| |
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
|
| Biographical
Information |
Name:
|
Mark
Wood
|
A Brief
Introduction
I grew up camping with my
parents and had taken a few short backpacking trips, as well as a
couple of 10-day trips before I got married. While my wife and I have
enjoyed car camping and day hiking for close to 6 years, this year we
have decided to make backpacking a permanent part of our lives. Our
trips are generally shorter (2 - 5 days) over rocky, hilly terrain. My
general pack weight for a 3 day trip is around 25 lb (11.4 kg)
including
food
and water. |
| Age
/ Sex: |
26 / Male |
| Height: |
5' 11" (1.8 m) |
| Weight: |
250 lb (113 kg) |
| Email
Address: |
mwood_bgt at frontiernet dot net |
| Website: |
http://www.markandkc.net |
| Location: |
Chenango County, NY, U.S.A. |
| Product
Information |
|
| Manufacturer: |
Tarptent
by Henry Shires |
| Year
of Manufacture: |
2006 |
| URL
of Manufacturer: |
http://www.tarptent.com |
| MSRP: |
$215
US |
| Listed
Weight: |
30.0
oz (855 g) |
| Weight
as Delivered: |
32.25
oz (915 g) |
| Listed Dimensions: |
Floor
Width: 38-46 in (96-117 cm)
Floor Length: 88-96 in (223 - 244 cm)
Apex Height: 43 in (110 cm)
Packed Size: 24 x 4 x 3 in (61 x 10 x 7.5 cm) |
| Measured Dimensions: |
Floor
Width: 37 in (94 cm) -- Measured from bathtub floor corners
Floor Length: 87 in (221 cm) -- Measured from bathtub floor corners
Apex Height: 44.5 in (113 cm)
Packed Size: 25 x 5 x 4 in (64 x 13 x 10 cm) -- Easily compressible
though |
Materials:
(From Web page) |
Roof
/ Floor: High Tenacity 1.1 ounce / square yard rip stop silnylon
Netting: No-see-um netting
Guy lines: 2mm reflective Kelty "Triptease Lightline"
Stakes: Easton Aluminum
Poles: Easton Aluminum 7075-T9 |
The
Tarptent Rainbow is a new offering by Tarptent this year. It
is a
1-2 person tent which boasts the ability to be pitched free standing
with the use of 2 trekking poles. Using stakes, the tent can
also
be pitched without trekking poles, but it will not be free standing.
As with all shelters made by Tarptent, the
Rainbow is a
single walled shelter designed to promote exceptional airflow and
reduce condensation while boasting a low weight. There are
two
versions available -- one with a sewn in "bathtub" style floor, and one
with no floor. I received the style with the sewn in floor.
For more information regarding the specifics of this tent, please see
my initial
report.
|
| Field
Conditions |
During the 4 months of testing, I have taken the Tarptent
Rainbow all over the Adirondack and Catskill regions of New York as
well as Northern Pennsylvania. I have seen both cool rainy spring
weather as the hot and humid weather this region had most of the
summer. Precipitation is very common in this region and I was
able to test the Rainbow in plenty of rain.
Average elevation for the areas surrounding my
house is 500 - 2500 ft (150 - 750 m). Average temperatures during the
testing time frame was 0 to 95 F (-17 to 35 C).
|
| Final Report |
Overview
Since my field
report, I have taken the Rainbow out for close to 10 more nights in
the field. These nights have centered around the central region
of New York state. Temperatures during this testing time frame
have been from 65 - 95 F (18 - 35 C). There have been about an
equal number of very hot humid nights and wet rainy nights.
Since my field report, and with a very hot summer, I have become all
the more happy with the performance of the Tarptent Rainbow. I've
always slept very hot and as a result, sleeping in high humidity was
somewhat problematic for me. With the Rainbow and it's vast
quantities of ventilation, I have actually remained quite comfortable
during the nights as long as there was at least some breeze. My
views of the performance of this shelter have not changed much since
the field report and I still find this to be a superb shelter.
Results
In my initial report, I outlined some specific characteristics which
were important for me in a primary backpacking shelter. I will
attempt to evaluate these criteria after four full months of testing.
A shelter
must keep me and my gear safe from the elements. To me, this
means keeping me dry when it's raining and shaded when it's sunny.
It must also block the wind.
I feel that the Tarptent Rainbow fulfills these expectations.
While I have never had a shelter breathe so well, I was a little
surprised with the amount of breeze that can be felt inside the
shelter. I was initially very skeptical about how this would keep
the rain out, but to my delight, it worked perfectly. What's
more, the breeze through the tent keeps the interior temperature much
more bearable than less ventilated options. I have now become
quite used to feeling a breeze at night and actually enjoy knowing that
I'm not going to wake up in a sauna every morning. For me, this
has been the highlight of using this shelter.
Due to the large amounts of ventilation, I'm not sure how well this
shelter would perform if one was trying to keep the wind out such as
during colder weather. With the bathtub floor fastened in its
raised position and the beak staked all the way down, I find I can
minimize the breeze but not eliminate it completely. For the
weather I usually backpack in, and the fact that I'm a very warm
sleeper, this shelter is ideal.
I also found that while the Rainbow breathes very well, in bright sun,
it can still become quite warm. I'm not usually one to use my
shelter during the day, so this isn't a concern for me. Also,
I've never used a shelter that didn't warm up with direct sunlight.
A shelter should be easy to setup,
especially in adverse conditions when you need it most.
I've been known to go a bit
overboard with preparation, but I cannot stress enough the need to set
up this shelter a few times before taking it in the field. My
first few attempts at assembly were slow and the resulting pitch was
not very tight. I found this shelter much easier to setup using
the included stakes as I could move the stakes to the optimal location
for the ideal pitch. However, after setting up the Rainbow a few
times, I found that setup was very quick (quicker for me using the
stakes than in free standing mode) and I could do it successfully in
wind or light rain. Due to the low weight of this shelter, I
found that inserting the ridge pole into the body could become
difficult in strong winds. After four months, I can perform this
quite quickly and if it's raining, I find that minimal water enters the
shelter during the process. Overall, I feel that the Tarptent
Rainbow is quite easy to setup after some practice and that the
included instructions were very good.
A shelter must be comfortable to live in. It must keep out
unwanted pests (bugs and such) and ventilate well enough not to feel
stuffy or cause condensation.
The atmosphere in this shelter
is wonderful. The lightweight silnylon lets in enough light to
read
by during the day yet blocks enough that it would be possible for me to
sleep well into the morning if that were my style. I also find
this shelter huge for one person. Numerous times, my wife would
join me for reading before bed or playing cards. We both fit
quite comfortably for these activities and never felt overly cramped.
In my experience, I believe the Rainbow could easily sleep two
people in an emergency.
As I've mentioned before, condensation was only a problem if the night
was very still. Not much can be done about this in any shelter as
air simply won't move without a breeze. I was very happy that I
could raise the beak and lower the bathtub floor even during light rain
without myself or my gear getting wet. The only time when I really had
to fully deploy the beak and raise the floor was during a large
thunderstorm with plenty of rain.
The bug netting has performed great and I have had no problems with
bugs entering the Rainbow. It is fine enough that even gnats
cannot penetrate it. All crawling creatures entered through the
door when I was either entering or exiting the shelter.
A
shelter must pack well, even when wet. It must not take up too
much precious pack space. It must be lightweight while not
sacrificing the above necessary traits.
The shelter packs easily into the supplied silnylon
bag, even when wet. For me, the packed size of this shelter has
not been a problem. I find that I can either attach it vertically
to the back of my pack, or slide it inside of my pack down one side.
The supplied stake bag is slightly on the small side especially
when trying to put damp stakes in it. They somehow seem to stick
to the back making the whole process a bit difficult. Overall, I
have found little to complain about regarding packing the shelter.
On the occasions when I have the Rainbow wet, it seems to dry easily
when setup in the sun or in a breeze. If I set up the shelter
during a long lunch break, it was usually dry when I resumed hiking.
Either way, the Rainbow does seem to dry quickly.
|
| Summary |
After using the Tarptent Rainbow for four months, I have seen
no durability issues. I truly enjoy this shelter and can see
myself using it for years to come.
Likes:
- Keeps the rain out while still allowing for ventilation.
- Very easy to setup and adjust. Stakes are great.
- Included instructions are concise and contain all necessary
information.
- The Rainbow is very spacious for one person! I can
sit up, dress and pack my gear without worrying about bumping the walls.
Dislikes:
- The zipper pulls are very small. Adding small pieces
of cord to them helps, but they seem to tangle the cord.
- The hook and loop fastener on the beak holds securely, but
is somewhat awkward to close from inside the tent -- especially when
the beak guy line is under tension.
- The stiffener used in the back beak (over the rear vent)
seems to become deformed when packing the tent.
|
I
would like to thank Tarptent and
BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to participate in this test!
Read more reviews of Tarptent gear
Read more gear reviews by Mark Wood
|
