Ray Jardine writes of how, as a "wilderness instructor" (for NOLS? Outward Bound?) he and his students in Colorado relied for a number of summer seasons exclusively on plastic sheeting, including above-tree-line camps.

Colin Fletcher, you may recall, was also a big fan of plastic sheeting.

Actually I've done a fair bit of camping over many years in meadows, snow and on glaciers in Washington. On those occassions, I've mainly used a one-person tent made of Goretex knock-off material (the old SD Divine Light). The majority of weather I've happened to experience out there, in summertime at least, has been calm, dry, and fairly mild.

I've never used a Hubba Hubba nor Rainbow but I'm sure they are as good or better than anything on the market of their particular sort. As for direct comparisons I've owned fairly high-end backpacking tents from at least a half-dozen "name" manufacturers, as well as my old Wal-Mart puptent, which weighed three pounds or less with aluminum I-poles and few or no stakes.

I consider Wenzel Starlight the same as my old Wal-Mart tent, as they are/were both essentially no-name "trash'" which may partly explain their unpopularity.