Bushwalk Australia

Its become time to start comparing tents and getting excited and completely overthinking things.

I wont be buying for a couple months, and really don't need it for a few.
Criteria...
Sub $1000. the cheaper the better, but prepared to pay for quality.
2 person. myself in winter. myself and my nearly 10yr old daughter in nice weather.
3 season. I wont be walking the AAWT in the depths of winter, but I will be either side of it. It simply need's to be 'safe enough' for that 1 storm that catches you out or random snow shower.
As easy to set up as possible with cold fumbly fingers in the wet. I'm mildly hung up on being able to pitch the fly first, do I need to be?
Ideally sub 1.5kg. sub 2kg is probably more realistic.

x-mid 2p has me very keen. Especially If they keep the rectangle pitch
Mont Moondance2 is a contender. but a bit clumsy to set up. exped/nemo/msr/others all do variations. Who was the original?
Marmot tungsten is appealing due to the two poles. Less to break maybe?

I honestly am a little confused and don't fully know exactly what I need, any direction would be appreciated. This will be my first proper tent, previous few years I've been under a tarp or car camped. My pet monkey isnt up to the tarp, and I'm delving further into winter where a tarp is cutting things a little too fine some days.

Have a look at Tarptent. Light, quality and well priced. The Motrail is lighter but the Double Rainbow is better and doesn't require a trekking pole.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

It sounds like Dan Durston's 2 person tent should appear on Drop any time soon.

Mark F wrote:It sounds like Dan Durston's 2 person tent should appear on Drop any time soon.

Part of what has spawned me to compare options a little now.

Also see Big Agnes, Nemo and MSR range of tents.

The Dan Durston X Mid was inspired by the Tarptent StratoSpire 2, so maybe you could take a look at that.
Dan found it 9the SS2) a bit problematic to set up but others have commented with "super easy" and or "fast" so it depends on you.
If by any chance Altona is not too far from you you could come around and have a play with mine ( I don't sell them...)

Big Agnes copper spur 2 is popular. I have the 3 person one. Very thin material though.

Also have a tarp tent double rainbow. Pretty snug for two but doable as a luxury solo tent. Single wall.

Went through this same exercise not so long ago, and ended up buying a Tarptent Scarp 2. 1.65 kg, easy to set up and good room for two. Trouble is they aren't making them anymore so I bought second hand. I looked at Big Agnes and Nemo and Mont and one Planet Goondies. All good tents, all quite expensive.

Also have a $20 dome tent from Coles which I used when I first started bushwalking with my daughter. Not suggesting you buy one but it stood up to wind and rain just fine, weighed 2.1 kg and had more room than most 2 man tents.

The Scarp 2 isn't discontinued but along with a few other shelters it has been put on halt till the factory can catch up with the production of the rest of the line up.
BTW, the current version of the Double Rainbow is 33% wider in the middle than the previous versions.

You can currently get an MSR Hubba Hubba NX2 for $750.
1.8kg.
Meets all your criteria and it’s a great tent.

My Big Sky revolution 2p has been great so far.
1.5ish kg with the mesh inner, external-pole style dome tent. Clip to the poles, 2/4 pegs and its up.
$640 delivered.
Made my own tyvek groundsheet, added 2mm guy cords.

2-man 3-pole single-skin tunnel tent for sale
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=30030&p=377976#p377976

Cheers
Roger Caffin

Franco wrote:The Scarp 2 isn't discontinued but along with a few other shelters it has been put on halt till the factory can catch up with the production of the rest of the line up.
BTW, the current version of the Double Rainbow is 33% wider in the middle than the previous versions.

Have you got a ballpark ETA on the scarp 2 Franco? it appeals to me from an ease of setup and the option for getting a bit deeper into winter.

I won't waste your time yet. but I will definitely take you up on the offer of looking at them. Something about the stratosphere setup in the couple of video's I've just watched seem's fiddly. Especially in poor weather.

Neo wrote:My Big Sky revolution 2p has been great so far.
1.5ish kg with the mesh inner, external-pole style dome tent. Clip to the poles, 2/4 pegs and its up.
$640 delivered.
Made my own tyvek groundsheet, added 2mm guy cords.

Thanks. Serious contender.

drakkar wrote:

Franco wrote:The Scarp 2 isn't discontinued but along with a few other shelters it has been put on halt till the factory can catch up with the production of the rest of the line up.
BTW, the current version of the Double Rainbow is 33% wider in the middle than the previous versions.

Have you got a ballpark ETA on the scarp 2 Franco? it appeals to me from an ease of setup and the option for getting a bit deeper into winter.

I won't waste your time yet. but I will definitely take you up on the offer of looking at them. Something about the stratosphere setup in the couple of video's I've just watched seem's fiddly. Especially in poor weather.

Probably not available for the rest of the year.
With the SS 1/2 it has all to do with the way it's set up .
I find "my way" to be fast and easy but that does not seem to work for some.
All I know is that when I demonstrated live how I do it , it becomes then possible for the viewers to do it themselves just like I do.