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View Full Version : What is a good back packing tent 2 person.



tim.hiker
04-01-2015, 11:15
We are using a cheaper tent that is heavy and lets some dew soak threw. I would like to stay around $ 250 . We are not long distance hikers 4 or 5 days at a time.

88BlueGT
04-01-2015, 11:38
There are a ton of options but I'm personally addicted to Tarp Tents. I use the Rainbow and it' definitely the best tent I've ever owned. It's a single person but could fit 2 in a squeeze (definitely the wife, maybe not a guy friend :D). They also have the Double Rainbow.

http://www.tarptent.com/double-rainbow.html

Namtrag
04-01-2015, 11:41
Tarptent Stratospire 2. We can sleep with our packs in it, and still have room, plus it has extremely large vestibules on both sides.

canoe
04-01-2015, 11:57
lots of room in a zpack duo

Cotton Terry
04-01-2015, 12:03
Check out the REI dome tents. Good value for the weight


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Donde
04-01-2015, 12:13
I love Six Moon Designs tents! a Lunar Duo could be great for you at $160-$310 depending how light you want to be. Also REI Quarter Dome T2, Big Agnes Seedhouse 2 or Pioneer 2, could work and are within your price point.

Thinspace
04-01-2015, 12:32
I'm considering the Marmot Force 1p or 2p. I know they aren't the lightest but the material is heaver than some of the lighter weight options. I'm willing to sacrifice a little weight for durability

colorado_rob
04-01-2015, 12:40
Check out the REI dome tents. Good value for the weight

YEah, like this one, $299 and 20% off if you are a member, that will get you below $250, great little tent for the money:

http://www.rei.com/product/862423/rei-quarter-dome-2-tent#tab-specs

Seatbelt
04-01-2015, 12:40
If you are bigger than the average hiker, you might consider a 3-person tent. My son and I like the larger tent when we go together for the extra room. Some 2-person tents are not very roomy.

88BlueGT
04-01-2015, 13:01
I'm considering the Marmot Force 1p or 2p. I know they aren't the lightest but the material is heaver than some of the lighter weight options. I'm willing to sacrifice a little weight for durability

you shouldn't have durability issues with any of the quality manufactures. UL or not.

Hangfire
04-01-2015, 13:11
I used a 6 moons design then upgraded to a lightheart mid trail, both 1 man tents, but I will say i saw a lot of people with the MSR hubba(1 man) and the Hubba Hubba (2 man) tents. These things seemed to hold up well, were relatively light weight and more importantly kept their occupants dry. It seemed to me that if you don't go with a custom tent then both MSR and Big Agnes made pretty good tents that survived the AT.

gibsygoldtop
04-01-2015, 15:42
You should look at the REI Half Dome series and also the MSR Hubba Hubba. We've had the HH for 8 years and it's still going strong.

Lone Wolf
04-01-2015, 15:51
hubba hubba

4eyedbuzzard
04-01-2015, 16:02
If you are bigger than the average hiker, you might consider a 3-person tent. My son and I like the larger tent when we go together for the extra room. Some 2-person tents are not very roomy.Ditto. Lots of so called two person tents are pretty cramped for two and leave very little, if any, room for gear or moving around. Check the specs or better yet, see the tent in person before buying. I'd think about going with a 3 person tent, which are generally only 1/2 lb to 1 lb heavier.

Thinspace
04-01-2015, 16:24
you shouldn't have durability issues with any of the quality manufactures. UL or not.

I've read and heard of issues with punctures or tears in the floors and flys of some of the UL tents. I think I read a thread either on here or maybe another forum about people who went from heavier tents to UL tents and are now going back to heavier tents because they weren't happy with the durability or performance of the UL tents in foul weather. While I don't have any personal expierience with UL tents, all my previous tents were bomb proof in foul weather but weighed in at around 5 -6 lbs. I though the Marmot might be a good compromise.

linus72
04-01-2015, 16:56
The passage 2 has never let us down, is only $159 before discount, and while its just under 5lbs, we split the weight and only carry 2 1/2 lbs each. A great tent http://www.rei.com/product/810115/rei-passage-2-tent

Cotton Terry
04-01-2015, 17:22
If you are bigger than the average hiker, you might consider a 3-person tent. My son and I like the larger tent when we go together for the extra room. Some 2-person tents are not very roomy.

Ha! This reminds me of when my son and I were Boy Scout camping. We shared a Coleman 2-person backpacking tent. It was too narrow to sleep shoulder-to-shoulder, so we slept nose-to-toe. PEW!!! Lol!!

HooKooDooKu
04-01-2015, 18:12
I very much like the point Thinspace made about UL tents.

I own some of those heavier weight tents that I use when I take my son's camping with me, and a BA Copper Spur (UL) when I'm camping on my own. It takes me a long time to setup that Copper Spur because I have to spend so much time checking out the ground under the tent site to make sure I don't have things that can poke thru the floor or ground cloth of the tent. I've found there are even certain seeds I've encountered that have sharp points I feel I must remove from under the tent site before setting up one the Copper Spur. But the Kelty tents, check the ground for large sticks, rocks and roots and then go.

As to answering the OPs question, you have to determine what is important to you. Are you looking for light weight (UL) and willing to baby it to protect it? Are you looking for really light weight and will look into tarps or tent/tarp crossovers? Do you like to have extra space or are you just looking for enough space for the people?

At the end of the day, you simply have to look at tent specifications, check out a few tents in person, and see what best fits your needs.



So you've already heard the good/bad of UL vs Heavy Weight.

Another thing to consider is that EVERY tent specification you will find seems to be quoting the foot print of the tent... NOT the usable space inside the tent. As an example, I read the specs on a tent that said it was 66" wide. I thought, that's perfect, enough room for my 25" pad, my son's two 20" pads, and still have 1" left over. WRONG. When I found one set up in a store, I tried to fit three 20" pads inside the tent and it was IMPOSSIBLE... even alternating the direction of mummy shaped pads. So when ever you see the dimensions of a tent, remember that that is just the foot print. You have to subtract about 3"-4" off each side (i.e. 6"-8" off quoted dimension) to get usable space.

Don't bother listening to a tent calling itself a 2P, 3P, etc... other than to know that in the same model line, the 3P is bigger than the 2P. You've got to look at the dimensions (and remember the rule above about footprint). You will find that some 2P tents are actually big enought for 2P and some gear, and that other 2P tents barly have enough room for 2P using the smallest of possible sleeping pads.

The other issue is that you JUST missed the season on clearance of last year's tents. If you watch carefully, you can usually find a great deal sometime between Christmas and Easter. But most of those deals are drying up quick.


The one exception I can suggest if you like "Bomb Proof" over UL and extra room over saving a few ounces, check out the Kelty Gunnison 2.2 at Sierra Trading Post. They have this tent on sale for $175... and you can constantly find online coupons for them... sometimes as good as 35% additional off with free shipping. But even if you can't get that good of a deal, it's still a good deal on this tent. My 1st tent was the Kelty Vortex... the predecessor to the Gunnison. I've not owned the Gunnison 2.2 but I do have a Gunnison 3.1 that I picked up at the killer price of like $135 a few years ago watching for those Christmas to Easter deals. I find the Gunisson 3.1 to have plently of space for my 25" sleeping pad, my son's two 20" sleeping pads, and enough length to include enough room for gear (like clothing bags... not your entire backpack).

elray
04-01-2015, 18:27
Hubba Hubba, we're on our third one, the NX model and have used them in every possible condition save arctic cold. I cracked a pole on our latest AT adventure (my fault) and they over nighted a replacement to the NOC in Gatlinburg no questions asked. I'm a believer.

CalebJ
04-01-2015, 18:28
ERW3599C is valid through tomorrow at midnight and knocks 35% off $125 with free shipping over $100. It would bring the Gunnison to $114.37 plus tax.
Alternatively, SFBWD4115 is good for 40%. To get free shipping, order through the Android or iOS app and your total (after coupon) needs to be over $150.

In addition to the Gunnison, consider the Alps Zenith 3. Just over 5 lb's with very comfortable room for 2 and separate entrances. It's about $10 cheaper than the Gunnison after coupon.
Alps Mountaineering Zenith 3 AL (http://www.sierratradingpost.com/alps-mountaineering-zenith-3-al-tent-3-person-3-season~p~1480c/?filterString=s~alps%2Fsports-and-outdoors~d~4868%2Foutdoor-gear~d~2%2Fcamping-and-hiking~d~27%2Ftents~d~228%2F&colorFamily=03)

Second Hand
04-01-2015, 18:44
Check out TarpTent!
Great quality, great value, light weight... You will never talk to someone who owns a tarptent and is not happy with it.

soumodeler
04-01-2015, 20:55
TarpTent would be my first recommendation. Good balance between weight and durability. My Notch is going on 200 miles without any visible wear or tear.

ZPacks if you can afford it, but will have much less durability than a TarpTent, but lighter weight. I bought one but it was too lightweight for me. Missed the features of my TarpTent, and it only saved me 10oz.

REI Passage 2 (tight for 2 people though) would be the heavier, more durable option. Also decently priced. I have one that I only use for base camp but it is very well built.

MuddyWaters
04-01-2015, 22:14
not long distance hikers
2 people to split weight

Any number of $100-150 tents will work great.

After that, you pay more generally for less weight, and less durability.

If its one person in a 2P tent, you want to pay for that $$2 lb tent. 2 people can split a 4 lb tent fine.

Studlintsean
04-02-2015, 07:39
If interested, I have a REI Half Dome 2 HC tent I would be willing to sell you for $125 plus shipping. Send me a PM if interested and I can get you pictures.

MuddyWaters
04-02-2015, 07:43
We are using a cheaper tent that is heavy and lets some dew soak threw. .

are you sure this isnt just condensation on the inside of tent?

tim.hiker
04-02-2015, 09:02
are you sure this isnt just condensation on the inside of tent?
Yea just a cheaper $40 tent I have water proof few times seems to help some...

Onda Road Again
04-02-2015, 09:45
There are a ton of options but I'm personally addicted to Tarp Tents. I use the Rainbow and it' definitely the best tent I've ever owned. It's a single person but could fit 2 in a squeeze (definitely the wife, maybe not a guy friend :D). They also have the Double Rainbow.

http://www.tarptent.com/double-rainbow.html

I would vote for the Double Rainbow. My wife and I just got ours a few months ago and love it! Plenty big and has two good sized vestibules for storing gear.

bangorme
04-02-2015, 09:53
I've got the one and two man LLBean Microlight tents (http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/80579?feat=1096-GN2&page=microlight-fs-2-person-tent&attrValue_0=Yellow%20Citron&productId=1337511), and I love them. They are freestanding and durable. They are not as light as some mentioned here, but they Beans has a lot of sales throughout the year. I would stay away from a tarp tent and the really ultralight tents if you are newcomers to backpacking.

Bluegrass
04-02-2015, 11:31
We have the Kelty Salida 2 - http://www.kelty.com/p-497-salida-2.aspx and have really liked it. You can find it for about $150 with a little looking. The TarpTent is a lot lighter, but also more expensive.

Sirsnappy09
04-02-2015, 16:06
A cheaper option for weight and durability iabthe kelty th2. It is one of their new 'll models and is packed with features for the price. I own a contrail, rainbow, and a lunar duo and when packing with my girlfriend actually prefer the th2 to the smd. And I am a big smd fan. You can get it to.4 lbs and it has a lot of room for what it is. Two doors, full mesh inner, 2 vestibules dac poles and very roomy I interior. I would get it over an Msr any day but everyone like a something different. I have heard lots of stories of the hibbas not holding up well in severe wind.

Hangfire
04-02-2015, 21:28
For whatever reason there were a lot of unhappy REI halfdome hikers on the trail last year. I always asked about them because I nearly bought one, but there was lots of complaints about poor design and getting wet and they overall weight was heavy.

Donde
04-02-2015, 23:10
For whatever reason there were a lot of unhappy REI halfdome hikers on the trail last year. I always asked about them because I nearly bought one, but there was lots of complaints about poor design and getting wet and they overall weight was heavy.

Quarter dome is a much better choice for serious backpack than a half dome. That being said being unhappy about a known characteristic like weight after the fact is pretty dumb, if you want a sub 3lb two person shelter all you gotta do is pay for it.

Hangfire
04-03-2015, 01:15
Quarter dome is a much better choice for serious backpack than a half dome. That being said being unhappy about a known characteristic like weight after the fact is pretty dumb, if you want a sub 3lb two person shelter all you gotta do is pay for it.

My bad, quarter dome was what i meant to say. Quarter Dome is the single and Half is the double (sounds right)???

Donde
04-03-2015, 04:40
My bad, quarter dome was what i meant to say. Quarter Dome is the single and Half is the double (sounds right)???

No they are different series, you can get both in a 2p. Half domes are little heavier, and cheaper cheaper. I NOBO'd with a Quarter Dome T1 and it was pretty good. I still have a Quarter Dome t2 for hiking with my partner, but I became a SMD guy on my SOBO and am sticking with that for solo trips.

linus72
04-03-2015, 10:24
our passage 2 has been dumped on time after time in deluges that lasted all night. not more than a drop ever made it into the tent. a LOT cheaper than the domes, and while heavier, easy if you split the weight. love this tent for duo camping. really pleased. plus, i got it at 119 on sale. but at 159 its a steal still and with your 20% member coupon you can likely get it at my price. double doors and double vestibules too.

linus72
04-03-2015, 11:01
did i mention freestanding and easy as can be to set up. only upgrade i'd recommend with all that dough you save is lighter stakes but the ones that come with it aren't bad. i use msr micro groundhogs but if you want hook style go for vargo titanium stakes. we sleep very comfortably in it and it has pockets and a gear loft.

CalebJ
04-03-2015, 11:06
REI Passage 2:
http://www.rei.com/product/810115/rei-passage-2-tent#tab-specs
Alps Zenith 3 AL
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/alps-mountaineering-zenith-3-al-tent-3-person-3-season~p~1480c/?filterString=s~zenith-3-al%2F&colorFamily=03 (http://www.sierratradingpost.com/alps-mountaineering-zenith-3-al-tent-3-person-3-season~p~1480c/?filterString=s~zenith-3-al%2F&colorFamily=03)

They both look like good options, but the Zephyr gives you a little extra space and can be picked up for about $100 if you grab a coupon. It sets up almost instantly and includes a gear loft.

HooKooDooKu
04-03-2015, 11:40
Anecdotally I have found that I get less condensation under the rain fly of my Kelty tents than my Big Agnes tents. I've used both in the humid GSMNP. The BA tents seem to always have condensation regardless of the conditions where my Kelty tents only seem to Occasionally get condensation.

If you can get a Gunnison for less than $125, I think you will be quite happy given the amount of money spent.

LIhikers
04-03-2015, 21:48
My wife and I use a Tarp Tent Rainshadow II.
It's a little more than your budget but It's worked very well for us for years.
It's light weight, roomy, and does a very good job at keeping out the weather and the bugs.
It gives us enough room to bring in our dog, and whatever gear we want with us.

bangorme
04-03-2015, 23:57
Did the OP say that he preferred freestanding? That makes a big difference. I've got one of each, but platforms make non-freestanding a real pain to set up.

shakey_snake
04-04-2015, 01:35
I've read and heard of issues with punctures or tears in the floors and flys of some of the UL tents. I think I read a thread either on here or maybe another forum about people who went from heavier tents to UL tents and are now going back to heavier tents because they weren't happy with the durability or performance of the UL tents in foul weather.

It just all depends on what features you are willing to give up in the quest for a lighter shelter. I don't know that anyone who's used a lighter shelter wasn't willing to try giving up something in the name of being lighter. But it doesn't have to be durability, although sometimes it is.

Pastor Bryon
04-04-2015, 11:44
+1 to Kelty. Not the high-end kind of stuff, but I've had a grand mesa 2 for several years now and it has held up great. Very little condensation super simple set up.

+1 also to the 3p tent for 2 people. I have a 2p tent which is fine when I go with family and great for solo, but in hindsight, the 3p would be nice for the space and worth the weight, IMO.

spidey
04-04-2015, 21:40
Being discontinued but Big Agnes Angel Springs UL3 works great for my wife, me and two dogs just a hair over 3lbs and you get 41 sq feet of space..... There are reviews on here about it... it only has on door but no a problem for us.... good luck on your search...

HooKooDooKu
04-04-2015, 22:48
+1 also to the 3p tent for 2 people. I have a 2p tent which is fine when I go with family and great for solo, but in hindsight, the 3p would be nice for the space and worth the weight, IMO.
Again, you have to check sizes. There are tents labeled as 2p that won't even fit two sleeping pads and others that are already oversized where moving up to the 3p is overkill.

I would say that tents like the Kelty Salida, BA Copper Spur, & BA Flycreek are on the smaller size where you would want to consider a larger size, where as the Kelty Gunnison is an oversized tent where moving up to the 3p would be overkill.

Sarcasm the elf
04-04-2015, 22:56
As others have said Tarptent is a great compromise between light weight and durability. I've been using my Tarptent double rainbow for a couple of years now and am very impressed by it's design. The floor material in particular seems to be nearly as beefy as my old car camping tents while the walls are lighter silnylon. In contrast, my buddy has a Big Agnes UL Fly creek one man UL tent and the floor is such a thin material that I think I could almost rip it open with a sufficiently powerful fart.

One other possibility to consider depending on your budget are the lighter Eureka! brand two person tents. Several of them weigh in at around 5lbs for a two person tent that really will hold two people plus plenty of room for gear. When I got back into backpacking in 2008 I bought a Eureka! on sale for just over $100. Since then I've put it through hundreds of miles of abuse, many dozens of nights of four season camping and the tent is still going strong. If you look around a little you can usually find a great deal one one (I stumbled on mine at Dick's sporting goods of all places). Just make sure to only look at the ones that have aluminum tent poles, the couple of models they have that come with fiberglass tent poles should be avoided for backpacking.

Cuacoatchoo
04-08-2015, 13:42
Yeah the new REI quarter domes just got significantly lighter. Pretty sure they ripped off the $500 big agnes copper spur and offered it for $250 for a sub 3lb tent.

If you're going to carry anything over 4lbs I'd just get a $20 walmar tent. They're very spacious to sleep in. Bulky to carry. I use them for my loaners : )

tim.hiker
04-08-2015, 15:14
I learned the hard way on fiber glass poles:mad:....

HooKooDooKu
04-08-2015, 17:31
I learned the hard way on fiber glass poles:mad:....
Yea, fiber glass is going to be heavier, easier to break, and prone to breaking in cold temperatures... and when it breaks, it's going to shatter such that it will not be repairable in the field.

But the OP was looking to spend as much as $250. 2P backpacking tents in that class range are not going to have aluminum poles.

The only "real" backpacking tents that I know of that have fiberglass poles are low end tents with an MSRP of less than $150:
Eureka Apex 2XT - MSRP $140
Kelty Acadia 2 - MSRP $120

Wanderingventurer
04-10-2015, 23:01
The LightHeart Duo is both ul and incredibly big!

Old Hiker
04-11-2015, 11:27
The LightHeart Duo is both ul and incredibly big!

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/110574-FS-Lightheart-Gear-Duo-tent