Tent ideas

I owned the NatureHike Cloud Up 2 persons, and exchanged it with a friend for the 1 person version, which is about 100 grams lighter. Bought them on AliExpress for a cheap price (about $150 I think?), no real warranty and you have to be patient (shipping was about a month). Mind you the tent exists in 2 different fabrics, the grey one is in 20D silnylon, the orange and green ones are in polyester and about 400-500 grams heavier. I only used the silnylon ones. Weighed as follow (trail weight = with all 12 stakes, ropes but not the extra footprint and the bags): - 1 person = 1218 grams - 2 persons = 1343 grams The extra footprint is 194 grams for 1 person and 230 for 2 persons. So pretty much the best weight/price/quality ratio so far. MSR tents are even heavier than that. Both are of great quality compared to the price, meaning the same fabric and sewing quality you will find on MSR and other high-end tents, with fully taped seams. The issues I encountered are: - the reflective paint on the straps at the corners of the tent are peeling off (not really an issue though) - the 2P version rainfly is sagging when wet (all silnylon fabric is sagging when wet), and may touch the inner at the foot of the tent under certain circumstances. This happened for me about one night out of two, not a big problem as the inner is water resistant so you don't get a pool of water, but it might get your sleeping humid. This issue doesn't appear with the 1P version of the tent because the shape at the foot of the tent is different. - this was my first silnylon tent and silnylon is never drying out in NZ winter conditions :( Though this will be the same with other tents, but I would like to be able to have a black fabric to dry the tent when it's sunny. Apart from that I'm very happy with my 1P tent, I used it extensively for a year now (I'm counting about 60 nights in it I think) and it's still going strong. I've never used the extra footprint and the tent floor is still waterproof. Also note that the 2 persons tent is a bit small compared to the MSR Hubba Hubba NX, OK for a couple nights with two mummy shaped mats, but a bit small for longer or if like me you are using two rectangle shaped mats. For someone alone it is really comfortable. But the 1P version is large enough for me, I can fit my mat and all my gear inside. Here are pictures of the 2P tent at Motutapu last year: http://i.kd2.org/a=72XNgjdYE I also own a 3F UL gear (another chinese brand available on Aliexpress) two person tent (clone of the MSR Hubba Hubba NX) and I'm also quite happy with it so far, its design is better than the MSR Hubba Hubba. There's a NZ online shop that imports NatureHike tents if you want a better warranty, but the price is also higher, but still lower than an equivalent tent from other brands. Maybe that's what you found on TradeMe though?

macpac minaret. good sturdy tunnel tent macpac have 30% off now

You may like to check out the following website. Have tried a couple of Tarptents and like them. https://www.tarptent.com/

be careful with brands, some brands are designed for geographical areas with different weather than NZ, eg drier, less windy, i've heard of MSR tent poles for instance breaking in NZ even at low altitude in summer... some other american brands can be similar quality British designed tents can be good for NZ conditions. I think tarptents get used in a wide range of weather , they get used in britain a lot. just havent caught on here. macpac is designed in NZ.

The minaret is about 2.4kg though. But mine's survived in winds that flattened others so I think it's worth the weight.

sometimes the weight is worth it , some lightweight tents are using 10 denier nylon now, which is shopping bag thin

Luxe tents appear to be a Chinese rip-off (Boo !. Hiss) of MSR tents. Much cheaper. Luxe = http://www.equipoutdoors.co.nz/contents/en-us/d1091_Luxe_Tents.html MSR = https://www.torpedo7.co.nz/shop/outdoor/adventure-tents

Not really, tent designs cannot be patented or copyrighted, so all manufacturers are copying each other. This is the same as clothes, you can sell the same t-shirt as Nike, just without the logo, and no one will sue you, because a t-shirt design is not unique enough. Same for tents. MSR designs actually look a lot like Marmot tents, and others as well, so don't be surprised at finding almost the same designs with different brands… You can also see that it's not just a copy, the Luxe one has higher guy points that makes it more wind-resistant, so it is actually improving the design.

Its a pity I never managed to get that patent specifying 2 arm holes on t shirts. I could of made a killing. A lot of the luxe tents are based on a pryimid design using a hiking pole as a pole. If you use poles this design can work out incrediby lightweight but if you are like me and hate hiking sticks then you have to factor in the pole weight. Nature hike is a marketing brand as far as I know. I have one of there sleepping mats and it is excellent but the sleeping bag of theres is barely average