KUIU's new tent???

[Coyote Commander]

Its like they use the Samuel Adams seasonal beer method. "If we only make it available for one month a year, it'll seem like its better and more exclusive". lol

 

[todd kelly]

Anyone else see this on the kuiu forum? Sounds like there may have been another reason the tents were pulled off the store...

I am pretty sure they stopped selling them to deal with the leaking issues... backordered items are always left up (merino gloves etc)

Heard a few stories already.

My friends started leaking like a sieve during a hard rain. It did fine in light rains where the DWR would bead it off, but the hard rain just let it dump in by the cup fulls. It would be nice to hear some type of warning or info from KUIU on this, as this one could be a life threatening disaster up in the mountains....leaky tents equals wet sleeping bags and clothing, which equates to bad news.

http://forum.kuiu.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5101

 

[Roy68]

I saw it yesterday as well. I'm in the market but don't need a tent this year. The Kuiu tent is on my research/watch list with a couple of others. It will be interesting to see what comes of the leaking claim. Not sure if it's rumor or fact, considering those two posts seemed to show up out of the blue. Maybe that is due to the newness of the product. Anyways, with no other evidence beyond the two posts, it seems there is more to learn.

I'm sure there are others with more knowledge & experience with the tent that we can learn from, but it seems hard to learn of that first hand knowledge about Kuiu product's including the Mountain Star tent on here without the thread turning into a mess.

 

[n2horns]

Why not support some cottage industry tent makers like Tarptent and Lightheartgear. BA makes good tents too. Im considering lightheartgear solong 6. At least they are proven in tent making and and dont branch out to every extreme lime kuiu.

 

[MattBC]

Im not sure whats up with kuiu and their gear testing. If this tent leaks as bad as it does then they arent thoroughly field testing gear. I bought a pair of the 1st gen gaiters and the velcro wouldnt stick after using them for a couple days.

 

[greyghostnw]

interesting..... i have both the 1p and 2p spent time in intense rains in both. watched the rain bead and run off on both thus far. , these photos represent day #3 in the rains, 1p, was bored at times with 0 vis so venturing around was more to stretch the legs, intense rains for days. stayed for a hope in a small window to glass for game. overall been super satisfied with both. i will be adding just a light tarp in my quiver for warm season though to shed even more weight although both seem to be fair weights for the strength they both seem to have. both have withstood strong winds with no problem. this leakage info looks to have no real backbone behind it. will keep following this though.

here is a 2p photo with heavy rains. sat out some fierce lightning, no moisture came in but the fabric does appear to have so blotchy spots. when i have been in these tents in the rains no moisture has leaked through thus far.

 

[Yukon]

I have used the Mountainstar 2 for the last three weeks in Yukon. We have had wetter then average weather so it has been tested pretty well.

I am happy enough with the water proofing ability of this tent. I am a tall guy 6'6 so the only issue is when my feet push the inner wall out and it touches the fly. This only results in some slight water transferring through. Aside from that its been good and dry on several nights where it has rained most of the night. This would be fixed by having two more lines come out from the bottom of the fly. I will add this in when I have time as it will pull the fly away from the tent body and make it more weather proof.

Like all my tenting experience, condensation will build up on the inside when two guys are in it for a long time while it is raining. The vents seem to work well and don't let rain in unless it is a strong driving wind.

The biggest and only real issue I have with the tent is the mesh fabric came with several small "pulls" in it. It looked like it was caught with velcro or somthing. There was a sheet in the tent bag saying to be sure to close all zippers and velcro before packing to prevent damage to mesh. I have been very diligent with this but the mesh continues to get more and more pull marks.

They are not tears or rips and it is still bug proof but is something that should not happen for a tent of this quality at this price point.

The other observation is the fly material seems to hold water for a long time. It will keep rain out quite well but seems to take a long time to dry.

The exterior poles and attached fly and tent body are great for setting up in wetter conditions. The issue I have is if you are moving camp and have a wet tent as the wet fly will transfer the moisture into the tent body when it is packed up. You could undo all the clips and pack them seperatly but then you would be better off with a two piece tent. Any ideas or suggestions?

All in all, I am happy with this tent. I have not done a side by side comparison of other light weight models but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.
This has been a good gear upgrade for me this year and I still have many nights planned in it.

 

[snowcamoman]

Hi guys,
It was my hunting partner whose Kuiu tent started letting water into it. We hunted together for 11 days together and I got to check out the Kuiu 1P a lot. It's a really nice tent and sets up quick. I was using my MLD Cuben DuoMid and the thing was a real palace for space compared to the Kuiu. The DuoMid takes a little more thought when picking a site, but the size, weight, and simplicity of the thing are flat out perfect for me. The Kuiu did well during some initial light rains and really beaded up water like mentioned by others. It was during a hard rain that something went wrong with the tent and water was literally dripping and running down into the tent. He thought it might have been condensation, but realized that there was no way he was creating cup fulls of water. I'm very interested to wait and see what Kuiu tells him about this and am also very interested in why Kuiu has totally removed the tents from their site. I do hope they get it fixed and keep making the tents though, as they really are a nice little mountain tent. I wasn't trying to flame or take away from the Kuiu tents, but just sharing the experience of what happened to my friend.

 

[greyghostnw]

that is fair... what happend happend. curious about why they are off the site as well. i chose these over a hilleberg since it was 2 for the price of 1 kinda thing. i try different gear often and feel no remorse trying these. in the end if they do not cut it for my needs i will try yet again another option. they will warranty them if problomatic in design so that is no big deal to me. as mentioned above mine seem to be fine.

 

[todd kelly]

Sounds the leaking problem is a real problem... Hopefully no one has their hunt ruined by this issue.

 

[Brodie]

I'm not trying to come across as a kuiu fanboy here but maybe this is an isolated problem?
I feel like if this was a wide spread problem the kuiu forum would be flooded with complaints, considering the number of tents sold. Time will tell, even companies like big agnes have lemons slip through.
The test will be how customer service handles it.

 

[Roy68]

Saw this post on the kuiu forum this afternoon.

http://forum.kuiu.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5101&start=10

Re: Where are the mountain star tents?
Postby nmwapiti » Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:21 am

I chatted with the customer service and warranty folks at KUIU. They shipped tents to the fabric manufacturer, tent manufacturer and an independent tester to try to confirm or deny the leaking problem and the cause if there is one. They didn't have any data yet to share. They offered me a refund or store credit, no questions asked. I told them I would like to hang onto it for my Wyoming elk hunt and see how it performed for me. They said they were still happy to give me a refund if I wasn't satisfied when I got back. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[mallacootasmoothie]

I put mine up in the yard and put 2" of sprinkler rain on it over 2 hours. No leaks at all.

 

[mallacootasmoothie]

I put mine up in the yard and put 2" of sprinkler rain on it over 2 hours. No leaks at all.

But I left it out over night with 12mm (1/2") of rain and I have a patch of fly dinner plate size that has leaked through the fabric.

 

[jwb300]

Hmm interesting. Hopefully they sort this out for you. Problem is shipping back to the US costs a hell of a lot.

 

[Yukon]

Hmm interesting. Hopefully they sort this out for you. Problem is shipping back to the US costs a hell of a lot.

Kuiu has been good with this in the past. I sent some gaiters back that had issues with the buckle. They fixed it free of charge, sent them back for free and credited my credit card for my cost to return the item to them. Not many companies will do this and I was surprised when they offered this to me.

 

[jwb300]

That is good service. I can't say I have had the same experiences. I had a faulty icon pack that I had to resend at my cost. They did credit my account for the cost of the faulty pack and gave me discounted shipping on my next order but would not pay for the return shipping ($90).

 

[jm1607]

would not pay for the return shipping ($90).

Ouch

 

[AK Troutbum]

For what it's worth, I have a guide buddy that used a couple of the Kuiu tents this season, and is currently using them on a bear hunt. The last time I talked to him, a few weeks ago, he said so far so good, and he's been in some pretty shitty weather with them, both in the Alaska Range and down on the Alaska peninsula.

 

[bizyrok]

The tent has been out of stock for some time now. Maybe version #2 will have addressed any shortcomings. By the way, on his Stone Sheep story, he shows a prototype of a single person tent. There are a lot of field tested brands out there, so Kuiu will have to show something special to successfully compete.