I've decided on the design of tent that I'm after and have pretty much decided that it is a straight race between two, the Terra Nova Voyager or the Lightwave G2 Ultra. I'm very familiar with TN tents so know what I would be getting strength/quality wise, but I've never used (or had friends who've used) Lightwave. Is their strength/build quality comparable? Which is more likely to be standing in the morning after a real gale?

Many of the threads on OM covering Lightwave refer to top-notch customer service but I must add that my experience of Terra Nova has always been first rate so this will not really be a consideration. Cost may have some influence but I would rather pay more money for the right kit, than less for something less reliable. The tent will be used for UK four season (walking not mountaineering) and (below 3000m.) Alps/Pyrennees three seasons.

I've gone through all of the usual tunnel v. geo/semi-geo arguments so please don't suggest that I should drop either choice and go for a Nallo 2; its taken me months to get this far!!!

 With thanks 

Thanks Chris, but its because I don't know my stuff about Lightwave that I've asked the question! lol

when lightwave first really came onto a mass (ish) market i rather fancied a T3 Arctic and rang them up for a chat.

 being a TN Quasar user i just asked the bloke for his opinion, not a 'which one is best?' utterly bone question, but about general themes and the objectives LW had set themselves while designing and developing their tents - conceptual stuff - and his veiw was that in general a LW tent would not stand-up to quite the hammering a TN tent would, but that it was comparatively lighter and therefore less hassle dragging the bloody thing up the mountain.

 so, assuming that that design ideology still holds, the TN is going to be marginally stroger than the LW, but probably a little heavier.

 i'm a pretty regular winter camper, both wild and on sites, in the UK and somewhat further afield - the only three brands of mountain tent i've never seen demolished are Antarctica, Terra Nova and LW/Crux, so overall i'd suggest the brands are six of one , half a dozen of the other - with LW/Crux being a bit lighter, TN being a bit stronger, but both being able to handle pretty much most things you might encounter - though if you're into camping on the Cairngorm plateau in March then a TN or Antarctica probably ougt to be at the top of your list - ot perhaps a tank.

Thanks rewrite, that's the sort of endorsement of the actual products that I was really hoping for. Now I can be confident of making a choice based on finer details and be happy that the overall strength/weather resistance rating was fairly even.  It can be hard to judge the real interpretation of a manufacturer's season ratings, as I'm certain that we've all found kit that has left us convinced that the season rating has been beefed up to try and make the product more attractive (just look at the huge variance on sleeping bags - some makes e.g. Rab, PHD you can trust their ratings to be realistic, others leave you with the certainty that the catalogues/websites must contain misprints making +2 into -12 !). If you're actually going to be using kit outside of Summer, you at least want to set off with the confidence that its actually up to the job (although the  experience of a complete failure in really nasty weather is obviously character building I'd rather avoid it if possible!).

 Much appreciated

(If anyone has any insider knowledge that the design aims of Lightwave have changed please let me know!!!)

As someone who was talked out of buying a Lightwave G2 and into buying a Hilleberg, I'm not sure I'm the best person to comment.

Obviously the G2 and the voyager are the same design, but the G2 is quite a bit larger (i.e its longer, much wider and higher), so it is a roomy 2 person tent.

That may have an impact on performance (i.e the voyager has a lower profile so may shed the weind better), but it probably doesn't matter that much in reality.

The Ultra material of the G2 might also be less robust and more prone to shredding, but that's not always the case (see hilleberg again). and as the G2 is rated 4 season it is probably theoretical anyway.

 I would say that I'm pretty sure that the G2 has been modified slightly since it was first launched. I think it used to be slightly longer (230cm), so they may have tweaked it (presumably to make it more stable).

Thanks DavidG

I...I....I.... I must.....I must not.......... I must not ask............arrgh....no.......I must not ask..............

Why the Hilleberg and not the G2?

Damn, damn, damn, couldn't keep it in.  Weeks of hard deliberation undone in one sentence. I don't intend to re-open the ever present tunnel/geo forum debate but was it something specific that a potential buyer should know? 

For me it was only really that the semi-geo/geo format, in comparison to being in a tunnel that is making the noise of a jet engine and randomly slaps you in the face when flapping in a gale, gives a sense of being more secure.

 Peter - it's my mate's fault.

 He has been camping in tunnel tents for over 20 years (old Vangos and now a Mark 1 Nallo). 

I was wighing up whether to get a  G2 or a or whether to go for a more robust MH Trangia (sp?) or a Marmot Thor.

I had gone as far as getting various brochures and asked my mate his opinion. His view (echoed by Chris Townsend in another thread) was that the Geodesics were overspecified for UK four season conditions, and while the G2 was a good bet, it still wasn't a patch on his Hilleberg.

Reasons - v good strength and space to weight, simple to pitch, flysheet and inner pitch as one. He acknowledged the usual drawbacks but finding 4 good pegging points in the UK is rarely a problem and as for the flapping? After a few outings you just don't notice it.

Basically, my mate has spent hundreds of nights out in tunnels, quite a few in fairly hairy conditions. Not only does he sleep like a log when it is blowing but he never fears for his tents. I'm getting that way too.

For UK conditions, I reckon the two best 2 man Hillebergs are the Nallo and the Kaitum

If you are mainly going to be camping with someone else the Kaitum is great - its got lots of space, has two porches, is very stable (the third pole makes a big difference and it doesn't flap so much) and weighs a decent 2.7kg. I have one and I like it a lot.

If you are looking for a 1.5 man tent (some solo camping, some 2 man camping) then its hard to look past the most recent version of the Nallo.  Another of my mate has just ought one and I am rather jealous - the new zipped vent + extra little guy at the back makes a real difference to air flow (and lifts the fly away from the inner) and it weighs a shade over 2kg.

They do cost a lot, but I like them (and you do get used to the occasional flapping)

Just as an aside, its the G1 Ultra which is comparable to the Voyager - I have the G2 (the original design without the arched pole) which I love and it's quite a bit bigger than the G1/Voyager so a little heavier. 

Steve

Thanks DavidG & SteveM

 I have been deliberately comparing the Voyager to the G2 Ultra (rather than the G1) because I would, if they were comparable strength wise, consider the larger space of the G2 as there is only a minimal weight penalty over the Voyager. If it were the G1 v. the Voyager I would have already settled for the TN due to satisfaction with their tents in the past.

A strong vote for LW does though put things back into the mix.

This has all sent me (again!) back to the drawing board. Its the horror of having a phantom whispering in your ear whenever you look at another tent: "Are you sure? Its not a Hilleberg; that's what you neeeeed......" , only to have the same doom-monger whisper at you when you've decided to actually go and buy a Nallo: " Its overspecified for your requirements..... don't you want something elssssse.............."

 I thought I'd beaten my tent buying demons but obviously they are still lying ready to pounce the moment I get my credit card out.

Do I really need a Hilleberg's specifications? No.

 Have you stayed dry in some really nasty conditions in other makers tents (e.g  Vango, TNF)? Yes

Do you have complete confidence in Terra Nova items you already own? Yes

Do other users on OM rate Lightwave? Yes

Will you ever be lying in your tent listening to the developing gale on a dark stormy night thinking to yourself: " I'd be feeling confident at this very moment if I'd bought a Hilleberg" ?  ........... 

 I think that's the real question I've got to answer. If the answer to that is 'Yes' I'd then have to work out whether that is just some sort of personal brand snobbery or whether it would be purchasing piece of mind with the Hilleberg's price tag.

 Thanks for all of your input

Thanks Cruxster man

Yes I have sen the Crux tents and all of the reviews (many of them yours!) on this forum, but I have been trying really hard not to over specify and I think the Storm really would be beyond what I actually require.

From your reports I appreciate that you need the protection in the weather that you seem to go searching for! I, on the other hand, have been trying to find something suitable because I think that lugging a Quasar over the hills is 1 or 2 Kg worth of energy use that I could really avoid if I picked the correct tent for the conditions that I actually end up in 99.9% of the time (and if you didn't have that random 0.1% chance of everything going catastrophically pear shaped at 3am there would be a whole lot less fun in camping - even if, unlike yourself, some of us try and avoid some of the real extremes - it would be same as sitting in a hotel with a nice view!). Hence why I had tried to narrow things down to the Voyager and G2 Ultra.

 Another Lightwave vote gratefully received.

 Thanks

Thanks Andy

I'm almost completely convinced that I'll actually bite the bullet and go for the Lightwave but I have been told by a friend to check out their website as apparently there have been some problems beyond their control with a fabric supplier so they have suspended production on some models of tent. After spending weeks making up my mind it would be fate to find that I can't get hold of the tent for several months! Several months to change my mind again and again!

("There are no fabric problems in Sweeeedennn................Plenty of Voyageeerrrs in stock................"   

Thanks very much for the feedback