Why so little love for the MLD Cricket??

The photo on MLD’s tarp page is amazing.

I have almost purchased a Cricket several times in the past but I find myself above treeline sometimes and worry that the open side will leave me vulnerable to wind driven rain. Also, the lack of a zipper means you’d have to crawl under the beak in storm mode which just sucks. I’d like it more if it had a zipper and that is called a Mid… in short, the Cricket seems like a compromise that wouldn’t work for some of what I do.

The tattooed man on the MLD website….

The first time I saw that I could not stop laughing…man, that is trying way too hard to be cool!

Don’t mean this as a thread jack, so hope others can provide more thoughts on the Cricket.

There’s just something funky about the Cricket. The MLD Pyramids are solid, but the Cricket is known to lack storm worthiness. Even though the beak extends out, you’re in trouble if a major blow comes at the entryway head on . People like a shelter that you can batten down the hatches on with 360 degree protection. Nevertheless, anything made by MLD is of supreme quality.

I have a Solo Hexamid  and I don’t recommend it for anyone over 5′ 10″ tall. For storm worthiness I’d give it a B minus, but it sets up easy and it provides full protection. When it comes to coverage per ounce, the Hexamid can’t be beat. It seems like whenever you get away from simple geometric designs, stability gets worse.

The SMD Lunar Solo is larger than the Hexamid, however, the basic hexagonal shape is the same. Yet the Lunar Solo is more solid and stable in strong winds. Perhaps the properties of silnylon and silpoly allow for a better pitch than DCF (even though the silmylon stretches and needs to be retightened).

[edited]

I think the reason the original poster is not seeing a lot of love for the Cricket is due to the posters on BPL focusing discussions on cuben fiber, tent-like shelters like those from Zpacks and now from Tarptent.  Even Dr Ryan does not say much about merits of tarps or bivies these days.

“The MLD Cricket is a MLD grace tarp with a catenary cut and with a beak, yes?”

I believe you are describing the Patrol. The Cricket is a Solomid XL with a zipperless beak.

Having used the Patrol Shelter, Solomid XL, and    new Cricket tarps on 2 PCT trips, the big thing is the stakes holding in the ground when big wind hits.   Freestanding type tents like BA can be easier to set up, but trekking pole may be sturdier. Though rare, with a super strong wind, tent frames bow throughout the night keeping the occupants awake.  I just had to pound a stake that got loose back in … and pretty much slept through.  Another hiker camped near us had his freestanding tent blown away with all his stuff inside of it, so even those tents need to be stakes to the ground.Just read another thru-hiker got his framed tent “pancaked” in a downdraft storm and has since turned to MLD.

@matthew. Yes. thanks for the correction.

Cheers

I think the big thing is that people don’t care about weight anymore.  The 1 Oz difference between the Solomon XL vs Cricket just doesn’t have the value it used to.

everything got too light so you don’t have to sacrifice anything to get a 7-8lb base weight with a double wall shelter.

Whats the point in pushing past that outside trail running.  Since functionality costs such little weight you might as well add a door and a zipper.

its also why the duplex is the tent of choice over the heximid.