#Big weather gear free

Unfortunately, the Seedhouse SL2 had very little use after our child was born. Being slightly heavier and very expensive, this tent is much more durable and versatile: suitable for 4-season usage, has place for 3 persons (well, 2 and half to be correct) and may be used in full-scale backcountry trips. In the end of 2016 I decided to replace this tent to Fjallraven Abisko Lite 3. Unfortunately the tent design doesn't allow leaving the guylines behind, despite its formally freestanding status. Also we began marking the guylines with bright rain covers to avoid such accidents.

#Big weather gear free

Luckily the good people of Big Agnes decided that it's a warranty case, so they repaired the rainfly free of charge (a new rainfly would cost us 100$). The rainfly was sent to manufacturer for inspection. This guyline was stitched in the middle of huge fabric panel without proper strengthening, so tearing was almost inevitable. Unfortunately, despite our care to this tent, it was badly damaged by a person who tripped the side guyline and tore a 30-cm (1 ft) piece of rainfly fabric. In conclusion, this tent is a good summer option for those who is ready to pay for much smaller weight while sacrificing the fabric durability and comfort to some degree. In such an extreme case you'll need a warmer down sleeping bag and proper sleeping pad. We don’t use this tent in temperatures below freezing, it wasn't designed for that. While sleeping at +5☌ (+40 ☏) you will need to have a warm sleeping bag and hide your nose from cold. The inner temperature generally doesn't differ from the outer. The tent has excellent ventilation but it doesn't come for free. This drawback could be avoided if the main pole had an extension above the vestibule (like in MSR Nook). Under the rain it's quite tricky to exit the tent without dipping the water on the face of your neighbor, and you also cannot leave the rainfly door opened during the rain. But the excess gear must be placed inside or outside the tent. The vestibule is small, but it's enough for storage of four boots and two almost empty backpacks (we use soft bicycle panniers which fit there well too), and you'll still be able to exit the tent. On the other hand, the temperatures above and below the rainfly are equal… 20 cm or 8”) you can forget about the condensation problems. There are no dedicated vents in the rainfly, but thanks to the huge ground gap (approx. Thus around the tent there is enough covered space to store the pots, pans, helmets and bottles. The rainfly is positioned high above the ground and it is much wider than the inner tent. Also it’s possible for two people to comfortably sit along the length of the tent.Īgain, the internal space is fine even for two, and the mesh inner tent expands the space visually. I touch the ceiling only in rear half of the tent. But the ceiling height is fine for 184-cm (6 ft) tall person even with the gear loft attached.

The tent has triangular cross-section, so the head space is not as huge as in “square' MSR Hoop. We use two standard sleeping pads (width is 50 cm, 20') which fit inside the tent quite loosely, leaving space for excess gear (mostly clothes and various electronics). The internal space in just enough for two slim persons, and of course it’s a luxurious solo tent. This tent is neither designed for really harsh weather, nor was used by me in such conditions. The tent structure is quite rigid and will handle moderate winds without problems. Another useful paid option is gear loft with 2 pockets, because the tent has only two VERY small pockets. The rainfly and floor fabrics are very delicate, so you need to treat it with great care and always use the footprint (luckily it’s quite often offered in bundle with the tent at no additional cost). Also you need to attach the rainfly to the inner tent with two clips which help in maintaining the reasonable inner volume.

I personally dislike this feature, more on this later. This includes 5 short guylines which shall be used at all times, not only in bad weather. of high quality V-shaped DAC stakes) to fully separate the inner tent from the outer. But you need to use ALL the stakes (11 pcs. It is freestanding, which is a rare feature in ultralight class. The package of this tent is slim, but quite long (55 cm / 22 in), thanks to oversized plastic DAC hubs attached to the poles. Thus the Seedhouse has saved us the additional 1 kg (2 lbs) of gear weight, even with the footprint which we use at all times. We’ve already had the MSR Hoop, but this tent is very warm even for North-Western Russian summer, and it has too much space for summer short trips. Also it can be used occasionally as a solo tent. I purchased this tent in mid-2013 for fast and light 2-day summer bicycle trips with my wife.