Soloplex vs Altaplex?

[Rex Clifton]

So I took the plunge and purchased the Camo Solplex, and even though I am 6'3" it will take my Therma-rest Prolite Plus L pad and topquilt which is awesome.

What is not awesome is that now they are trying to nickel and dime someone who has sent close to $1000 via PayPal in the last year. The cords for the tie-outs are neon yellow, as well as the zippers for the door, and with a Camo fabric it nullifies any and all chances to blend into the wilderness.

I tried contacting their customer service and they refuse to swap out the cording for black cords. Instead they was to sell me a 50 foot spool of black cord, which they want me to put on myself. I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night..... This is rediculous.

I don't want this bright yellow, check me out I'm a flamer look at me cording and they refuse to let me send it in and have them do an easy swap. ZPacks, I do not want this neon yellow crap, take it back and place it on another Solplex, and swap mine out for the black cord.

To nickel and dime someone for $12 and make them replace the cord themselves when they have already spent 4 figures on your company is pissing down someone's back and telling them it is raining. It's the principle of the matter.

Here are some photos of it. You can see how rediculous their yellow cord looks on something that is trying to remain stealth.

That cord does stand out, nice tent though. I'm wondering how you fit in the Soloplex? Is there enough room to move around, to get dressed and such?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[soumodeler]

ZPacks is getting further and further away from "custom" changes to their gear. When I ordered my ArcHaul from them earlier this year, their response to one of my requests was no, it slows down the manufacturing line. I would never expect a company like Big Agnes to make a color change to their gear on request.

That being said, their overall customer service has always been top notch for me and 99.9% of everyone else I have seen.

[Wyoming]

Since I am doing gear posts today I guess I will jump in here rather than make a new topic.

I own a Soloplex and have about 1200 miles on it to include a complete AZT hike and about 750 miles of the PCT. So a fair number of nights and putting it up in bad conditions as well as experiencing rain and snow.

I will flat out say that I do not like it at all. And the more I use it the more I dislike it. Below are the reasons.

Size: I am 5'10 and the tent is just too short for me as when I am laying on my pad (inflatable) and in my sleeping bag it is not possible for the bag not to touch the end tent wall and my head if it is inside the bag where the hood is puffed up it also will touch the other end tent wall. This is not good as being a waterproof single wall the condensation runs down the inside of the tent. Thus the foot of the bag and the head of the bag get wet. If you are over about 5'6 I recommend getting the large size not the regular.

Setting it up: another annoyance is if you are not on level ground it takes a lot of tweeking to get it right. Needing two poles and a handful of stakes is always less optimal than freestanding but I found dealing with this all the time annoying. Others I met who had this tent also told me they had trouble getting them set up tightly and quickly on non-perfect ground.

Room: there is not much room in the tent and getting all of your gear in the tent if needed is going to get stuff wet do to having to pack it against the tent wall. the only place in the tent for full headroom when sitting up is actually not in the middle center of the tent. It is in the middle all right but you have to be literally right at the door wall opening. The ends slope very steeply and there is little room away from dead center and near the door.

Durability: I experienced a storm with high wind gusts when the tent had only been used about 10 days - gusts to about 60mph I guess. This resulted in small splits in the tent around where the tall pole holds the front of the tent up. Perhaps one should expect this from cuben fiber in such conditions but I found it a little disconcerting. The floor seems to have held up but I always use a ground pad - not just to protect the tent but to help keep thorns from getting to my inflatable pad.

Hope you find this useful data.