When are Zpack's "New Features" Revealed? (For Shelters)

I’m going to get a Duplex but I’m wondering if any new features are in the pipeline and when they will be announced.

I’m hoping for doors that go nearly to the ground, and reinforced door tie-ups that could be used for guy line attachments in high wind situations.

Anyone have insights on the product calendar?

Thanks.

Haven’t bought anything from them in some time, but they used to be very good about answering questions via email

I don’t have a definitive answer but upgrades, as opposed to new products, seem to be introduced to the product as soon as they are announced. The benefit of in house manufacturing and no finished goods lying around.

The Duplex has been around for a while and seems to be a relatively stable design, so I doubt much is likely to change.

With that said, a lot of Duplex owners I’ve spoken with don’t seem impressed with current door design. They’ve commented that the clips are hard to use and the splash coverage is lacking. I know one lady that sewed skirts onto her doors to stop the rain splash, so perhaps Zpacks is attentive to this and they are planning some updates.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Actually, I’d say the new metal hook and nylon “circle” to secure the door at the bottom is fantastic. Much better than their old method, very secure and easily operated with one hand.</p>
The toggles to hold the doors when rolled back are a PITA though!  I’d love to see a better solution here.  But they work.

Haven’t personally had a lot of splash issue, maybe depends on the ground cover, or lack there of, that you’re pitched on?

Steve

PS – coming from Triplex, Plexamid and old school Solplex user – not specifically a Duplex

Agree with @chicagomoose.  The new TI double-hook door closure works beautifully, as do the overlapping doors providing you pay attention and pitch the correct end into the wind.  As for splashing, if I pitch on sand or packed soil I have experienced a little splash but certainly no more that my hiking mates with BA and MSR tents.  When pitched on duff, pine needles or the like, there is no splash.  IOW, picking the proper tent site is recommended…same as it ever was.

Just to make sure I’m on the same page, we’re talking about this generation of door closure system right:

And you find it easy to operate one handed? I haven’t used this particular system, but I find that any system that has a floating point where the doors clip is very difficult to use one handed because when you unclip one side, the other side of the door moves a few inches away due to the line of tension between the door stake the corner stake for that door. So you need one hand to pull the closed side closer, while your other hand does the clipping.

Re. toggles to hold the doors rolled back, magnets are the future here. Vastly quicker and easier to use. Can be just as light.

Well Dan, you never said “one-handed”, you just said “hard to use” :)

No, they are not easy to operate with one hand.

They can be operated with one hand and they are significantly easier than the original method.  But far from easy with one hand!

Agree on the magnets to hold back doors. That is super slick and easy to operate.

JCH: My one handed comments were referring to Steve’s comment about the clips (“Much better than their old method, very secure and easily operated with one hand.“) but Steve is saying they are “far from easy with one hand“. Perhaps I was reading his earlier post wrong as there are some weird formatting issues going on.

Anyways, a few weeks ago I was putting a lot of thought into door clips because I can’t see myself being convinced they are better until they are easy to operate one handed. An idea that my brother in-law came up with was that instead of having a floating anchor point like TT and Zpacks tents, there could be a fixed anchor point at the door stake. So basically you’d have a little plate that you stab the door stake through, and that plate has twin hooks for the door clips. Like this, the bottom part of the connection would be in a solid, unmovable position so you should be able easily clip the door to that one handed because you wouldn’t have to hold a second floppy side in place.

Zpacks recently updated the Duplex to be lighter, 19 ounces.  I think it was a new lighter bug mesh that reduced the weight.  They more recently responded to complaints of poor stitching quality by moving them to the bargain bin ($25 off) so you can now expect straight lines on the full priced tents.

Zpacks’ quality can be a little dodgy. My Duplex arrived with the pockets sewn on backwards, i.e. opening towards the wall rather than the inside of the tent. I can fix it by turning the pockets inside out — but that leaves the seams on the outside of the pockets. Not a huge deal, but I expected better from a $600 tent…

…you’d have a little plate that you stab the door stake through, and that plate has twin hooks for the door clips

I’m very intrigued…tell me more…with illustrations please :)

“I’m very intrigued…tell me more…with illustrations please :)”
I only have crude paper sketches at the moment but it’s in the medium term plan to try this idea for a future tent prototype. I think the fixed anchor point is the key to making door clips work well.

Wondering how much weight is saved compared to a #3 plastic tooth zipper like Warmlite has used. They also have used a #3 YKK coil that is beefier than the #3 YKK coils sold by Quest and many others. The latter might be fine for a netting door on an inner, but exposure to freezing rain or blown sand on the outer door for long periods is another story. The weight penalty for the Warmlite coil over the generic is .02 oz (.12 vs .1) per running foot of zipper length, so is a better choice for an outer door. Still, knowing the weight of the rings, toggle and webbing used by Zpacks (guess the weight of the overlapped fabric is nominal) would be helpful. Also, that toggle looks a bit flimsy, keeping in mind the forces generated on the front door by high winds. Thanks for the photos, Dan.
P.S. Some Velcro arrangments, as found on sleeping bags, have some pretty high shear strength, and might be a good idea for the bottom ends of the door with any of the above mentioned closures. They should be designed to remain out of the way when not being used in mild weather.
P.P.S. With the zippers, short flaps are necessary above and below the zipper to keep out driven rain, although Roger has said that he finds just one flap sufficient, and he should know.

U sure those pockets weren’t just inside out?

They were sewn inside out, or backwards — take your pick. When the hems are inside where the ought to be, the opening is against the wall, where it’s unusable. If turned inside out, so hems are on the outside, the opening faces where it ought to, towards the center of the tent. Which works fine, just shoddy workmanship.