lukebrowning
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2012
- Messages
- 177
As promised, I wanted to share my initial impressions of the Samaya 2.0 tent now that I've had a chance to spend about a dozen nights in it during spring bear. Conditions included wind, rain, snow, sleet/slush and temps ranging from 25-70*. I will need more nights during the fall to fully shake it out but my initial impressions are positive...
I've gone through a few different shelters over the last decade including the Hille Akto, Hille Soulo, MLD Cuben Duomid, Integral Designs MK, BA Copper Spur, Stone Glacier Skyscraper, and Golite Shangri-la.... I'm probably missing a few others.. Whether it was weight, complex set up, footprint size or weather-worthiness none checked all the boxes for me.
In no particular order, my goals for a solo shelter are... free standing, quick and easy set up, fly-first pitch, fully enclosed so I can throw my gear inside and go, efficient footprint size in order to pitch in tight places, enough headroom to change clothes and piss in a bottle, at least as light as the Hille Niak, and be able to handle four season conditions in Montana/Idaho where I do most of my hunting.
The Samaya brand has a bit extravagant (for lack of a better word) Instagram page and there are not many real-world reviews of the tent so I was a bit skeptical, particularly given their claims of an ultralight, breathable, single wall four-season tent. While in France I had a chance to tour their factory outside Annecy where they do all their design, development, and lab testing. Their setup is impressive, with a walk-in freezer, wind tunnel, pole and fabric testing gadgets, sewers to fabricate entire shelters, among other tools. They also had a stack of tents they loan out to guides, mountaineers, etc for testing in the Alps. I spent over an hour with them and walked away feeling a lot of research and development has gone into this tent so I decided to pull the trigger on the their 2.0 model and also bought the detachable vestibule.
Information on the design of the tent is easy to find on the web, so I will share some real-world weights according to my scale and a few thoughts...
The mesh door and window can be zipped out of the tent which saves a bit of weight but more importantly can be removed when it's snowing to avoid snow buildup. Additionally the mesh is on the inside of the tent so in the event it does snow it's protected from spindrift. I used the BF120 stakes for the four corners and 5x groundhog stakes for the guylines. Although the SwissPiranha stakes are insanely light, I used the BF90's with a tarp and they pulled during some moderate wind so I didn't trust them for the guylines.
The size is perfect for me (5'10) and gear. Headroom is adequate for pissing and changing clothes. I really liked the side pocket that covers the entire side of the shelter. I also thought the door (full side), window and vent layout was great. Set up is extremely quick with each pole feeding into a pocket on opposite ends and then cinched down near the door. The awning is quite short so I had to shake it before getting out of the tent otherwise water would get inside when opening the door in the morning
Two of my main concerns when purchasing this tent were condensation (single wall) and storm worthiness (8.7mm DAC Featherlite NFL Green poles).
I will continue to use the tent this summer and fall, however after a dozen nights in varying conditions it seems to meet all my goals for a solo shelter.
Happy to answer any questions...
I've gone through a few different shelters over the last decade including the Hille Akto, Hille Soulo, MLD Cuben Duomid, Integral Designs MK, BA Copper Spur, Stone Glacier Skyscraper, and Golite Shangri-la.... I'm probably missing a few others.. Whether it was weight, complex set up, footprint size or weather-worthiness none checked all the boxes for me.
In no particular order, my goals for a solo shelter are... free standing, quick and easy set up, fly-first pitch, fully enclosed so I can throw my gear inside and go, efficient footprint size in order to pitch in tight places, enough headroom to change clothes and piss in a bottle, at least as light as the Hille Niak, and be able to handle four season conditions in Montana/Idaho where I do most of my hunting.
The Samaya brand has a bit extravagant (for lack of a better word) Instagram page and there are not many real-world reviews of the tent so I was a bit skeptical, particularly given their claims of an ultralight, breathable, single wall four-season tent. While in France I had a chance to tour their factory outside Annecy where they do all their design, development, and lab testing. Their setup is impressive, with a walk-in freezer, wind tunnel, pole and fabric testing gadgets, sewers to fabricate entire shelters, among other tools. They also had a stack of tents they loan out to guides, mountaineers, etc for testing in the Alps. I spent over an hour with them and walked away feeling a lot of research and development has gone into this tent so I decided to pull the trigger on the their 2.0 model and also bought the detachable vestibule.
Information on the design of the tent is easy to find on the web, so I will share some real-world weights according to my scale and a few thoughts...
- Tent body and poles (45.3oz),
- mesh door (3.7oz),
- mesh window (1.5oz),
- SwissPiranha BF120 stakes (5x @ 0.21oz each),
- Swiss SwissPiranha BF90 stakes (4x @ 0.11oz each),
- vestibule with poles and stakes (18.7oz).
The mesh door and window can be zipped out of the tent which saves a bit of weight but more importantly can be removed when it's snowing to avoid snow buildup. Additionally the mesh is on the inside of the tent so in the event it does snow it's protected from spindrift. I used the BF120 stakes for the four corners and 5x groundhog stakes for the guylines. Although the SwissPiranha stakes are insanely light, I used the BF90's with a tarp and they pulled during some moderate wind so I didn't trust them for the guylines.
The size is perfect for me (5'10) and gear. Headroom is adequate for pissing and changing clothes. I really liked the side pocket that covers the entire side of the shelter. I also thought the door (full side), window and vent layout was great. Set up is extremely quick with each pole feeding into a pocket on opposite ends and then cinched down near the door. The awning is quite short so I had to shake it before getting out of the tent otherwise water would get inside when opening the door in the morning
Two of my main concerns when purchasing this tent were condensation (single wall) and storm worthiness (8.7mm DAC Featherlite NFL Green poles).
- Condensation: I experienced mild condensation on a couple nights, with the most condensation occurring during an all night rain/snow storm where I entered the tent with wet clothes and boots. Snow/slush also built up on the exterior walls which I believe degraded the breathability. During this night I woke in the morning to some condensation above my head and by my feet, however it did not drip on me. There was virtually no condensation on the sides. I also noticed condensation on the taped seams, presumably because they are not breathable. On most other nights I experienced virtually no condensation and only had the top vents open during each night. I was very impressed with the tent's condensation management.
- Storm Worthiness: I did not experience any water or wind ingress. The tent was very stable in moderate winds (I did not experience any "severe" winds).
I will continue to use the tent this summer and fall, however after a dozen nights in varying conditions it seems to meet all my goals for a solo shelter.
Happy to answer any questions...
