So, giving tent advice

[Elaikases]

This is the advice I recently gave someone who was looking for a tent for a couple to use to through hike the AT next year. 5'8" and 5'10". They wanted to just buy one tent, not get on the treadmill of buying tent after tent until they got it right.

Below is my advice.
...

I’d suggest that you schedule a trip to an REI. REI will let you set up tents and take some time in store to look at them. Set up two or three side by side and lay down in them. My wife and I have done that. Set up tents, crawled in and out of them, compared them side by side, and taken some real time.

So you set up 2-3 tents in the store and check them out, then take down one or two and set up some more (that way you always have a tent set up from the group before to keep a baseline going). After you have checked out the tents, rent/borrow/buy used a tent and do a short trip with it. Go to REI garage sales and see what people are returning (that is how they get everything the sell -- returns) -- often people who returned something are at the garage sale and will talk about why they returned what they returned.

By experimenting like this (setting up and laying down in tents in store and taking tents on short week or so section hikes) my wife and I realized we like freestanding tents more than not. We got to a definite preference for side entry over front entry. (I confess that at the end what I really wanted was a two pound half dome At five pounds it is just too heavy. But it works for car camping). We tried 3p and 2p tents. Tried vestibule(s) for gear storage and tried storage in the tent. We checked out how much condensation we had issues with. (some people create more condensation than others, some have stronger feelings about condensation in a tent than other people do. Find out where you fit).

That said, almost everyone updated their tents this year or last year, so everything is current. You have plenty of time to check sales. Options I’d suggest:

• Tiger Wall 3p. REI exclusive now, but lots of sales. REI currently offers 20% off and the REI coop refund too.
• Mountain Hardwear Ghost 3p. (Disclosure. I’m selling mine, but it is a great tent to look at).
• From Big Agnes, the two backpacking standards: Copper Spur and Fly Creek. (Disclosure, we bought a CS 2p to use instead of the ghost).
• Naturehike and Lanshan—especially since they are cheap and you can buy one to play with and experiment. You can get them on ebay and check them out on YouTube -- lots of reviews.
• The Tarptent double rainbow. Free standing using a hiker pole. Depends how how much moisture you breath out whether it works for you, but it is a really solid tent (as are the other tarptents).
• The various Nemos. Note that the Fly Creek and Nemo’s are not free standing. Lanshan is not freestanding.
• My Trail Company. https://mytrailco.com/collections/te...nt=20147804867

But those are the core choices to look at. All of those tents go on sale -- sometimes dramatically on sale. Almost all have a 2p and a 3p version, and the 3p version isn't that much heavier (For example: My Trail Company's 3p is 2lbs, 15.5oz (Fly + Nest + Pole Set) (the stakes and guy lines add to the weight) the 2p is 2lbs, 6oz (Fly + Nest + Pole Set). 28 square feet vs. 46 square feet.

Tents I've owned include MyTrailCo. 2p, BA Copper Spur 2p, Mountain Hardwear Ghost 3p and a Half Dome (with the replacement pole sets). Etc. Wife and I currently use the Copper Spur 2p. But we are shorter than you and your boyfriend.

I've set up and played around with the Nemo Elite, the Nemo Dagger, the Tiger Wall (gets good reviews, just seems kind of fragile to me) and some others. And I've played around with a number of different types of tent stakes while I was at it. We hike with pack covers for the rain and have used them when setting up tents at night.

But it you are after "one and done" the real things you need to know:

1. What kind of entrance are you comfortable with? Climbing in and out of tents in a store to try lying down in them will help you get a real feel for it. Some people don't mind a front entry. Some really hate them. Some just are "meh" on them. I'm kind of in the last group. I can live with them but would rather not.
2. How tight a fit are you comfortable with? At first I thought 30 square feet was a bare minimum. 39 feet felt a little cramped. But in the end with the almost vertical sides, we've been happy with 29 square feet. Go figure. 2 lbs 11 oz. for the Ghost 3p is tempting though. You won't know how fit works for you until you've set up tents, laid down in them and asked yourself how you feel in them (with the rainfly on and buttoned up). Most people on a through hike spend about one out of four days (almost two days a week) in towns in hostels and the like. That really makes a smaller tent easier to live with. Through hiking is a different animal, it is a matter of just not stopping. 12.5% of couples through hiking used a 1p tent (?!). 28% used a 3p tent. 54% of solo hikers used a 2p tent.
3. How much fussing around with your tent at the end of the day are you interested in? The entire free standing vs. not discussion, and the types of tent set up are all focused around this question. A lot of people are happy with either choice.

When you look at the annual hiker survey of AT Hikers, it becomes obvious that there is a wide range of choices that worked for people.
With this in mind look at the statistics Mariposa has developed (you can check 2016, etc. too).

https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail...-hiker-survey/

Top 2-person models (used in 2017 on the AT. Note because this consists of numbers from 2017 it won't have the Tiger Wall which is new this year and well worth considering).

• Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 -- single entry, not quite free standing.
• ZPacks Duplex -- high line. But still only $599. Not free standing by any definition. The total weight for the packed tent is 21.0 ounces. Does not absorb water, can be packed wet after shaking it with little weight penalty.
• Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 -- free standing side entry.
• MSR Hubba Hubba -- free standing, side entry.
• REI Quarter Dome 2 -- almost free standing side entry.
• Nemo Hornet 2P, Elite 2P -- both front entry, almost free standing. They were just too small for me. I'm shorter than you are, but you may find them ok. I really wanted to like the Elite 2p. Minimum Trail Weight 1 lb. 12 oz. Packaged Weight 2 lbs. 3 oz.

So, lots of people are fine with not freestanding. Lots of people are happy with front entry. Lots of people don't need a high interior. At some point price/weight affects choices (you don't see any through hikers with an REI Half Dome -- 5lb is too much, but the Quarter Dome at about three pounds is a steady seller used by through hikers.

For almost every choice but heavy there are lots of people like each choice. I hope that this lays out the how and why of your tent choices better for you and how to decide what you want. Note that many sellers have no questions asked return policies. Try not to abuse those.

-------------------------------------------------------

I did not suggest hammocks for a couple on the AT. Some day there will be lightweight two person hammocks that let you sleep flat. But today is not that day.