Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2

The Big Agnes Tiger Wall 2 UL tent delivers on its promise of light weight and comfort. Take care of your tent and it will take care of you.

Setup:

The setup uses a single pole.



The pole has a two hubs; one in the front for stability,

and one in the middle to splay the tent for room.
The back of the tent has one pole that runs down the spine. For setup, you lay the tent out, place the three pole ends into the grommets (two in front, one in the back)
and then attach the cross pole on the top to the tent.
Once the pole is in place, you can then stake out the corners and add the fly. 

The rear corners of the tent have a lightweight plastic insert sewn into them.
When you stake the corners out, the insert and tension keep the corners upright. It actually works quite well and provides that bit of extra room at the foot of the tent.


The guy lines in the corners are pre-measured so when you attach them to the rear stakes, they are a perfect fit.

The fly is easy to attach and is held in place with a combination of clips,
stakes, and velcro straps. 

Stability: 

The tent remains stable and taut in the weather I’ve experienced. This has ranged from mild winds to prolonged rainstorms. I haven’t tested the tent in any extreme conditions but I feel confident that it performs well under normal weather conditions (three seasons).

Weather Resistance: 

Out of the box, the tent does a good job keeping out water. I slept in the tent during a rainstorm that lasted two hours.
I was dry in the morning. When I brought the tent home, I set it up with the doors open to air it out. It rained again for an hour. Afterwards, the bathtub bottom of the tent had two inches of water in the lower end. This shows that it keeps water out and also in! 

Ventilation:

There is no vent built into the fly rather, the tops of the doors have extra material sewn over them. This allows the user to open the doors from the top to allow air to flow through. I leave the tops of the doors cracked and the tent vents as well as most other tents with the built in fly vent. I would say that overall venting and condensation is moderate.
Room and Storage:

The Tiger Wall has a stow pocket on each side wall.
It also has a large overhead stow pocket that runs the width of the tent.
This pocket has headphone holes sewn into it. Combined, the pockets provide a  good amount of storage space. 

Each vestibule can easily accommodate a 65L pack and footwear. 

There is enough height in the tent for both users to sit upright. The width of the tent accommodates two campers. Although there isn’t room to spare, it’s ample for both users barring they are under 6ft and sub 200lb. I’ve been in smaller 2P tents and in larger ones. The Tiger Wall has a decent amount of space when considering it’s in the UL class of tents. 

Packability:

The tent packs down to roughly 4.5 by 16 inches. 

Ease of Use:

I feel that the tent is easy to use and does what it is supposed to do for the most part. I still can’t figure out how to roll up the doors on the fly to create an open side. Instead of a "D" door with one continuous zip, the door has two zippers.
The fly doesn’t have a loop and hook system to keep the door propped open as in most models. Maybe I’m missing something or maybe the tent is missing something. I haven’t figured that part out yet. 

When using the zippers, the zipper tends to catch on the fly because the material is so lightweight; it has a tendency to “sag” down onto the zipper. I usually find myself gently unsnagging the zipper once or twice each time I close up for the night.
I try to be careful in backtracking so I don’t damage the material on the fly; it’s pretty thin stuff. When in the tent and closing up for the night, the fly zipper is at somewhat of a strange angle so it’s a reach to zip it to the bottom. Not a big deal but it’s something you notice the first time around. 

The underside of the fly has inserts for the cross pole on the spine. Someone was ingenious enough to add little grip loops to use to pull the fly over each end of the cross pole. They are very effective in pulling the fly into place.

Features:

• Stuff loops to prop open the screen doors
• Lightweight DAC featherweight poles with shock cords
• Lightweight waterproof material with taped seams 
• Double vestibules and double doors
• Aluminum stakes
• Super thin guy lines and stake cords 
• Reflective lines
• Yellow materials

Construction and Durability:

The construction of the tent is good. Sewing and taping is done well. I’ve had no problems with the construction. The durability could be an issue for those who are not careful. I bought the tent used. Someone had returned it after just one outing because they noticed two holes in the floor.
They indicated that they did nothing out of the ordinary. I can’t substantiate their claim but I can tell you that the material is very thin and that I find myself taking extra precaution when using the tent. I have another Big Agnes tent from their SL line and the material in that tent is considerably stronger and durable than the materials in the Tiger Wall. Weight savings have their trade off.

Please consider using a footprint on non-essential weight savings outings. Be wise.

After having patched  the two holes reported by the original owner, I’ve had no problems yet (I’ve been on four outings with the tent without a footprint). 

Condiitons

I’ve pitched the tent on an island rocky outcropping with limited soil in which to insert stakes.
I’ve camped in a normal grassy tree covered area twice.

I’ve pitched the tent on a gravel sandbar in a rainstorm on the shores of Lake Superior

Conclusion:

In the end, I would highly recommend the Tiger Wall UL 2 if you are a person who understands that fantastic weight reduction means you need to treat your lighter gauge materials with added TLC. If you are the type of person who is less careful, I would suggest one from Big Agnes's "Super Light" line of tents. They weigh a few ounces more, but you don't need as much precaution when using them. 

Background

I've used the tent on mixed terrain in a few different weather conditions.