I probably did not express my opion very well in my last post.

To me the issue is the consequence of tent failure. I would not compare bicycle camping to remote wilderness camping. The factor I look at is my "bail out" opportunties. I do not hear of bicylists dying of hypothermia. There are emergency response alternatives- call on your cell phone, flag down a car, hunker under a bridge. If on the other hand I am 8 days out, at 12,000 feet, 4 days to the nearest trailhead and have not seen a single person in 6 days, if my tent failed, I could die of hypothermia.

I have seen a lot of cheap tents in campgrounds - most of them flapping in the breeze and not performing very well when it actually gets stormy. I have yet to see anyone in a cheap tent in serious mountaineering conditions or in the really remote above-timber back country. Also cold wet conditions are far different than wet warm (Costa Rica).

By the way, I have also tried to sew my own tent and believe me, there is a lot to tent design. My tent was not what I called a success. It became a back-yard toy for the kids. To me, $300 for a high quality tent is a bargin given the design work that went into it as well as the construction and distribution. I guess each of us has his "price point". I have yet to see the added value of going to some of the really high end tents at $600.