Do you usually go with another person or do you normally backpack solo? If there are normally two of you, you can split the weight (one of you carries the tent while the other carries the equivalent weight of something else). With the Cloudburst, that gives each of you less than the weight of a solo tent! As mentioned, there are plenty of other ways to save pack weight. Have you read the articles on the home page of this site?

If you normally go solo, Tarptent's Rainbow, Contrail and Moment are examples of solo tents--the Contrail especially would be significant weight savings for you at a relatively low price. It has more floor space than the Moment. With the tendency of some lightweight backpackers always to want the latest model, there are quite a few used Contrails to be found for sale whose owners have bought the newer Moment.

I'd highly recommend my own tent, the Gossamer Gear Squall Classic, but Gossamer Gear recently decided to discotinue it. It sleeps two, although very cozily (only one can sit up at a time). It's the perfect size for me and my 80-lb. dog, with plenty of room for both of us plus gear. I suspect the demand dropped because most people want more room in a 2-person tent and are willing to pack the extra weight. It's very rare, though, to find a used model on sale, so I suspect I'm not the only satisfied owner.

For a 2-person tent, Tarptent's very similar Squall 2 is 4 ounces lighter than the Cloudburst--if you use trekking poles. If you have to buy the separate poles, though, there's no weight saving over the Cloudburst. Again, if you want a Tarptent you're better off keeping the Cloudburst and finding other ways to save weight, unless you have the budget for cuben fiber.

A number of the "cottage" manufacturers are now making what are really double wall tents, but with the fly and the net inner with bathtub floor sold separately. One advantage of these configurations, as opposed to the standard double-wall tent, is that in pouring rain you can set the tarp up first and then set up the inner tent under cover. These manufacturers include Mountain Laurel Designs, who sell pyramid ("Mid") tents plus inner nets with bathtub floors. Several of their "Mids," such as the popular DuoMid, come in either cuben fiber or silnylon. The DuoMid in cuben plus the Duo Inner tent total 25 oz (plus stakes and the inner pole) and $575 (cuben is NOT cheap!). With the silnylon Duomid, 29 oz., still a significant weight savings for you. Six Moon Designs has their two-person Haven tarp and net tent (listed separately under "tarps" and "net tents"). Hyperlite Mountain Gear has their Echo II system. Bearpaw Wilderness Designs and Alpinlite each have a variety of tarp + inner net models. (My apologies if I've left out any of the newer "cottage" manufacturers!) Many (not all) of the inner net tents can be combined with other manufacturers' tarps. An example is the Bearpaw Pyra net tent combined with the Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar, supposed to be an extremely wind-resistant shelter. Finally, since all Lightheart cuben tents are custom-made, I'm sure Judy would make you a Lightheart Duo in cuben--for a price!

The lightest two-person tent around is definitely the Z-Packs Hexamid Twin, to which you need to add a ground sheet since the netting forms the floor as well as the sides. Z-packs does make a cuben ground sheet with bathtub floor. As with anything else made of cuben, the Hexamid Twin will also considerably lighten your bank account!


Edited by OregonMouse (06/07/11 04:41 PM)
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey