New Light Tent

If fly/footprint weight is 2# 6oz, it is a typo.

Per the MSR website the weight is:

Fly + Footprint: 2 lbs

Fly + Inner (aka minimum weight): 2 lbs 6oz

Everything: 2 lbs 12 oz

The price is staggering but it looks like a nice tent.

http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/tents/backpacking-tents/freelite-2-ultralight-backpacking-tent/product

But that’s without the fly.  Add another pound for that.

Whoops, NM.  Shouldn’t take calls as I’m posting.

K

Yes REI specs are wrong. Not the first time, not the last.

On MSR’s website: Height – 36″ per the diagram, and that is to the outer shell. The inside height would have to be smaller. But 38″ according to the text of the specs given.
Could be lighter by subbing carbon poles, but using hubs with carbon is dicey.
But carbon poles would knock at least four ounces off the weight. But can we believe their specs for the weight? I’m with Ken T. on that. MSR has to be ‘see before you buy,’
unless you are sure the vendor will refund promptly for any reason.
I like the use of 15D nylon for the fly, significantly stronger than the 7-10D some others are using.
But without a fly that pitches first or with the inner, is it outmoded for foul weather backpacking? Lots of ‘buts.’

It does not much different to a Zoid 2 I purchased 20 years ago.

“It does not much different to a Zoid 2 I purchased 20 years ago.”
It doesn’t look anything like it to me …

$440 at REI.
You will probably find the ex-factory price in China is about $70. OK, maybe $80.
Seriously NOT stable in the wind.

Cheers

That link (in the first post) goes through AvantLink, rather than straight to REI’s site. Wondering what that meant, I looked it up:
“AvantLink is the industry leading cost-per-sale tracking and technology platform for affiliate marketing professionals.”

Interesting. Turns out REI+AvantLink publish how you can make money by referring customers to REI here which mentions 5% commision. With this tent that would be 22USD per person who buys the tent, not bad given the minimal research that went into the OP.

Now, it may not be the OP at all but somewhere he copied the link from, or it could even be BPL mangling the link (though that seems unlikely). Regardless of who it is, I think people should link directly to the manufacturers site. For two reasons:
– The manufacturer has accurate specs (unlike REI) and the authority on information about their product
– No ones making any money from referrals, which keeps everything nice and above board. I’d like to think you posted out of a true interest in sharing a new light tent, but as it is I can’t tell.

Avant links or amazon affiliate links on public forums = spam

Thanks Franco.

IMO the “Hubba” design language has resulted in superior freestanding tent designs with relation to space, volume and ease of entry/exit. Cascade’s lifetime warrantee is a no-questions-asked thing of beauty but came with the weight penalty of using relatively robust materials. This new-found willingness to use lighter fabrics is a welcome direction, but…

I wonder if the lifetime warrantee is retained on this new model line?

I noticed the “avantlink” too with another REI link I posted a couple weeks back. Not sure why it’s there – I am certainly not getting any commission. I highly doubt Daryl is either. I suspect it is an REI, Google, or BPL thing (most likely, it’s the new BPL software)

The tent looks pretty good though. From the photos, it looks like you would have a dry entry/exit and could keep the vestibule doors open in the rain. I suspect with some ingenuity, you could set up the fly first if you wanted. Price is high, but wait for a sale. The weight is definitely encroaching upon/beating some of the “cottage” shelters.

rm,

AvantLink is new to me.  I copied the link from the REI website and posted it here without any side trips, modifications, tinkering, etc.  Not seeking commissions.

Here’s a link taken directly from the MSR website, per your suggestion.  Did it survive the journey without getting avantlinked?

MSR

rm,

Do you think all REI links go through Avantlink and are therefore subject to potential commissions by a poster?

Is there an easy way for us to check when we open a link?  I don’t see anything that tells me.  I would like to know if someone is getting paid when they recommend or post something.  I would discount their opinion if I knew.  Maybe we need something like the magazine ads use “Paid Advertisement”.

I’d hate to give up posting REI links.  Sometimes the link takes the reader to a specific deal (e.g. Deal of the Day) that wouldn’t be available at the maker’s website.

I’d like to encourage people to post new stuff and adding a step might discourage them.  It’s hard enough already given the slowness of things.  Took 13 seconds from “submit” to load for this post, for example.

On that note, the new 2016 MSR Carbon Reflex is considerably lighter now with it’s 7d fly, 15d floor and 10d mesh. The Solo is listed at 1 lb 13 oz packed weight. That’s 11 oz lighter than the previous model. I can’t think of a lighter free standing tent, not even the BA Fly Creek UL Platinum. But unlike the BA the MSR is side entry, which makes it much better IMO.

The Carbon Reflex is not in any way free-standing.  Are you referring to the “FreeLite” (which is heavier)?

7d fly and 15d floor.  Take that for what it’s worth in longevity.

-H

If you right-click a link, there’s usually an option that says “Copy link address”. Select that option, then paste it in your browser. You can then see the link before proceeding there

It would be great to see a solid-fabric inner option for the MSR Freelite.

I see your point Henry, the Freelite has the Y pole structure at one end, but I think it would be more accurate to call the Carbon Reflex “semi- freestanding” because it does at least have a pole. And yes, the 7d fly and 15d floor is too thin for my taste as well.

The 2015 Carbon Reflexes with 20d fly, 40d floor and 15d mesh can be found selling for big markdowns right now. That’s personally the way I’d go because even the 15d floor and fly on the Freelite is too thin IMO.

I’d put the Carbon Reflex as not free-standing at all, and the new FreeLite as semi-freestanding. In my view, if a tent can take it’s full shape without stakes, then it’s freestanding. If it can stand without stakes, but isn’t fully deployed then it’s semi-freestanding (e.g. Big Agnes FC UL2, MSR FreeLite). If it lays down like a pancake without stakes then it’s not freestanding at all.

It’s interesting to look at MSR’s line of the Carbon Reflex2, FreeLite2 and Hubba Hubba NX2, as they are all the same basic design but different in materials and pole structure (and dimensions a little).

Compared to the Hubba HubbaNX, the Freelite loses 3″ of headroom (36″ vs 39″) but no floor/vestibule space. It loses the forked pole structure on one end so it’s only semi-freestanding and it uses lighter materials (mostly 15D instead of 20-30D). The result is 17oz saved (2lbs 6oz minimum weight vs 3 lbs 7oz). So it’s an extra $40, only-semi-freestanding, less durable and a little smaller but a big 17oz lighter.

Going to the Carbon Reflex from the FreeLite loses more headroom (34″ vs 36″) and vestibule width (24″ vs 30″), uses carbon poles, even lighter fabrics (7D fly vs 15D) and becomes not freestanding at all with the other forked end of the pole structure gone. The result is another 9oz saved (1 lbs 13oz min weight). So it’s an extra $60, not freestanding, even less durable and even smaller but 9oz lighter over the FreeLite and 26oz lighter than the Hubba Hubba NX.

I personally like a semi-freestanding tent so I can fine tune it’s location after it’s pitched and so it’s easy to shake out debris. I also am wary of a 7D fly because these tends to sag more in wet conditions so they’re more likely to be plastered against the inner. So I suspect the FreeLite is the sweet spot but it would be neat if it came with a Carbon pole option.

In this context “semi- freestanding” means that it is inherently unstable — you need at least 3 contact points for a stable structure–and it falls over if you don’t stake it.  Semi-freestanding does apply to a typical dome tent with a 4-contact-point pole structure that holds up the interior but not usually the full fly perimeter that includes the vestibules.

John,

Pasting the links as you suggested worked.  Showed the avant contamination of my original REI posted link  and the non-contaminated MSR  link I subsequently posted.

Learn something new each day.

I think Roger nailed it when he posted that the structural issue is primarily wind stability, and IMO, not the definition of freestanding.
I’d add to that the number of stakes needed for wind stability and the strength of the pole frame, if there is one.

Although some of the MSR flies can be pitched alone, they do not do that with the inner tent attached inside the fly. Nor can the inner tent be attached inside the fly after the fly is separately pitched. So if it is raining bullets, and you want the inner with its bathtub floor, it will become a true bathtub by the time the fly is secured.

Don’t know much about climate change science, but it does seem to be raining bullets a lot more often lately.

Agree with all who mentioned the problem with an inner tent pitching first, the struggle to get a fly over top on windy conditions, the lack of real structure, and the hyperbole used to market “freestanding” in tents like this.

Where are light weight, relatively affordable, storm worthy, tents besides Tarptents (and a few others)?

Seems that a company such as MSR could come up with some meaningful tents and stoves for that matter.  But alas…