Warmlite 3RSE

This tent is one of the largest, lightest tents sold today. It used 1.1 oz ripstop nylon, but it is designed like a sail, more where you need it. It is not for people who abuse their tents and the material cannot take the abuse.

There are many options which add to the cost and the weight of the tent. Side windows are great for warm weather and to get additional ventilation (I have need this when there have been two people in the tent). It is a warm tent with aluminized nylon for additional insulation. The rain fly is designed into the tent, which makes it easy to setup (some have said it is hard, but I don't know why). You do need to tension the tent properly to prevent damage in the wind. It needs to be tight so that it does not flap around. The tensioning devices are reachable from inside the tent. There are internal guys if you are really windy conditions.

The tent material is made from silicon treated nylon, which makes it very slippery (you know if the tent is not level :-). There are several things you can do to deal with this (sleeping pad covers, silicon stripes on the floor, etc.) I have not done anything except made sure the tent is level.

There are two poles, pre-bent, which holds the tent up (it is not free standing, but a couple of rocks or trees can be used with some cording to pitch the tent). The poles are larger than normal, but are still very light. Pre-bent poles are used since bending a pole (like normal tents) weakens it. The tent is supposed to withstand winds of up to 150 mph.

The 3R has two doors and plenty of room for two people and ALL the gear you can carry. Three people might be tight. I have a Stephenson sleeping bag which is larger than most, so there is no way I could get three people in the tent unless the other bags were much smaller. There are top vents to get rid of the warm moist air.

The tent is not cheap, but when compared to other tents it is in the same ballpark. When you factor in the size it beats all the others. There is a 2R and 5R available, as well as single wall versions (X versions).