2 Person UL Shelter
Sierra Designs Flashlight 2 UL
Pros: Excellent headroom where it matters most. No center pole, still high wind resistant. Lightweight. Excellent ventilation. Shed’s water well. Quick and easy set up. Vestibules double as closet space. Poles can be replaced by trekkers.
Cons: Tent packs to shorter length than the poles. Could consider purchasing a separate stuff sack. I just kept the poles outside my pack. 
I originally purchased this tent for car camping only so that I wouldn’t have to bring my pup shelter when wanting to snuggle with my sweetheart and caught a break on a sale at nearly 50% off, so I thought I’d give it a try. This is proving to be an excellent multi use tent. Its small, light, highly functional, and a great tent for a minimalist in need of a full shelter. The flat side walls and the high head room make it look like it might not do well on a windy night, however on night four, I slept in a modest storm with lots of rain and some fairly significant wind gusts and when staked out taught and proper, it did not put out the tent rattle I was expecting and I slept very soundly. I’ll be taking this shelter on a longer hike in the mountains for sure.
The vents are on three sides, with two of them (one on each door) having the option to close for colder nights. The coolest night I slept was 38 degrees with light frost in the morning. The tent was plenty warm and there was a fair amount of condensation inside, though not enough to drip.
Proper set up of this tent relies highly on staking and tension. Many tents rely on this a fair amount, but for this one it is everything, which some might see as a negative, but in my opinion it is the key reason why this tent is such a brilliant design. If you are already familiar with minimalism and tarp only shelters this will be a breeze for you. If you are thinking of getting into that it will be a great guide to getting familiar with fabric tension made easy. Just so long as you don’t get frustrated by the dreaded rock under the last stake, you should be very happy with this tent in good weather or rough.
There are two small compartment bags for smaller items to hang just above the floor, which is additional overall weight, but I have always found very useful, like having a private bedside table in the wild. As a final note, I feel I should disclose my initial reason for giving this tent a try. I proudly admit that the main reason I love this ultralight tent, is for romance. Many of my favorite lightweight designs have a center pole. This is by far the best light weight, two person tent, with all the best qualities I look for that can also easily accommodate some snuggling before dozing off.
Written By and Tested By: John T.
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