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best tent
- Thread starter razorsdescent
- Start date
I agree with what redpoint posted in post #19. Additionally:
1) You don't always have to be doing high mountaineering, to encounter extreme conditions. I've camped in 80 mile per hour winds in the deserts of Southern California. I've camped when 2 feet of snow dumped on us, overnight, in Yosemite Valley.
2) A $600 tent comes out to be less expensive than a bunch of $70 tents, in the long run. I spent 7 years living outside, traveling. After that, I spent most of the rest of my adult life camping a couple hundred nights per year, or so. I used to wear out and go through 2-3 medium priced tents per year. However, I've had my Bibler I-tent for about 16 or 17 years, I think; it's received far more use than any of the long-gone medium priced tents; and it's still in great condition.
3) A better tent can also come with a better user experience, and that has some value. Less weight and less space in the pack, faster set up and take-down, no flapping at all in the wind, better air flow, less condensation, absolute waterproofness these sorts of qualities can save you time and effort, decrease frustration, increase comfort and rest, etc. How you value them is a personal choice; when I'm going to use a tent for literally hundreds to thousands of times, such things are easily worth the small fraction of a dollar per day, to me.
1) You don't always have to be doing high mountaineering, to encounter extreme conditions. I've camped in 80 mile per hour winds in the deserts of Southern California. I've camped when 2 feet of snow dumped on us, overnight, in Yosemite Valley.
2) A $600 tent comes out to be less expensive than a bunch of $70 tents, in the long run. I spent 7 years living outside, traveling. After that, I spent most of the rest of my adult life camping a couple hundred nights per year, or so. I used to wear out and go through 2-3 medium priced tents per year. However, I've had my Bibler I-tent for about 16 or 17 years, I think; it's received far more use than any of the long-gone medium priced tents; and it's still in great condition.
3) A better tent can also come with a better user experience, and that has some value. Less weight and less space in the pack, faster set up and take-down, no flapping at all in the wind, better air flow, less condensation, absolute waterproofness these sorts of qualities can save you time and effort, decrease frustration, increase comfort and rest, etc. How you value them is a personal choice; when I'm going to use a tent for literally hundreds to thousands of times, such things are easily worth the small fraction of a dollar per day, to me.
That's awesome! Great pics. It looks as though the wind broadsided the tent and it still survived. Yup, a mountain specific, well anchored tent is a lightweight bunker. They can handle winds and conditions that a lot of houses would fail in.
I couldn't agree more Evolute, he makes some excellent points.
Bibler I-Tents/Eldorados are awesome tents - at just over 4 lbs or so, they can accept any punishment you choose to dish out. More I-Tents have been in crazy, hardcore places then perhaps any other tent. A friend told me about two Polish climbers who rode out a storm in an I-Tent near the summit of Mt. Logan [19, 551'] in the Yukon - hairy stuff.
My Fitzroy is 10 years old and still as drum tight as the day I bought it. It's seen lots of action and UV, but not as much action as Evolute's poor I-Tent. The Bibler tents are all really old designs, the Fitzroy being the newest at around 1992 or so, but they're really good at what they were designed to do. If it ain't broke ...
Another tent that's really tough [though I have no personal experience with them] is Hilleberg. I'm not sure if they've been mentioned above. They're double wall though and much heavier. Integral Designs has a bunch of Bibler type tents as well that come in more muted colors.
http://www.integraldesigns.com/product_detail.cfm?id=736&CFID=2093252&CFTOKEN=17775363
Bibler I-Tents/Eldorados are awesome tents - at just over 4 lbs or so, they can accept any punishment you choose to dish out. More I-Tents have been in crazy, hardcore places then perhaps any other tent. A friend told me about two Polish climbers who rode out a storm in an I-Tent near the summit of Mt. Logan [19, 551'] in the Yukon - hairy stuff.
My Fitzroy is 10 years old and still as drum tight as the day I bought it. It's seen lots of action and UV, but not as much action as Evolute's poor I-Tent. The Bibler tents are all really old designs, the Fitzroy being the newest at around 1992 or so, but they're really good at what they were designed to do. If it ain't broke ...
Another tent that's really tough [though I have no personal experience with them] is Hilleberg. I'm not sure if they've been mentioned above. They're double wall though and much heavier. Integral Designs has a bunch of Bibler type tents as well that come in more muted colors.
http://www.integraldesigns.com/product_detail.cfm?id=736&CFID=2093252&CFTOKEN=17775363
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2005
- Messages
- 2,938
Ok i want to start out by thanking everyone with the help and input.
I have learned alot about tents in the past two days.
Ive only ever stayed in a (civilian) tent once despite all the time ive been outdoors with the army, we just make hooches out of our ponchos and 550 chord/bungie chords and put our sleep system (which includes a bivy sack) underneath it to keep the worst of the weather off, so some things about tents never really occured to me. Things like ventilation for instance.
Soooo....
I actually ended up getting two tents. Both manufactured by eureka. i got the Alpenlite 2XT for myself for solo camping and it will for the most part live in my bug-out-bag. I read a bunch of very positive reviews on it and for the price it seems like a good deal.
I also got the apex 2xt for the majority of the weather here in virginia and mainly because i will be spending alot of time outdoors with my fiancee and i needed more room for comfort.
I ended up doing it this way because once i realized my relative ignorance about tents it didnt make quite the same sense to get a top of the line tent. Once i become more comfortable with tents and determine what exactly im loooking for i will probably sell the alpenlite tent and get myself a helsport or hilleberg.
Also in a side note i have ENO hammock set ups for warm weather camping but if im doing something like rock climbing i might end up spending a night somewhere that icnat get a hammock pitched.
Thanks again for all the info. Ill post pics of my tents when i get them.
I have learned alot about tents in the past two days.
Ive only ever stayed in a (civilian) tent once despite all the time ive been outdoors with the army, we just make hooches out of our ponchos and 550 chord/bungie chords and put our sleep system (which includes a bivy sack) underneath it to keep the worst of the weather off, so some things about tents never really occured to me. Things like ventilation for instance.
Soooo....
I actually ended up getting two tents. Both manufactured by eureka. i got the Alpenlite 2XT for myself for solo camping and it will for the most part live in my bug-out-bag. I read a bunch of very positive reviews on it and for the price it seems like a good deal.
I also got the apex 2xt for the majority of the weather here in virginia and mainly because i will be spending alot of time outdoors with my fiancee and i needed more room for comfort.
I ended up doing it this way because once i realized my relative ignorance about tents it didnt make quite the same sense to get a top of the line tent. Once i become more comfortable with tents and determine what exactly im loooking for i will probably sell the alpenlite tent and get myself a helsport or hilleberg.
Also in a side note i have ENO hammock set ups for warm weather camping but if im doing something like rock climbing i might end up spending a night somewhere that icnat get a hammock pitched.
Thanks again for all the info. Ill post pics of my tents when i get them.