2 person lightweight tent (on the cheap)

[Casey_NorCal]

Let me preface this with I understand the buy once, cry once mentality. But with diesel being $6 a gallon, this year’s hunts are going to be especially hard on the wallet. My son (13) will be joining me in the CO elk woods for archery (his first western hunt), and I don’t want it to be a miserable experience for him. Has anyone had any luck with a lightweight 2-person tent that’s not over $200-400? I hate the idea of buying a made in china tent, but I may have to swallow my pride and buy an Amazon-special cheap tent this year. Good experiences? Bad experiences?

Thanks

Try to find one with a good warranty or customer service. If it's cheap and going to get abused....might as well try to get some money back.

 

[Jonoton]

I too am looking at 2p tents for a few trips. Just me and my stuff, though. And maybe a kid down the road once they get bigger.

I went to REI and they had a new Tiger Wall 2 set up, and I guess this is a perception issue I have with these light tents in general... it just seemed to be so fragile and flimsy. I'll have to deal with that to get down to the 2 to 2.5 lb area, where I'd like to be.

Anyways, my first trip is an 8mi hike into a fixed fishing camp. So I talked myself into an REI Half Dome 2 at 4.9 pounds, which I might return if I order and receive a lighter 2p tent in time.

Thank y'all for the suggestions

 

[ScottP]

Mountainsmith Mountain Shelter LT. A little over $100 depending on where you buy it, maybe less if you catch a good sale.

It is floorless which can actually be a very good thing if you are comfortable with that. Decent amount of space for its 2 pound weight. It does require two trekking poles to set up.

I haven’t used mine for two people, but it is enough space. I would just recommend carrying a small tarp to create a porch or something to keep your packs outside and leave you a bit more room inside.

I’ve done a lot of backpack elk hunting with my LT. Tough to beat if you’re good going floorles. And if you and your son are average size it would be fine on space IMO.

 

[cacklercrazy]

Just ordered one Thanks!

Same here.

 

[zacattack]

There’s a MLD duomid in the classifieds. Not mine, but that’s a pretty great tent and a good deal on it.

 

[Nleachet23]

There’s some very cheap tarp type set ups. Floorless. On Amazon. Not sure I’d go that rout but they are cheap. Maybe a 1 season use type of thing.

 

[mcseal2]

I see the OP found an option, but figured I'd add this for people searching.

The North Face Stormbreak 2 and 3 tents are not super light, but they have served me well. I've got both and use them both when the family goes with me. They have held up to some serious weather summer camping on open sand bars. This summer one night we left set up during a storm that had 80mph winds and a tornado. We thought the storm was going to miss us when we went out, but it built back and somewhat changed direction. We were watching it on radar with my I phone so we had time to react. We left camp and ran the boat back upstream and holed up in what was basically a concrete box under a bridge and waited it out. The tornado missed us, but I have never seen worse straight line winds than we had for a bit. When we went back to camp after the storm everything was fine. We ended up catching a pile of flathead catfish including 5 between 15 and 38lbs, turned out to be a great night.

 

[Vartz04]

I haven't used it for hunting but the lanshan 2 pro is pretty nice. Six moon sells aluminum and carbon fiber poles you can use in place of trekking poles for this tent. I bought a set of aluminum ones for a bike packing trip since I had no need for trekking poles at that time.

Question I have is how does this tent do in lows in the upper 30s low 40s in the Midwest?

 

[txjustin]

I haven't used it for hunting but the lanshan 2 pro is pretty nice. Six moon sells aluminum and carbon fiber poles you can use in place of trekking poles for this tent. I bought a set of aluminum ones for a bike packing trip since I had no need for trekking poles at that time.

Question I have is how does this tent do in lows in the upper 30s low 40s in the Midwest?

I ran it a few weeks ago in New Mexico. Got to 12 1st night and 19 the next two nights. I never got cold.


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[Vartz04]

I ran it a few weeks ago in New Mexico. Got to 12 1st night and 19 the next two nights. I never got cold.


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Perfect. Any major condensation issues?