Tarptent Notch

[spfleisig]

Does anyone own a Notch? I like the tent but am wondering if the trekking pole in front of the opening of the tent is a pain in the ass. Are there any benefits to having a side entrance vs a front entrance?

[Venchka]

Does anyone own a Notch? I like the tent but am wondering if the trekking pole in front of the opening of the tent is a pain in the ass. Are there any benefits to having a side entrance vs a front entrance?
Another Kevin here at WhiteBlaze uses a Notch year round in upstate New York. Ask him.
My first 3 tents had front entrance. My two current tents have side entrances. I’ll never go back. Not only is access and egress much more convenient, the cross flow ventilation is fantastic.
The poles on my StratoSpire 1 are not an issue. I can’t speak for the Notch.
Wayne

[spfleisig]

Another Kevin here at WhiteBlaze uses a Notch year round in upstate New York. Ask him.
My first 3 tents had front entrance. My two current tents have side entrances. I’ll never go back. Not only is access and egress much more convenient, the cross flow ventilation is fantastic.
The poles on my StratoSpire 1 are not an issue. I can’t speak for the Notch.
Wayne

I have spent a ton of time in the woods but not sleeping so I'm still trying to figure out what I'll like when I do some section hikes. The front entrance thing seems good to me because when you sit up, your head won't hit the top of the tent because you are underneath the high point of the tent. It seems all other tents that have the high point in the middle, won't give you that same level of head clearance unless you position yourself in the middle of the tent.

[Venchka]

I have spent a ton of time in the woods but not sleeping so I'm still trying to figure out what I'll like when I do some section hikes. The front entrance thing seems good to me because when you sit up, your head won't hit the top of the tent because you are underneath the high point of the tent. It seems all other tents that have the high point in the middle, won't give you that same level of head clearance unless you position yourself in the middle of the tent.
My head doesn’t touch the tent when I sit up in the Hubba Hubba or StratoSpire. Both have side entry. The opposite was true in the front entry tents that I owned. That’s why I switched styles of entry.
Find the 3D videos of the 6’ model in the various TarpTent models. You’re imagining things that aren’t true in the real world.
Find a store with tents set up.
Wayne

[Odd Man Out]

I have a notch. Agree that the side entrance is nice. I don't find sitting up to be a problem. When lying down, your butt is in the middle so while I sit up, my head is at the peak. My biggest complaint is the floor space is a bit tight, but I've learned to make use of the generous vestibule space.

[cmoulder]

Side entrance forever. And ever.

[Venchka]

Side entrance forever. And ever.
There it is. And even longer.
Wayne

[spfleisig]

I have a notch. Agree that the side entrance is nice. I don't find sitting up to be a problem. When lying down, your butt is in the middle so while I sit up, my head is at the peak. My biggest complaint is the floor space is a bit tight, but I've learned to make use of the generous vestibule space.

Thanks I was wondering about how narrow it was. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the Zpacks Duplex is 45" wide at the widest point. The Notch is 34". The BA Copper Spur HV UL1 is 38". The MSR Hubba NX Solo is even narrower at just 30".

[Venchka]

And the SS 1 nudges 40” and fully rectangular floor space.
Another feature that isn’t appreciated until you’ve lived in a tent for awhile: VERTICAL SIDE WALLS.
Wayne

[bigcranky]

I don't have a Notch but I can definitely answer the question about the side entrance.

Yes. Side entrances for the win.

No, the pole does not really get in the way.

We've had a couple of tents/tarptents with the door at the head end, and they are a PITA in all sorts of ways. Having to contort myself to get in and then back out, not having a vestibule to store gear (or crawling over it to get out), and not having any cross ventilation or views -- all suboptimal, in my experience.

[spfleisig]

And the SS 1 nudges 40” and fully rectangular floor space.
Another feature that isn’t appreciated until you’ve lived in a tent for awhile: VERTICAL SIDE WALLS.
Wayne

I just looked at the StratoSpire 1 and it looks very, very interesting. Only downside seems to be it weighs 15oz more than the Duplex. I hardly ever read or watched anyone mention the SS 1 in their AT thru hike ramblings. It would seem to me that this tent would be very popular given its size and relatively less expensive cost.

[Odd Man Out]

Thanks I was wondering about how narrow it was. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the Zpacks Duplex is 45" wide at the widest point. The Notch is 34". The BA Copper Spur HV UL1 is 38". The MSR Hubba NX Solo is even narrower at just 30".

I've done a couple of things to take advantage of the large vestibules. One is I cut a short piece of spectra cord, tied a loop on both ends, one loop has a mini biner which I clip to the top handle on my pack. The other loop goes through the tip of the trekking pole. This way the mostly empty pack hangs from the tent pole in the vestibule when I'm sleeping, freeing up floor space on the tent. The other is to carry a piece of silver mylar coated automobile sunscreen from the dollar store to use as a floor for the vestibule. Doubles as a sit pad during the day.

[Venchka]

If you think that you can live in a single wall tent, the TarpTent Rainbow and Double Rainbow deserve consideration.
Wayne

[Venchka]

I just looked at the StratoSpire 1 and it looks very, very interesting. Only downside seems to be it weighs 15oz more than the Duplex. I hardly ever read or watched anyone mention the SS 1 in their AT thru hike ramblings. It would seem to me that this tent would be very popular given its size and relatively less expensive cost.
There is no accounting for people who put weight as their #1 criteria in gear selection.
That said, I carried just the rainfly in Wyoming last year. Sometimes I slept under it and sometimes I slept on it. I was blessed by good weather. I didn’t actually need the rainfly. I think the fly weighs 21 ounces set up and useable.
The Duplex is a wee bit heavier.
Wayne

[Shae]

Does anyone own a Notch? I like the tent but am wondering if the trekking pole in front of the opening of the tent is a pain in the ass. Are there any benefits to having a side entrance vs a front entrance?

Side entrance is a big plus for me. Trekking pole is not an issue. Easy to set up. It is narrow but it's light and well made. It treated me well in some tremendous winds and heavy rains on the Colorado Trail in 2016.

[MuddyWaters]

I don't have a Notch but I can definitely answer the question about the side entrance.

Yes. Side entrances for the win.

No, the pole does not really get in the way.

We've had a couple of tents/tarptents with the door at the head end, and they are a PITA in all sorts of ways. Having to contort myself to get in and then back out, not having a vestibule to store gear (or crawling over it to get out), and not having any cross ventilation or views -- all suboptimal, in my experience.

I'm a fan of side entry in Solo for sure.

Now put two people in there where one has to climb over the other one to get out in the middle of the night and that changes the equation.

Especially if one of those people is an old guy that gets up several times.

But Dual side entry solves that little issue.

[goatee]

I have owned a Notch for 2 years and near 300 miles on the AT and I like the side entrances.Setup fast and easy with practice at home and using my sticks instead of Tarptent poles.All my gear fits inside and the vestibules offer up extra space.Light and takes abuse.

[Another Kevin]

Another Kevin here at WhiteBlaze uses a Notch year round in upstate New York. Ask him.


I do indeed. I have the one with the half - solid inner tent, to keep the wind down.

I'm a largish guy - a stout 6'1" - and that inner tent is roomy enough, since I can put my pack and boots I a vestibule. With the dual vestibules, it's spacious. Sitting up and getting in and out are easy.

The usual caveats about using a three season tent in winter apply. Keep the end vents open. Bank snow to windward. Knock the snow off the roof in the night because it won't take the load a Hilleberg would. I've had it on snowshoe trips and been fine.

[MtDoraDave]

Another Notch owner checking in. What they all said!

Also - pitch is super fast. You don't have to figure out which end is the head or toe, because it's symmetrical; flop it down, stake the ends, put in trekking pole, stake side, put in other trekking pole, stake the other side, and you can duck out of the rain to finish the interior (which is two velcro loops around the bottom of your trekking poles).

I used to think I needed a bunch of room inside the tent with me for "stuff", but after having a Squall 2 (predecessor to MoTrail) for a few years and dealing with the front entrance and finicky pitch if on uneven ground (pretty often) ... and needing a large piece of ground to pitch ... and having to scoot my butt back to the door to sit up inside it ... I finally bit the bullet and bought a Notch.

I have a bag with my misc stuff that has my wipes, pills, first aid and hygiene stuff - it goes next to me near the trekking pole tie out. My book will go on the other side of me by the other trekking pole. stuff sacks for sleeping pad, bag, etc get tossed down in the foot end, clothing bag acts as pillow. Turns out there is plenty of room inside for a single person.

I didn't order the interior with partial sides. I have, however, camped in some windy spots in sub freezing temperatures, and it is amazingly NOT windy inside the tent. Far less breezy than inside of a three walled shelter in the same wind conditions.
Perhaps we have an engineer in the house that could explain it - but in my non-engineer mind it's like the wind is traveling over something that's 115 cm tall, with only about 10 cm gap on the bottom, so the amount of wind that passes under the gap is reduced by ~ 90% ?
Besides, on the setup video, Henry shows how to lower the tent for stormy conditions. I've never done that, but still stay dry inside. It really is a great tent.

[BuckeyeBill]

I have a Notch in my gear closet and use to use it exclusively. I had no problem using it year round, even though it only had netting inside (I had a bag good for -20*). The side entrance made it easy to get in and out of and you can't beat the bath tube floor for keeping the water out. When I started having back and joint problems, I made the switch to a hammock. I still have the Notch for when the grandkids want to go with me. Since my girlfriend's definition of camping is the Marriott, I won't have to worry about buying a two person tent anytime soon.

[FamilyGuy]

And the SS 1 nudges 40” and fully rectangular floor space.
Another feature that isn’t appreciated until you’ve lived in a tent for awhile: VERTICAL SIDE WALLS.
Wayne

But it is functionally shorter (I own both).

[Odd Man Out]

I previously had a SMD Skyscape Trekker. The overall design is similar to TT Notch (side entrance, two poles in the middle), but the Scout had a longer flat panel on the foot end that would sag low, close to my feet and legs. The elevated ends of the Notch and having the peak in the middle with vertical poles make the walls less sloped and the interior more useful from my experience. I've shopped for other tents (who isn't always gear shopping - looking for something better?) but others I've considered are pitched with 6, 7, or 8 tent pegs. I've come to appreciate the ability to set up the Notch with just 4.

[Venchka]

But it is functionally shorter (I own both).
My Alpinlite Long and Xtherm Large coexist in my SS 1 without any trouble.
Wayne

[somers515]

Does anyone own a Notch? I like the tent but am wondering if the trekking pole in front of the opening of the tent is a pain in the ass. Are there any benefits to having a side entrance vs a front entrance?

I really love my Tarptent Notch and used it on Long Trail E2E hike last year. I know what you mean about the trekking pole in front of the opening but it opens so wide it doesn't bother me at all. As you likely know it has an entrance on both sides making it even more convenient. I used to only use the 4 stakes but I found it was nice to have a little extra line attached to the top that I would usually tie off on a nearby tree and this added even more stability and allowed me to really get the tent taut even when on uneven ground. If you have any other questions ask away.

[Franco]

The pole is not in the way IF you use the inner. It is when used as a tarp (fly only)
Should be easy to see from this photo .
Take the pole away and you would still exit exactly the same way
42823

[FamilyGuy]

My Alpinlite Long and Xtherm Large coexist in my SS 1 without any trouble.
Wayne

You are touching the ends with your long bag.

[Venchka]

You are touching the ends with your long bag.
Were you in there watching? LOL!
I’ve never noticed. The head and foot were dry in the morning. Early morning.
Rumors of Instant Death due to sleeping bag tent contact are greatly exaggerated. In my experience.
YMMV.
Wayne

[OwenM]

I was thinking about doing a review of my Notch, but there's already a thread here, and really isn't much to tell that hasn't been hashed out a dozen times over online.
So I'll mostly just talk about use and longevity.
My Notch with mesh inner and a ZPacks Solo cuben floor both arrived on July 12, 2012(purchased a partial-solid inner in late 2014).
It saw about 40 nights of use in fall and winter of 2012.
2013-2014: I averaged ~75 nights per year, between my off days and using 3-4 of my 4 weeks of vacation time for backpacking trips.
2015: I slowed down some, barely scratched 50, and that only because of 2wks out West.
2016-2017: I was kind of burned out on hiking, was mountain biking as much as 3-4x per week, and only got out for 12-15 nights total.
2018: Still into mountain biking. Before a September trip to Colorado got me started again, I only had about 2 nights this year, and am just now at 15.
So roughly 270 nights so far, and maybe 12-14 more coming by the end of December, since I'll be burning my remaining vacation, and am off for 19 more days.


My Notch has had the seam sealing redone across the top seam, and been sprayed down once with silicone-not sure that was necessary or really did anything, as the "misting" that prompted it was actually from condensation being knocked off by fly by rain and hail when I was trapped inside a storm at 11.5k' for over 14hrs.
It has one tiny hole from a trekking pole tip after a sloppy pitch and high winds. One of the clips occasionally has to be bent outwards a bit, and it often takes a few tries to get it to stay put after being snapped into place. I keep expecting it to break when I bend it a little, but so far so good.
That's it.
It has not been "abused"(how do you abuse a tent?), but has been neglected. Put away wet, many times even just left strapped to my pack until the next trip.
After use in all seasons, a wide variety of weather conditions, temps from triple digits to negative single digits, sea level to >12k', in pretty much all the Southeastern states except Florida, a couple weeks each in the Sierras and Colorado Rockies and a month in SW Utah, I would call it "good as new" from a functional perspective.

I don't love it, especially with the mesh or partial-solid inners which have very limited space, but I really only use a tent for sleeping, and it's fine for that. Being trapped in it for longer periods of time due to severe weather is unpleasant, but has happened so rarely that it has no bearing on my shelter choice. Speaking of weather, condensation has also rarely been a problem(it happens occasionally, just usually not a significant amount), occurring at almost total random aside from when the fly is pitched low in sub-freezing temps.
Sometimes I do wish for more coverage. I much prefer using it sans inner, but opening a door leaves part of my Solo floor exposed from above, so it has to stay buttoned up if there's precipitation of any kind. That compact size has allowed me to jam it in some tight spots, though, so it goes both ways. I've had it in places that required one trekking pole to be much shorter than the other while perched on a shelf, and crammed between boulders with one side tucked in and the fly staked almost straight to the ground.
Overall, the Notch has worked very well for me, and I have no great desire to replace it.

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[Time Zone]

We've had a couple of tents/tarptents with the door at the head end, and they are a PITA in all sorts of ways. Having to contort myself to get in and then back out, not having a vestibule to store gear (or crawling over it to get out), ....
To be fair, many (if not most) tents with side entrances have their vestibules in front of the tent doors.

[soumodeler]

To be fair, many (if not most) tents with side entrances have their vestibules in front of the tent doors.
At least from the ones I have seen, (I am sure there are examples where this is not true) but front entry tents generally have smaller openings than side entrance, as well as lower overall heights. This is what makes the front entry such an issue for me. My first TarpTent was the original Virga with a front entry. I now have a Notch. I will never buy another tent with a front entry as it is way more of a hassle to get in and out of the tent.

[Time Zone]

I agree, front-entry is often a PITA in terms of getting in/out. Just wanted to point out that some of the reasons they stink are echoed in side-entry tents - and vestibule storage in front of door is one of them, where side-entry can be worse (if you only have one door). If you are solo with a small 2P tent (30 sf, say) and it has entrances on both sides, you can (try to) use one vestibule for storage and the other one for entry. One way side-entry can be worse, however, is that the vestibule space is often shaped like a long, thin chevron wedge between the fly and inner. It may have 7-8 sq ft of vestibule per side, but it's spread out with varying width over 7.5 feet, not very usable.

End entry can be a little less bad in this area, where you might only get 8 sf total, but it's more of a rectangular space.

[bigcranky]

My experience with side-entry tents is that the vestibule has two parts/sides, one of which can be used for gear storage and one for entrance/exit. That's certainly the case for our Lunar Duo and our Triplex. This is true on both sides of the tent, so my partner and I each have a gear storage area and an exit area under our respective vestibules.

[OwenM]

Something I had an idea for otw home from work yesterday, and started playing with. Getting late to actually put to use, since the mesh inner is coming out this week, but one of the Notch's shortcomings(to me) is that the tapered ends don't allow for easily suspending a bathtub floor sans netting.
This was just thrown together with shock cord and some "toilet supply tubes"(well, that's what they are!) from a local store, but I've already been looking at some 1/16" shock cord and .118" ID carbon tubing. Not sure how far I'll take this, but we'll see. As-is, my homemade whatchamacallits add 2.0oz.
But they work ok.
ZPacks Solo 1.0oz/yd cuben floor...
4505045051
Poles need to be on the outside to get the height up and hold the shape better, but I was just interested in seeing how the ends did.

[shelb]

Side entry ... best!