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  1. #1

    Default Need advice for some good quality budget self-standing tent. Considering NatureHike

    Need advice for some good quality budget self-standing tent. Considering NatureHike Star River 2

    We are in the search for a good quality budget friendly self-standing tent. Before we have been using the Quechua Quickhiker Ultralight 2 person tent and were quite happy with it. But we lacked the space inside quite a lot as well as the height. We need something under 2kg but at the same time not very expensive. We concerned about it being the light grey color as we do a lot of stealth camping and also the department for cooking and storing our backpacks. We have been looking into the Naturehike Star River 2 as it claims that it is a 4 season tent and quite spacious too. We like that the inner tent is not all made of mesh, as we would like it to be suitable for colder weather too. Have you tried this tent or any similar ones with the features we need? We would be grateful for all your suggestions.

  2. #2
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    So I tried to look for spec's for the NatureHike Star River 2 at https://www.naturehike.com/star-rive...-two-men-tent/. Was rather disappointed that no dimensions are given, just that it's a 2 man tent.

    But as you should already know, not all 2 man tents are the same size... for the most part.
    Go back about 5+ years ago and there were both small and large 2 man tents.
    Since then, it seems every tent manufacture that is trying to compete on weight for 2 man tents are all making their tent dimensions to equate to the Big Agnes Copper Spur 2.

    But the Copper Spur 2 is a much lighter tent and much more expensive than you seem to be looking (Google Shopping suggests the price of the NatureHike Star River 2 to be about $250), and it's too small of a 2 man tent for my taste (but a terrific 1 man tent).

    Based on my past research on "big", "light weight", "cheap" tents, a $250 price point is pushing it...

    The best I came up with (and purchased while on sale) was the REI Half Dome 2 Plus.
    The plus means that it's about 6" (15cm) wider and about 4" (10cm) taller than the typical "Copper Spur" sized 2 man tent.
    The tent comes in multiple colors (including a mostly grey option).
    The full retail price is $229, but when the next REI sales comes along (like the Memorial Day sale), it should be able to be picked up for about $185 or less.
    The one place the REI Half Dome 2 Plus fails your expectations is in weight. With everything included, the tent is in the ballpark of 2.25kg.
    However, what it seems to lack in light weight the REI tent seems to make up in quality, because the tent fabric is listed as 40D material compared to the NatureHike's 20D.

  3. #3
    Registered User JNI64's Avatar
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    I love my rei half dome 2+ , bomb proof never leaked, never failed me. I've had it out 100's of nights all 4 seasons. 2 doors, plenty of room for 2 + all your gear. Big vestibules. Having said all that my next tent purchase will be the copper spur.

  4. #4
    Registered User turtle fast's Avatar
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    It’s nice to see I’m not one of the only ones finding myself using the REI half dome 2 plus consistently. I’ve weathered conditions in it where it did just as well as my more expensive and heavy 4 season tent. I’ve even had it on a bald where the wind furiously picked up in the middle of the night (even with it stakes down to the max) and was like sleeping in a sail as 1/3 of the tent was concaved inwards and it didn’t break any poles nor tear...I think if I wasn’t in it at the time...it would of made a wonderful kite. Thor snow and wind had me sold on another.

  5. #5
    Registered User JNI64's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by turtle fast View Post
    It’s nice to see I’m not one of the only ones finding myself using the REI half dome 2 plus consistently. I’ve weathered conditions in it where it did just as well as my more expensive and heavy 4 season tent. I’ve even had it on a bald where the wind furiously picked up in the middle of the night (even with it stakes down to the max) and was like sleeping in a sail as 1/3 of the tent was concaved inwards and it didn’t break any poles nor tear...I think if I wasn’t in it at the time...it would of made a wonderful kite. Thor snow and wind had me sold on another.
    Yeah me too, we were on top a bald in the middle of a blue berry field in the dolly sods and same thing, a storm had come in the middle of the night with some furious crazy, crazy winds . I had to go out twice and put rocks on the tie outs. And yes the walls of the tent were blowing in and I was just a hoping and a preying the poles and everything would hold up. The half dome 2+ held up just fine. I'm really liking and looking at the hillenburg tents as well like the one tipi uses.
    Last edited by JNI64; 01-30-2020 at 18:03.

  6. #6

  7. #7
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    a third vote for REI half dome series tents for a decent balance of quality, price, and features - including reasonable weight

    otherwise, follow the silver rule: you can have light weight, low cost, and durability, but you can only pick 2

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    So I tried to look for spec's for the NatureHike Star River 2 at https://www.naturehike.com/star-rive...-two-men-tent/. Was rather disappointed that no dimensions are given, just that it's a 2 man tent.

    But as you should already know, not all 2 man tents are the same size... for the most part.
    Go back about 5+ years ago and there were both small and large 2 man tents.
    Since then, it seems every tent manufacture that is trying to compete on weight for 2 man tents are all making their tent dimensions to equate to the Big Agnes Copper Spur 2.

    But the Copper Spur 2 is a much lighter tent and much more expensive than you seem to be looking (Google Shopping suggests the price of the NatureHike Star River 2 to be about $250), and it's too small of a 2 man tent for my taste (but a terrific 1 man tent).

    Based on my past research on "big", "light weight", "cheap" tents, a $250 price point is pushing it...

    The best I came up with (and purchased while on sale) was the REI Half Dome 2 Plus.
    The plus means that it's about 6" (15cm) wider and about 4" (10cm) taller than the typical "Copper Spur" sized 2 man tent.
    The tent comes in multiple colors (including a mostly grey option).
    The full retail price is $229, but when the next REI sales comes along (like the Memorial Day sale), it should be able to be picked up for about $185 or less.
    The one place the REI Half Dome 2 Plus fails your expectations is in weight. With everything included, the tent is in the ballpark of 2.25kg.
    However, what it seems to lack in light weight the REI tent seems to make up in quality, because the tent fabric is listed as 40D material compared to the NatureHike's 20D.
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadeye View Post
    a third vote for REI half dome series tents for a decent balance of quality, price, and features - including reasonable weight

    otherwise, follow the silver rule: you can have light weight, low cost, and durability, but you can only pick 2

    Thanks for putting it up here, really appreciated as before we knew only about big agnes copper spur and MSR tents which are a bit on an expensive side. But now we have been suggested Big Agnes Blacktail 2 https://www.bigagnes.com/Blacktail-2...-and-Footprint, what it your opinion on it and how it compares?

    You are right about the quality of materials which we didn't pay attention to before, that's an important information for us as before we had 40D polyester for rain fly and 75D polyester for groundsheet and now we don't want to compromise it for less. We can spent many months in a row in the tent and so the quality and comfort comes first and then the lightweight.

    So is it a real weight to carry on trail 2.25kg? Before we had 1.95 but of course it wasn't a self-standing tent. The price is really not that bad for this durability. The only issue we experience here in Europe is being able to buy it online as it seems to be only available on their official store and we don't know if they ship it worldwide and how much it is going to cost. But will look into that now.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by turtle fast View Post
    It’s nice to see I’m not one of the only ones finding myself using the REI half dome 2 plus consistently. I’ve weathered conditions in it where it did just as well as my more expensive and heavy 4 season tent. I’ve even had it on a bald where the wind furiously picked up in the middle of the night (even with it stakes down to the max) and was like sleeping in a sail as 1/3 of the tent was concaved inwards and it didn’t break any poles nor tear...I think if I wasn’t in it at the time...it would of made a wonderful kite. Thor snow and wind had me sold on another.
    Quote Originally Posted by JNI64 View Post
    Yeah me too, we were on top a bald in the middle of a blue berry field in the dolly sods and same thing, a storm had come in the middle of the night with some furious crazy, crazy winds . I had to go out twice and put rocks on the tie outs. And yes the walls of the tent were blowing in and I was just a hoping and a preying the poles and everything would hold up. The half dome 2+ held up just fine. I'm really liking and looking at the hillenburg tents as well like the one tipi uses.

    Thank you for sharing your experience with it, it is really nice to know that it hold strong winds and the most terrible weather conditions as we never know how it can change quickly and unpredictably especially in the mountains. Do you find it to bee too high and thus moving a lot when there is wind? That's one thing to be concerned about when choosing the height we guess even though for the comfort inside it is crucial. Maybe it also depends on the shape of the tent the ability to hold up winds. What are the other tents you've been looking at? We really want to evaluate all the options.

  10. #10
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    Its impossible to squeeze all demands into a single product.

    I tried hard to find the one and only, optimal solution, but ended up buying two tents:
    One is the MSR Hubba Hubba NX, which works just fine for 3 seasons, roomy for single, possible to squeeze in two persons.
    The other is an Exped Venus II Extreme, which is a bit roomier than the MSR, perfect for 4 seasons.
    Both tents are expensive.

    Our daughter tried to go the cheaper route and purchased a 2-person dome (forgot the manufacturer) and ended up with something that, well, works, but is far from great.

    Trying to give advice, I'd recommend to go for a good high quality tent, as European you wouldn't do any wrong if you chose an Exped.
    There are many models to select from, and its important to find a shop that has them in stock and lets you take all the time in the world to test setup.
    Hey, you might as well take a hike down to Zurich, Swizerland and drop by at the Exped to explain in person what you'd like.

    PS:
    You were mentioning that your old tent has a 40D Polyester fly.
    Might be disappointing for you (as it was for me) that modern tents, for reasons unknown to me, all are made of Nylon nowadays, which tends to sag when getting wet.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo L. View Post
    Its impossible to squeeze all demands into a single product.
    Cheap, Light, Good Quality: Pick Two

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Walking Nature World View Post
    The only issue we experience here in Europe is being able to buy it online as it seems to be only available on their official store and we don't know if they ship it worldwide and how much it is going to cost. But will look into that now.
    REI's International Shipping Blurb: https://help.rei.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27...

    As best as I can tell, looks like you're good to go with ordering an REI tent, and given the tent's price, shipping should be free.

  13. #13
    Registered User IslandPete's Avatar
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    We used a Quarter Dome 3, and it worked great!

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    REI's International Shipping Blurb: https://help.rei.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27...

    As best as I can tell, looks like you're good to go with ordering an REI tent, and given the tent's price, shipping should be free.
    Thank you very much, this is really helpful. Great news

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo L. View Post
    Its impossible to squeeze all demands into a single product.

    I tried hard to find the one and only, optimal solution, but ended up buying two tents:
    One is the MSR Hubba Hubba NX, which works just fine for 3 seasons, roomy for single, possible to squeeze in two persons.
    The other is an Exped Venus II Extreme, which is a bit roomier than the MSR, perfect for 4 seasons.
    Both tents are expensive.

    Our daughter tried to go the cheaper route and purchased a 2-person dome (forgot the manufacturer) and ended up with something that, well, works, but is far from great.

    Trying to give advice, I'd recommend to go for a good high quality tent, as European you wouldn't do any wrong if you chose an Exped.
    There are many models to select from, and its important to find a shop that has them in stock and lets you take all the time in the world to test setup.
    Hey, you might as well take a hike down to Zurich, Swizerland and drop by at the Exped to explain in person what you'd like.

    PS:
    You were mentioning that your old tent has a 40D Polyester fly.
    Might be disappointing for you (as it was for me) that modern tents, for reasons unknown to me, all are made of Nylon nowadays, which tends to sag when getting wet.
    Yes, we have hard many good things about MSR but it's just too pricey for us as of right now. And thank you for mentioning the fact about the material difference, we saw that it was nylon but thought that it was similar to polyester, that's not good at all. But as of rain resistance and groundsheet resistance to different terrain is it comparable?

  16. #16

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    Being that you are in Europe, like I now am, you'd be better served by checking out a forum like Trek-Lite.com which are UK based and would be able to give you better recommendations based on what is available here vs shipping from the US.
    However, you have been given some good advice so far

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    In the older days, Nylon was the cheap and crappy way to build tentflys, Polyester was the highend way.
    Nylon (Polyaethylene) absorbs a certain amount of water when getting wet, by this expanding its size a tiny bit, so rainflys made of Nylon tend to sag over a damp or rainy night.
    Nylon also is pretty sensitive to UV rays, so exposing it to the sun for longer perionds would cause it to get brittle and start to decay.

    For reasons I don't know tent manufacturers all went away from Polyester flys and make the whole tent, fly and floor included, from Nylon.
    They try to overcome the shortcomings of the material Nylon by coating and impregnating it in various ways.
    IMHO with mixed results.

    As for you looking for a "perfect" tent you can afford, you might look into the second hand market.
    Like this offer from here around the corner:
    https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-...onen-354987096
    Comes in at 320,- while the original price is 420,-.
    Austria is a very pricy country, so I'm sure you can get some better offer in your part of the world.

  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by DuneElliot View Post
    Being that you are in Europe, like I now am, you'd be better served by checking out a forum like Trek-Lite.com which are UK based and would be able to give you better recommendations based on what is available here vs shipping from the US.
    However, you have been given some good advice so far
    That's a great advice, we will ask the question there as well. Because you never can have enough recommendations and choice. Now we are closely looking at the REI Half Dome 2 Plus

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by DuneElliot View Post
    Being that you are in Europe, like I now am, you'd be better served by checking out a forum like Trek-Lite.com which are UK based and would be able to give you better recommendations based on what is available here vs shipping from the US.
    However, you have been given some good advice so far
    That's a great advice, we will ask the question there as well. Because you never can have enough recommendations and choice. Now we are closely looking at the REI Half Dome 2 Plus

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo L. View Post
    In the older days, Nylon was the cheap and crappy way to build tentflys, Polyester was the highend way.
    Nylon (Polyaethylene) absorbs a certain amount of water when getting wet, by this expanding its size a tiny bit, so rainflys made of Nylon tend to sag over a damp or rainy night.
    Nylon also is pretty sensitive to UV rays, so exposing it to the sun for longer perionds would cause it to get brittle and start to decay.

    For reasons I don't know tent manufacturers all went away from Polyester flys and make the whole tent, fly and floor included, from Nylon.
    They try to overcome the shortcomings of the material Nylon by coating and impregnating it in various ways.
    IMHO with mixed results.

    As for you looking for a "perfect" tent you can afford, you might look into the second hand market.
    Like this offer from here around the corner:
    https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-...onen-354987096
    Comes in at 320,- while the original price is 420,-.
    Austria is a very pricy country, so I'm sure you can get some better offer in your part of the world.
    Well, these are some bad news indeed, it's obvious that it doesn't have the same durability ans qualities unfortunately. Especially we are concerned about the floor not being sturdy enough for the rocky terrains for example. Do you think use of the footprint solves this issue or it is not necessary? Because we heard controversial things about footprint like on the rainy days it can serve badly and you can end up being in the paddle. So then there is no necessity to carry this extra weight.

    Yes, second hand market can be a great solution with expensive gear especially, thanks for the link. Of course there is always a fear of receiving something not exactly in that condition you expected because you can't verify it in person.

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