ZPacks Duplex Tent

Solid ultralight nonfreestanding tent

I used the Spruce Green version on the PCT in 2019 and was 90%  satisfied with it. The tent dries super fast in the sun, is lightweight (19oz) and also incredibly spacious, both in the cabin and within the vestibles. Also worth mentioning is this tent’s ability to stand up in a snowstorm or windstorm, given a solid pitch. The downfalls are:

-5% for the ease of which the mesh doors would droop and get stuck in the zipper if there was any drag in the pitch

-5% for the size of the area needed for a solid pitch (when in a group setting, I was always first to pick where to pitch because of the footprint size).

Despite the cons, I highly recommend this tent for someone looking to cut some weight from their setup

…Do you know how to pitch a ZPacks Duplex?

There is a bit of criticism in our community about the ZPacks Duplex: that it can’t be pitched taut enough to withstand a decent storm.

I have to admit that I’ve participated in some of this criticism, based on my (nearly universal) observation of Instagrammers posting terrible pitches of their tents. Even one of ZPacks own stock images shows a wrinkly pitch of the Duplex!

This is one of the most popular trekking pole tents in the thru-hiking community, and it’s not cheap! I had to figure this out.

It’s not easy – the geometry of tents like the Duplex and GGDCF2 have huge side panels that are hard to stabilize in high winds.

But I’ll make the argument here why the Duplex is the more compelling option: two side panel guyline tie-out points instead of one.

If you are facing stormy weather, and are willing to study the guyline angle and tension required to properly pitch these large panels, the ZPacks Duplex will buy you more quiet in high winds, more stability, better snow loading. You’ll need some long guylines and/or two more sticks.

Practice, practice, practice! If you review the tent and give it 2 stars because you haven’t studied its geometry, I get it. But study the geometry, raise your rating, and make this a more versatile shelter that can be extended (at least a little bit) into stormier conditions.