Right, I'm really hoping you knowledgeable lot can help. I'm looking for a 3 person tent for backpacking, and whilst there is only two of us, I'm 6'5 and my Wife is 5'11 so we could use the extra room. Most seem to have the sleeping space capped at about 225cm, so I'm looking for longer than that really, and have looked at lazerlight, vuade, hilleberg, TNF ( I have a tadpole 23 which I just use for me, not big enough for two of us to have room) and others. I'm also looking for a decent sized vestibule for cooking and gear as I want to take it on a 4 night trip in the next month. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good quality product which we can sit up in comfortable? I know I want the earth, and don't mind spending for it so budget isn't really a huge issue. Any help would be great - I may not be able to reply until later on tomorrow but will thank you all in advance.
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 i would have suggested the laserlarge 3, im 6"2 and have got a laserlarge and there is a fair bit of space at the end and a fair bit of head room but its only two person. which hillebergs did you look at? the katium or katium gt could be an option?
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 Wow! massive porch on that laser spacey thing!
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 The Copper Spur UL3 is huge - I used one all last summer and was very pleased with it - a mere 2kg; the entrances are a little low (even I noticed and I am pretty low myself  )
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 I'd take a look at the t2 & t3 xt variants from www.lightwave.uk.com I recently got a t2 with both standard and xt flysheets and it's a pleasure to use. I've not seen any grim weather in it yet but reports are generally good if it's well pitched. The t3 has 230cm interior length (about 7ft6) and the t2 is about 5cm / 2 inches shorter. The peak heights (110cm / 3ft7) are about the same but the t3 has a flat section so a lot more usable sitting space.
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Have you thought of the old, bombproof TNF Phortress. Think they now call it the Fortress 33 or something like that. It is a long, 3 pole tunnel witha door at the end and one at the side of the end, I have seen two large lads fit into it without arguments so I am assuming it is very spacious. The porch is certainly humungous, kind of like those tents that have GT or XT after their name but with even more room. I'm 6'5" and standing next to it I would say it was half my height at the middle pole (at the entrance to the inner tent). Also Isn't the Macpac Olympus a 3 man with decent proportions. Of course both these tents are really a good 4 season tent so might be considered too much for most people's needs. I would expect Hilleberg to have similar products too, but I reckon the TNF fortress would be a better bet costwise.
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What about a shangri-la 3 or shangri-la 4? Looks like they have bags of room to stretch out and sit up in. No porch, but I believe you can peg back the inner for cooking. I think I want one myself
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 Pretty similar spec to the TNF fortress but a bit cheaper is the Robens Osprey 3EX, might be worth a look. Or just to confuse matters theres the one I've got which is the Robens Fortress, Roomy, solid tent and great for LR camping but would be darn heavy for backpacking.
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| Edited: 23/06/09 20:30 |
My thought was also the Laser Space 2 of TN. Simply because it is a standing height lightweight tent which may be of some more comfort for older backs...
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 You may want to have a look at Exped tents. I had a Vela Extreme 2 and the inner was 8 feet long.
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Have you looked at the Vaude Mark II Long. The reason for the long is that the tent is an extra 6 inches long. Hence teh reason for the extra room. Thats what i use and i am 6ft 5" and quite built and it copes with me and a mate of a similar height and build when used for 3 nights on the hill. As always on the mark versions of Vaude tents they come with 2 entrances so maybe use one as a storage area and the other as the cooking area. Only suggestions mind... Good luck with the search Regards John
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 The Hilleberg Kaitum is long at 220 inner, but that really is 220 as both ends are vertical so there's none of that space loss to tapering ends you get with single ended designs. We have a Kaitum 3 as a palatial 2 person tent with absolutely tonnes of room. There's plenty of room in the k2, but we figured we'd take another 300g and have a whole load more for just a little extra weight. With the 3 you could sleep diagonally as there's so much lateral space so you'd have more effective length. Pete.
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NickIf you are after something lighter than the Katium, have a look at the Scarp 2 .That also has usable space end to end, 218cm, 132 cm wide, and 113 cm headroom.The wall at the end is 50cm high. http://www.tarptent.com/scarp2.htmlHave a look at the Cutaway Dimensions page for a better perspective.About 1.5kg with pegs for 3 season, just over 2kg with the extra poles for freestanding and 4 season (not extreme weather...) set up. Inc pegs. Franco
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Take a look at the new TarpTent Scarp 2. It's 85 inches long of useable floor space. Double wall tent, "Made in USA" of silnylon, 2 doors and vestibules, inner tent hangs AFTER the fly is up to keep it dry while setting up (or taking down) in inclement weather. U. S. $325. Very light for a 2 person tent. Excellent customer service by owner, Henry Shires. I know, I'm a customer. Options: 1.Either netting or ripstop inner tent, depending on season of use. 2. Crossing poles for increased stability in wind or heavy snow load. Eric
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 Kaitum 2 will not be high enough for you from my experience - the 3 might be (extra 10cm I believe). Length wise - I am 6ft and our Kaitum 2 takes us along with a large dog at our feet... The Kaitums have good sized vestibules and the GT versions have even more space. Our Vaude Mk 3 also has good vestibules although it's not that light.The Mk 2 long is similar weight I believe. Before deciding on the Kaitum (our normal backpacking tent now we have the dog), we also looked at various others including MSR Mutha Hubba which I think would be big enough for you (we didn't like the large areas of mesh however).
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Thanks guys - I'll have aproper look tonight and post again. Many thanks for the suggestions.
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I like the look of the size of the TNF fortress, god that porch is enormous! and the review is really handy John, cheers for that. I've looked at everyones suggestions and have got it down to that, and the vaude ii long and mayyybe the tarp. I prefer the space and porch of the tnf, but as well as the tadpole I have a tnf VE25 which is an excellent tent for bad weather an fits 2 of us easily but it's getting to the upper end of carry weight with the required number of pegs (which tnf doesnt give you, it's about 5 short in the standard pack). Plus the stuff sack is hopeless and it's a bit of beast when it's in the rucksack.
Eric, I did have a long hard look at tarptent when I started looking and I'm not convinced. It's pretty light though, but looks kind of flimsy, even with the crossing poles. I tend to camp in all but the worst weather of winter, but even last week in borrowdale (just above nitting haws) it rained so hard overnight that most non-4 seasons tents would have been flattened and/or washed away. Have you used it in really bad weather? If so how did it fare?
Mike, I like the look of the exped andromeda extreme as well. that certainly fits the bill in every way exccept the length of the sleeping area. Those have given me many more ideas though, if only there was a shop where we could try them all out. wishful thinking I know Thanks again everyone.
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