Tarptent Saddle 2 Arrived

God how I love a new tent!  Hope you have a great trip.

Using the guylines attached to the roof apexes will allow you to get the roof apex taught (key to a good pitch) and allow you to leave the vestibule doors open and rolled up.

First night in the tent.  I can’t give the full review most would like because there was neither rain nor wind.

I’m an assistant scoutmaster, and our troop camped at the Sandy Spring Adventure park.  They have campsites just beyond the ropes courses.  We camped Saturday night since the only time we could get the troop on the ropes course was 8am Sunday morning.

I’ve only set up the tent twice, but it’s not as complicated as I thought it might be.  Again, this was in perfect conditions.  Follow the Tarptent video and then make your adjustments.  This is my first trekking pole tent, so I can’t compare it to others.  Once I had the tent out of the bag, poles set to the right length and stakes in hand, I had it set up in just over 5 minutes.  It would be faster if I didn’t have to deal with scout issues.

I used a Tyvek wrap under it.  I realize when backpacking many don’t use a ground sheet.  Since we’re car camping, I figure I’ll keep the tent cleaner using one.

The night started warm, so it was nice being able to roll up the doors and get lots of ventilation.

I’m used to a 3 person Big Agnes tent, so It’s smaller than what I usually use.  I’m 6’3″, but there’s plenty of room to bring my gear inside.  I’m sure when I take my son backpacking, there will be decent room inside.

So far, so good.

Oh, yes, I did fix that pole in the last picture.  :)

6’3″, huh?  How’s sitting up in it?

Sitting up was fine.  The poles on the ends help keep a good ceiling height.  I had no trouble getting changed in the morning.

Todd,

I’m 6’4″ and my wife and I find it pretty roomy. The interior is spacious.

Thanks, Brad and Ryan.  Now is there anyone 6’5″ out there to chime in?  :-)

I’m 6′ tall, and I’ve only used the Saddle for one night so far, but I thought it was a little cramped. The way the corners of the roof slope in, you can really only sit up in the middle of the tent if you’re sharing it with another person. But it’s similar to other tents of similar weight, like the Copper Spur UL2. For the weight of the Saddle I can’t complain. Also, if you take down the inner tent, the space under the tarp is huge.

Matt, I agree. When compared to other tents in this category, which ones have better headroom?

When I say the same category, I mean weight, price and are not just a tarp, but a 2 walled tent.

When I was sitting up, it was in the center of the tent. I don’t really see a need to sit up anywhere else in the tent, at least for me. This will mostly be a solo tent, but I hope to do some trips with my son.

The Notch actually has a slightly higher peak height. The Copper Spur HV UL2 has a slightly lower peak height, but the area where you can sit up looks a bit bigger. The Scarp might be a bit bigger, but it’s a lot heavier. The StratoSpire 2 is significantly taller, but you have to sleep head-to-toe. The floor is a bit larger.

Try the Saddle without the inner (when bugs/ weather permit) just using a floor.

i do this with the Scarp, and i just bought a Saddle and plan to do that a lot.

The Notch actually has a slightly higher peak height. The Copper Spur HV UL2 has a slightly lower peak height, but the area where you can sit up looks a bit bigger. The Scarp might be a bit bigger, but it’s a lot heavier. The StratoSpire 2 is significantly taller, but you have to sleep head-to-toe. The floor is a bit larger.

Right.  There are always tradeoffs.  If you spend a lot of time in your tent, then I can see looking into something bigger, but it’s probably going to weigh more.

Removing the net on the Saddle 2 does give you a large tarp and even more headroom.  It’s nice to have the option.

You don’t have to sleep head to toe in the StratoSpire 2. The headroom is just a bit asymmetrical. Even sleeping with your head at the end with less headroom, you still have more than the Saddle.

I posted some early thoughts on the Saddle 2 vs StratoSpire2 on my blog:
https://intocascadia.com/2017/05/10/tarptent-saddle-2-vs-stratospire-2/

Since I posted that, I’ve been using the Saddle daily on a thru-hike. The Saddle is a nice tent, but I think the SS2 is easily the better design. Some cons with the Saddle include:
– door clips are a pain, often requiring two hands to close. Zips are better
– on wet nights (rain or condensation), rain drips onto the inner when you roll up the doors because it runs down the rolled door and then drips.
– doors don’t fully cover the inner, so rain falls directly onto the inner
– doors are much smaller, so egress is harder

The Saddle 2 is lighter and a bit easier to pitch, so it’s a good shelter in moderate conditions, but the SS2 is far more livable in wet conditions. Considering my old SS2 weighed nearly the same as my new Saddle, I feel like the Saddle is a step back.

Considering my old SS2 weighed nearly the same as my new Saddle, I feel like the Saddle is a step back.

Okay, this caught my attention. How do you define “nearly”? The Tarptent website says the SS2 is 9 oz heavier than the Saddle 2.

I’m also interested in your other observations. The non-dripless entry is a big deal. Not sure I’d care about the two-handed door clip, as I’ve never had a fly zipper I could operate with one hand anyway.

I only have 1 night in the tent. It was a warm night with no threat of rain or wind, so it’s hard for me to fully judge everything. I had 1 door open on each side. I would have done both, but wanted some privacy.

I agree that I’ve never been able to operate the zipper on any tent with 1 hand. I’m not sure where the outer fails to cover the inner for rain.

It looks like the Saddle 2 has much better ground level ventilation with the doors closed than the SS2 since you can open the huge vents on each end.

It looks like the Saddle 2 has much better ground level ventilation with the doors closed than the SS2 since you can open the huge vents on each end.

The ground level ventilation is very good as are the end vents.

Anyone 6’4″ that could compare this to the rainbow 2?

“How do you define “nearly”? The Tarptent website says the SS2 is 9 oz heavier than the Saddle 2.”

The SS2 used to be a lot lighter than it is now. I believe it was spec’d at 40oz when it came out a few years ago, and my old one actually weighed 39.4oz if memory serves, so it was only about 1.5oz heavier than my Saddle.

“I’m also interested in your other observations. The non-dripless entry is a big deal. Not sure I’d care about the two-handed door clip, as I’ve never had a fly zipper I could operate with one hand anyway.”

There’s two issues with the door and water getting in. The first is that water gets trapped in the door fabric when you roll it (either condensation inside, or rain drops outside). When you roll the door, this water runs down the inside of the roll and drips out the end, which is on top of the tent inner near the end. So when you roll the door you want to roll the door “outwards” rather than rolling in it, so the roll itself is positioned on top of the fly rather than inside. This helps, but some drips will still get on the inner if it’s pretty wet.

The other issue is rain falling right in. There’s not a ton of inner that is exposed to vertical rain, but still enough that you want to hustle when you’re opening the door if it’s raining decently. Here is a vertical picture of the door:

I finally finished writing up a long term review of the Saddle 2 on my blog. It’s quite in depth (i.e. long winded).
https://intocascadia.com/2017/10/02/long-term-review-tarptent-saddle-2/

Unfortunately, the review is quite negative. The tent has been a disappointment compared with my previous TarpTent (SS2). The major issues are quite saggy silnylon, door design and construction quality, and then a long list of minor issues.

The Saddle 2 could be quite a good tent, but it needs a substantial overhaul.

I just bought Brad P’s Saddle 2 and since today is forecast to be rainy all day figured I should set it up and see if I need to add seam sealant to any of the seams.

It was a bit tricky to pitch due to the fact we’ve had 4 inches of rain in the last week —  the ground is really soft right now. I started off with the Easton stakes but it was comical the way everything fell over the second I moved to another side of the tent. I was about ready to start making a video of it, it was so ridiculous! So I went and grabbed my burliest stakes — Groundhog Minis. (I think I should get some full sized ones or maybe I should have used my snow stakes!). It helped and the tent stopped falling over.

I still had to back up the stakes with heavy rocks on top, so it wasn’t super easy to fine tune everything. I did find it easier to pitch than the Stratospire 2. I just bought both of these tents off Gear Swap, and am planning on keeping my favorite of the two.

And please, criticize my pitch and help me improve! I’m about to go out and see how it’s holding up — it’s drizzled a bit this morning since I set it up an hour ago. I may find the snow stakes and use them so I can really tension it because I’m guessing it will sag with the moisture we’re supposed to get today.

In the middle pic, I think I need to pull out the left side a bit more (towards the wall). Something is not as square as it ought to be…

That pitch looks pretty good. I had a little wind my second time using it, but not much. As I mentioned, it never rained the nights I used it.

I didn’t use the lines that are above the poles, IIRC and my stakes held OK. I didn’t use the included stakes. I used MSR Ground Hogs. I like these stakes because they have a notch that helps prevent the line from slipping. I don’t like the top of these stakes because in hard ground, it’s a little painful to push them in by hand.

The floor of the tent is a little slippery, even with putting some seam sealer lines. I forgot to take my 1/8″ Gossamer Gear foam pad to put under my REI inflatable pad, so on the inclined spot I had, I slid some at night. This apparently is common for silnylon.

I hope the tent works well for you. I’m glad it arrived safely.

Oh yeah, on an incline you will really slide. I have a Rainshadow 2 and recently I spent the night on a slight incline. I kept having to scoot up the tent throughout the night. I’ve never added any strips of sealant to that tent but that was the first time I noticed it being an issue. Normally I can find a flat site.

I’ve also heard of adding the sealant just to the pad bottom. Also once the tent gets a coat of New Mexico dust (we like to call it “enchantment”) that usually helps make it less slippery. ;-)

The GG 1/8″ Thinlight pad works well and it was cheap. I guess I didn’t get enough Virginia dust on that floor. :)

I got the pad cheap as a cosmetic second. At just 2.4 ounces the benefit of not sliding and protecting the air pad from ground punctures seems worth it to me.