How I chose a tent

For three months now I have been enjoying this incredible mental attraction - the work of choosing a tent is in full swing in my head. The requirements for applicants are the most severe and terribly contradictory - the tent must be light, durable, wind-resistant, cheap, spacious, and versatile. I have not yet made my choice, but this is not a reason to hide from you the masterpieces of tent construction that I found. Read further about interesting tents from Hilleberg, MSR, Fram, MLD, Tentipi and the Chinese from AliExpress.

In August 2015, during the hiking in Montenegro I seriously thought about buying a new tent.

Two events prompted me to do this. To begin with, while we were going to the radial camp, a wild Montenegrin cow stepped on my old Hannah Stash tent and tore the awning. We patched up the hole later, but a slight feeling of homelessness and defenselessness remained. I thought that leaving a cheap and indestructible tent unattended was much safer than leaving an expensive and fragile one.

A couple of days later, on the same trip, we encountered hurricane-force winds that lasted a day and a half and two endless nights. The wind easily pressed the usual arc tents and the gable awning under which I spent the night into the ground. Then I thought that my next tent should be windproof. Especially if I'm actually going to Iceland next summer (they say it's terribly drafty there).

The hike wasn’t over yet, and I barely had access to the Internet and started reading reviews of tents. On the very first night of searching (we walked around Durmitor during the day), I came across an article on OutdoorGearLab, from which it followed that the best tents to date are made in Sweden (we are talking about Hilleberg tents).

Armored half-barrel

Indeed, I liked the double half-hull Hilleberg Anjan 2 at first sight. It weighs as much as 1.7 kg (that is, not the most record weight), but everyone praises it very much for its strength and wind resistance. This is achieved through thoughtful design, high-quality fabric and fittings.

An important argument in favor of the fact that all this is true was an amazing video where a stern Nordic guy set up a Hilleberg tent in a hurricane wind of 28 m/s (that’s 100 km/h).

Half-barrels are quite unusual for our tourist, but literally a month before I was on a trip in Norway and there the vast majority of hikers had such tents (Hilleberg half-barrels) (motorists there love wigwams).

In short, everything spoke for the purchase of this miracle of equipment construction. Everything except the price. The unrealistic price tag of $630 automatically relegated the Hilleberg Anjan 2 tent to the category of unattainable fantasies (and hurt one’s pride).

Cheap Chinese tent

Against the backdrop of this sadness, my inner pendulum swung in the other direction. I started looking for cheap tents on AliExpress. There was a clone of the Big Agnes SLATER UL2+ tent, which weighed 1.7 kg and cost $95 (including delivery). This is a fairly common design found in many manufacturers. After studying the reviews online, I came to the conclusion that the Chinese from NatureHike did a good job and bought this tent. However, after the trial installation I changed my perspective a little - the NatureHike Cloud UP 2 is a good tent, but for my purposes it is not very suitable.

I probably won’t take it to Iceland or Norway. Firstly, there is questionable wind resistance. Secondly, due to the small vestibule, in rainy weather this tent turns from a double tent into a single one, because... things will need to be taken inside. And a single-person tent weighing 1.7 kg is already too much, even if you leave the footprint at home (minus 250 grams)... It remains a mystery why I didn’t think about all this earlier:)

Well, the NatureHike tent will find its use in lighter hikes (Türkiye and other southern countries) or for rental as a single-person tent. But what to replace it with on difficult routes?

Ideal tent?

Let's once again formulate the requirements for applicants:

• weight - two-room apartment weighing less than 1.8 kg or one-room apartment no heavier than 1 kg
• wind resistance - maximum
• large vestibule (for two 80-liter backpacks and shoes)
• easy installation

After analyzing the market, I came to the conclusion that a lightweight tent can be spacious and windproof only if we are talking about some kind of tent mounted on a rigid central pole (for example, on a trekking pole).

Of course, frame free-standing tents are more convenient to install - due to the arches, they do not fall even without pegs. But to make the frame structure really strong you need at least 3 full-fledged arcs (i.e. 6 support points in the ground). Moreover, preferably with fastening to the awning with “carpans”, and not with clips. Such a toy will weigh at least 2.5 kg even with the most modest dimensions.

Therefore, I once again resigned myself to the need to hammer in a dozen pegs (or carry 10 boulders) at each site and began to look at all kinds of tents.

Group tents for hikes

Firstly, I remembered that I already have one tent - a large 8-person hangar custom-made from my friends from Fram Equipment. So far I have used it relatively rarely - tourists have recently been more inclined to individual huts. We will have to try to entice the participants with the idea of ​​living together on harsh hikes, like Norway. In my opinion, when there is bad weather outside, living together in one spacious tent is much more fun than being bored in separate tents.

Secondly, I thought about getting a smaller tent. For example, 4-seater. You can take it not only to the Norwegian tundra, but also on simple hikes with your family (I have two children). And here we cannot help but recall the very popular in Scandinavia Wigwam Tentipi. They are certainly heavy (4.5 kg single-layer 5-person tent), but incredibly comfortable. Again, you can try to sew such a tent to order (to make it lighter and cheaper).

Tent for one

And thirdly, while digging through the reports, I again came across the recommendations of Rick DeLong. He had great praise for the MLD Trailstar five-pointed pyramid. Together with pegs, guy lines and cover it weighs 800 grams.

Plus 300-600 grams if you need an inner tent. The result is a two-layer 2-person tent weighing about 1.5 kg with a huge area, fantastic wind resistance and not very convenient entry (you need to duck low /T2⟧).

Gable tent

Another interesting option is the MSR Twin Sisters awning (about $255). It’s like two fused pyramids, which in appearance is very reminiscent of a classic gable “house” tent. Such a tent is less wind-resistant than a real pyramid (a tent with one central pole), but a rectangular tent is more convenient and comfortable to use. The Twin Sisters hideout doesn't have a floor, but it does have a snow skirt. An inner mesh tent can be purchased separately, but most light vehicles can do without it. Judging by the data on the manufacturer’s website, the awning weighs surprisingly a lot - about 940 grams. You will have to look for detailed reviews with weighing of all components.

I found a Chinese clone of this awning on AliExpress for $138. Moreover, this amount immediately includes an inner tent, cleverly divided by trekking poles into “separate” bedrooms. This set (awning, liner, pegs, cover) weighs 1.6 kg.

Unfortunately, the Chinese copy does not have a snow skirt, a second entrance and tensioners at the corners of the awning. But if you wish, it’s easy to sew the skirt and tensioners yourself.

Of course, it cannot be said that Twin Sisters and its clones have huge vestibules. But there are two of them. And judging by the photos, the gap between the awning and the inner tent is very decent. And to increase wind resistance, it will be possible to attach additional guys to the existing loops on the tops of the pyramids.

Conclusions

As you understand, the process of choosing a tent is not yet completed. Therefore, it is too early to draw real conclusions. All I can say is that there are no universal answers and absolutely ideal tents. You should select your own equipment for each specific trip and each specific tourist. Therefore, do not take my reasoning too seriously, but think and choose better yourself.