Free standing tent vs. trekking pole supported tents

[mtnkngxt]

I used fixed length poles from Gossamer Gear that just happen to be a good height for my Tarptent Contrail as well.

I do like free standing tents for winter though.

[BirdBrain]

I have no experience with a tent without poles. As such, I am not qualified to comment on them. However, I have the LLBean tent and love it.

[bangorme]

I've got the Beans microlight one man tent and love it too. What I especially like is that it is free standing, so can be pitched on platforms easily. I was backpacking the Wild River/Carter Notch portion of the AT this week and saw a SOBO'er with one of these tents pitched on a platform and it wasn't pretty. Lines, rocks etc. We had a night of driving rain. His gear got wet, mine didn't. I certainly no expert though, maybe he did something wrong.

[Water Rat]

He may have had the earlier version of the microlight 1-person. That one was not freestanding and did rely on being staked out. I have the newer versions of the microlight 1 & 2-person tents. Nice tents and pretty dang inexpensive when you pick them up at the outlets...especially during the tent sales!

But, my BA Fly Creek is my favorite and has become my go-to tent.

[bangorme]

Sorry, my post is unclear. He was using a hiking pole supported tent.

[Drybones]

Trekking poles make the shelter more stable than dedicated tent poles in my opinion. The design of the tent will be your weak link and not the trekking poles. Trekking poles are tough.

Latch lock poles are better than the twist types common to older Lekis. I have had issues with twist lock poles slipping and will never buy them again. Newer Lekis have models with latch locks.

Agree...............

[Drybones]

I'd trust a shelter using hiking poles over traditional supports anytime for durability. To make traditional tents lighter they make the poles thinner and subject to breaking...had that happen...the lighter the tent the thinner the poles. Hiking poles are much stronger and much faster to set up and take down.

[Tinker]

Ultralight freestanding tents often have large areas of unsupported fabric making the susceptible to deformation under high wind loads. the more vertical the sides are, the more the deformation until the inside volume is reduced to uncomfortably small dimensions, or the overloaded poles bend or break. The more turtle-shaped the tent is, the better it will be at shedding wind. A catenary cut pyramid is a good shape for shedding wind also, requiring only one pole, but the interior volume is wasted around the perimeter and at the peak, but it's nice having that little extra height when getting changed. I still like the Moment or Lightheart tents - good aerodynamics and use of interior volume, especially on the Moment. I used the Lightheart tent in tropical storm force winds strong enough to pull out a stake. I haven't used the Moment in any wild weather, but I think that it would do fairly well if it was properly staked out. In an earlier post I mentioned the necessity of solid staking in wind, whether the tent is freestanding or not. Sorry, but could not shut off the bold characters.

[BirdBrain]

What I like about my freestanding tent is the ability to set it up in one place and move it to another. I cannot count the times I have felt the bottom and discovered a pointy object under it. If it is free standing you can toss it to a side, move the object, and then drift the tent back over again. It can also be set up in a lean-to in the rain and then drifted to a spot outside fully assembled. I always stake it down once in place.

[Theosus]

I've seen the shires tarptent contrail in use several times. It is supported with one pole. If I was going to go to the ground I would buy that one. Very simple in design, goes up really quickly. I thought hammocks were supposed to go fast, but my friend with the tarptent gets his tent up and is inside before I'm halfway done (and I'm using whoopie slings - no knots to do).

[Del Q]

I started with a Big Agnes free standing, super gear, nice to be able to move it once you lay down and find out that they spot you picked is not that level or what you wanted.

Now I use my hiking poles vs carrying tent poles as well.................comes under the heading of using gear for more than one thing if/when you can. Tent is about 22 ounces. For the 1st time, my total weight with food, water and a pint of Scotch was 28 pounds for Spring 2013 hike.

[Marta]

I started with a Big Agnes free standing, super gear, nice to be able to move it once you lay down and find out that they spot you picked is not that level or what you wanted.

Now I use my hiking poles vs carrying tent poles as well.................comes under the heading of using gear for more than one thing if/when you can. Tent is about 22 ounces. For the 1st time, my total weight with food, water and a pint of Scotch was 28 pounds for Spring 2013 hike.

If you left the Scotch at home, the weight would be down to 27 pounds.

Nah....what's a pound?

[BirdBrain]

.............................

[PR Man]

Had an interesting experience a few weeks ago. I love camping with a tarp and using my trekking poles for support.

However - on a downhill I slipped and broke my trekking pole in half ! ( Lucky I didn't hurt myself )

Anyway - the moral of the story is this. If you plan to use your trekking poles make sure you have a backup plan. I carried some lightweight line to "tie off" my tarp to trees "just in case" this happened.

I was happy that I had another way to pitch the tarp.

[Drybones]

Had an interesting experience a few weeks ago. I love camping with a tarp and using my trekking poles for support.

However - on a downhill I slipped and broke my trekking pole in half ! ( Lucky I didn't hurt myself )

Anyway - the moral of the story is this. If you plan to use your trekking poles make sure you have a backup plan. I carried some lightweight line to "tie off" my tarp to trees "just in case" this happened.

I was happy that I had another way to pitch the tarp.

If you have a knife you can always cut a pole.

[Drybones]

I started with a Big Agnes free standing, super gear, nice to be able to move it once you lay down and find out that they spot you picked is not that level or what you wanted.

Now I use my hiking poles vs carrying tent poles as well.................comes under the heading of using gear for more than one thing if/when you can. Tent is about 22 ounces. For the 1st time, my total weight with food, water and a pint of Scotch was 28 pounds for Spring 2013 hike.

Only a pint....now that's serious UL...bet Tipi carries a handle.

[Zipper]

I used a Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo with one trekking pole. My poles were Black Diamond Flicklocks so I didn't have any trouble with the poles not working properly, and happily, my hiking pole height and tent pole height were the same, so I didn't need to adjust anything to set up the tent. This tent is now nearly 5 years old and still going strong. I love its spaciousness and big open windows on one side. Even if it's raining I can leave the flaps up unless it's coming down sideways. I've had so many great nights' sleep in that tent.

I know a lot of folks also love the Lightheart tents. I never had a problem with having a non-freestanding tent on the AT. Even was able to set it up on a tent platform in the Whites without too much trouble. As others have said, I love that it's compact and light with no extraneous poles. But I also know thru hikers who are really happy with freestanding tents like the Copper Spur.

[MuddyWaters]

No such thing as a free-standing tent, except in the best weather.

To be storm or wind worthy, every tent must be staked down and guyed out.

The difference is not really an issue.

[bangorme]

No such thing as a free-standing tent, except in the best weather.

To be storm or wind worthy, every tent must be staked down and guyed out.

The difference is not really an issue.

Yeah, a freestanding tent can be moved around easily, which is a huge benefit on its own. Additionally, at my campsite last week were three freestanding tents and one non-freestanding tent (all on platforms). None of the freestanding tents were staked or guyed out and all survived the driving wind and rain fine. The poor guy in the non-freestanding tents had to go into town to get his gear dried out.

But, I did have something "funny" happen to me the following night. I was camped up at Carter Notch in heavy winds and my unstaked tent blew into my alcohol cooking stove. Fortunately, I didn't burn my tent, but I did lose all my water. Lesson learned: stake if you can. I just got lazy. Takes about 45 seconds... unless you are on a platform. Guying out is a PITA.

[BirdBrain]

...............................