ALPS Mountaineering Lynx 2

The setup was easy, it packed well into the bag, poles look to be good quality.

My problem is with the "pop-up" vents on the fly. There is not enough overhang to keep rain from blowing in.

I have a lot of ALPS gear, so I figured I would try a tent. The setup was easy. It packed well into the bag. Poles look to be good quality. Disappointing that it does not come with a floor saver.

My problem is with the "pop-up" vents on the fly. There is not enough overhang to keep rain from blowing in. It was not really a windy night and I had water blow in the vent due to the short overhang. I would not recommend leaving them open at all.

Our Boy Scout troop uses ALPS tents for all the scouts, and many of the adults have purchased ALPS tents. We had two of us with new Lynx 2 tents, and a third with an older version ALPS 2-man. My tent and the older version had the vents facing into the wind while the other Lynx 2 was 90 degrees from mine. The other Lynx got no water in the vent, and neither did the older 2-man version facing the wind. When we looked in the morning it was apparent that the older model had a lot more overhang so the rain could not blow in. Not sure if it was a case of saving a little on the material which caused a wet tent.

I am going to give this tent another go, but I will never leave the vents open as I don't want to wake up with a wet sleeping bag. Hopefully with the vents closed it doesn't leak. I have 20 years of camping experience, and I can't say that leaving a hole in your rain-fly (by design) is the smartest thing to do. Hopefully I can come back and update with better results with the vent closed.

Background

20 years scout camping

Decent backpacking tent for getting into the backpacking world without breaking the bank.

Bought this tent as my first backpacking tent. I had been family camping before but wanted something more suited for backpacking without breaking the bank.

Easy to set up and stays taut as long as you set it up correctly. There was some condensation on it in the morning but nothing that couldn't be shaken off easily.

At over 5 lbs, it is nowhere near ultra light, but it does the job. In the end, it will be interesting to see how this tent holds up in the long run.