Tent ideas

bivvy's are a last resort, big condensation issues, no useful room other than to sleep, becomes a problem in bad weather.

A friend has a Scarp 2 with which he is very happy - he uses it when tramping with his partner; when solo, he takes his Scarp 1. No tent does everything. Set some target criteria (eg 2P, less than $500, less than 2kg, free-standing) - whatever - and build a list of tents. I have no experience with bivvy bags but wayno summarises it well, I think. Probably OK where good weather is reliable (a bit like hammocks imo) but miserable in the wet.

Fair enough. I might look into something like a scarp 1 (given the reviews here) for solo stuff, the small size of bivvy bags appealed but clearly outweighed by the cons. That Hammer is still looking interesting to me, I might find out some more about it. 2.7kg is a bit, but the fly is so big i think you could split the weight quite easily and evenly just by one person carrying the fly. If I get it I'll let people know how it goes.

Last year I was looking for a good lightish solo tent after being very disappointed with my rush purchase of a Luxe Speedup. I had almost settled on a Camp Minima 1P but everytime they advertised it on sale it was instantly out of stock (some stunt at work there methinks or they permanently keep low stock?) Also, I couldn't find any reviews online to inspire confidence. Anywho I brought a Vaude Hogan UL Argon 1/2P instead. Only used it once ,and in good weather, but the build quality is excellent, easy to set up and not bad at 1.4kg. Reviews were good to excellent.

I have ordered a Tarptent Double Moment with both a double interior and a single interior. Weight of double is 1.5 kilo, however with single interior it is 1.2 kilo. So I get a relatively lightweight 2 person tent in the event the wife decides to accompany me, or if solo a reasonably weighted tent with significant room. The Double Moment has now been discontinued and replaced by the Bowfin 2 which looks interesting. The Single Moment is still in production. In the interim I will have a tent with a dual purpose.

I bought mine last month. I'm not able to use it in anger yet but had a comfortable overnight in it outside my house as a dry-run. I think they still having a sale atm. http://www.equipoutdoors.co.nz/contents/en-us/p4149_Zempire_Freedom_Atom.html

http://www.equipoutdoors.co.nz/contents/en-us/p3206_Luxe_Sil_Hexpeak_V4.html Anyone tried this one or got thoughts on if it would be suitable for nz conditions? Looks like it can do one or two people depending on which inner you get and seems pretty darn light even with the single pole.

floor isnt waterproof, needs to be at least 10,000mm hydrosatic or water head... that one is 4,000

Is that actually a major issue waynowski? I just checked and of all the tents discussed in this thread, only the Macpac Minaret and Vaude Hogan have 10000mm floors. Tarptent isn't clear in its rating. MSR is only 3000mm. Are there other key words I need to look for when looking at floor rating or is it just the hydrostatic number?

Hydrostatic head (HH) is the measure of the height of a column of water that a material can support without leaking (for a specified period of time). So, 3000mm HH means the material can hold a 3m column of water without wetting through to the other side. It's a static measure; reality is dynamic (wind, rain impact, material tension). However, there is no agreed standard test (or time period) so 3,000 for 10 minutes might be similar to 20,000 for 5 seconds ! There is more to waterproofness that just HH, even if everyone's figures were reliable and comparable. Type of material, thread size and density, DWR. FYI, Tarptent floor and fly (same material, different colour) is reported as 3,000mm. I've used my Scarp on damp ground without leaks but I am definately more relaxed, in the wet, in my WE 1st Arrow with a floor HH of 10,000mm (but, of v ourse, it's also a lot heavier). The lighter the materials, the less robust (usually) - as I said previously, no tent does everything.