Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Big Sky International Evolution 1P > Ralph Ditton > Initial Report

BIG SKY PRODUCTS SUMMIT EVOLUTION 1P SHELTER
Initial Report by Ralph Ditton
Report Date : 13th February, 2006

Personal Information

Internal loops in Inner: 7

Expectations from the Web site

I was surprised to find that the inner shelter had sleeves for the poles to be inserted into instead of clips on the ends of tape as pictured on the web site.
The colours of the rainfly and inner, matched my expectations from the picture on the web site. I was not disappointed because sometimes colours in pictures do not match the item in the hand.
The dimensions and weights  were within the realm of my  expectations. However, I was surprised by how large the clothes hamper was as there was no mention as to its dimensions. I really did exclaim when I saw how big it was.
The other major change that I found from my expectation was that the shelter in my possession has only one ventilation port, whereas the model pictured on the web site has two. One is above the window and the other is at the head end directly opposite the one above the window. My model has the ventilation port on the vestibule side  of the rainfly near the peak towards the foot end of the shelter.

Product Description

The Big Sky Products Evolution 1P shelter is a one person, free standing, one door, one vestibule shelter with an inner and a rainfly. This makes it a double-skinned  shelter. In my experience moisture dispersal and removal is handled best by a double-skin design with a large interior space. The Evolution 1P (herein known as "shelter") certainly has a large interior space for one person.
When I was taking internal measurements, I was able to sit up comfortably without my head touching the top of the inner near the centre. As I sat back closer to either end, my head did come in contact with the inner due to the sloping ends, which was to be expected.
Within the inner, there are seven loops, with six of them directly opposite to each other. The seventh is located in the centre at the very apex.
I surmise at this stage that they could be used to hook objects from, such as a lightweight torch and a gear loft. This is an aspect I will test for.

internal loop
Additional features inside the inner are the two storage pockets which can be used for drying clothes, keeping loose gear organized such as maps and compass, water bottle or extra clothing that may be needed during the night such as socks or thermals. The list is endless.
In "My Measurements" I gave the size of the pockets and they are very generous in their storage capacity.
   
 large pocket                                                             small pocket
The floor of the shelter is a tub type with reinforced corners for the pole anchors which attach at each corner. The height of the tub walls appear to be adequate to prevent rain from splashing in and I will be testing for this aspect. The floor is made out of Silnylon and is extremely slippery and thin. As this shelter is designed for the minimalist backpacker, I will not be using a footprint to protect the floor. However, I will be taking great care as to where I will be pitching it.
The walls of the inner are made out of no-see-um mesh which gives protection from insects and should allow for a  great ventilation.
In this mesh, there is a large door which can be rolled back and pegged into place. There are two YKK zippers on this door. I found getting into and out of the door quite easy due to the large size of the opening as described in "My Measurements"

inner showing door rolled back
The above picture gives a good view of the two pockets and shows the corner reinforcing with the pole anchors under tension.
The shelter is a two pole structure with poles that are inserted into the sleeves in order. The sleeves are numbered "1" and "2" and the white tags with the numbers can be seen at the end of the sleeves to the left. There is a choice of two types of poles that can be used. Aluminium and Carbon, with Carbon poles being the lightest. I was supplied with both types of poles and will be using both over the testing period.

Unfortunately, I was not supplied with tent pegs and guy ropes, so I will have to utilize mine until the pegs and guy ropes arrive.

The rainfly is marigold in colour and is made out of Silnylon.  The Silnylon feels slippery and soft  and is a delight to handle.
The rainfly attaches to the inner by means of four hook and loop tabs, of which three black components can be seen on the pole sleeves on the above photo.
In the rainfly there is a zippered entrance that when pegged out forms the vestibule. There is one YKK zipper which is kept in place when closed, by a hook and loop tab at the base of the zip. I have to break the contact between the hook and loop before operating the zip.
On the left hand side of the rainfly's door entrance as I face it from the outside, is a ventilation port that can be closed by a small hook and loop tab. To keep open the ventilation port there is a novel system of using a stiffener that is flexible at the top with a part of the hook and loop combination at the base. The base of the stiffener hooks onto the matching material on the rainfly thereby becoming an arm of the ventilation port.
 
stiffener propping open the ventilation port       
One novel feature that I have not had any experience with is a window in the rainfly. The  photo below shows the window. Sitting inside the shelter I was able to see outside quite clearly, albeit with a restricted view limited to one direction. If the window becomes a source of annoyance with the early morning sun shining through it, I will try and utilize the loops at that end of the inner and hook a temporary blind over it if possible.

window
Both types of tent poles have locking tips which lock into brass grommets. The diameter of the grommets is small enough to prevent the body of the poles from passing through. The grommets are mounted in doubled over webbing. Passing through the loop made by the doubling over of the webbing is a shock cord tied into a loop for use with a tent peg. There are four grommets on each of the inner and rainfly giving an aggregate of eight grommets.

locking tip in grommet and loop

Initial Impressions
When I collected the parcel from the Post Office I placed the parcel on the electronic scales and it weighed 1.73 kg (3.81 lb) and I was impressed by the low weight even taking the packaging into account.
Arriving home I removed the contents. The shelter was in its stuff sack made out of Silnylon.

stuff sack
I was very impressed as to the construction of the stuff sack with three compression belts spaced along the length of the stuff sack. In addition, the compression straps were connected to a flap of Silnylon which partially wrapped around the stuff sack. This avoided the potential problem of the compression straps being anchored at a central spot and tearing away.
After removing the shelter from the stuff sack, I read the instructions and discovered that there were two sets of poles to test with, but no tent pegs or guy lines. However, there was a tent pole repair sleeve and this is a sign of a quality product and quality manufacturer.
 In addition, there were two pieces of material attached to the instructions that I could burn to see how the fabric, Silnylon and naked flame interact. This was very novel to me. I have not seen this before with any outdoor backpacking gear. To date, I have not introduced "Miss Redhead" to the fabric.

The shelter is described as free standing so I proceeded to assemble it slowly as I have never pitched a shelter with pole sleeves before.
I inserted a tent pole into sleeve "No. 1", locked the tent pole tip into position, and then locked the other end into position. Then I proceeded to insert the other tent pole into sleeve "No. 2". When the tent pole reached the crest of the shelter and had to commence bending to go down the other side, I noticed that the pole tip was pushing hard against the top of the tent pole sleeve. I stopped and then pulled the tent pole back out as I could see a potential disaster of the tent pole punching a hole through the fabric. I unlocked the tent pole tip from the entry point for sleeve "No.1" which collapsed the shelter. Then I inserted the second tent pole into a flat tent pole sleeve and locked the tip into position. When done, I then locked the other ends where the tent poles entered the tent pole sleeves into position and the inner shelter was erected.
I would make a recommendation that the instructions make a mention of not fully locking "No. 1" into position before inserting "No. 2" because of the potential to punch a hole through the fabric with the tent pole locking tip.

It was then just a case of marrying up the hook and loop tabs of the rainfly onto the respective partners on the tent pole sleeves, making sure that the "window" end was at the foot end.
When I had mastered the art of tent pole insertion, I timed myself as to how long it would take to erect the shelter in a non-rushed manner.
The inner took close to three minutes and attaching the rainfly took another two minutes. To peg out, using my own pegs, took forty seconds. All up, it took around five and a half minutes to fully erect and peg out the shelter.

To take the internal measurements, I sat inside the shelter dressed in my shorts and shirt and had bare feet. The outside temperature was 33 C (91 F). The shelter's rainfly door was fully open and the ends thrown over the top. The no-see-um door was also fully open, rolled back and pegged into place. Within minutes my legs were dripping perspiration and the water was pooling on the shelter floor. The shelter absorbs heat very efficiently. Normally, I would not be inside a shelter in the heat of the day.

I measured the length of the tent poles so that I could pace out the  space that would be needed at prospective tent sites. I would need five paces to allow  for guy ropes to be used.  If I did not need guy ropes, then I would pace out 3½ paces to allow the free standing shelter to be erected.

The shelter is very light and easy to move around when it is not pegged down. I just push the shelter's long sides together so that the tent poles look like a collapsed "X". When the sides are together, I just pick it up and move it to where ever. The big benefit I found was getting through narrow openings with the shelter tucked under my arm. The floor bows downwards and can drag on the ground.

collapsed erected shelter

When I took the rainfly off and the shelter was not pegged down as I was under the verandah, I turned around to roll up the rainfly. Upon completion I turned around to dismantle the inner and found it bumping up against the verandah roof with the base of the shelter approximately 1.22 m (4 ft) from the  verandah's cement floor . There was only a zephyr of a breeze at the time which I estimated to be about one to one and a half knots. The moral of the story. When I will be dismantling the shelter in the bush, I will ensure that if there is a slight breeze, I will peg the inner down. I do not want it to take off.

Test Plan
I will be looking at the following aspects of this shelter:

• Do the locking tent  pole tips lock easily into place, or do they have a tendency to slip out when erecting the shelter.
• How easy is it to pitch the shelter for one person.
• On average, how long does it take to erect and dismantle the shelter in normal conditions.
• What will be the maximum and minimum number of tent pegs needed in various weather conditions.
• Will the Ti UL tent pegs be strong enough, or will they have a tendency to bend when being pushed into the ground.
• How easy will it be to tie the shelter down if tent pegs can not be used.   
• Will the inner shelter fit on the sleeping platforms inside track huts to give insect protection.
• Will the shelter fit on the appropriate designated tent sites at the camps.
• Can the outer tent be pitched separately for warm conditions.
• The shelter is an inner-first pitch. Can it be adapted to be a fly-first pitch in the event of rain.
• How comfortable is the shelter with one person in it.
• Will it be possible to bring my 90 litre (3.18 cu ft) backpack inside the inner when it is raining as the vestibule does not have a floor.
• Will the vestibule be big enough for my backpack, shoes and kitchen sink.
• When I lay down, I will want to find out if the tent is long enough without my head and foot end of my sleeping bag touching the walls.
• How close does the roof slope to my head and does it cause a claustrophobic feeling.
• What is the clearance from my face.
• Is there enough room to change clothes. Is it easy or difficult.
• Is it easy to enter the shelter through the door and sit down inside.
• Is the height of the tub floor adequate to prevent splashing of rain to enter the shelter.
• Can I sit inside the shelter with my feet in the vestibule and comfortably remove/put on my boots.
• With my backpack, boots and kitchen sink in the vestibule, will I have easy access into the shelter.
• How easy is it to repack the shelter and place the package into the stuff sack.
• On an average basis, how long does it take to fold and pack the shelter into its separate stuff sack.
• Will the stuff sack containing the shelter be long enough to be secured on the outside, by the straps attached to my backpack.
• Will the silnylon fabric fade when exposed to strong sunlight and Ultra Violet Light
• I will examine and comment on the overall stability of the shelter against wind side forces by looking at the attachments between the rainfly and inner.
• Are there any internal stiffeners present.
• Will the silnylon sag when wet.
• How effective is the double walled construction to prevent condensation inside the shelter.
• Will rain enter through the ventilation port.
• Does the ventilation port catch much of a breeze to help cool the interior on a warm day.
• Will the YKK zippers slide freely over the test period or will there be sticking points along the pathway of the zips.
• There were no instructions on how to clean the shelter, or what type of products NOT to use on the fabric that could cause damage. I propose to use warm soapy water to clean the shelter after it gets splattered with mud from falling rain.
• I will comment on any other aspect that may arise during the test period.

Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Big Sky International Evolution 1P > Ralph Ditton > Initial Report