May 15, 2017

Tents for car camping

When most people think of "camping", they envision hauling some huge tent out of the car trunk, big enough for someone to stand up in, and camping in designated campground on public lands. This is not what I am addressing here.

I like to camp by myself at out of the way spots. Usually I just camp on the ground under the stars, or more often these days on a cot alongside of my truck. This is ideal in most situations, but when serious wind or rain are in store, there is a lot to be said for a tent.

The tents I am considering would be candidates for backpacking if you didn't really care that much about reducing your weight. I want a tent that I can set up quickly alongside of my truck and have an easy way to escape wind or rain.

Doubtless there are other fine candidates besides the ones I discuss here. And -- if you break a tent pole, this outfit makes it their business to sell replacements:

Weight

Since we are talking about car camping here, weight is not a critical parameter. I would like this to be a tent that could be used on short backpack trips, but that is not a driving factor in my decision making. I also tend to think that heavier tents will be both sturdier and less expensive.

Nylon versus Polyester - and polyurethane

I tend to favor nylon because of strength. At the same fabric weight, nylon is definitely stronger. In fact 420D nylon is stronger than 600D polyester. One downside of nylon is that it degrades when exposed to UV. If you plan to keep your tent up for weeks on end, this could be an issue. For most people who use their tent only once in a while now and then it probably does not matter at all. The big issue though is that nylon stretches (about 3.5 percent) when wet and polyester does not. So for a rain fly, polyester is definitely prefered. If you have a nylon rainfly, you will need to get out and retension it once it gets wet.

I dislike polyurethane coatings. I have discarded two old tents because the coatings degraded and depolymerized and became sticky and smelly. I would much prefer silnylon for a tent fly, but I have yet to see mainstream tents use it. I suppose that if I buy a tent with a PU (polyurethane) fly and it depolymerizes, I should be able to sew up a replacement fly using silnylon.

Stakes

For me, it is a given that I will immediately rush out and buy a set of replacement stakes. I expect whatever stakes are supplied with a tent to be worthless. The MSR "Ground Hog" stakes are widely regarded in high esteem.

Stick and smelly tents

I have had this happen to two old tents and got rid of them because it seems pretty clear the nasty smell is toxic and harmful. At any event, my nose is quite insensitive, but I couldn't stand sleeping in these tents.

The story here is that polyurethane coatings break down and depolymerize. You can either discard the tent or wash it multiple times with aggressive detergents (i.e. ordinary laundry soap) which should/may/might remove the nasty coating. Then it will no longer be waterproof, but it won't be smelly and sticky either. At that point you could just be happy or look into recoating it.

To prevent all of this:

  1. Make sure it is absolutely dry when you store it.
  2. Do not store it in a hot shed, but in a nice cool spot indoors.
  3. Store it loose in a cotton bag so it can breath.
In other words treat it the same way you would a big money down sleeping bag. The idea behind the "store loose" theory is that the coatings outgas and the stuff they outgas needs to dissipate or it will accelerate the breakdown.

Mountain Hardwear Optic 2.5

This is what I ended up choosing. What clinched the deal was finding the "VUE" variant at a closeout price.

However, if I was doing it over again, I would probably buy the Optic 3.5 instead. I dismissed it under the thinking of "who needs a 3 man tent", but if I had looked at the specs instead I would have noticed that you get an extra 10 inches of width for only 8 ounces more weight and an extra $40. Not only that, but I see better deals on the 3.5 than on the 2.5. Maybe too many people dismiss it just like I did and there is a surplus of these on the market.

Compared to the REI Half Dome 2+, it is heavier by 1.5 pounds, but has a polyester fly rather than a nylon one, and the clever side by side door design. Floor space is quite similar. Even though the Optic is 4 inches shorter, the walls are more vertical which may make up for it nicely.

That being said, I am a big fan of the 2 man plus or 2.5 size concept. You often hear that if you want a 2 man tent (and actually intend to put two people in it), you should really get a 3 man tent. The 2.5 concept buys into this, but makes a half step possible. So you get extra space for gear, elbow room, and perhaps an animal for just a little extra money and weight.

I like what Mountain Hardware has done with their 2.5 better than the REI 2 plus. They give you a little less extra length, but more width. It might even be possible to squeeze two 30 inch wide monster pads in side by side. I'll let you know when I try. If you really want to go that route though, look at the Optic 3.5. 
Optic 2.5       $240 5 pounds 13 oz 92x58  48 inch tall
Optic VUE 2.5   $270 6 pounds 12 oz 92x58  48 inch tall
Optic 3.5       $284 6 pounds  5 oz 92x68  49 inch tall
This tent has a polyester rainfly (which is good!) and the clever design with two huge doors on adjacent walls of the tent. The tent uses two long poles that cross in the center (which I like better than the REI which relies on big plastic gadgets and has the two main poles running in parallel). And no plastic gadge: a big metal clip connects the two poles where they cross, pulls up the center of the tent, and a third pole passes through the clip and holds the side of the tent (and the fly) out. A nice design.

It is a freestanding tent. Stakes would be appropriate in serious wind. I worry a bit about condensation. The rainfly has no vents and pitches low. The seams are welded and/or taped and the tent is exceptionally waterproof.

The canopy fabric is 20-denier polyester knit mesh.
The fly is made out of 75-denier polyester taffeta, 1500 mm PU
The floor is made of 70-denier nylon taffeta, 3000 mm PU.

This tent comes in two versions. The "regular" Optic 2.5 and the Optic VUE 2.5. My suspicion is that the "VUE" version is on the way out as I see it widely discounted. The VUE version has solid fabric on the two walls without doors. The new version has large mesh panels on these sides.

This means that if you have the VUE version you have the option of zipping up the doors and being entirely surrounded by fabric. Or you can zip the doors with mesh to get ventilation. The question of course will be what kind of condensation issues there are with the tent totally zipped up with fabric. If you expect to spend a lot of time in places with wind and fine sand (like southern Utah), the VUE would have advantages. Not only that, you can pick it up at greatly reduced prices (I have seen it for under $160) at the time of this writing.

Note that the VUE is somewhat heavier than the already heavy regular version, but we are talking about car camping, not backpacking here.

Big Agnes Blacktail 3

This would be my runner up, and quite possibly a better choice than the REI Half Dome 2.5. 
Blacktail 3   $280 6 pounds 90x70  44 inch tall
Big Agnes makes nice tents. I was somewhat turned off by their silly ideas about adding LED strips to some of their their tents and making this a big selling point. Their Blacktail 3 avoids this nonsense. This is a 6 pound tent intended to hold 3 people. It is a foot wider than the Optic 2.5 at a bit less weight. But if you don't need all that space, you could console yourself that the Optic 2.5 is made with sturdier materials. $280, but often sells for less.

REI Half Dome 2 plus

This is the tent that first made me aware of the "2+ or 2.5" concept, 
Half Dome 2   $199 4 pounds 9 oz 88x52  40 inch tall
Half Dome 2+  $219 5 pounds 1 oz 96x56  42 inch tall
So an extra 20 bucks and 8 ounces gets you an extra 8 inches of length (and 4 inches of width). Especially for somebody around 6 feet tall like myself, the extra length is appreciated.

This tent has two downsides. The biggest one is the nylon rainfly. Nylon is well known to stretch when wet and polyester is material of choice for rainflys. Also people have raised questions about the pole design and broken poles. There will always be broken poles, so you have to discount this somewhat. My son has the Half Dome 2 and it has served him well, although it has yet to be in heavy rain.

Other candidates

As already said, I am looking at compact 2 man tents that could also be carried on backpack trips, especially if you have a partner who is willing to carry it. So, 4 man tents and ridiculous massive "family size" tents are clearly out.

MSR "hubba hubba" - 84 by 50 footprint and $400 but 3.5 pounds. You are clearly paying for a true lightweight backpacking tent and giving up some space.

REI Quarter Done - Again, you pay an extra $100 to get a lighter tent more suitable for backpacking.

Marmot Limelight 2 - Lots of mesh, but not in the "2 plus" class in terms of size. The price includes a footprint, so at $249 the price is competetive with the REI half domes.

Nemo Galaxi - Another quality tent in the "not 2 plus" class that doesn't seem to particularly distinguish itself.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's hiking pages / tom@mmto.org