I've always wanted to try this tent, as the minimal "super bivy" thing appeals to me for solo outings. After a bear destroyed my trusty Anjan 2, I gave it a shot.
I have a fair amount of Sitka and Kuiu, and tend to prefer Kuiu's fit and gear. I'm 5'8" which makes a shelter like this a little easier. I'm not digging on this thing b/c I'm after Kuiu or anything, just want to put some more real world review thoughts out on the interwebs for folks to consider.
Couple observations:
- even with the vestibule door cracked open a good amount, you can't keep it dry inside unless you leave the door totally open and quarter it into the wind. Some of that is just the way it's gonna be given the design. There needs to be a way for air to get into the head end. You can see that addressed in a lot of the Tarptent designs as well as the Hilleberg Enan. Even on a super dry day, with good air movement, you can get condensation. The good part about having that test condition is you can feel all of the dry areas, and still see where your vapor gets held up. Kuiu needs to take this Big Sky design and improve that. Raincoat over bag footbox is mandatory.
- 20D PU coated floors are a joke. Why bother. I had PU cracks in multiple places just from fabric pokes from things in the duff. That's just the cost of being light I think, and lack of PU durability.
- build quality is lacking. My "favorite" is the half ass seam they jacked up in the factory, you can see where they ran to the edge of the fabric, which didn't square up nice, so you get the old extra stitched seam to make sure it holds and doesn't blow out the unfinished edge. Given the inflated marketing language, top shelf status, and touting the fame of the production facility, I expect crap like that to get QCd out of the mix, not pushed through with the hopes someone won't notice. They ought to be embarrassed by that.
I've never seen mesh that gets pulls as easy as the stuff they use, but that's a common complaint with Tarptent as well I think.
- hardware is top notch, with exception of the way too tiny zipper on the vestibule (I get it, saves weight). The stakes and cordage are great.
- it's just plain crazy light. Pair it with a quilt and xlite short pad and you are sub 4 lbs on a sleep system.
- their foot vent system rocks. What doesn't rock is the fact the guy lines for the footbox literally can't be used how their directions state, they can't be shortened enough to share the floor stakes. Simple solution is guy out the foot end with extra stakes, or just use some sticks.
- to their credit Kuiu made sure to put some mid panel guy points on the steep sides, which really gets the lower part of those walls vertical. You really have to think about how to sit up and not soak yourself still, but those guy points really help out.
- floor space is very large, and it seemed like a long tent head to foot.
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