TARPTENT DOUBLE RAINBOW
BY NANCY GRIFFITH
OWNER REVIEW November 12, 2007
TESTER INFORMATION
NAME: |
Nancy Griffith
|
EMAIL: |
bkpkrgirl@yahoo.com
|
AGE: |
41 |
LOCATION: |
Northern California
|
GENDER: |
f |
HEIGHT: |
5' 6" (1.68 m)
|
WEIGHT: |
132 lb (59.90 kg)
|
I've been backpacking since my college
days in Pennsylvania and since then in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and
now in the Sierra Nevada of California. Most of my trips are section hikes or
loops from a few days to a week. I mostly hike in the summer and fall. I've
recently discovered the virtues of lightening the load by updating some older
gear, but I'm not an ultralight backpacker …yet.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Tarptent Year of
Manufacture: 2007 Manufacturer's Website: http://www.tarptent.com/ MSRP:
US$250 Listed Weight: 40 oz (1134 g) Measured Weight: 40 oz (1134
g) Other details:
The Tarptent Double Rainbow is a lightweight single
walled 3-season tent that can be pitched by staking or made free-standing by
using trekking poles. It has one long aluminum shock-corded pole that runs the
length of the tent and one short 18" (45.7 cm) pole that runs perpendicular at
the peak. This pole can be removed but the tent can also be rolled with this
short pole intact. The tent has a 'bathtub' floor with clips to help retain the
bathtub shape. The photo below shows the clips on the smaller Rainbow tent. Both
sides of the tent are made of netting and have a door. Both sides also have a
nylon beak that can be staked out and zipped. See photo. Photos courtesy of
Tarptent.
|
Tarptent Double Rainbow |
FIELD USE
Field information I first used the
Tarptent on an overnight backpacking trip on the Tahoe Rim Trail (Northern
Sierra Nevada mountains, CA) from 7300 - 8350' (2225 - 2545 m). It was summer
with temperatures 50 - 80 F (10 - 27 C). The humidity was low with no rain. We
camped in the trees on dirt.
I also used it on a week-long trip in
King's Canyon National Park (Southern Sierra Nevada mountains, CA) from 5,000 -
11,978' (1524 - 3651 m). The temperatures were in the 30 - 80 F (0 - 27 C).
Campsites varied from dirt in the trees to rocky, sandy soil in the open. There
was no rain the entire week and only one day of threatening rain. Nights were
clear.
Customer Service: When I ordered the tent, I had a few
questions about how the trekking pole pitching worked, so I left a message at
the phone number on their website. Henry Shires promptly returned my call and
explained in detail the function of the tent. They were on backorder with an
estimated 3 week delivery but actually came in a bit earlier. We opted to pick
it up ourselves since Nevada City is close to our home. Henry walked through the
entire set-up and tear-down with us and was patient with all of our
questions.
On our first trip, I noticed a hole in the netting where it
attaches to the nylon tent material. Actually, the stitching had missed the
netting and left a hole. Upon returning home, I dropped it off at Tarptent.
Henry repaired it and shipped it to our house via overnight mail at no cost. We
were without a tent for less than a week. He also sealed the seams since I
hadn't gotten around to that yet.
Performance: This light weight tent
was easy to pitch and store. The design is ingenious with all of the features of
a conventional tent. This is a 2-person tent and has doors on both sides which
are convenient. It isn't roomy, but it fits two sleeping bags side-to-side with
some room for clothing and gear at the head and foot. Additional gear like packs
and shoes can be stored outside under the side beaks.
With the doors
zipped closed it is insect proof and with the beaks zipped down, it is weather
proof. However, with the beaks zipped closed a large amount of condensation
formed on the inside overnight even on dry clear nights. The tent dries quickly,
but if we wanted to get an early start, I had to shake it out and stuff a
slightly wet tent.
This tent floor is a 'bathtub' configuration that
allows the floor material to be clipped up the sidewall of the tent. This closed
off some ventilation, but it helped to keep the nylon tent bottom beneath me
rather than sliding off of the edge and having my sleeping bag right on the
ground (through the netting). Photo courtesy of Tarptent.
|
'bathtub' clips |
I tried
pitching the tent using trekking poles to make it free-standing. It worked
fairly well, but I found it easier to just stake it out. It does seem nice to
have the option in case I end up needing to pitch it on a rocky site that isn't
easily staked. I had some difficulty with the trekking pole wanting to spin
around and slip out of the pocket that holds the handle of the trekking pole. It
seemed that the order in which the center hook and loop strap was secured made a
difference.
SUMMARY
Overall, I am very pleased with this
tent. It is very lightweight, but provides all of the protection of a bug-proof
shelter unlike other lightweight options (tarps) that I have tried. I need to
experiment more with the ventilation/condensation, but I am confident that this
tent will serve us well for many trips.
THINGS I LIKE
Light weight Dual doors Insect
proof Quality/light weight of the tent stakes Excellent customer
service
THINGS I DON'T LIKE
Condensation if fully zipped No
windows...isolated from outside if fully zipped
SIGNATURE
Nancy Griffith This report
was created with the BackpackGearTest.org
Report Writer Version 1. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Read more reviews of Tarptent gear
Read more gear reviews by Nancy Griffith
|