Tartptent Double Rainbow vs. Rainshadow

This is my first Tarptent purchase. The shelter will be used by two people for mainly summer backpacking in Northern Michigan. I plan on spending almost the entire month August in this bad boy and am having issues choosing one. Any information or ideas you have about the two would be appreciated as I am up in the air about the advantages and disadvantages of both designs.

I'm leaning towards the extra room that the Rainshadow offers as it will keep us off the sides and way from the condensation but I like that the Double Rainbow is freestanding. I like the simplicity of the Raindshadows design and am iffy about the way the main pole fits into the Double Rainbow. I like the two doors that the Rainbow offers but it isn't needed. The headroom on the Rainshadow looks like it would be more useful for sitting up than in the Rainbow. They are both 40 oz so I am purely looking at features and quality of design.

What do you all think about these two?

I have both (1st year design).

Pro of Rainshadow:
1. MUCH more easy to seam seal
2. More elbow room for 2
3. Faster to setup. This is subjective but I find it faster.
4. I can use my fixed length pole as the front pole because it sits fine at 45”. I noticed the Rainshadow 2 requires 48”.

Con of Rainshadow:
1. BIG footprint; hard to find a spot in the woods.
2. Not as sturdy in wind. Mine flaps a little more; even though it held up fine at 30mph, sometimes I had the wall in my face while sleeping.

Pro of Double Rainbow:
1. Good wind resistance.
2. Easier to enter in side doors.
3. Harder to touch wet walls (condensatioin).

Con of Double Rainbow:
1. After trying to seam seal twice, it still leaked after an 8 hour 2” rainstorm. I sent it to Henry. He did a perfect job.
2. There is an art getting that 12’ pole (guessing at length) in and out.


When I loan out my tents to worthy scouts, they will always pick the rainshadow over the DR. They claim it’s easier to setup and they feel better with the space.

Don’t worry about freestanding. Even those you have to stake out.

Good luck on your tent choice
-Barry

I have the double rainbow. I had mine sealed by Henry before delivery (don't know if he still does that). I put it up in the back yard to see how well sealed it was. We had a thunderstorm to end all storms followed by a day of straight rain and there was ZERO water inside.
We took it up to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to hike from Grand Marais to Munising. The tent was perfect. We had no rain but it set up quickly and had no condensation problems although we keep the sides wide open since it was a bit warm. With the sides up it is very comfortable. I would only put more silicone on the floor as it was a bit slippery even though Henry put some on the floor. I can't rave about the tent (or the service from Tarptent enough). Just a plain well thought out, well put together product.
PS Do Pictured Rocks and try it in late August or September when the bugs are not too bad. Let us know how you do.

I am nervous about the seam sealing but I figured I would cross that bridge when I got to it. I can not explain my hunch but for some reason I am feeling that despite the reviews of the Double Rainbow thats over designed for my needs. With all the features and good reviews its running a close second to the Rainshadow 2. I have gone through many tent options and these are my final two.

The more I think about it the more it seems to boil down to. The space of the Rainshadow 2 vs. the two doors of the Double Rainbow.

The Rainshadow is a lot more stable with two trekking poles in front. You can put them slantwise for easier going in and out.

Since I use mine only for family trips and I'm the only one in the family who uses trekking poles, I bought the two aluminum poles from Henry. They work fine. That lets me use one trekking pole for my tent and have one to dayhike with.

For two, I'd get the Double Rainbow for the separate exits, but that's me; your mileage may vary! A couple who are friends of mine bought one last summer and are extremely satisfied with it.

I also have both Double Rainbow and Rainshadow 2 and have used them in Grand Canyon and Pictured Rocks, among other places. Barry's evaluation is spot on.

Rainshadow 2 is a palace for 2 and adequate for 2 adults and 2 kids or 3 adults. A little more flappage in the wind and chance for rain to blow in. Setup is a bit more tweaky. Doors are a little more annoying to unzip.

Double Rainbow is more sleek and aerodynamic and able to batten down the hatches, so to speak. Only used the freestanding feature once and have found it largely irrelevant. (How often do you really want to pick up your tent and move it around?) I didn't think it was difficult to seam seal although that may be delusional on my part because I haven't been in an epic storm in it.
As Barry says, there is a learning curve on getting the long pole in its sleeve and connected to the strap that connects it under the tent. Part of my reasoning in getting the D.R. is that around here early/late season camping could see snow. It definitely would hold up better under snow load than the Rainshadow -- although I don't consider it a 4 season tent and would not take it into a situation where there was a probability of serious snow. Just more as insurance in the event of an early/late season snowfall. Spindrift filtering in could easily be an issue with fine/dry snow, but a late winter/early spring snowfall is probably wet so spindrift wouldn't be an issue and the structure would bear or shed the weight.

I bought the Rainshadow 2 second after seeing the one my son got and thinking "Wow, that's a huge tent for the same weight as my Double Rainbow". We slept in his this past summer when we went kayaking on the Namekagen River in northwestern WI. We had a real good rain on our first night and we definitelly had some splash-in -- plus our setup (done by headlamp and without a lot of experience)had left the edge of the floor slightly outside of the drip-edge of the tarp in the back corner. My sleeping bag got just a touch wet in the footbox because of that.

Both tents are extremely well made. It's not good vs. bad -- it's just that they are different and one may meet your preferences more than the other.

As a side comment, I think that a "Double Moment" would do an even better job of embracing all the factors for which I selected the Double Rainbow -- and at a lower weight. Are you listening out there H.S?

>As a side comment, I think that a "Double Moment" would do an even better job of embracing all the factors for which I selected the Double Rainbow. Are you listening out there H.S?

Yep, I have ears everywhere ;-)

Just FYI, a revised DR will be out next month that specifically addresses all the aforementioned points.

As for a Double Moment, I have designed it on screen but there are some design hurdles, notably the need for longer end struts. To fit two bodies, the end struts will need to be twice as long and thus no longer a simple fold up. I will probably will have to move from carbon fiber to foldable aluminum for the ends. No timeline for production and haven't even built one yet.

-H

Well those are the kinds of comments I was looking for. People who have both make comparison great.

I'm a bit concerned about the splashing in you received in the Rainshadow. The new DoubleRainbow is supposed to fix the problems with the main pole if I am understanding properly. Now the DR is gaining weight in my decision process. They are about even at this point. I have decided that I don't NEED two doors so it comes down to mist-in harder to set up but large, and dry but sum what smaller. The DR seams to be the best option in those instances. When I have a chance I think I am going to try to lay out the DR size to see if that will be sufficient space for me an another. Choices choices.

Thanks for the info. Keep it coming.

HA! "Double Moment". Very astute observation.

It was Franco (I believe on another site) who demonstrated that with string, masking tape and careful attention to the specs on the website, you can duplicate the space of any tent.

Of course, if you set up the tent indoors (masking tape and furniture will help you), you can determine this in time to send it back if it doesn't work. You'll be out only the shipping cost.