MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I'm after a new tent for a 2000 mile plus bike tour in the Pacific Northwest. Weather there can vary between high altitude semi desert to coastal rain shadow. Snow is not unheard of in the Cascades in September. If it pours I don't want to be holed up in a soggy coffin, so I'd be prepared to carry a little extra weight for some relative comfort.
I used an MSR Ventana on the trans am which has now been succeeded by the Hubba Hubba. It is spacious, well ventilated, with two entrances and good sized vestibules I could probably buy one when in the states at REI for under £190 $300
Turneround on here, may be able to supply something from the Mountain Hardwear range at a competitive price. Does anyone have experience of their tents? Is there anything that compares directly with the Hubba Hubba?
Apologies if you're only after a Mountain Hardwear option - but from Big Agnes' range, the Seedhouse SL2 https://www.bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Tent/SeedhouseSL22012 might hit the spot.
I've got the SL1 solo, which is great. No reason to think that the 2 man version is any less good.
terra nova quasar?
I have an old wild country trisar which is great - generous for two people - we can both sit up in it at once. I am not sure they are as well made now tho
Very expensive but a Hilleberg Nallo 2GT. The porch would be good for storing and drying stuff and you could easily recoup 1/2 the cost on ebay if you wanted to sell it on your return.
Edit: or a vango equinox 250, about £160 on ebay but probably weighs a kilo or so more than the hilleberg. Ive got an equinox and pack size isn't that small, so worth lokking at one if you are going to carry it.
Thanks for the help so far.
The Big Agnes is about a pound lighter than the MSR Hubba Hubba. The interior head height space doesn't look as generous as the MSRs. It has a cross pole which opens up the space well.
I hear what you are saying about the resale on the Hilleberg, but geez their tents are expensive!
I will keep searching.
bump for the early morning campers
Don't Alpkit do tents now? Given how well rated their other stuff seems to be they might be worth looking at.
Ive an MSR Hubba Hubba 1 Man ten, and its fantastic,- Light, easy to put up, and packs down to the square route of **** all.
Just bought a Mountain Hardwear 2 man tent from Turenaround before christmas, not had chance to use it in anger yet, but seems spotty dog.
A fair bit heavier, but seems like al MH Kit pretty damn good..
I'd always go for something that's freestanding for camping in the US and Canada. Camped a number of places where pegging out isn't really an option so wouldn't want a tent where it's necessary to form the structure, e.g. tunnel style.
The REI own brand tents are a good vfm option if you can wait until you're out there to buy.
I would go terra nova having had a quasar and a voyager XL. Pricy but good quality and excellent uk repairs service if needed.
(ps voyager XL really is excellent for bike touring for two)
I've got a Tera Nova Voyager Superlite which has been good so far - used it 5 times (6 nights in all) always in the Lakes for wild camping or off-road biking with an overnight. Feels a bit flimsy but it withstood very strong winds first time I used it - just bent the pole a bit. Three-pole design helps stability. Never used it prolonged torrential rain, just prolonged moderate rain in which it was fine. Huge for 1 person, but 2 average sized blokes can use it, just. It weighs in at 1.5kg. Reviews are always good. Plenty of discounts around - I paid £270 I think. If I was rich I'd have a Hilleberg, but they're heavy.
I got this [url= http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/tents/LunarDuo.html ]Six Moon Lunar Duo[/url] and [url= http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/tents/cfPole.html ]a pair of these[/url] Low weight and TONS of space, can sit up comfortably - the only down side is it isn't free standing, which sounds like it may have been a bit of a problem on a couple of nights on your Trans America tour but I've a couple of ideas to try out to fix that.
There are some videos on youtube and a guy that did a good, neutral comparison of this and the tarptent on his blog.
You can borrow mine if you want to have a look at it. I think the bill from parcelforce for tax etc was about £60 and I can't remember what delivery was. I did have a bit of a problem with their system, something about it not correctly calculating the delivery charge, but it came very quickly once it was sorted. Although I guess you could avoid all that by getting it delivered to the US.
EDIT: I did a lot of searching before I decided on the Six Moon but couldn't find anything that was as close to meeting all my criteria. It really is very spacious inside with good head height and generous porches on both sides. Quick to pitch too.