MSR Elixir, some advice please

Joseph,

I had purchased the Elixir 2p when my wife and I first started backpacking. We took it on two trips before deciding to exchange for something else. It’s not a bad tent by any means, but ours was quite big while packed up and was relatively heavy for a 2p tent. Also it was smaller compared to other options.

Other thing I didn’t like was how tall the bathtub floors were and how little mesh was on the inner. With two walled tents, I prefer the inner to be mainly mesh with relatively low floors. By having the inner tent be primarily silnylon, it created a good amount of condensation.

I don’t think you’d hate the tent by any means, but I would personally go with another choice if it was me. One other piece of advice, forget the the manufacture tent footprint. They are way overpriced and often much more than needed. There are super cheap options that are extremely light and packable. It’s ok if it’s not exactly the dimensions of your floor. I actually prefer my footprints to be approx 2 inches smaller than the floor to keep it hidden and away from any pooling water. Even Tyvek works great.

Heres just one example of other footprint options.

https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/product/ul-ground-cloth/

Thank you for your input.

The msr is within my price range and I know msrs customer service as I’ve had other people tell me how well they operate from their past experiences. They stand behind their products very well.

Without beinf abke to see the tents it makes it so difficult for me to be able to choose a tent suitable. Based on the measurements there is plenty of  room in the 1 for me; and as I don’t sleep on my back, there is ample room to store a pack on the inside even if I wanted.

I just don’t know what to get at this point.

there are a lot lighter tents made by good companies here is an example SIXMOON DESIGNS LUNAR SOLO .they have other TENTS also, TARPTENT makes light good quality well priced tents.This is Backpacking LIGHtT I don’t think you are going to find anybody recommending a 4-5lb tent when there are people here whose pack base weight is usually 5-10lbs. Keep an eye out in the Gear Swap section here, people are always putting tents up for sale there and the LUNAR SOLO can be bought at Backcountry gear right now with the coupon code cool20off for $160 and weighs 26oz or the SIXMOON DESIGN SCOUT which is 40oz still at least 1.5 lbs lighter than the MSR can be had for $108 with the same coupon code

HERE is a general list I link for newbies on lightening your load with lots info including doing it cheaply,  For some reason in my newbie help link the Oregon Field Guide Ultralight Hiking video link is down so if you want to watch it(it is worth watching) HERE  is another link for you so you can( it starts 8 min 30 sec. into the episode). Welcome to BPL