GBarron
12-31-2013, 16:00
Last fall, while on an overnight hike in the Rockies, I camped in a valley bottom next to a creek - partly due to nightfall, failing to locate an above treeline campsite, and partly my own stupidity. It was a chillier evening than I expected, and as easily predicted, my Tarptent Moment was soaked from condensation the next morning.
But, withal, my pack was light (even with a wet tent), the condensation easy to wipe off with a cloth, and since I was hiking to the trailhead that morning, I had no worries about my down quilt absorbing even more condensation over, say, a week. So no big concern on this trip.
Still, many people worry about condensation, some even eschewing single wall shelters for that reason alone. While I agree condensation is a factor in tent selection, and might be much worse in other areas, it's only one of many factors to consider when buying a tent..
So I gave some thought to how I rated those factors when I decided to buy a Tarptent Moment a couple years ago. Here's rough list of tent "virtues" ranked from 1 to 20 by their importance to me, given my preferences and my intended use. I've also included my ranking (out of 5 *****) as to how well I think the Moment performs. I don't pretend that my priorities apply to everyone nor that my ranking scores are objective. I don't even pretend my list is exhaustive. Of course your needs, preferences, relative rankings, and scores will certainly differ - that's why people buy different tents. YMMV.
But I would be interested in your perspectives.
Waterproofness. Arguably, the primary reason when buying a tent for three season backpacking in mountainous terrain. I don't require a tent that will keep me dry under a weeklong monsoon that deposits 300 mm (one foot) of rain. This might be a 1 in 100 year storm. But I do require a tent that will keep me dry under a moderately heavy rainstorm. *****
Wind resistance. I try to ameliorate this as much as possible by choosing protected campsites. I've read reports of people surviving very high winds in a Moment, but still have niggling doubts about a one-pole, 4 stake setup. Maybe just a remnant of my mountaineering days where I relied on bombproof tents that weighed a ton. So I'm still too chicken to trust the Moment on a blustery ridge, but not enough to buy or use the extra Moment "crossing" pole. ****
Weight. At 900 grams, the Moment fits the bill. I aim for a UL pack weight rather than SUL. Sure, there's lighter options (cuben) that might justify a higher price if I were planning a thruhike, but see (4). And tarps are lighter and cheaper. But see (5). *****
Cost. $200 plus change. A very reasonable price for a one person shelter at this weight. *****
Bug protection. I love sleeping under a tarp above treeline, but can't stand mosquitoes buzzing around my head otherwise. So screens are vital. And I've sprayed the tent with Permethrin. *****
Internal space. I'm a compact 165 cm, so the Moment is more than long enough for me. The width at midpoint accommodates clothing, gear, waterbottle, etc. beside my sleeping pad.
Snow loading. I don't anticipate using the tarptent in winter - I prefer huts! But the Cdn. Rockies occasionally get snow even in the summer months, so some protection is required. ****
Side entry. For years, I used a very rugged three pole, two and a half person, tunnel tent made by MEC. It was great, but I grew to dislike crawling in and out the low entrance at the end. I much prefer the Moment's side entry. *****
Vestibule. A necessity for storing gear and for cooking in inclement weather - which I do only to heat water for freezer bag cooking. I don't want food odours in my tent to attract bears. If I were to buy a two-person tent, double side entries and vestibules would be a much higher priority. *****
Ease of pitching. Franco has a Youtube vid of a sub one-minute Moment pitch. I can do it in two. (I think his location in Australia helps!) While I respect people who can rig a weatherproof tarp, fiddling with tarp, guys, trekking poles, bivi sac, and perhaps even a bug net seems a hassle to me. I like to imagine that a quick pitch is only important when racing against bad weather. But maybe I'm just a bit lazy. *****
Tight pitch. Easy with the Moment, but silnylon does stretch when wet. ****
Trekking pole pitch. I had a very hard time deciding between the Moment and its close cousin the Notch, which pitches with two trekking poles. And I occasionally feel a pang of buyer's regret on evenings when I see my trekking pole with no work to do in the evening. In the end, I opted for the Moment since it seemed the semicircular hoop at midpoint offered more internal space and usable headroom than the Notch. I'm sure I would have been quite pleased with the Notch nonetheless. *
Internal pockets. Very handy for glasses, small bits of gear, but definitely not a deal breaker. *****
Durability. My Integral Designs mountain tent (circa 1983) sported a packcloth floor and Cordura reinforced corners. By comparison, the Moment's silnylon floor appears unacceptably fragile. Still, Henry says it holds up, and the floor is easy to fix. Despite no longer camping on rugged moraines and and paying much more attention to site selection, I still feel a bit irresponsible when I leave the Tyvek footprint behind (which is still much lighter than my last footprint.) So all in all, I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of of ruggedness for a lighter load, and I don't mind the extra care that ulralight gear frequently entails. ***
Ease of return. Buy from a major retailer such as REI or MEC, and and one can walk into any outlet for a no-hassle refund should a product fail. While I've heard much online praise for Tarptents customer service, my Canadian location makes it a bit harder to return a faulty product. ****
Condensation. As you can guess, not a major concern to me. ***
Packability. Some users may require a tent that can be packed separately from its poles, say, to pack in bike panniers. It's tricky separating the Moment's end struts, so I just roll the whole package up. **
Aesthetics. I confess, I am really drawn to aesthetically appealing products. If the aesthetics also contribute to functionality (as I think is the case with Apple products) so much the better. But much of my newly acquired ultralight gear - the Moment, my EE Rev X quilt, and my new Six Moons Designs Swift pack - is eminently well-designed, functional, and lightweight, but with little attention paid to aesthetics. This is most decidedly NOT a criticism - mass marketing may require flashy showroom appeal, but I'll settle for a lighter pack and usability any day. In the case of the Moment, I love the yellow pole sleeve at the midsection but wonder how Henry picked the tent body colour. I can understanding the appeal of bright colours (cheery in bad weather, visible in white-outs) and earth/forest tones (less visual pollution). But industrial grey? And while I really like the pole design, the triangular configuration at each end clashes with the hemispherical main pole. OK, maybe that's just me. ***
Snake and scorpion protection. I don't hike in deserts, but I imagine this is of concern to those who do. I suspect the Moment rates OK here. *****?
Free standing pitch. Obviously the Moment requires at least two stakes, so it fails this test. But not an issue for me. No stars.
Is that it? Any factors I've omitted on this list?
But, withal, my pack was light (even with a wet tent), the condensation easy to wipe off with a cloth, and since I was hiking to the trailhead that morning, I had no worries about my down quilt absorbing even more condensation over, say, a week. So no big concern on this trip.
Still, many people worry about condensation, some even eschewing single wall shelters for that reason alone. While I agree condensation is a factor in tent selection, and might be much worse in other areas, it's only one of many factors to consider when buying a tent..
So I gave some thought to how I rated those factors when I decided to buy a Tarptent Moment a couple years ago. Here's rough list of tent "virtues" ranked from 1 to 20 by their importance to me, given my preferences and my intended use. I've also included my ranking (out of 5 *****) as to how well I think the Moment performs. I don't pretend that my priorities apply to everyone nor that my ranking scores are objective. I don't even pretend my list is exhaustive. Of course your needs, preferences, relative rankings, and scores will certainly differ - that's why people buy different tents. YMMV.
But I would be interested in your perspectives.
Waterproofness. Arguably, the primary reason when buying a tent for three season backpacking in mountainous terrain. I don't require a tent that will keep me dry under a weeklong monsoon that deposits 300 mm (one foot) of rain. This might be a 1 in 100 year storm. But I do require a tent that will keep me dry under a moderately heavy rainstorm. *****
Wind resistance. I try to ameliorate this as much as possible by choosing protected campsites. I've read reports of people surviving very high winds in a Moment, but still have niggling doubts about a one-pole, 4 stake setup. Maybe just a remnant of my mountaineering days where I relied on bombproof tents that weighed a ton. So I'm still too chicken to trust the Moment on a blustery ridge, but not enough to buy or use the extra Moment "crossing" pole. ****
Weight. At 900 grams, the Moment fits the bill. I aim for a UL pack weight rather than SUL. Sure, there's lighter options (cuben) that might justify a higher price if I were planning a thruhike, but see (4). And tarps are lighter and cheaper. But see (5). *****
Cost. $200 plus change. A very reasonable price for a one person shelter at this weight. *****
Bug protection. I love sleeping under a tarp above treeline, but can't stand mosquitoes buzzing around my head otherwise. So screens are vital. And I've sprayed the tent with Permethrin. *****
Internal space. I'm a compact 165 cm, so the Moment is more than long enough for me. The width at midpoint accommodates clothing, gear, waterbottle, etc. beside my sleeping pad.
Snow loading. I don't anticipate using the tarptent in winter - I prefer huts! But the Cdn. Rockies occasionally get snow even in the summer months, so some protection is required. ****
Side entry. For years, I used a very rugged three pole, two and a half person, tunnel tent made by MEC. It was great, but I grew to dislike crawling in and out the low entrance at the end. I much prefer the Moment's side entry. *****
Vestibule. A necessity for storing gear and for cooking in inclement weather - which I do only to heat water for freezer bag cooking. I don't want food odours in my tent to attract bears. If I were to buy a two-person tent, double side entries and vestibules would be a much higher priority. *****
Ease of pitching. Franco has a Youtube vid of a sub one-minute Moment pitch. I can do it in two. (I think his location in Australia helps!) While I respect people who can rig a weatherproof tarp, fiddling with tarp, guys, trekking poles, bivi sac, and perhaps even a bug net seems a hassle to me. I like to imagine that a quick pitch is only important when racing against bad weather. But maybe I'm just a bit lazy. *****
Tight pitch. Easy with the Moment, but silnylon does stretch when wet. ****
Trekking pole pitch. I had a very hard time deciding between the Moment and its close cousin the Notch, which pitches with two trekking poles. And I occasionally feel a pang of buyer's regret on evenings when I see my trekking pole with no work to do in the evening. In the end, I opted for the Moment since it seemed the semicircular hoop at midpoint offered more internal space and usable headroom than the Notch. I'm sure I would have been quite pleased with the Notch nonetheless. *
Internal pockets. Very handy for glasses, small bits of gear, but definitely not a deal breaker. *****
Durability. My Integral Designs mountain tent (circa 1983) sported a packcloth floor and Cordura reinforced corners. By comparison, the Moment's silnylon floor appears unacceptably fragile. Still, Henry says it holds up, and the floor is easy to fix. Despite no longer camping on rugged moraines and and paying much more attention to site selection, I still feel a bit irresponsible when I leave the Tyvek footprint behind (which is still much lighter than my last footprint.) So all in all, I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of of ruggedness for a lighter load, and I don't mind the extra care that ulralight gear frequently entails. ***
Ease of return. Buy from a major retailer such as REI or MEC, and and one can walk into any outlet for a no-hassle refund should a product fail. While I've heard much online praise for Tarptents customer service, my Canadian location makes it a bit harder to return a faulty product. ****
Condensation. As you can guess, not a major concern to me. ***
Packability. Some users may require a tent that can be packed separately from its poles, say, to pack in bike panniers. It's tricky separating the Moment's end struts, so I just roll the whole package up. **
Aesthetics. I confess, I am really drawn to aesthetically appealing products. If the aesthetics also contribute to functionality (as I think is the case with Apple products) so much the better. But much of my newly acquired ultralight gear - the Moment, my EE Rev X quilt, and my new Six Moons Designs Swift pack - is eminently well-designed, functional, and lightweight, but with little attention paid to aesthetics. This is most decidedly NOT a criticism - mass marketing may require flashy showroom appeal, but I'll settle for a lighter pack and usability any day. In the case of the Moment, I love the yellow pole sleeve at the midsection but wonder how Henry picked the tent body colour. I can understanding the appeal of bright colours (cheery in bad weather, visible in white-outs) and earth/forest tones (less visual pollution). But industrial grey? And while I really like the pole design, the triangular configuration at each end clashes with the hemispherical main pole. OK, maybe that's just me. ***
Snake and scorpion protection. I don't hike in deserts, but I imagine this is of concern to those who do. I suspect the Moment rates OK here. *****?
Free standing pitch. Obviously the Moment requires at least two stakes, so it fails this test. But not an issue for me. No stars.
Is that it? Any factors I've omitted on this list?