Re: 6'6" tall person grumbling

It's mostly you. You have to learn to scrunch up more.

Seriously, I can commiserate. Although I'm not tall, I am a lefty and often find myself fumbling with stuff made by righties.

I'm sure there are others here better suited to offer advice, but I'd say your stuck with shopping online at specialty retailers, like REI, where you can order gear in your size. Big Box stores stock for the largest target. Tall people and lefties aren't even on it.

I'm 6'4" and a lefty (I can do most things with either hand though so that's not as much an impediment as everything being made for short people). I have a hard enough time finding stuff - I can't imagine trying to find stuff 2" taller.

Right now I'm trying to save up to replace my 10 pound tent and most of the lightweight tents are shorter than what I want. About the best thing I've found so far is the REI Quarter Dome Plus (but it will take a good while to get the money together). Hopefully by the time I can afford something there will be a whole new line of high quality 3 pound tents for less than $100 specially made for "average sized" people (6'4" and up).

If you are young, don't worry. In a few years you will probably shrink a little. But I know what you mean. I was 6'5" with size 12+ feet. Getting stuff to fit me could be a major endeavor. Packs can be particularly problematic for me. It has gotten better though and REI is one reliable alternative. They have a stellar return policy. One point though. If you are interested in a particular manufacturer, let them know of your disappointment in not being able to get something that fits. If they know there is a demand, they will (possibly) make it.

sk

sjohnny? You are 6'4" too? Yup...Seems like 6'2" is the normal cutoff for a decent fit.

I think you're about right.

As far as clothes, I think Marmot or Patagonia (not sure which, anymore) might offer pants and jackets with longer and shorter arm/leg lengths (I seem to remember ordering "short" rain pants from one of them.)

As far as tents, have you looked at the MSR Hubba/Carbon Reflex? They offer a symmetrical "half-moon" shape, with the entrance in the long side, and a 7-plus foot length with 37" of height in the middle of the arc - this might allow you to sit in the middle of the tent and follow the arc as you lie down. (I'm only 6 feet tall, and that's exactly why I ended up choosing a Carbon Reflex, after trying out a number of tents.)

I think the reason it's tough to find stuff is that you don't fit the bell curve: all the "regular" people make up the mass market, which is where the mainline manufacturers have to target in order to make money. (Whether profit is a dirty word is another argument; the fact is that it drives gear availability.) So, the tall folks and us folks with stubby little legs (and a 29" inseam) tend to be the outliers that have trouble finding stuff that fits right.

It might get a bit pricey, but your best bet might be the small gear makers, like Mountain Laurel Designs or Six Moon Designs. Since they don't always manufacture in large runs, they may be able to accomodate your needs and customize their designs to fit.

If you shop early in the season there maybe some talls in the new stock.I got an Eddie Bower down parka on sale in a tall.The sleeves almost cover my hands and the body is below my butt, it is not to big around for my skinny frame and I love it.

I have put a minimum length of 90" on any tent choice for me. It's a little bit arbitrary but I'm more likely not to be cramped and I've found a few tents that aren't too heavy that meet that criteria. Fortunately (?) I don't have the money to spend on one right now so I have plenty of time to look. I'm hoping to be able to have something together by this summer when I have a little longer trip in the pre-planning stage. I'm sure carrying that big tent on my overnight trip this weekend will give me some incentive to start counting pennies.

With clothes the problem I often find is in sleeve length. I wear a 37" sleeve and unless a shirt or jacket specifies sleeve length (like dress shirts) or comes in a "Tall" size they will likely be too short for me. Even the Tall sizes are sometimes a crap shoot for proper sleeve length.

I have had problems in some shelters not letting my head brush the tent over my head when I sit up, and I'm only 5'3" tall. I don't know how you tall guys manage!

I know that quite a few tall folks get a 2-person shelter and sleep diagonally. I also note that there are increasing complaints from you tall folks and that at least a few "cottage" gear manufacturers are responding. On the other hand, "standard brand" tents appear to keep getting smaller as their manufacturers try to make them lighter.

That would work fine for me but I doubt that I will have very many trips where I'm alone. I think the vast majority of my trips will at least be with my son so I've been looking at 3 person tents but they get even heavier. My list leader right now is the REI Quarter Dome Plus 2 person tent. It seems to be a pretty good balance of size/weight and I guess it's not terribly expensive compared to some of the others that meet my criteria.

And then consider being a tall female!

My wife is 5'11" and mostly legs. EVERYTHING we buy for her is custom made. Thank goodness my daughter is a master seamstress.

For tents, we have two tarptents that fit well for tall people. My solo is a Tarptent Moment, and our double is a Six Moons Designs Lunar Duo.

Clothing is an issue. Even at "only" 6-2, I have problems with sleeve and body length, as most of my height is in my upper body. Patagonia tops seem to have a little extra length in the sleeves, which is nice. LL Bean offers a lot of their house brand clothing in Tall sizes, as does Eddie Bauer, though I'm not sure even those will fit well to 6-6.

Beyond Clothing does custom made outdoor clothing at http://beyondclothing.com/. They have a wide variety of serious outdoor clothing on their site -- might be well worth the money for a perfect fit.

tarptent moment for tall people? Isnt it only 84" long? You might want to look at the Double rainbow. Its floor is much longer.

Oh and check out eddiebauer first accent tall sizes as well as cabelas, and landsend's tall sizes.

The Six Moon Designs - Lunar Duo is 90". I just pulled the trigger on one. I'm 6'3" and my practice run in the backyard went very well. I bought for single person use, I like my space.

I'm short at only 6'2" for this, but I also have issues with short sleeves and such.

Suggest that sjohnny look at TarpTent Website.

http://www.tarptent.com/products.html

A good number of the tents meet your length requirement.

I have a TarpTent Rainshadow 2 for going backpacking with my kids. It is long enough for me, and wide enough as well. OregonMouse recommended, and I couldn't be happier with the purchase.

Wow, that's light! One of those may be on my list for later.

I ended up ordering a Mountainsmith Morrison 2 man tent yesterday. It was $130, seems to have a lot of room and weighs less than 5 pounds (not light by some standards but I'm going from a 10 1/2 pounder so it will definitely help). I don't know much about this tent and haven't been able to find many reviews on it so we'll see how it works out.

Yes, but that's just the length of the internal floor. There is another foot of space at both ends. My long sleeping bag and my XL Thermarest fit with plenty of extra room, and there is extra space to store gear at head and foot end. My sleeping bag does not touch the canopy at either end.

I'm 6'4+" and 300 lbs. My teenage son is 6'6" but a fit 200 lbs and he fits a lot better in a sleeping bag than I do.

My daughter is 6'4" and my wife is over 6'. None of us can buy shoes in stores and clothes are hard to find (we're all very long-legged). We've just learned to live with it and don't really have any official backpacking clothes. However, I just got my son some cool hiking shoes in size 15. I wear 16 and the selection drops even more. My son and I fit just fine in our 4-person tent; wouldn't try a 2-person.

No big deal really. I spend a month of the year in the jungles of Central America and bring gear for a night or two of camping here and there. The locals I'm with spend a month at a time in the jungle with not one item of official backpacking or camping gear. I'd be embarrassed to bring a $15 titanium camping spork along. I'm sure not going to complain about how nobody makes outdoor clothes my size.