UKC

I'm looking into buying a decent 2 man tent for wild country backpacking. The key criteria for me are weight and durability.

The Mountain Hardwear Mountain Wing 2 is one that I am particularly interested in. However, I'd be interested to hear of any comments about it. How does it compare to say the Hilleberg Nallo 2?

J

I have had a serious issue 2 weeks ago with a MHW tent.see "bought a trango and i leaked" thread.

Don't Buy one, get a Terra Nova Voyager, they are much more durable for wet weather, I think they weigh around 2.6kg.



Andy

In reply to Andy C: Hello Andy, in fairness the issue you encountered could have been avoided. It does say clearly in the tent instructions that to make the tent 100% waterproof you must apply seamgrip at 12 small points on the inner of the tent. You didn't do this and had a problem, if you'd read the instructions and followed them this couldn't have happened.

Oh please.....first of all if you are going to post stupid postings, don't be anonimous

If this was as you say "my fault and could have been avoided" why did i receive an apology from MHW?
Also if you spent a little more time reading my posting, I ask the question should it have leaked after 20 minutes of rain?? NO IT SHOULD NOT

Read you're instructions for you're tent, or get someone to do this for you and it clearly says the tent only needs to be Seam sealed if it is to be exposed to prolonged wet weather. MHW say they never usually need to be sealed.

Hope this reply settles you're Silly little Mind.

A

I'm still no further forward with making a decision.

Given that the Mountain Wing 2 is made in the US, how does it stand up to Scottish weather? Is it warm enough in winter given that much of the inner walls are made of mesh?

For the Nallo 2 and GT, how much condensation results from the lack of internal ventilation?

What are the alternatives amongst 2 man performance tents weighing less than 2.8kgs?

Please, please pass on your experiences of using these tents? If I am going to spend upwards of 400 quid, I want to get the best suited tent.

J

In reply to Jason Hoffman: you could look at the crux x2, 2.8kg for a full on mountain tent from a small new UK company. www.crux.uk.com IIRC

In reply to ben b: Let me tell you about CRUX being a UK company. The poles are made in america, the flysheets are made in the orient and they employ less people in the UK than your local newsagent. Even more twisted the guy that founded CRUX is a kiwi. So probably not much of a UK company then! But small granted!

In reply to Anonymous: You know, that sounds about right to me, people on here always bang on about what is and isn't made in the UK. Now I am English, and I love England, but if I could choose between Chinese stitching and that scrawl that cheap English labour in some sweat shop staffed entirely by overweight, bingo playing, chain smoking single mothers then I know where my money goes. Welcome to the real world of globalisation my friends. I guess the guys who go on about UK companies don't buy from the likes of Ikea or McDonalds either. On the other hand, pork pies and sticks of rock, now there is something made in the UK worth having.

In reply to Ranting Man: Err, ranting man and the usual anonymous tripe, try reading first...
Crux is a UK company, and that's what I said, not that the tents were assembled in Clapham, or the poles extruded in Bognor. I know that Carol is a) a bloke and b) a kiwi but I'm not particularly sure that I mind much. It's a small company, yes, that's not much of a suprise given that they only have four products. I said it's a UK company, and if I had suggested a Haglofs tent, I would have said a large swedish company. Not a "solid, rampant and thrusting BRITISH company not from some jonny foreigner outfit" if I'd taken leave of my senses and said that you can complain all you want.

BTW I don't go to Ikea cos I live in New Zealand and it would be too expensive to pop back to stand in a queue for a few hours. And I don't go to McD's because I'm a vegetarian, and I disagree with their agricultural policy.

Your suggestions about which tents to think about are very helpful. Keep posting lads.

In reply to Jason Hoffman: Mmmmmm, Vaude Hogan....

In reply to North East Nick:

Its good to see that the discussion forum is working so well. Here was me thinking that I'd get some advice on buying tents, and I end up starting a discussion on globalisation. Ta very much.

Does anyone have anything to say about 2 man, lightweight back country four season tents?

J

In reply to Jason Hoffman: Well, I tried...there's a new tent from a small br...oh never mind.
What's your budget roughly? If I had money to burn and weight was a priority would definitely look hard at a Stephensons Warmlite. The 3R came out clearly on top in a recent Climbing review of expedition tents and it only weighs a touch over a kg. Would need the dams sewn in though. www.warmlite.com but watch out for the naked bearded types, it's the strangest gear manufacturers site I've seen in a while.

FWIW we have a quasar that's now 12 yrs old. That's quite durable! I didn't mind carrying the extra weight cos it's so strong. However within the last few years we've bought a Solar2 for UK backpacking trips and I'm very impressed with it's strength and weight. Bit of a pain climbing over the other person to get out in the night though. Reviewed repeatedly over at www.outdoorsmagic.com in the user reviews section.

www.antarctica.co.uk has the Southern Cross, on a similar theme, strong but heavier, much like the quasar.

Generally, www.robertsaunders.co.uk have lighter tents than the competition, and they're strong - at one time half the tents on the KIMM or LAMM would be made by them. My personal experience of them hasn't always been good, they're a little flimsy for the conditions I seem to have used them in, not that they've broken or the like but I just am spoiled by the Quasar strength and get edgy when poles invert in high winds.

Another one to look at is www.omegaoutdoor.co.uk/outdoor_tents_catalogue
who used to be phoenix, they had some good tents way back and they still make them. The Outpost I've had a few nights in and it was quite solid.

I'm really pointing these out as a few alternatives to the pack. I've never used MHW tents so can't comment on them (other than to say part of me has never quite got on with the whole window concept). Similarly, I've had bugger all experience of the swedish tents - hilleberg and haglofs, though reviews of the haglofs tents suggest that they're a little on the heavy side.
Happy hunting....

In reply to ben b: Ta for the suggestions.

Another alternative that I have seen on the net is the GOLITE HEX 2 shelter with HEX 2 nest. This is an alternative to the traditional tent, but is very light, and according to the blurb virtually bomb-proof. Have a look at the following:
http://www.golite.co.uk/scstore/scstore/product_categories/shelters.html

My upper limit for spending is £350, the max weight that I am looking for is 2.8kg, and the space inside is important -the tent also has double up for family camping trips too.

Am I asking for too much?

J

In reply to Jason Hoffman: Yup, the whole hex concept is interesting. There's also the Black Diamond version - the megamid - often available cheap via mail order form the US - and the Garuda/Dana Designs pyramid called (IIRC) the nuk-tuk. I've got a golite cave2 tarp and it's handy, as it weighs nearly zip for its size and is big enough for 2 easily. To be honest it only gets used in conjunction with my tent usually as a cooking/lying about area in hot climates - where its withstood some spectacular storms and even a direct hit from a large falling branch - the ripstop works well! I can't really see myself going ultralite in the UK, given the amount of rain we get. I reckon the main problem with these type of shelters is water flowing or seeping in under the fly - the waterproof side walls are usually a cm or two at best, and aren't always pitched well on perfectly flat ground. Also cold windy wet weather under a tarp is miserable, you can pull it down snug but then you can't sit up, or have a cold wind blast through. Might be fine in the US but not here! Maybe I'm just not hard enough...
How 4 season do you need realistically? Does it include altitude or snow? If not you could try some of the US backpacking tents. I've used a friends Kelty Zen a few times and it works well in a 3 season kind of way. Did a high level traverse across from Inverness to Strathcarron in one a few years back, camping at 2500ft in early spring and it coped admirably, though it had been beefed up with extra guylines etc. Best of all, 90 quid and 2 kg. You could get 3 and the family would be well catered for - maybe put a tarp between them...
Could have a look at the outdoorsmagic tent review site, some of the reviews are useful anyway!

In reply to Anonymous: whoops, the above is in fact the same Ben B who badmouthed anonymous posters up above - bugger! Another cookie failure...

In reply to Jason Hoffman:

Try the helsport website, something like Rondane 3, although they claim it's a 3 person tent, they must be joking. Spent 9 days with 3 people sleeping in it at Easter in northern Sweden and it got a little crowded in there.

But for two people it should be quite pleasent, the ventilation workerd pretty well, altough you might conseder sewing a snowlock (similar to the on at the abside) at the back vent.

The biggest bonua is it light weight and the capability to house three persons.
Link: http://www.helsport.no/EN