Naturehike Star River 2 Tent Review

The Naturehike Star River 2 (model NH17T012-T) is a typical modern tent with a hub frame structure, a snow skirt and a pseudo-silicone flysheet. It has two entrances and two vestibules. Weight including footprint, pegs and guy ropes is just under 2.2 kg. Price on AliExpress - $176.

The question is, can this tent be called a winter tent and ultra-light, as the sellers claim?

Immediately about the main thing:

Advantages

• monolithic hub design
• two full vestibules
• vertical walls

Flaws

• tight zippers
• wide doors
• narrow berth

Now let’s look at these and other features of the Naturehike Star River 2 tent in more detail.

Positioning

On the manufacturer’s website in the description of this model there is a rather bold wording - “4 Season Tent”. Apparently, the presence of a snow skirt was considered the reason for this. In my opinion, the signs of a real winter tent are:

• non-mesh walls (in case of a blizzard),
• thick arches (at least 9 mm),
• numerous storm guys,
• adjustable vestibule fastening (to use an ice ax or skis instead of pegs),
• advanced ventilation
• very reliable zippers (freeze-resistant) or even an entrance with a tube

As you already understood, Naturehike Star River 2 does not have the above-mentioned characteristics. Therefore, I am inclined to consider it a regular 3-season tent, slightly upgraded due to the snow skirt. If you position this tent exactly like this, then there will be no reason to find fault and the final rating of the product will be much higher.

This does not mean that you cannot go on winter hikes with this tent. Hikes are different. For example, putting up such a tent on the top of Goverla in a snowstorm would not be very wise. But you can spend the night with her in the forest area, where there is almost no wind, quite calmly.

Quality of materials

When I mentioned on Facebook that I was working on a review of the Naturehike tent, there were a few angry responses in the comments. They say these are Chinese scammers and there is no point in advertising such scoundrels. And one of the main complaints was about the durability of the fabric - namely, the cover of the tent quickly wore out. It's funny, but my friend made exactly the same remark (about the case) about the much more pretentious MSR Hubba Hubba NX. What is this - a universal conspiracy?

Gentlemen, we must understand that miracles do not happen. If you are buying a lightweight tent, then you should not count on the durability and unpretentiousness of a canvas “house”. Weight reduction is achieved through the use of thin (read vulnerable) fabrics and complex (less reliable) frame structures. Accept that a tent, like any piece of equipment, has a “expiration date” and after a certain mileage it will simply fall apart. And if you want more reliability, then buy the “black series” from Hilleberg. They use real silicone of the highest quality (40d, tear force 18 kg). It’s true that such tents cost about 1000 Euros. For comparison, Star River is sewn from 20d fabric and it seems to me (I could be wrong) that the phrase “silicone fabric” used in its advertising means just a surface coating of silicone on one side of the awning. Otherwise, how would they put tape on the inside of the seams?

But the price is 5 times lower! Decide for yourself, of course, but if you are not going into space, then it seems to me that it is quite possible to go with an ordinary “non-extreme” tent made of ordinary fabrics. Especially if you are just starting to get acquainted with hiking and all these terms mean nothing to you.

Pay attention! NatureHike offers this tent in 3 colors - grey, lime green and orange. So, the gray and light green versions use fabric designated as siliconized nylon (this is kind of cool), and the orange version uses regular polyester with polyurethane coating.

Frame

My previous tent from NatureHike pleased me with the high waterproofness of the fabrics, but almost died due to the fact that its hub (the element connecting the “beams” of the frame) fell apart. Deprived of a connector, the arcs could easily tear the awning and cause me a lot of trouble. Therefore, I was sincerely glad to see that the manufacturer has radically changed the design of the hub. Now NatureHike tents have much more fragile monolithic hubs. They are machined from a single piece of metal and so far seem invulnerable to me. The diameter of the frame tubes (tent arches) is 7.5 mm.

Other reviews of this tent show that earlier versions of the Star River 2 had the old ring hub with the males attached to the threads. It is much less reliable than the new monolithic hub with "mothers". It's good that Naturehike replaced it, but if you buy online you now run the risk of getting the old version. And it is completely unclear how to distinguish them, given that sellers often do not see the products in person.

Habitability

The first thing that catches your eye when you sit inside Star River 2 is the very high ceilings. There is still about 20 cm of space above your head and you can squat freely in the tent. Perhaps this is a common situation for mass-produced tents, but in recent years I have been going exclusively with “short” homemade ones and have already lost the habit of free “air” above my head. On the one hand, such space is pleasant, but on the other, a tall tent is less wind-resistant than a squat one.

Thanks to the structure of the frame, the walls of the inner tent are almost vertical. This is an absolute plus, as it increases the volume of living space with the same floor area and reduces the “claustrophobic” feel of the tent.

The length and width of the tent are sufficient for two average-sized occupants. But no more. My height is 179 cm, and my weight is 80 kg, and it seemed to me that it would be a bit cramped for taller and heavier tourists if they decided to live in this tent together.

The useful area of ​​each vestibule is approximately 0.6 sq.m. (110 cm long and 50 cm wide). This vestibule can easily accommodate 1 backpack (of any size) and shoes.

Doors and zippers

Like my last tent from Naturehike in Star River, I didn’t really like the zippers on the entrances. To begin with, they just work a little hard. Probably this drawback can be overcome by rubbing the zipper with paraffin or something similar. But what to do with the shape of the doors? They are semicircular and in order to get out of such a door, you need to completely unzip it (and let out mosquitoes). And when you try to close the door of a well-stretched inner tent, the zipper will resist thoroughly for the first 10 cm.

Guarantee

The tent for this review was provided by the manufacturer, the Chinese company Naturehike, for which we thank them very much. Our communication began when I wrote to NatureHike on Facebook about purchasing spare parts for a broken tent (see above). During the discussion, it turned out that if you buy Naturehike equipment from official representatives (including on the Internet), then it is covered by a guarantee. So, in exchange for a couple of photos of the damaged tent and a story about the breakdown, I received new poles for free... “Download the license!”, gentlemen:)

Results

For the money, the Star River is an absolutely amazing tent. If you soberly assess its capabilities and use the tent for its intended purpose, then everything will be fine.

Kirill Yasko, December 26, 2018