Light weight tent search continues

My fav UL has been the Tarptent Moment DW solo tent for 4 season use with the partial ripstop inner.

With the optional crossing pole it is good for winter  snow loads and high winds too.

But there are some nice Tarptent single wall tents out there as well for even less weight.

I saw that Eric had commented before I clicked on this thread, so I knew TarpTent had already been suggested.  :)

I’ve never owned one but Six Moons Designs offer some affordable shelters.

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/collections/tents

A Big Sky Mirage 2P is 2.5 lbs.  I have a one person model and I like it for the times when I want to use something perhaps a little bit more storm/wind resistant.

I’ve owned the BA Fly Creek 2 tent.  Its a good tent and worked well for me.  Light and semi- freestanding.  Very popular on the PCT.

I now use Nemo Hornet 2 person tent.  I like the side entrance better.  Check it out.

It is getting so much easier to find lighweight gear.  I see that the Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 Classic is on clearance on the REI Outlet website, and REI’s new Quarter Dome 2 SL has hit stores.  Those 2 tents are both semi-freestanding.  The BA has a front entrance, while the QD has double side doors.

If you are an REI member, then perhaps you recall that dividends hit soon, AND there have been 20% off coupons in the past….

I’ve used a lot of different tents. They all have their pluses and minuses. You can’t really go wrong if you choose any one of the ones usually recommended around here. You might find things you don’t like, but you won’t die. When I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail I had a Gossamer Gear One. Great tent, but I did suffer from it falling down in the wind a lot. Maybe that was user error. At some point I used a Gossamer Gear/Tarptent Contrail. That tent worked fine, even missing one of its pieces, but I cursed every time I crawled out and the door flaps soaked my back with rainwater. My partner purchased a 6 Moons Lunar Duo that we use when we go on trips together. This is a great tent but I curse it every time I have to fuss with the spreader bars. I’ve also used a 6 Moons cuben fiber tent they don’t make anymore. I really love that tent a lot –takes only 3 stakes!– but it’s pretty tiny so I’m sure big people would curse it. I’ve also used a tarp and a rain poncho. Tarping is fine but I know I would curse it in mosquito country. I have a friend who has the Big Agnes Fly Creek tent. Looks like a great tent to me and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like that tent. I kind of like things that are a bit more dirt-baggy or gram-weenie myself.

When I was hiking the PCT, by the time I got to Northern Oregon I met some guy who was totally into ultralight gear and he was so excited to meet a PCT hiker and talk about gear but at that point I didn’t care about my gear at all. It all had good points and bad points, but it all worked fine, it all allowed me to hike the trail. Gear was just a tool to let me take a good long walk and become a forest dweller, naturalized to the woods and peering out at the world of cars and jobs with curiosity as if I no longer was of that world. What an awesome feeling! The thing my gear didn’t do for me was fill my belly with all-you-can-eat breakfast. That’s the only thing that really mattered.

It all had good points and bad points.

Simple words, profound meaning. Good to remember, about everything in life, really. 🙏

What weight and price point are you aiming for ?

Diane, I agree 100%.

Robert, Sticking with a major manufacturer mentioned here (in other places on the site as a good tent,) you will not go wrong.

I would suggest a combination net tent and tarp for most three season camping. Purchasing a combination lets you go a pound lighter if you head out solo (with just the tarp) and upgrade gear to cuben as needed/wanted (fly, net-tent.) The two pieces reguire a bit more setting up, but, keeps other things simpler, for example setting up midday in a storm.

The two piece set-up is cooler in bad weather and can pick up more wind in higher elevations. It is cooler in summer temps than a tent, and almost as well ventilated as using the tarp alone. Anyway, something to consider.

I purchased the Fly Creek, then sent it back. Too small. I liked the Copper Spur. Still do.

I’m going to try Dan Durston’s Xmid. It’ll save maybe 14 oz. over the copper spur.

$200 – whata deal, but you have to order it on massdrop, and it won’t get here for quite awhile.

++ on Diane’s post

Do you (or your tent mate) use trekking poles?

Are you backpacking with a significant other, a friend, or just want the extra room of a 2p shelter?

What type of conditions do you plan to use the shelter in?

What’s your target weight and budget?

I’ve had a pile of 2-man tents over the years. My wife and my favorite is the current BA Copper Spur HV UL2, made more wonderful by the offering of a subtle, non-eye-straining, mossy green color.

BA also has a pile of new tents that are even lighter, including a “Tiger Wall Platinum” which looks outstanding and is about 13oz’s less than the Copper Spur. The “normal” Tiger Wall looks great too, and with its more robust fabric, is still 9oz’s less the the Copper Spur 2P. I think there’s a diminishing return going lighter than something like the fabrics found on the regular Copper Spur or Tiger Wall.

I saw the Nemo Hornet 2P mentioned, and while the 1P is among my favorite solo tents, I find the 2P is a bit on the small side for a couple.

There are a lot of good choices out there these days…