REI Quarter Dome T2 Tent Review

I am really pleased with mine as well. Makes a great one=person palace. Can also be set-up in a "fast fly" style like the Big Agnes tents. Can take a wind beating. 6 storage pockets on the inside are really nice. Plus, there is a clip in the center middle that is perfect for the Black Diamond Orbit if you are playing cards or waking up early/staying up late. Glad I own it!

> The Welsh mountains are wet enough in an average year; we had rain every day for
> two weeks, with fairly relentless Beaufort force 5-7 winds.

But that IS average for Wales … :-)
We had the same in 97 on Offas Dyke.

Cheers

T3 is great for 2.

I notice in the comparison tables that Big Sky went w/ a lighter fly and MSR went light on both fly and floor. Appears as though REI is still manufacturing w/ the intent that people will abuse the heck out of these tents and return them when they fail. Marginal gains in weight for the insurance against dissatisfied customers I'm sure. I really like these double walled tents. I have a Sierra Designs Electron for wife and dogs. It's really nice when we are getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. If you drop weight on everything in your kit, you can pull off a pretty low base weight and still carry one of these tents. I take the stakes, tent, footprint and give my wife the tent and fly. Gives you a nice space to ride out bad weather, etc. Nice write up. Thanks Ray.

Amy,

Did you ever have to pitch the T2 in the rain? If so, any tips or tricks?

Casey,

I have never setup my T2 in the rain, but I have weathered some huge rainstorms perfectly.

If you are carrying the footprint you can use that to setup the poles and put the rain fly over that. You can then setup the tent underneath the fly.

If you were good I guess you could stake the fly to the ground and then setup the poles under it. And then attach the tent underneath the fly. I assume this is possible but extremely difficult.

Thanks Guys,

It's nice to know the tent can be clipped into the pitched fly.

Roger asked "how much rain"? Cats and dogs. July 09 rain was 3x normal in south and 2x normal in north. Western Welsh mountains are much wetter than eastern Wales – more like Scotland or Ireland. We frequently had prolonged torrential driving rain, and the Cambrian Way is primarily in the moors, with no trees or buildings. Quite an experience.

The second half of our trip, Eastern Wales on Offa's Dyke and then on into England, was quite dry and had trees and buildings to boot! We had day-time rain for a total of just a couple hours during the last 3 weeks of the trip — our reward for the first 2 weeks.

Casey asked about setting up in the rain. We set up in the rain (and wind) for ~10 of our first 15 nights. We didn't carry a footprint, so couldn't do that trick. I think it would be tough for one person to minimize saturation during setup, but with two people it is possible. I can't adequately describe how – practice it at home to figure out a system that will work. We got pretty good at it.

I line my pack with a trash compactor bag. Then, inside and at the bottom of that I put the down double-sleeping-bag and camp-only clothes, in its own plastic bag. I put all the other keep-dry stuff in the outer plastic bag and rubber-band it shut. Then, the rain gear and the food/gear for the day is outside that plastic bag so I can access it during the day.

Jim carries the tent, vertically on one side of his pack. On the other side is a vertical plastic bag with his keep-dry stuff. His rain-gear is on top. So we don't ever need to open our plastic bags until the tent is up and we are inside.

When we get in the tent, every surface is soggy. We keep the dry stuff in the plastic bags until we finish wiping everything down with MSR packtowel – essentially sponge dry the whole system, ourselves and our gear. In that sense it doesn't really matter how much rain gets in during setup, you can sponge dry it before exposing the dry stuff.

I'll close with a plug for walking in Great Britain. The 5-week Wales/England loop was our 6th trip there (3-5 weeks each), and we have enjoyed all of them.

I am 6'6" and was wondering if any taller hikers out there have tried the T2 "Plus" version of this tent. I am ready to spring for it the next time an REI 20% coupon comes out, but would be interested to see the same long sleeping bag photo in the Plus to see what kind of stretch space might be available. I know it adds a few ounces, but would be worth it not to have to scrunch away from the walls.

I'm really surprised with this tent considering it's from REI. Depending on what you're looking for, it seems to compare really well for 2 person use. If you're planning on using a 2 person tent for 1 person use then the Big Agnes FC2 is unbeatable.

Eliminating tents with significantly smaller floors (MSR Carbon Reflex 2, Terra Nova Laser) or heavily sloped walls resulting in way less interior room (Big Agnes Fly Creek 2, SMD Haven) and you're not left with very many 2 person double wall tents under 4 lbs. To my knowledge, the competitors are:

– Mountain Hardware Skyledge 2.1 (55oz)
– Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2 (54oz)
– MSR Hubba Hubba HP (59oz)
– Big Sky Intl. Revolution 2P (54oz)
– Sierra Designs Lightning XT (61oz)
– TarpTent Scarp 2 (53oz)

Looking at that list of tents, the 60oz T2 seems like a no brainer winner over most of the tents because most of them provide no compelling reason to spend way more money (the T2 is $100-$200 cheaper than any of these competitors). The exceptions being the Hubba Hubba HP and Scarp 2 which have fabric inners (option on the Scarp 2) and are more suited for winter use.

The only tent that I would say is significantly lighter than the T2 is the MH Skyledge, because the Big Sky, Big Agnes and TarpTent shelters all use thin 30D floors with borderline waterproofing, so a ground sheet weighing several ounces is required IMO. The Skyledge looks like a nice tent but the sidewalls do slope inward somewhat so you're giving up some interior volume in exchange for 6oz saved.

I'm thinking the ideal choice is buying a T2 and then spend the $100-$200 saved on buying cuben for a MYOG fly. A cuben fly should weigh ~8oz which would save a huge 16oz and bring the total T2 trailweight down to 2lbs 12oz. If you could somehow source carbon fibre poles you could bring that down even further without compromising livability.

I own the Quarter Dome T2 and was initially concerned that if arriving at camp while it was raining, all the mesh that makes up the tent's body would make for wet sleeping quarters. Well, no need to worry. The T2 can quite easily be set up by first pitching the fly and then the tent's body. With the fly set up just crawl beneath it, pull out the tent's body and set it up all under the cover of the fly. This worked very well. So far, I love this tent.