QUALITY
------------
This is a Walrus tent. Although I don't yet know about long-term durability, I would expect it to be good. It's well constructed of good quality materials. It appears to be an excellent value.
SETUP
---------
Not as easy as a single wall, but not too complicated. Only two poles which are "attached" from the outside (in other words you don't need to get inside the tent to set it up). The poles are easily threaded thru the tent pole sleeves which are attached to the main tent body. The ends of the poles fit into grommets attached to the tent-stake webbings. Once that is done, it's just a matter of staking out the front and back in order to raise the tent. Put the rest of the stakes in place then attach the fly. I used all 7 stakes for the tent as well as 3 stakes for the fly (2 front and one rear). The remainder of the fly is attached to the tent via adjustable, plastic side-release buckles.
WEATHER PROTECTION
-------------------------------
This tent is stormworthy. Over a three week period, it withstood prolonged heavy rain, two wet-snow storms, 50 mile-an-hour winds, and rain turned to ice (it's been nasty this winter in the Pacific Northwest U.S.). The tent has stayed dry inside the entire time AND I purposely pointed it wrong end into the wind to see if any leakage would occur due to the new front air vent. There was some minor leakage thru the vent, from wind-blown rain. When I turned the tent around the proper direction, of course, that was no longer an issue. No leakage from the floor. All this and I never staked out the storm guylines. There are additional guy-out webbing loops on the front, rear, and sides of the tent which would make this tent extremely taut and storm worthy well beyond what I mentioned above. One night, heavy, wet snow fell, which the tent shed okay, but it sagged a bit the next day, so I just stretched it out a little and repositioned the front and rear stakes to recover its tautness. Again, this was without even attaching storm guylines.
VENTILATION
------------------
While sleeping, I only experienced one drop of water on my face and I attributed that to two things (1) again, this occurred when the tent was pointed in the wrong direction such that air was not entering at the rear bottom and exiting at the front top as the tent's design was expecting, thus the flow of air was not maximized and (2) my sleeping bag was blocking the rear vent. As soon as I scooted all the way up to the front of the tent, the condensation was reduced fairly quickly. In very cold conditions - in the morning, the entire outside of the tent was covered with beads of ice - there was no ice inside the tent, which indicates good ventilation. In comparing this tent with my single-wall Sierra Designs Divine Lightning of comparable size, I appreciate that no condensation occurred along the area where the side walls meet the floor. I was well able to lay against the mesh sides of this tent with no moisture experienced.
There is an additional webbing loop attached to the front vent hood which, when attached to a guy-out line, pulls the sagginess out of the vent hood and opens it to its fullest extent. I didn't use this feature, but it probably would have aided ventilation. Although this is a double-wall tent, it still needs good air flow from the rear air vent since the fly's sides are pretty close to the ground and close to the tent such that air intake is restricted. So for optimal air flow, a combination of front and back air vents together with the air entering from the sides is very important - especially during inclement weather when the tent is battened down.
COMFORT (Roominess, Convenience)
------------------------------------------------
I was able to get all my gear inside with me - a full Mountainsmith Mountainlight 5200 cu in pack. Of course, with the pack inside the tent there was not much room to spread out the sleeping bag so I ended up scrunched between the pack and one of the tent walls -- it wasn't highly desirable, but it worked. My sleeping bag is a 20 degree down bag, regular length. I slept comfortably.
Although the internal length of the tent is 94 inches, I would recommend that the bottom 16 inches be unused. Leaving that area open is essential for maximizing the intake of air for proper ventilation. As I stated earlier, I suspect that blockage of the rear vent caused some condensation. Using this tent with a regular-size sleeping bag (72 inches) is optimal. A long-size bag (78 inches) is the maximum length that I would recommend and then it may restrict air flow if the top of the bag is not positioned at the front of the tent.
One of the problems that I have with this tent is entering and exiting it. The specs say it is 28 inches high, but my tape measure says it is 26 inches high at its apex (measured from the inside which is what we care about). The fly doorway is 12 inches wide at top, 23 inches wide at bottom, and 22 high - not a very large opening. The fly door must be fully unzipped (downward - from top to bottom on both sides) so that the door falls to the ground, allowing you to enter the tent. Several comments here. One, the door must be neatly rolled up and tucked-in toward the front of the doorway each time you enter or exit, otherwise, it will get trampled - muddied, sullied, torn, worn, and otherwise abused.
My biggest problem was getting into and out of the tent. I couldn't figure out whether to go feet first or head first. Either way was inconvenient. Once inside I couldn't sit up so I had to become contortionistic to get into my bag. Once into the bag, everything was okay. Once in the bag, I zipped up both sides of the fly door and the inside mesh door and slept soundly. When the fly door is zipped up (or down) half way, it makes for a nice window (just make sure the tent is pointed toward something you want to look at).
The tent also comes with two mesh pockets - one on each side, at the front end of the tent. Although not a critical tent component, I always appreciate this feature, especially in the middle of the night when reaching for the flashlight and/or tp.
RECOMMENDATION
--------------------------
For the price ($119), this is a good deal. The Micro Swift's quality, small package size, light weight (3.37 lbs. actual field weight) and reasonable price make it ideal for lightweight backpacking, mountaineering, biking, canoeing, or other outdoor adventure.