The name of the game among tent manufacturers these days seems to be “how light can you go?”. MSR has been one of the leaders in this particular field and the MSR Carbon Reflex tent takes this almost to what feels like it ought to be the limit for a fully-fledged tent (as opposed to just a simple shelter or tarp).

They’ve spared little expense and adopted some pretty cutting edge technology in this tent, all in the aim of shaving off a few ounces here and there. So how does it stack up?

Well, on the weight front, it is hard to fault this tent. It comes in at just 1,2 kg in its minimalist pack weight. That’s 2 lbs and 11 oz for those of you who haven’t gone metric yet. But that’s not all. In this configuration we are still talking about a full tent. Switch to a footprint and fly sheet only, and although you will lose some convenience, you’ll still have something that keeps you dry and out of the wind. In this stripped-down configuration and you’re adding just 853g to your pack (1 lb 14 oz). That seems hard to beat. In fact a lot of sleeping bags etc. weigh more than that. Carrying such a light tent would really push me over the edge into ultra-light geekyness and I’d end up sawing the handle off my toothbrush next.

So how do they get the weight so low?

There’s a clue in the name. The MSR Carbon Reflex 2 ditches aluminium poles for carbon fibre poles. These are a lot lighter and, according to the company, a lot stronger than aluminium ones used in the similar (and heavier) MSR Hubba Hubba. Now I’m not against this idea. Carbon fibre has found its way into space ships, jet fighters, tennis rackets and golf clubs. I just have had bad experiences in the past with badly-made cheap tents that used fibre-glass poles that snapped. I know there is a world of difference between glass-fibre and carbon-fibre in terms of strength and all, but I remember how those poles used to fracture and break under stress. Aluminium tends to bend before it breaks, so you have a greater safety margin in high storms and all.

Still, these poles shave a pound off the weight of the Carbon Reflex 2 tent giving a really lightweight package that still offers all of the comfort of heavier tents including lots of room.

I just wouldn’t use it for high altitude or really bad weather camping. For summer or, at a stretch, three season use this should be more than adequate and if you follow through and reduce the weight of all your other gear, will offer a really enjoyable and lightweight experience.

What do others say about the MSR Carbon Reflex 2?

The guys and girls over at Backpacker magazine said that:

 The featherweight structure withstood moderate winds. Biggest concession is durability: After test trips from Vermont to Colorado, the all-mesh canopy had snags and the carbon pole had a stress fracture (but didn’t break).

I’m afraid that just goes to reinforce my original judgement about its durability. A point that is noted in some of the Carbon Reflex reviews over at Trailspace.com:

So I take it out for my long 80-mile hike and it breaks.

This is like the fourth MSR tent I have owned and I so wanted it to work. I liked the door, the rectangle floor design, the weight, everything about this tent I thought was great. Then on the seventh night the long carbon fiber pole breaks on me and the repair part duct taped into the broken section is too long and can’t bend at the correct angle, hence the tent will not setup right and the fly wall touches the inner tent and condensation wets my sleeping bag.

I end up finishing my hike a day early because of it. So the tent went back and I now own a Big Agnes. I wish someone could combine the best of these tents.

I’d be misleading you if I left you only with negative reviews. The team at National Geographic Adventure really liked this tent (and gave it an award in 2009). They even thought it was sexy.

It’s impossible to look at the MSR Carbon Reflex 2 and not think about lingerie. (Bear with me.) This featherweight backpacking tent is mostly see-through mesh, so light it’s hardly there, and is, yes, kinda sexy. And it should be: This is one of the lightest two-person backpacking tents you can buy; MSR pared down the Carbon Reflex to the bare essentials—a body, two poles, and a fly.

You can find the full specs on the manufacturer’s website here.

What about the MSR Carbon Reflex 1?

This is the slimmed down 1-person tent version. It is (according to MSR) the:

The Carbon Reflex 1 tent is the lightest, double-wall solo tent we’ve ever made, crossing the barrier from ultralight tohyperlight.

In its slimmed down minimalist, fly and footprint only setup it weighs just 688g (1 lb 8 oz). That’s insane. Throw the inner back in and it goes up to 1.1 kg. Again, that’s really not much. It has about the same internal volume as the MSR Hubba but weighs  almost (but not quite) 1 quarter less. It comes in in a totally minimalist set up at 979g. The downside is that you pay almost double for the weight saving, so unless you are rolling in cash you may be better off just going with the Hubba.

The MSR Carbon Reflex 3 is the big daddy of this range. It has space for 3, nice straight walls and a roomy top and in its usual set up weighs in at under 2 kg, stripped down it is less than 1.4 kg. Split that between three people and you are carrying just a few hundred grams each for shelter. Now that is hard to beat. There is more on the range of tents at MSR’s site.

I’ve talked previously about how MSR makes a great line of tents, and the MSR fury certainly fits in with its tradition. Yet the MSR fury is also tent that has created some controversy because of the fact that it is not very easy to pitch and is not as user-friendly as it might be. Even so, this is a tough tent made with great materials and so improved immeasurably overtime.

Let’s start by looking at what the MSR Fury tries to do. The company considers this to be a lightweight expedition grade tent. And in many respects this. It sleeps to people, and pitches in compact places because it has a relatively small footprint. You’d be surprised at how important it can be to have a tent with a very small footprint up on high mountains when you have to pitch on the smallest of ledges
It is also relatively lightweight, weighing in at 2.8 kg, or just six pounds and 4 ounce it is also relatively roomy inside given its small sizes.
The inner itself is freestanding, so you have the otion on clear and beautiful days of just pitching the inner without the fly sheet to keep the bugs off you (though frankly, in conditions like that I just prefer to sleep right out in the open and to see the stars directly). It is also a genuine four-season tent and should withstand strong winds and heavy snow. Its also capable of withstanding tough storm conditions on most mountains, making it genuinly expedition grade.

What’s not to like

The older versions require you to thread the poles through fabric loops. That’s just time-consuming and clumsy. The newer ones have pole clips that work great and are nice and quick to use when pitching the tent.

What do others say about the MSR Fury Tent?

Users over at SummitPost Gear generally give it fantastic reviews. One user notes that:

I Owned this tent for a 6 month trip in the Andes, and used it from sea level to 5700m. camps. This tent is just Great : Incredibely resistant, spacious, bright inside, small footprint, beautifull (in my opinion) ! I would recommend it for all conditions mountaineering and winter trekking.

At TrailSpace.com it also gets pretty good reviews. teh only real gripe that people had was its weight (though to be honest, it is tough finding a strong, 4 season tent that weights much less – also note that the tent has come down in weight over the years and is also a lot easier to pitch in its current configuration). Anyhow, most give it 4 or 5 stars on the Trailspace rating.

The users over at Backcountry also give it pretty good reviews. This is what one said:

I’ve noticed some of the reviews of this tent rate it poorly and I have to disagree. The tent is as solid a 4-season tent as you’re going to get. It’s not made for giving you creature comforts when backpacking, like enough headroom for two to sit and chat. The headroom was sacrificed for a good wind profile, so that when you’re stuck in your tent in a nasty storm(read wind, snow and sleet…not rain), it won’t blow apart on you. I’ve had this tent for 3 years now and have loved it, using it in BC and the Yukon. That said, I don’t use it in the summer cause it doesn’t vent as well as other tents and weighs more. For climbing and ski trips, it’s one of the best. There’s enough room for two adults and two midsize packs inside.

One of the most comprehensive reviews out there comes from Outdoor Gear Lab: Their conclusion is that:

The Fury is a versatile four-season performer capable of everything from ski mountaineering to high alpine ascents. Our only complaints lie with a lack of support in the rear sidewalls and its heavy and impractical stuff sack. We recommend the Fury over the company’s Asgard ($580, 8 lb. 8 oz.) because it has better ventilation (less condensation and safer for cooking), larger and more varied pockets, and a vestibule that is easier to open and close and better to cook in.

They also have an awesome video review that really gives you a great sense of the tent.

 

Mountain Safety Research (MSR) is a great company that makes absolutely fantastic gear and their range of ultralight tents and tarps is unrivalled. On the issue of expedition tents, however, they still have some work to do and the MSR Asgard shows this. It is a great tent with fantastic potential and is well made and light, but it doesn’t quite run with the really big boys in the world of high mountain and expedition tents.

An Overview of the MSR Asgard

The MSR Asgard is billed by the company as a 2 person expedition tent or a “lightweight option for three”. The company calls it the  ”the most livable, 2-person expedition shelter we’ve ever made”

The tent is a classic double wall expedition tent. It has pretty steep walls (thanks to its bow-frame design) that gives it plenty of head-room and also steeply sloping side walls that maximise internal volume. This also helps to reduce condensation. It is very streamlined, so if pitched correctly facing into the wind it should be able to cope with quite serious storms by spilling wind over the top. It also has a strong construction and strong poles that should also allow it to shed high wind loads and snow.

The fabric itself is 40D x 238T ripstop nylon 6 1500mm polyurethane & silicone coated, which is proven to be strong, long lasting and waterproof.

As for weight, it comes in pretty well for a double- tent of this size and specification. Its minimum weight is 3.4kg (7 lbs, 6 oz).

Like most MSR Tents, it is also very quick and easy to set up.

What’s not to like about the Asgard Tent?

If you stopped reading now, you might be perfectly happy and could end up with a tent that would provide great service. But if you are looking for a real expedition tent then this falls a little short in a few areas. The most comprehensive review I’ve come across is by the American Alpine Institute which looked at the tent. I highly recommend you read their full report.

In their tests, which were conducted by experienced mountain guides, in Mt Baker and Red Rock. They found that it is a good tent but with shortcomings. Among the ones they identify are that its vestibule “warrants a thorough redesign”

The primary concern with the fly is the layout and function of the vestibule space. The vestibules are simply not large enough for extended expedition usage. The zippers down the roof apex are also challenging to operate and impossible to reach while inside the tent body, making venting and peeking outside a chore.

The testers noted that this is a roomy tent and quite liked the fact that there is space for even the tallest climbers to sit upright. But they didn’t think that it would be a workable tent for 3 people (other than in an emergency) because the two sleepers on the outsides would be pressed up against the tent fly and would get wet sleeping bags from the condensation gathered on the inside. In this they suggest it is a roomy two-man tent rather than a lightweight option for three.

Their conclusion was:

Overall, this is a good tent, but not quite up to expedition standards. Its lightweight design is likely to withstand a few seasons or expeditions of abuse, but the setup complexity, vestibule spaciousness, and other assorted shortfalls warrant minor redesign. The MSR Asgard has not been awarded a Guides Choice Award at this time.

What do others say?

Some other reviews are more complimentary. Backpacker Magazine looked at the Asgard tent and their testers were impressed by its strength and durability. In an October 2009 review they said:

In violent, late-winter winds at the base of Colorado’s 14,265-foot Quandary Peak–gusts that snapped two poles on a competing tent pitched 10 feet away–the Asgard remained rock-solid. It has five 10.2mm DAC poles and “bow-frame” geometry that proved to be the toughest in the test. “I set my 45-pound pack on top of the tent, and the poles didn’t even bend,” said one tester.

If you own this tent and have any views please contact me, as I’d love to get a first-person MSR Asgard review posted up here as this is not a tent that I’ve used myself.

Alpkit has made a real name for itself in the past few years for making great quality gear at amazing prices and the Alpkit Kangri Mountain Tent looks set to continue this tradition.

First some background for people outside the UK who may not know much about Alpkit. This is a company that started a few years ago with just a few products that were great quality but that easily sold for half the price of the big-name brands. So their entry into the world of mountaineering tents has generated a huge amount of interest.

Overview of the Alkit Kangri Mountain Tent

The Alpkit Kangri - Source: Alpkit.com

The tent is designed to be a no-frills 4-season mountain tent that uses a four-pole geodesic design to produce a tent that is incredibly strong and that also has a fair bit of space inside. This also means it can be freestanding without tent pegs which is quite useful if you want to erect it indoors to dry it out after a wet few days on the hills.

It has plenty of storage pockets so you will have space to put your light or other small items. It has also been made extra-strong with reinforcing on all of the main load-bearing bits. It also has plenty of velcro that attach from the fly to the poles and transfer the loads and stresses from high winds. When it comes out with a footprint, you’ll also be able to pitch it fly-only to save weight.

It seems to have a fair bit of space in its vestibule, so you have space to store you pack and boots and to cook in foul weather. It also has reinforced hanging loops on the ceiling that allow you to hang a wet jacket to dry.

The specs on the tent are not best in class, but they are pretty good considering the price at which it sells. The weight comes in at 3.5kg (without pegs) and it can strip down to a minimum weight of 3.3kg.

The geodesic poles add strength source:Alpkit.com

The Vango Banshee 200 is a pretty darned light tent that doesn’t cost too much either and that makes a great light (if slightly crowded) backpacking tent for 2 or, if you’re prepared to carry a bit more weight, a roomy tent for 1.

The first thing to note about the Banshee 200 is that it is well priced for a quality tent. At the time of writing it was selling for about £110, offering really great value for money. It is also designed with beginners in mind as it is dead-easy to pitch, even if you don’t really know what you’re doing. The tent poles have colour coding on them and you can put it up with the inner and the outer in one go or you can pitch the fly sheet first and then pop in the inner. This is all pretty helpful if you are pitching or packing up in the rain.

It is compact and stable and should stand up reasonably well to wind and storms.

This is not the roomiest of tents around and although designed for two people it is a bit of a squeeze. It is also a bit awkward as the entry is on the side, rather than on the top as with most traditional tunnel tents. The side entry helps give a small vestibule space for boots and bags, but it is also crowded. If there are two of you then you had better be pretty good friends as you’ll have to climb over the person closest to the door to get in.

Weight

This is a really light tent in this class, tipping the scales at 2kg. If split between two people that is about as light as you can expect to go for a proper shelter.

What do others say?

Vango has a great reputation so it is no surprise that this tent is well received. It is on the list of kit recommended for expeditions by the Duke of Edinburgh Award (for readers who don’t live in the UK, this is a series of expeditions aimed at young people to get them the skills and confidence to go hiking and camping).

It also won the “Trail Best in Test” award in the August 2011 issue of Trail Magazine, a British outdoors magazine, in a review of budget two-person tents. In the test it was competing with the Robbins Trailstar 2, Berghause Peak 2.1, Gelert Apex2 and Coleman Cobra 2. Since most of these are pretty good lightweight tents, the Vango Banshee 200 did well to win. We’ve also been impressed by the Vango Ultralight 200 which weighs an0 amazing 1.3kg but costs a fair bit more (and is now just about impossible to get hold of.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have it all in life. If I could I would want a tent that was light, strong and cheap.
Sadly, you can usually only get two out of three. One of the lightest expedition tents out there is the EV2, but it costs a bomb. Cheaper tents are usually heavier. So long as you know what you are trading off you are usually okay. So what is the tradeoff in the MSR Hubba Hubba, one of the few tent sensations over the past few years.

The first two things you need to know about the Hubba Hubba tent are that it is pretty darned light for a fully fledged tent (at 1.8 kg it doesn’t weight a heck of a lot more than some shelter tarps do, especially if the load is split between two people). The second is that it is not especially warm or useful for high mountains or deep winter mountaineering where you will encounter strong winds or heavy snowfall.
So why do I like it. Well, it is pretty easy. Like most gear from MSR it just works and is pretty well made and it represents a great balance between weight, cost and capability for people who are willing to use it within its design limits.

What is it good for?

The MSR is probably one of the best lightweight general backpacking and general use tents around. It pitches quickly and easily, you can use it with the fly alone or without the fly at all as a bug screen and it provides a decent amount of space for the weight. If you only need a 3 season tent then this is a good choice. Even if you have a serious winter or expedition tent this still makes a great choice for summer backpacking trips. The guys over at the Mountain Gear Blog in their MSR Hubba Hubba review said they liked:

• Very easy to set up
• Provides loads of airy space and has great mesh inner that you can use as for insect-free star gazing on clear nights (without the fly sheet)
• Good ventilation keeps down condensation
• The space inside is almost all useable right up to the edges, unlike many tents where you would squash up against the side

If you only do car camping and the like, then you should probably be thinking of getting something a little bigger and cheaper because weight will be less of an issue.

Similarly if you are an untralight freak who is willing to sacrifice a bit more comfort for the pleasure of having a lighter pack then you should consider a tarp or similar shelter such as the MSR Twin Sisters.

Another option that you should consider is the Marmot Earlylight, which is aiming at a similar market niche to the Hubba Hubba although it is a bit heavier.

Marmot makes some great gear that is well tested on big mountains. But a lot of it is quite pricey. So the Earlylight is a welcome part of  its range. This tent is billed as a beginners tent, or a value tent. It is clearly aimed at the middle market which is is somewhere between the cheap tents you get at Wal-Mart or Halfords to take camping the first time from the back of your car or to use at a weekend music festival and the more serious and expensive full-on mountaineering tents.

In this regard is doesn’t do too badly. Priced at a shade over $200 it is about half the price of really serious tents. Then again at several times the cost of a really cheap one, you need to have some commitment to camping or hiking to want to get this. At least the Marmot name is a good one, so the Earlylight 2 has a pedigree behind it.

And in that role it will not let you down. This really is a 3-season or fair weather tent, thought with some luck it could stand up to harsher conditions. But it does the job well. It is fairly compact. In other words it will be a bit of a squeeze, especially if you have a lot of gear. And it does not have too much headroom. But in exchange you get a really light tent that tips the scales at little over 5lb 5 oz (or about 2.5kg). That is not bad considering you are not paying top dollar. You can go bare bones with it it and shave about a sixth of the weight by just using the fly sheet. It hardly seems worth it.

It has DAC featherlight poles, which are light and strong. These tents have been around for a good few years and people seem happy. I’m not sure that you’ll get 15 years plus out of these that people have been reporting with their Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 tents. But then again you are paying much less and carrying a much lighter package on the hill.

In short if you are new to camping and hiking or are just looking for a cheap second tent so that you can save your proper mountaineering tent for big expeditions and winter use, then this is a good alternative tent for summer use and winter camping in moderate climates.

The Marmot Alpinist 2 is an excellent single-walled expedition tent from a trusted name. This tent has many of the advantages of the more famous Mountain Hardwear EV2 as well as some of its disadvantages. But in short, if you can spring the kind of cash you need for this tent, it will serve you well.

In brief this is a single walled tent made from a waterproof and breathable fabric. The advantage of these sorts of tents is that they are a lot lighter than the more traditional double-walled sort. But they are also a lot more expensive and slightly more prone to condensation and cold in really icy conditions.
This one is made from Marmot’s own Membrain fabric. It is a three-layered waterproof and breathable fabric that works on the same principle as Gore-Tex. You can argue all day about which of these fabrics is better than the other and compare stats such as hydrostatic pressure and the like, but in truth most of the reputable ones from the respected companies are more or less in the same ballpark. And they will all pretty much do a good job of keeping rain out while allowing some of the moisture in the air to escape. Just remember, however, that in cold conditions these fabrics don’t do what they are supposed to because once it is freezing moisture will hit the fabric and freeze right there. So no matter how good it is, in cold conditions a single-walled tent will always frost up on the inside.
It has an attached vestibule which you either love or hate. I personally prefer the vestibules you get with more old-style mountaineering tents because they let you separate your gear and dirty boots from the inside of the tent more easily, but there is a real weight saving to be had from integrating the whole lot. It just means you are cooking where you sleep and that seems to a small price to pay for the 2kg or so of weight you save on this tent.
The tent itself is easy to pitch (and goes up really quickly so if you are caught out in bad weather you can really get up it up fast), is strong and will hold up to strong winds. This really does a good job as a proper four-season or expedition tent yet at 2.5kg (5lbs 8 oz) weighs about the same as a lightweight summer tarp or shelter. It is also pretty spacious inside. Often you have to weigh up performance versus price but this tent is really cheap. If you consider that the Marmot Alpinist tent comes in at about $100 cheaper than the Mountain Hardwear EV 2 and even comes in a bit cheaper than the much heavier (but also bombproof and great) Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 than you see that this is hard to beat.

I once remember reading a piece about a slogan used by the US Army’s rangers, which went “travel light, freeze at night”. It has kind off stuck with me and I often hear myself repeating it quietly when packing for a trip or expedition. The great thing about the way gear is evolving, however, is that the slogan isn’t really true in the same way anymore. Gear has gotten lighter, better and warmer over the past decade and that is as true for mountain tents as it is for fleece jackets, sleeping bags and all of the other mountaineering gear that once uses.
Take the MSR Twin Sisters tent from Cascade Designs (the same company that produces the great range of MSR stoves as well as great products such as Therm-a-Rest sleeping pads and Platypus hydration gear. The Twin Sisters tent is a no-frills lightweight tent. But it is also one that can stand up to pretty serious weather and abuse.
The first thing that sets the Twin Sisters apart is that it is just a single wall tent and it doesn’t come with any poles. That would seem to put it into the category of tarps and other lightweight shelters that are pitched using an overhead rope (say slung between two trees) or using trekking poles or ski poles. But what makes this a little different from those sorts of fair-weather shelters is that it has snow skirts to keep out the rain and snow and also to help bed it down when pitched over snow. That makes it an incredibly versatile purchase because it is great for everything from mucking around in the summer in the woods to going ski touring or mountaineering.
Its biggest virtue is lightness. This tent clocks the scales at not much more than 1 pound (800 grams) which is easily a fifth as much as many other expedition grade tents such as the Trango 2 weigh. It sheds snow well, holds up against heavy winds and generally is loved by those who use it. That said it is still a fairly rudimentary shelter. You will have condensate building up inside and freezing if it is cold. And if there is wind that will fall onto you. This is not a hotel-style accommodation tent that you might get if you were to buy a heavier twin-walled tent. But if you want to travel light and not pay too much, then the MSR Twin Peaks is a pretty darned hard tent to beat. I imagine that mountain marathon runners and other adventure racers will take this up in time. There are rival designs out there, some may even be a bit lighter, but few will be as good.

Vango makes some great tents, but they aren’t what you want for serious expeditions. Nonetheless I’m including a Vango Tent review here because the Vango Ultralight 200 fills a really great niche and may interest a lot of people.

First off, why do I say this tent isn’t for serious expeditions on high mountains? As much as it is a great tent, it just isn’t aimed at the kinds of activities that something like a Mountain Hardwear EV2 is designed for. The latter tent is meant to be strong enough to survive strong winds and heavy snow at an altitude of 7,500 meters on big peaks such as Everest or K2, the Ultralight is, as its name suggest, meant to be really light. Take the difference in weight. Most expedition-grade tents clock the scales at about 4.5kgs. Something like the EV2, which has all unnecessary weight trimmed out of it still comes in at about 2.5 kg. And it needs every one of those grams to be strong enough to do what it is designed to do. The Ultralight 2000, on the other hand, weighs a meagre 1.3 kg. That means it fills a niche for people who really need to travel fast and light such as adventure racers, people participating in mountain marathons and other similar sports where comfort is cut down to a minimum to allow for fast movement.

This Vango tent achieves its very low weight by having a fairly simple design with a really low profile. Its material is also light as are its alloy tent poles.

That’s not to say this thing will be a pushover in wind or storms. It has internal bracing, which is a lightweight way of adding strength and its profile also allows it to hug the ground in strong winds. You still need to peg and guy it properly to get the benefit but it is surprising stable for such a feathery package.

Like many other tents you have the option of just pitching the outer fly sheet so you can travel even lighter. But that does sacrifice quite a bit in terms of comfort and transforms it into little more than a tarp shelter. The inner helps keep warmth in and some of the condensate away from you. If using only the fly you really want to vent this quite well so that the flow of air takes away your perspiration and the moisture that you breathe out so that it doesn’t all gather on the inside of the fly and then drip down onto you. That said, the Vango 200 is a pretty good compromise and you could do a lot worse than to get this.

Vango, which makes it, is a very British company and is not readily available everywhere. In future I’ll write up some of the other super-light weight tents out there that are made by other companies such as MSR for readers in America and elsewhere.