sit up.

I have an SS2 (sil) and am quite fond of it. The Li version is gorgeous. (I know, not one’s top priority, but that video shot from above makes it look like a well-faceted gemstone).

The only rule-out factor for me: it’s only 45″ across and we are wide-pad sleepers.

If I needed to buy a solo tent right now for your circumstances, I would buy that in a heartbeat.

But if I had something good enough for now and were waiting for the perfect upgrade, I’d hold out until Durston’s (that guy’s^^^) X-mids come out in DCF versions.

The Duomid is a solo shelter IMO, and a very good one.  I have a 2015 Duomid, but also have a X-Mid that I am liking better and better.  I’m not convinced it’s quite as storm worthy as the Duomid, but I’m just about convinced it’s storm worthy enough for my needs.