Hi Phil,
We have the Double Rainbow Li, have had it for a bit over three years now, has been pretty much everywhere across the state including the Western and Eastern Arthurs, Denison Ranges, Du Cane Range, Southern Ranges, West Coast Ranges, Frenchmans (multiple times), Mt Anne area and most recently the Eldons. It's seen tonnes of rain, and more snow that it probably ought to have
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The good stuff:
- Very light for a legit two-person tent. Tent itself is about 800gm, we're just under a 1KG with optional interior liner, extra pegs, line, DCF ground sheet and a different bag. Packs up very compact too, actually barely any bigger than my ProTrail Li 1pp tent.
- Very good internal space for two people. We use a 20" and 25" wide sleeping pad, still have a few spare inches between the doors and room top and bottom (less so for my big pad) for gear. Obviously for one person it is palatial.
- Doesn't require an enormous flat area to set up. I actually used to think it was pretty big, but comparing it to the usual 2pp Moondances/Goondies it's actually pretty compact.
- Porch mode is brilliant. We try to use it as much as possible especially overnight in warmer weather. Does wonders for ventilation and condensation control.
- Set up is fast and being single-skin, the interior is protected from rain during setup. It's quite easy to tension up 'drum tight'.
- The free standing mode works very well. We've used it on Shelf Camp and a really dodgy spot half over rocks at Haven Lake. Other than the minor complication that we used fixed-length Z-fold poles and have to bind two poles together to get the required 140cm length to correctly 'hold' out the ends, it works a treat.
- Condensation management is handled very well by the vents/drains and being DCF, all it takes is a quick wipe down and a few minutes of sun to dry out fully.
- For a single-hoop UL tent it is surprisingly wind resistant - particularly with cross or variable wind guests. With the doors zipped up it sheds wind coming from the sides almost as well as it does end on. We've experienced some very gusty nights - probably getting up to 50kmh or more - at High Moor, Haven Lake and Pigsty Ponds; I usually tie in some extra bracing guylines off the loops over the pole sleeve to give it a little extra support, but honestly it shrugs it off just fine. All the smooth curves and angles just seem to spread the wind around rather than catch it.
The not-so-good stuff:
- It's wide at the base but narrow in the top. That's good if you're in a tight spot within trees etc but two adult sided humans sitting up at the same time need to offset and sit back a bit to make space.
- Likewise, the doors slope out at the base, which means if you've got the vestibules open and it's starts raining, the door mesh and thus interior of the tent are directly exposed.
- Again likewise, the vestibules are small... squirrelling away your pack and boots can be fun, they tend to have to go right in front of the door and entrance zipper, zipping everything up from inside the tent can be a struggle at times. They're also rather sloped/low and definitely don't lend themselves to cooking underneath unless you're exceptionally careful. In really bad /raining weather we keep our bedding packed away and cook (again, very carefully) in the main tent first, then dry out the floor afterwards and set up. Had to do this a few times on the Western Arthurs a couple of years ago.
- Porch mode could be better in (non stormy) rain... mainly the 'middle flap' between the vestibule doors is too small and only has a tiny bit of securing velrco instead of running the full length on the other door. So water tends to collect and drip through straight onto the mesh or sil-nylon part of the door, thus leaking inside.
- The elastics that hold the floor tub up at either end of the pole sleeve always seem to pop out when the tent is pulled down/set up, and are tricky to hook back in once the tent is tensioned. Which it always is because you don't realise they've popped out until you've set up the tent then get inside... just annoys me
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- It's a DCF tent, which means it is prone to certain types of wear - puncture holes, mainly - but also exceptionally easy to patch when it does hole. We've had one animal-based hole and several tiny rock-based holes patched. Also had a bit of wear/stretching where the strap for the pole tensioner meets the floor that required a patch. After three years of admittedly regular, heavy use, the guy line pull out points are starting to stretch and the surrounding material is showing a bit of delamination. Which actually reminds me, I need to email Henry and get some suitable stick on DCF pieces to further reinforce these areas.
I think that's the main stuff covered
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Feel free to ask any specific questions. Unfortunately I haven't used the StratoSpire to directly compare, though was seriously considering the silnylon version for a while.
Owning both this and a couple of hiking-pole support tents, I have to say the Double Rainbow is a helluva lot easier and less frustrating to setup. The poles for it weigh 100gms, so they're not a huge burden by any stretch. I think the curved shape makes it/would make it a better wind cheater than either the StratoSpire or Dipole, though I think the later would vent better and perhaps not suffer from condensation quite as much. That said, I've concluded that no matter what tent you're in, unless it's blowing a gale you're gonna get condensation in most places - at least here in Tasmania. Thankfully DCF makes it very easy to dry off and out, and on the off chance the condensation does get bad enough to bead, 99/100 times it'll roll down into a mesh gutter. Tarptent at least got that bit very right.
The StratroSpire is going to be the most spacious but also require the most space... depending on the type of bushwalking you're doing, finding a big enough, level enough spot always seems to be an issue. At least it is for us, more often than not. Based on TT's website, the Dipole does seem a little more compact in its footprint than the DW, and a bit more spacious with more head room than either, just more complex, a little heavier and more expensive.
The other advantage for the StratoSpire is you can run with both 3- and 4-season inners. Not sure how many other tents you have in your quiver for winter trekking but that could be a definite advantage over the others.
Hope that helps!