The ZPacks Triplex [Photos] Thread

as someone considering the triplex for backpacking with my wife and baby, i’m curious if others contribute to this thread. it seems the triplex hasn’t been a huge hit yet. that may say more about its price tag than quality, of course.

I ordered one earlier this week, will post a few pics when I get it.

The triplex isn’t as popular as the duplex, sure… but I believe most users on the site are  solo hikers instead of group hikers. I’m a group hiker…and think the triplex is great. This pic was from two nights ago up on west mountain near cascade ID ->

Shows a duplex, triplex….and mother in law. Anyway, the duplex is really popular b/c most solo hikers really love all of the extra space a duplex provides over a solplex, plus you can still get a hiking buddy in there. But if you are consistently hiking with 2 adults…I think the extra 2.8oz is well worth it. And of course, if you have a 3rd body, then the triplex is necessary. It just can’t fit 3 adults well….1-2 of those bodies need to be children. They would have to go to 70″ width instead of 60″ to get 3 adults. You just don’t hear more about the triplex b/c BPL users are generally solo hikers (my observation)

New Triplex owner here, really loved it on a 4 day trip last week. Mine is the .74 CF and I added the carbon rod to prop up the head end.

Pros:

1. Excellent for 2 or 2+ kid/dog. 3 adults would be tight unless everyone is pretty small.
2. Did really well in moderate winds with the windward side pitched low. Winds gusts were in the 40’s but I had a fairly protected site so saw maybe 25 mph gusts and had no issues, no flapping at all. I did pitch the windward side low and used a few rocks to avoid having dirt blow in
3. with UL stakes and the carbon rod to prop up the end I’m at 31oz (.74 weight fabric). That’s pretty amazing when you consider the weight divided among two is less than a pound for a dual door shelter with full bug netting.
4. Very easy to setup and stays dry setup in the rain. A quick setup with the rod to pop the end takes 8 stakes and I found about 3 minutes. When it was very windy it took me a few extra minutes for the extra couple stakes, positioning rocks and being sure I was oriented correctly. There’s nothing complicated about setup, it’s just a big tent
5. With just me and the dog I slept diagonally and was very comfortable. Could even be diagonal with 2 adults
6. Storm doors are awesomely flexible! You can shut both on one side then flare one out into the wind and leave the other wide open. I was getting too much wind like that so tied the last door to my shoe and set that all the way against the screen which blocked off all the wind but let enough circulate through the open door that I had no condensation. In the morning popped that back up and cooked right out the door to stay out of the wind
7. While the stitching isn’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen, it is completely structurally sound with every joint and seam sealed and there is no stitch I’m concerned about in any way. You can tell they went over ever seam to be sure it’s well put together it’s just not cosmetically the perfection that is a high end mass-produced product.

Cons:

1. Footprint is BIG. There were several spots I couldn’t take as the tent wouldn’t fit.
2. CF is delicate. I’m very glad I got the thicker .74 CF as the .51 bag got a tear my second day as I packed the tent. Sure, it’s VERY easy to fix with the included patches but I’d not be stoked to tear my tent body by having a pine cone fall on me on a windy/rainy night!
3. It takes a lot of stakes. Not that big a deal but if you are going to have bad weather you better bring 10.
4. If you are over 5’10” I’d strongly suggest getting the little carbon rod for popping out the headroom. It can feel a bit claustrophobic without it.
5. This is most definitely not a winter tent, the sides are not steep enough to deal with snow and it’s very breathable
6. This is an UL shelter, not a family tent. The kids have to be constantly reminded to be extra careful, especially as the zipper gets pretty stressed if you catch your foot on the door getting in or out.
7. Pretty thin materials so full moons are very bright, orient accordingly

Overall, I don’t subscribe to the “one size fit’s all” philosophy. Each tool has a fairly specific job and tools that try to do too much aren’t great at anything in particular. Is the Triplex a great tent for a solo hiker? Not really. Weight and pack size are very good but I found the bathtub floor to get poofed up without the bulk of two people in windy conditions. The good news is that it pitches very tight, is a palace for 2 and I can even fit myself (6’1, 180lbs), both my kids (5’7″ and 4’7″) AND the dog who fits below my daughter’s feet. I wish it were cheaper but am still very happy with it.

Triplex vs. Duplex: I think if you are going to be solo or solo + dog 2/3rds of the time you are better off with the Duplex just because of the smaller footprint (15″ narrower). If you have 2 adults on more than 1/3rd of trips, your hiking partner will definitely appreciate the larger size of the Triplex. This always reminds me of guys who ride $5k mountain bikes then wonder why their girlfriend doesn’t fall in love with riding when they are on a $500 bike! If you want you significant other who’s not as hardcore as you to come more often, you better be sure they are comfortable. Ultimately, the Duplex is more versatile if you plan on being solo in it at all with the occasional 2. But IMO, a quiver of tents is still far less $ than a flight and hotel to some tropical place for a single week so break that out as a justification if you need it and get the Altaplex and Triplex for maximum versatility! :)

Triplex vs. Mid: I’ve never owned a pyramid so I can’t compare it based on personal experience, I can only explain my reasoning why I didn’t go that direction. First is that i’m in Oregon’s Cascades where mosquito management is a way of life the idea of fiddling around with the inner and outer does’t make that much sense to me especially as the angle of the netting makes it pretty claustrophobic. In the many tents I’ve owned, I’ve found steeper walls to be one of the most important factors to livability. Second is cost; there’s always people who claim mids are cheaper and that doesn’t add up to me at all as the MLD Duomid XL CF plus duo CF net is $1000 and weighs the same or slightly more than the Triplex. Sort of makes the Triplex feel like a better deal at $715. The same calculation worked out for other sizes. Third, the Triplex can open the doors on both sides and feel like I’m cowboy camping with awesome views and a great breeze which is very important on hot evenings with 2 plus the dog heating things up. Fourth, I’m not a fan of a pole in my sleeping area, especially in a multiperson tent as somehow I know it would be knocked over at the worst time.  Plus the sides of mids feel very low on my face whereas I can prop up the end of the Zpacks offerings. In high winds I realize they are the way to go but I’m just not camping in those conditions all that often (plus the Altaplex works for that). I might be wrong on some of these assumptions (minus the cost part as CF Mids are $$$) but these are the conclusions that led me to the Triplex.

The “Quiver Theory”
For how I backpack, I’m finding the perfect “quiver” of tents is an Altaplex, Triplex and a Double Rainbow. I should be clear that my quiver was a BA Fly Creek 2 instead of the Altaplex until I replaced it. I go a lot of days per year (I’m a photographer who lives in the mountains) and with a lot of different combinations of myself, my family, dogs and friends. Just me going to a national park or a trip that’s too many miles a day for the dog: Altaplex. Shorter mileage with me and the dog: Triplex. All the family and a dog: Triplex and Double Rainbow. My son, his friend and me: Altaplex for me and double rainbow for them. Me and both kids: Triplex. Solo overnight in the snow: Altaplex A buddy (who doesn’t snore) and me: Triplex

Tent choices are always quite a personal thing so I hope this helps and I totally understand if my rationale doesn’t work for how you camp or your personal needs.

This night I had just one door of 4 closed but ended up closing the other on the right side to help decrease the brightness of the full moon. The ground was super soft so I used rocks to anchor.

This was a very windy night and morning but the trees blocked the worst of it. Even with the leeward side not having a perfect short side pitch there was no issues. You can see I cooked in the evening and morning inside the vestibule with just 1/2 the side closed up and the other side having both doors closed. Very handy to be able to block the wind but still be opened up. Because the wind was swirling this was the night I tied my shoe to the bottom on the door that is open in this picture and set the shoe next to the tent body just on the other side of the pole. This blocked direct wind but allowed a ton of ventilation so I had no condensation. 9 stakes with rocks was plenty in this very sandy soil.

A couple other campers commented how my tent looked “like the blue tarp my dad used in the 60’s” lol

colin, thanks for such a thorough update on yr triplex!

I just did two trips with my new Triplex: one a 16 day trip in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska with two of my friends, and the other a short 3 night trip in the Trinity Alps with my girlfriend and her dog.

Overall, I like the shelter, but I kind of wish it were ever so slightly wider. Our party of 3 all had normal width Neoairs, and with the corners of the floor not staked down it’s difficult to get all three pads inside the tent and still be able to zip up the bug netting–the stitching tore slightly below one zipper, which was easily fixed with tape. Seriously 2-4″ would make a huge usability difference for use with 3 actual people. The storm doors did create very good vestibule space, and we could all fit our packs under.

Being crammed pad to pad (arranged HFH, with me in the middle) would have been OK if we were on a very weight sensitive, high mileage mission, but we were not trying to make particularly great distance, and one of my friends got really sick for a lot of the trip, making for way too much hanging out in the tent for lazy mornings, and on drizzly layovers. Those delirious with fever also make inconsiderate bedfellows.

Setup is mostly pretty easy, but it’s not difficult to mess up the pitch if an anchor fails or moves during setup, requiring more time to readjust the shelter. The tundra was really easy to set up on, the river beds less so. We spent a lot of time looking for big rocks. All in all probably pretty good for a non-freestanding shelter.

We never experienced extreme conditions, but it held up well in moderate winds, rain, and very short snowstorms. I thought the ventilation was pretty good, though it does develop a fair amount of condensation if all the storm doors are closed on a night with moisture and relatively low wind. If you don’t touch the shell it will drip to the outside of the shelter.

My girlfriend really liked it. It’s a fantastic size for two people and a dog, and has pretty good space to sit up. The zippers are a little finicky because it’s easy to set things against the bathtub by the door, ad the bathtub isn’t staked down. It’s a mild quibble in this case for sure.

Limitations are probably poor winter performance, reliance on good anchors, lots of stakes, the awkwardness of using the tent as a ground tarp if cowboy camping is desired (or the weight of another ground tarp), the slight finickiness of using the zippers, and the marginal size for 3 normal sized pads. I’ll probably keep using flat tarps when I’m less concerned about wind protection and/or bugs.

I am looking to trade for this tent doesn’t have to be new just in excellent condition . I have a new never used Hilleberg enan , this is this year’s model black has never even been set up, I know they have cheaper enan 400, but it is thinner an is being sold as surplus of a reason . I also have a new never used sea to summit escapist 2 man bug tent designed for trekking poles and a tarp . I’m willing to trade both if they are in very very good condition , bobbydneuman at gee mail dot com , hope to hear from you?

Given that I looked at this forum before buying a .74 Triplex this year I thought I’d add to the thread in case it’s helpful to someone else. My feedback is based solely on one 14 night trip in the southern Canadian Rockies this summer.

My wife and I enjoyed the Triplex a lot – ample room for us (me on a 25 inch wide Neoair) and a dog. Even without a dog, I’m not sure I would have wanted a Duplex for the two of us. A minor extra weight penalty for having some space to sit out a storm.

Even with the storm doors open, unless there was fair amount of breeze, in that sort of alpine and subalpine environment we generally had a lot of condensation. My wife carries a small scrap of old towel to clean the dog’s feet before entering when it’s muddy and it turned out to be really handy to wipe the condensation off the inside in the morning to hasten the tent drying and keep us and our gear drier. We plan on bringing a bit to towel or a small light sponge in the future unless we’re in the desert or other arid area.

We have the .74 fabric and, not to say that the .51 wouldn’t have held up, we can say that the .74 held up to a pretty intense nickel and dime-sized hailstorm. The fabric got some minor dimples/”dents” from the hail but no holes or tears. I wouldn’t want it beefed up, but the bug netting, while very functional and light, is of course not the most robust. Our dog easily put a 1.5 inch hole in the netting when he was barking/squirming at two moose the middle of one night so be a bit gentle with it.

The ZPacks stitching/workmanship isn’t as tidy/nice as other brands (e.g. MLD, HMG) but the Triplex performed well regardless. If I was to give any feedback to ZPacks it to would be make the bathtub floor a bit deeper (even if just on the ends). We found that being on Neoairs and being somewhat taller than average, that the top of the foot of our double down quilt would rub (and get damp from) the condensation covered fabric of the “fly”/top. A slightly higher bathtub and/or overall longer would help with that. Tying the guylines to a bush or something when available (we typically only hike with one pole each and don’t want to carry another small pole) did help a bit with foot contact.

Having two doors is both practical (e.g. if one of us had to pee at night) and pleasant (airier, brighter, easier to see passing wildlife) compared to a mid plus no working around a centre pole. But, to have a greater safety margin (perceived at least) I would still take something like my MLD Supermid for more exposed environments like on northern above treeline or Arctic trips. I have seen my Supermid handle MAJOR, sustained wind storms in the Arctic. I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way that the Triplex can’t – but I’d be happy to be corrected by someone who can speak to a Triplex in 80-100 kmh winds.

But bottom line, 4.5 stars out of 5. We really liked the Triplex. If it got stolen tonight, I would order a new .74 version tomorrow to replace it.

Hey there!

I’m happy owner of the Duplex tent and currently at search for another shelter for the upcoming family backpacking trip to Iceland.

We normally hike: 2 adults, 3 kids (12, 9, 5 yo) and, well, my mother in law. Weight is hugely important because we are taking way too much stuff for the kids, so I’m planning to take my duplex to fit 3 (tested, we are all not big) and I thought to order Triplex tent.

My only concern is the winds of Iceland. Anyone have an experience of using triplex in winds?

Thanks, Greg.

Thank you so much for all of the details Colin – this was incredibly helpful and provides tons of great information.

Lordy! Can’t Z-Packs think of a better design?

Give me a TT Stratospire 2 and I’ll fit 3 (consenting adults) inside with much better wind resistance and fewer guy-out lines.

So now we have to be politically correct on BPL?
[No. Roger Caffin]

I’m with you, Eric.  There is nothing even remotely profane in your post. Not to mention that you are absolutely correct to boot.  The DCF TT, at 29.1 oz, does weigh ~7 oz more, though.  But there is nothing wrong with using DCF on a classic pup tent design.  The larger and original TT design is more spacious and presents slanted walls to the wind in all directions.  So you pay for that with ~7 more ounces weight.  Without looking at quality, sounds like a wash,

I’d be more inclined to TT for quality; but that is only because I’ve used several of their tents.  But haven’t used Zpacks tents, so the short answer is:  don’t know.

Anyone have photos of 3 regular 20″ pads in a Triplex?

Any criticisms of the Triplex for those of you that own/owned one? The GF wants to pull the trigger on a used one. She’s 6′.

I had a Triplex and it was  a very good product except for less than ideal  amounts of condensation inside with doors closed (in my part of the world at least) and, while I never saw it tested in a major windstorm, I didn’t trust it enough to put myself “way out there” in a Triplex.

Probably a year or so after getting the Triplex I then bought a Stratospire Li and I have found I can trust that shelter in MAJOR, above treeline storms. As a 2 person tent it’s obviously smaller than the Triplex, but even so,  since buying the Stratospire Li I  hadn’t used the Triplex in several years so I sold the Triplex rather than keep it just sitting on the shelf.

My summary take on the Triplex FWIW: Main features I liked is that it was nice and roomy for 2 plus dog, fairly airy and didn’t weight much. Excellent for most people in most conditions but I personally would be hesitant to risk too much with it where major winds are more common and you are exposed and remote – eg Arctic or can’t easily bail above the treeline alpine situations. (Others may have a different take/experience with it in wind.) And while not that big a deal, if you buy one, it’s handy to bring a small sponge or rag if you’re in environments where you’ll get a lot a of condensation.

A few years ago I wrote a more detailed impression of the Triplex on BPL after a few weeks of use but I struggle to find stuff on this site these days.

A few years ago I wrote a more detailed impression of the Triplex on BPL after a few weeks of use but I struggle to find stuff on this site these days.

Try looking 7 comments above your most recent one :-)

For those thinking Triplex for fear of a Duplex being too small for two – while a Duplex is cozy with two, I find it fine, and wouldn’t want to deal with the enormous footprint of the Tri. My wife’s first trip in the Duplex was 13-nights on the Wonderland trail 3½ years ago – her first backpacking trip longer than a couple of nights. We’re in our 50’s, I’m 6’0, and we were on 25″ and 20″ pads. Despite 2 weeks at close quarters, not once did she bring up the size of the tent, and when asked afterwards, she said she didn’t think the tent was too small. You mileage may vary, but I like the Duplex for two. Might think differently if I was hiking with another big bloke, though…

Try looking 7 comments above your most recent one :-)

LOL

Seriously though, there are so many times camping in the rain when I wished I had a lot of extra room inside to do everything. I have to put pack weight as priority #1 due to scoliosis, but I sure hate it when sitting in a “coffin” trying to deal with wet gear and dumping rain outside. It’s easy to think a tent is big enough in good weather and then to realize it’s miserable in bad weather. I would imagine thru-hikers have little choice in the matter and probably like the added space for weeks on end of rain.

I’m still loving the Triplex 6 seasons later!  Don’t use it nearly as much as my Altaplex but when I need the space it’s incredible.