Zpacks Duplex Flex

This is game changing.  Especially for those on the fence buying a trekking pole supported tent because it wasn’t freestanding.

The idea of using a Duplex without trekking poles sounds cool, except of course the addition of 12oz poles eats a lot of the weight savings that makes the Duplex so great. I might send mine in, there are a couple situations I could see it coming in really handy.

To be really honest, I think I want to get this modification for a somewhat devious reason. The wife hasn’t seen the Duplex yet, and I suspect she won’t like how flimsy it can appear at first. If she knocks it down by kicking out a trekking pole on accident, she may even demand on future trips we use our old tent. However, If I take the Duplex with the tent poles a few times to get her used to it, then just “forget” the tent poles, she probably won’t even notice that it is setup with only trekking poles.  >=)

There was another thread on this not too long ago, but thanks to the “new and improved” BPL search capabilities I still can’t find it. lol

Poles made from aluminum or fiberglass? Its a neat idea, but it doesnt look that robust.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I find the Duplex to easily be as sturdy as any of the UL free-standing (poled) alternatives, and sturdier that many. This remains true when using dedicated poles (like those ZPacks sells), although trekking poles are the sturdier alternative.

I will keep an open mind on the Flex until I have a chance to see and play with one in person, but just looking at the pole arrangement and thinking about the physics of the forces involved, I just can’t see how the Flex arrangement isn’t going to be flimsy.  I hope I’m wrong, and certainly the majority of Joe’s designs have been well thought out in the past.

Lastly the 12oz+ penalty just doesn’t make sense for me. I’d rather tie off to rocks or trees.

That’s somewhat what I’m curious about as well. By all accounts if the tent is well pitched with trekking poles it’ll be pretty solid, and those poles look pretty slight. Plus Cuben doesn’t stretch, so I’m wondering if it ends up getting flappy in wind, which unfortunately isn’t really answerable without trying one.

That said, I bet they sell a lot of them. In the same way a lot of folks have trouble moving away from sleeping bags to quilts because of their perceptions, the same has to be true with freestanding vs. pole supported tents.

I was there on both accounts.  But after moving to quilts and a trekking pole supported tent, it’s hard to imagine going back.

Hmm… agreed… just looking at it, intuitively I don’t see how it can withstand a substantial wind load without collapsing, let alone a good dump of snow. Can that ridge line really support as much tension as one pitched with trekking poles? Looks as if Joe had a pretty good test venue there… Scotland?

But even if it does work, I too cannot see carrying around an extra 11 ounces when I’ve got two perfectly good trekking poles weighing 7.2 oz total.

I’m with John H—I’m done with sleeping bags and freestanding tents and it would take some truly seismic developments to woo me back.

I won’t be an early adopter on this one!

It’s fairly difficult to knock trekking poles away from the Duplex, especially if the tips are buried into the ground.  The handles are in the “cups” , so they’re not going to move easily.  The tent is actually pretty sturdy.  I think the concern most people have is they want a freestanding tent in case they can’t drive stakes due to rock conditions.  I’ve camped in quite a few places where you can’t drive stakes and if you’ve set up the guys appropriately with sufficient length and micro-loks, you just use rocks to anchor and you’re good to go.

K

You are perhaps looking for this thread:

NEW ZPACKS TENT

Ba-da-bing! That’s it. Guess I’ll have to read those threads on how to use search effectively.

I always breathe a sigh of relief when I read a past thread and discover I haven’t contradicted myself. :^)

(And the new BPL still doesn’t have smilies, either. There are occasions when a timely winkie could prevent a lot of controversy.)

Bob – We have new forum software, but I guess we have to settle for old-school emojis

¯\_(ツ)_/¯