I'm looking for a strong sturdy backpacking tent for two people but will be used for personal use also. It needs to be a good all-rounder, able to cope with gale force winds and torrential rain on the summits of Dartmoor in the winter, as well as summer use in sheltered valleys and woods. I'm relatively fit and a good walker, so willing to compromise on weight for an uninterupted sleep through a storm. I have seen this tent going for £370 at Cotswolds which seems a bargain compared to lighter inferior quality tents around the £300 mark. I am also looking at the North Face Minibus 22 as an alternative but I haven't seen this pitched in any shops. Has anyone had any experience with this tent?
It is heavy for a 2man and is absolutely bomb proof when set up.
But there are some issues. I find it difficult to setup in heavyish wind due to it using clips rather than sleeves, and when its blowing fairly hard and you have the poles setup and start clipping it up theres a tendancy for it to really start flapping about like a kite until every clip is secured in place, im sure these clips could be a weak spot potentially tearing the inner in a hooley until every one is secured.
From the ones i have seen setup on campsites the flysheet seems to be of varing quality being ill fitting for some and fine on others, the stitching on mine doesnt seem to line up and sit symetrically over the inner very well (i have seen this on loads of tents but you would expect better quality when spending this much money)
From previous reviews i have read, poles seem to be a weak point, and a couple of mine have broke due to heavy winds and the clips mentioned before while setting up (usually the pre angled arched poles located at the furthest ends as theres very little flex there)
As for the plus's when set up its bomb proof, ive sat out 50mph plus winds with heavy driving rain and all seems calm inside until you step out.
Its a warm tent a bit to much for summer tho.
The roof vent and window is a nice touch and when i use other tents thats one thing i do miss, being able to have a look at the weather without even having to get out of the bag in the morning.
I have just brought one of these and very excited about trying it out.
There are a few issues that have been raised about this tent, but as mali as said some peple have issues and some don't - personally I think this is the case with all tent brands.
There is a pre 2009 model on Ebay for £295 at he moment brand new.
I would say the Trango is an excellent tent as a mountaineering summit/storm tent. For backpacking, at least by my scales, it's a bit on the heavy side for one. You can get lighter tents that'll take Dartmoor in winter: the Trango will happily be parked on the side of a Himalaya for a fortnight.
The Crux Storm is quite a bit lighter and similarly tough. Not as roomy, but I think makes better sense for one, sometimes two. The Bomb gives that much more utility space, and you can use the same inner on both so just buy a second fly for trips when you want more/less space.
Must be easier to pitch using clips though? And less prone to damaging the fly? I always find threading poles through sleeves tricky in the wind and have ripped holes through my fly sheet on my old tent doing this.
For summer use I heard there is a groundsheet you can buy which will attach to the fly without the inner?
When I looked at the Trango set up in a shop it felt better quality and seemed more waterproof than any other tent I have seen or used. Maybe the extra weight equals better quality materials?
I can't see how you could justify a Trango for UK use, unless you were out in full-on Scottish winter conditions literally all the time. It's a great tent (supposed to be, anyway, I've not used one), but it's designed for the world's most brutal mountain conditions, which we don't really get in this country outside Scotland on a bad day. You can get a tent that will be lighter, cheaper and probably a lot more fit for purpose pretty easily. I'd look elsewhere.
Personally I'd steer clear of The North Face until their quality issues are cleared up - like, say, rainflys that deretiorate in UV exposure after 2 years.
Maybe the extra weight equals better quality materials?
It's not that simple. With something like a PU coated groundsheet it'll typically be the case that heavier implies thicker and that means tougher , but on flysheets it's the case that seam taping (like on the Trango) adds weight and reduces strength, and tape only sticks to PU coatings which again weaken the base material more than a silcione elastomer coating. Make a seam properly and it shouldn't leak, so Hillebergs, Lightwaves, Saunders have been making tents without seam tape for years that are lighter and stronger than PU coated equivalents while still keeping out the water.
Oh, wait, do you even get UV rays in the UK?
They have been known on occasions... Especially on paddling trips I get through quite a bit of sun-cream, and in the longer term UV degradation certainly becomes an issue. My Dad's Spacepacker Plus is around 20 years old and still fine, and I've seen tents of similar vintage with less sophisticated fly materials that have basically died. Polyester flys will stand up better than nylon to UV, and silicone elastomer coatings are better than PU. It's something to consider in the longer term, especially if altitude use is envisaged (and Munros don't count there!)
People rate hilleberg very highly and whilst thet are great tents, I used a Nammaji GT for a couple of years and experienced a few problems. One pole snapped and was replaced by Hilleberg, a rip on the inner tent and condensation issues were a big problem regardless of leaving the vents open - this was the older model mind you.
I have always been impressed by the trango and i think it will be perfect when i move to NZ in june for the south island.
Indeed, they're all compromises between different and contradictory design goals: you want them to be light, but on the other hand strong and spacious, and stronger and bigger (all else being equal) needs being heavier... And so on.
Nammatj GT... condensation issues were a big problem regardless of leaving the vents open - this was the older model mind you
I don't think they're ever really changed the venting on the Nammatj. But to quote Lightwave's site, "Condensation is a fact of life when camping in tents. The physics is simple: moisture carried in the warm air inside a tent condenses on contact with a cool flysheet – typically, when the outside temperature drops overnight. The result is water on the wrong, inner side of the fly... ... It is another fact of life, however, that even the best-aligned vents can only work if there is a mechanism to move the air – and the only one available is our erratic friend, the wind... ...It is a bitter irony of tent design, nevertheless, that features such as low-cut flysheets and impermeable silicone-coated fabrics only contribute to the problem of condensation – by trapping humidity inside the tent, and keeping out the very weather that could carry it away."
Personally I think condensation is over-rated as a problem, but of course everyone has different perceptions which is why different tents solve thir problems in different ways. I personally like Hillebergs more than most, but one thing I wouldn't recommend their stuff for is someone who really values a quiet night. My HB geo is quite noisy in a blow (certainly much more so than a Quasar), my HB tunnel very noisy!
One question... with an inner-first pitching tent like the Trango, won't the inner get soaking wet before the fly goes on if you have to pitch in the pouring rain?
Don't know specifically about the Trango, but I've used inner-first pitching Terra Novas (assorted models of Quasar and Voyager) for almost 30 years and imo the answer's definitely 'no' - as long as you're organised and don't hang around getting the poles threaded and inner pitched, then throw the outer over. The inner should be water-resistant enough to cope with a bit of exposure to rain, and then dry off quickly anyway once it's up.
I can't think of more than 5 or 6 times in all those years that heavy rain has even made the inner tent damp during pitching. It seems to be an issue bandied around a lot but it seems mostly by people who haven't actually tried it....
Of course a mesh inner tent with inner-first pitching is another kettle of fish!
We have both the Trango 2 and an older 3.1 that I inherited from elsewhere. They have been bombproof up to now, although I have a suspicion that the 3.1 groundsheet leaks (probably due to poor storage/airing).
We've used the 2 in all sorts of conditions - heavy rain, howling gales, blizzards, and it gives a real sense of confidence that it's going to keep you safe. It's not a difficult tent to erect, but you'd definitely benefit from a couple of trial runs on a calm day in your back garden/down the park before you have to do it for real.
It's very roomy - we regularly have 2 people and 2 border collies in ours without feeling cramped. It could easily accommodate 3 on the floor without people being squashed up. Storage space is a bit tight in the back porch - it's fine for dumping a rucksack or duffle out there, but not a lot more. Main porch is pretty roomy for cooking and sorting kit.
Condensation can be a problem in the summer, although I've made a little plastic 'doofer' to hold the back doors open a bit to let the breeze blow through. It can also get pretty warm due to the lack of mesh on the liner - the downside of it being lovely and cosy in the winter due to the lack of mesh on the liner.
Weight is the big downside - there's no way I would consider carrying this as a solo tent, as it's over 3.5kg. Even for 2 people that's a bit beefy in this day and age, as you could easily pick up a solid Hilleberg or similar that weighs about 1kg less and give the same room inside.
while dog 2 is definitely still at the 'leaky' stage herself (she's only 5 months old), she can be absolved of guilt on this occasion as the trango 3.1 was second hand and suspect when we got it - there were stains on the groundsheet which suggested that it had been stored damp and allowed to get mouldy.
We've since gotten hold of a footprint for it, which seems to have cured the very slight water ingress, although I'm not sure how it would hold up in the face of endless torrential rain.
with an inner-first pitching tent like the Trango, won't the inner get soaking wet before the fly goes on if you have to pitch in the pouring rain?
As Matt says, as long as you're organised it's a bit of a so-what.
The thing I don't like about inner first pitch is you usually need the inner up for the tent to go (and stay) up. IIRC of my pal's old Trango, you can actually just put up the fly on those but (my memory may be telling porkies) I don't think taking it down in situ is on the cards. Why would you want to do that? extra party/cooking space without getting the inner dirty, and dry workshop space for sorting lots of wet gear, fixing dirty bikes or very wet boats. I've used outer only quite a bit over the years, and I'd miss it if I didn't have it.
technically, you can get the outer up without the inner on the Trangos, but you need extra bits that aren't supplied. From a camping perspective, I've never wanted to, as most of my camping takes place in the Scottish highlands and any time it's been warm enough to warrant "fly only", it's also so midge infested that I wouldn't contemplate trying to sleep outside the inner.
I can see the value in being able to drop the inner as Peter suggests above - if that's likely to be a frequent course of action, then I'd suggest that there are other tents beside the Trango that would be better for your needs.
Thinking about justifying a trango for use in Britain, I have found with all non-mountain tents that in windy conditions, the noise of flapping flysheets against inners etc can be annoying and often wakes me up during the night. Will a sturdy wind resistant like a Trango promise a more restfull night's sleep? This is surely as important as weight, since poor quality sleep is just as bad as expending extra energy lugging an extra couple of kilos up a hill.
Ive seen some very expensive so called good tents for use in windy conditions being demolished in ogwen valley, you should need no justification in buying a strong tent for the uk
This is surely as important as weight, since poor quality sleep is just as bad as expending extra energy lugging an extra couple of kilos up a hill.
The thing is how important it is is up to you. You seem pretty keen on a quiet time, so it's worth prioritising.
But note that noise and strength aren't perfectly correlated. My Hilleberg Tarra is about as bombproof as tents get, but it's certainly not the quietest thanks to large porches made of very fine fabric and external poles.
Unsupported fabric and stuff to catch the wind are the thing to avoid, and the Trango does, so I'd say a good choice there. Quasars are very quiet too, and the Ultra Quasar is reasonably light for a bunker tent and worth thinking about. The Superlite Quasar may well be worth looking at too, at just 2.5 Kg, though lighter fabrics and thinner poles will mean more noise I'd guess. If you want a stouter base just take a footprint, it'll still come in at a lot lighter than a Trango, but for a reasonably light tent for 2 with quiet as a priority I'd look very hard at the Ultra Quasar. There's nothing wrong with the Trango but you are paying more of a weight penalty.
