Sierra Designs Tents

[Jones134679]

i am about to purchase a tent for my hike this summer, and I was wanting a Baku...but i see alot about this "lighting"...All costs aside i just want to know what would be a better tent. I'm 6'2" around 200lbs, and i want to sleep with my pack in the tent with me. thanks

[Roland]

i am about to purchase a tent for my hike this summer, and I was wanting a Baku...but i see alot about this "lighting"...All costs aside i just want to know what would be a better tent. I'm 6'2" around 200lbs, and i want to sleep with my pack in the tent with me. thanks

I've owned a SD Lightning, but I've never seen a Baku. Looking at the website, here are the primary differences I see between the two tents:

SD Lightning

• 2 Person
• Double-wall tent (full rainfly)
• One large door & vestibule
• More mesh/ventilation than the Baku
• 31 sq. ft.
• 5 ounces lighter than the Baku

SD Baku

• 1, 2, and 3 person models
• Single-wall (modified with fixed vestibules)
• Two smaller doors and vestibules
• No mesh/ventilation on end walls
• 28 sq. ft.
• Slightly heavier

Similarities

• Freestanding
• Clip design; no need to thread poles through sleeves
• 40" peak

[Wings]

I have the Lightning and I took with me when I attemted to thru hike in 2005 (broke my femur, 600 miles). It is possibly the best tent I have ever seen: double walled thus great breathablility, incredibly light weight, simple design, and durable. For a 2 person tent I just don't think it makes sense to buy anything else.

I am 6'3" and 150 lbs and I felt a bit snug end to end, but with one person there is plenty of room for your backpack and to spead stuff out. It is a very snug 2 person tent, but me and the guy I was hiking with, only had to use it like 8 times. If you are going to be hiking alone I think that the lightning is a lot of tent. I would look at something like the SD Lightyear, only $139 and about 1 lbs lighter than the lightning. You might try one of the one person MSR tents, they are $200+, but a little lighter than the lightyear.

[LIhikers]

While I don't have any experience with either of the models you mention, I do have a Sierra Designs tent and I think the quality is very good.

[otterman]

I have used a "Lightning" for about the past year. Great tent. I went through a huge thunderstorm in it around Jarrard Gap last year and it performed like a champ. It was so nasty out that I just threw myself and my pack inside and had plenty of room. It has a nice vestibule with the fly on too. A nice option is using just the rain fly and the footprint by themselves and save weight.

[RockyTrail]

Somebody mentioned the SD Lightyear; I'm 6'3" 220+ and it's a great little tent, plenty long for me. I use it for my "winter" tent, and a Henry Shires tarptent squall the rest of the year. They both are excellent tents.

However, the Lightyear is a bit small to keep the pack in with you, unless you find a way to put it in the vestibule. I always set the pack outside under a raincover anyway. The SD tent is well-made and just about indestructible in my opinion, so you probably won't go wrong in that department.

[fivefour]

I too have a sierra designs tent but not the model you are asking about. My tent has always functioned perfectly. When I did crack a pole due to my own fault, sierra designs fixed the pole and returned it in less than 2 weeks at no cost. Customer service like that will always sell me before anything else.

[NECKBONE]

the S.D. Lightning is the only tent that i have. i usually don't use a tent, but when i do, this is the one that i have. like its design, ease of use, & weight. but like everything else, some will like it, some won't. NECKBONE.

[ridefast]

my SD lightyear is amazing, i love it and have liked the other SD products ive had/tried so i couldnt imagine the quality being an issue

[ex-tennesseean]

I've always had a lot of respect for SD's designs, but their latest single-walls like the Baku leave me skeptical. The tent walls are attached only at the clip points, every foot or so up the side where the webbing hangs onto the poles. Those stitched connections will take all the stress of resisting high winds. Compare that to a conventional tent where the fly stretches smoothly over the poles, which utilize the whole pole length to support wind stresses from the walls. SD shows a video clip of a Baku tent in a 100-mph wind. The tent stands up well, but you can see the windward wall puckering and deforming at the clip points. In the long run, that can't be good for durability, and in the short run it disrupts the tent's aerodynamics. I see plenty of other single-wall designs that wrap over the poles and don't take these design risks. It's one thing to use those convenient clips beneath a fly, but not outdoors, please.

[Hana_Hanger]

Well I may get blasted but just last Saturday car camping at the Seven Pools Ohe'o Gulch...I was able to see the Baku in person. This was the not the two person version.
The young man and the tent did not hold up to well to our winds and rain storm we had that night. The area where it is NOT double walled..was soaked and all his gear and inside as was wet. He was not a happy camper...but I will say his location was poor also.
Of course it was very windy and he was right by the ocean area...but I was not to impressed and was glad I had not opted to buy one.