Tents

conraddt wrote:

Grandeur wrote:

conraddt wrote: My Zpacks Triplex 3 person tent @ only 675g (Cuben Fiber). I dreamed/ planned/ saved for a very long time! Best amount of ludicrous money I ever spent on hiking gear. Go have a look at www.zpacks.com/shelters

I have had my eye on this for a while.
Is it possible to give us a quick review on how it handled escarpment conditions if you have used it up there already?
#makemejealous

I am going next week and will definitely report back

I'm literally checking every hour to see if you have posted your report yet haha. I hope to hear good things!

Has anyone used the First ascent tents?

I've had a Sunseeker Isodome for many many happy years. Need something to replace it.

I have a First Ascent Eclipse Tent and it has been great. Stood up to a fair amount of wind on a Giant's Castle climbing trip last year. Hasn't had to deal with any snow yet. Fairly spacious inside, fits two adults with packs easily.

Had an Isodome before that, it was slightly bigger, MUCH heavier but quiet similar other from that.

Grandeur, Tent worked absolutely great, I noted the following:

Weight is obviously fantastic at only 675g
Cuben fibre material also amazing and 100% waterproof
A lot of condensation but I don’t know if its normal/ average as the temperatures dropped below freezing with the cold front and with two people inside quite a lot of condensation formed. The design allows for the water to drip outside the “raised bath tub” but you really have to look for a place where the grassy knolls is flattened to avoid it pushing the bath tub upwards. Later on I figured out to increase the length of the trekking poles so that the bath tubs hangs in the air.
I was also able to minimise the damp by leaving two open but this is also only possible when the wind isn’t howling. Used it for four nights but still need to test it in a storm but somehow I think it will be okay (12 tent pegs and shape).

So far I am happy.

Hi all, has anyone on this forum heard or seen anything about this brand? www.naturehike.co.za

They import a number of interesting "ultralight" items, including knock-offs of various popular tent designs. Their "Cirrus Ultralight 2" tent grabbed my attention - 7001 Aluminium poles, 20D silnylon and a classic semi-geodesic design at a modest 2.2kg. They have other options that are even lighter but with weaker designs, and in their "coming soon" section it seems they will be importing a knock-off of the MSR Hubba Hubba.

From a little online research it seems they are a Korean Company, but very little in depth reviews exist. Not sure whether one should trust a "no name" 20D nylon tent in an escarpment storm, but this is noteworthy nonetheless. Perhaps someone on this forum could review a tent for them, as it seems they are starting a bit of a marketing drive (I found them on Instagram).

Hi Guys

I am looking for a second tent to use for low altitude chilled photographic trips. I have a 4 season exped sirrius extreme tunnel tent for higher altitude more extreme trips.

The tent i am looking at is the First Ascent Eclipse. Reasons are, price, which is not to bad, it is similar to the isodome 3 man that i used to own before it eventually died on me. The biggest reason for getting another tent is the space that one has in these dome tents which is great when the weather is inclement and you are just waiting to get decent images as opposed to daily hiking when the tent will basically be used for sleeping and not lounging reading a book.

I am sure there are a lot of other tents out there, but for the price and weight, this seems to be a good tent. There are no reviews on it, but Macc here, has used one, and seems happy with it. Any others that would like to contribute on this specific tent.

I bought a Eclipse a month or two ago, only used it this weekend in the Magalies berg. But we had very heavy rain and as strong a wind we will get up here and it was great. So far I'm very happy with it. It is very very spacious.

Hi
Ive got a friend who has the eclipse and we have used it in the lower berg. It handled heavy rain and wind gusts very well. Just to give you another idea. I own a FA lunar tent. Its pretty similar to the eclipse in price and specs. But it has an almost A Frame design with the poles crossing each other twice. It has side doors and with space for packs on each side. Ive used it on the escarpment and little berg in high winds and heavy rains. As a standard I changed the alloy pegs to shorter steel pegs and seam sealed all the seems. Also used storm waterproofing on the flysheet. Not n drop inside.

Cheers Anton

Thanks guys

I purchased one this morning. Looking forward to using it soon. At leeuw: what did you use or do to seam seal the seams?

Enjoy the tent Serious Tribe. I used the seam seal tape they use on waterproof jackets. And seam seal by Natural Instincts. Got it at outdoor warehouse.