Long Term Report: GoLite Trig 2 Shelter

Tester:  Rosaleen Sullivan

Age:  54 years

Gender:  Female

Height:  5’ 9” / 1.75 m

Weight:  190 lb. / 86 kg

E-mail:  rosaleen43 (at) aol (dot) com

Home:  Eastern Massachusetts, USA

Manufacturer:  GoLite, LLC

URL:    http://golite.com/

Ship date:  May 2004

MSRP:  $199 USD

Date:  December 13, 2004

Product Specifications and Description are repeated from the Field Report at the end of this report.

Test Locations

 Since the Field Testing, when I used the Trig 2 on trails in Eastern Massachusetts and while car camping in Yellowstone National Park, I planned to use the Trig 2 during trips along the Berkshire Appalachian Trail.  Here I could retrieve it from my vehicle and pack it in over a relatively short distance.  As luck would have it, for the first two trips, my partner and I reached our vehicles well past dark when it had started to sleet.  We opted to sleep in our vehicles rather than find a camping area and struggle with setting up shelters and cooking in sleet, wind, and darkness.  During our next trip, my partner was too ill to continue at the end of the first day, so we aborted the trip.  The weather prediction was for sunny skies and rather mild temperatures, but we found that still waters, such as puddles and ponds, had a coating of ice.  We hiked in snow squalls again, too.  For some reason, my partner and I seem to ALWAYS encounter some sort of freezing or frozen precipitation for our fall hikes along the Appalachian Trail!

            For a back up plan, I did some “stealth camping” along trails closer to my home in eastern Massachusetts.  This is not as intriguing as time on a major trail, but perhaps the shelter doesn’t know the difference.  It can’t know if I slogged along up steep mountains or rolling hills.  I did encounter temperatures close to or below freezing and some muddy conditions, with rain or a threat of rain.  With damp ground, I continue to notice that the shelter’s inner walls develop a coating of condensation even before it is occupied.  This condensation worsens during actual use.  The screen windows are covered from the outside, so, with threatening rain, I tend to close them before retiring.  The window cover panels can be pulled away from the shelter walls with stakes.  To increase the ventilation, I used foraged sticks or salvaged arrow shafts from home with additional lines to lift the sides of the shelter.  One of my peeves with this shelter is that with two of us, any movement while lying down causes contact with the sagging walls.  This, of course, results in clothing or sleeping bags getting wet.  I don’t enjoy feeling like I am having a secondary shower from the inside of any shelter.  Neither does my husband, so I wasn’t able to coax him into joining me for further tests after the Field Testing phase.  I did feel that the condensation issues were greatly reduced with better pitches and the added side lifts. 

Things considered during testing:

• Q:  Signs of wear/durability:  How do the materials and seams stand up to repeated use?

• A:  All materials look to be in very good condition.  Even with one night on a stone filled tent “pad,” the floor looks good.  I hadn’t given a lot of thought to camping in muddy conditions until I saw mud on the sides and stake loops.  I had to pitch the Trig 2 while it was raining in an area where most of the grass had worn away.  As I pulled the shelter out of its sack, some of the side vent covers flipped up and rain pooled in the shelter before I could cover the windows.  Mud splashed up on the sides and all over the stake loops.  The puddles inside cleaned up quickly and easily with a small towel.  Because the water beaded up and did not penetrate the fabric, once I had sopped up the water, the inner floor felt nearly dry.  Once the outside of the tent dried, I was lucky and pleased to see most of the dried mud was in the form of loose dirt that seemed to fall off on its own.  The stakes should be so easy to clean!

• Q:  Portability, packability, set up:  Do I still find this shelter easy to set up, stow, and carry?  How well does it fit into my pack/luggage/vehicle?  Does it develop any problems while suspended with hiking poles?  How easily available are alternate support structures in established campgrounds?  Is it inconvenient to leave behind in a base camp while hiking?

• Related Question:  Weight:  Does it become a “burden” to carry?  How much heavier does it seem after a rainy night?

• A:  Portability and packability are great. The Trig 2 is easy to fit into checked luggage or a small vehicle’s trunk when necessary.  I didn’t have good luck trying to tie the shelter off to trees or tent pad hooks.  For some reason, I didn’t seem to be able to get the pitch right for roominess and ventilation unless I used my hiking poles plus some additional side supports.  The set up can be a learning process requiring some practice to find a satisfactory combination.  I prefer to camp close to a trail head and day hike when using a shelter of this size, but I did find that the size and weight were not unbearable on trails over fairly flat areas or gently rolling hills.  If I have to cover a lot of distance, especially over rough terrain, I need to find options to reduce pack space and weight.  So, on a longer hike, I would lean toward more shared equipment or use a smaller and lighter shelter.  Maybe, it was luck, but I haven’t had to pack up this shelter in the rain.  That allowed me the luxury of air drying, or at least wiping down the outside and getting rid of most of the moisture.  Pouring rain in the morning would probably convince me to change my plans and have a later start or a rest day.  I am looking forward to testing the shelter in below freezing conditions and light snow.

• Q:  Privacy/insect screening/containment:  Is the privacy this shelter allows sufficient for a “couple” and for changing clothes, etc?  Does the shelter protect the occupants from insects and other small “crawlies?”  Does the shelter keep larger “crawlies” (in the form of children) corralled enough to wake me if they have issues or try to leave?

• A:  Privacy seemed to be at least adequate.  One person alone can change clothes, but having another person in the shelter makes it very difficult for my husband and me to change inside the shelter.  The only bugs that “bugged” me were the slugs that slinked along the outer sides and then clung to them and to the outer floor.  As disgusting as they were to pick off and try to clean off the slime, I took some comfort that they remained OUTSIDE.  My young relatives schedules and mine didn’t match up to test this, but as noisy and awkward as it can be to reach around another occupant to open the zippers, I can’t imagine the kids could get out without awakening me.

• Q:  Space:  Can my husband and I sit up inside the shelter at the same time?  How well do the two of us fit?  We are both on the tall side (and are not thin).  Can we fit any gear inside the shelter with us or in the vestibule?

• A:  One can fully sit up at a time, the other needs to lie down, hunch over, or leave.  Some gear can fit in the vestibule, but it can make exiting the shelter difficult.  The two of us, sleeping gear, mini lights, and a water bottle were all we could crowd in with any practicality.

• Q:  Protection from elements:  Last, but certainly not least, how well does the shelter protect us from precipitation, wind, etc.?  Of course, that is the expected function, but how does it actually perform?  Does it have enough ventilation for warm weather or to be closed against rain yet breathe?  Does it help us stay warm if the temperature drops?  How about any condensation issues?

• A:  The shelter did a great job of protecting us (or just me) from wind and rain.   During earlier testing, we found that two of us in the shelter were warmer than either of us alone in hammocks.  We were unhappy with the amount of condensation with two people, and often with only one occupant.  Continuing to test different pitching options, such as guying out and lifting the sides increased airflow and interior space, increasing the comfort level inside the Trig 2. 

My likes and Dislikes remain basically the same as at the end of the Field Test period:

Likes  

·        Lightweight

·        Packs small  

·        Subdued colors

·        Appears to be well made and reinforced.

 Dislikes 

·        In making the shelter appropriately strong for use by the general public, some materials are heavier than those I might have chosen. This makes the tent several ounces heavier than one I might have made.

·        The slope of the tent top does severely limit the area in which an adult can sit upright. Of course, any change to the slope would mean more material and therefore, more weight and bulk. 

·        The zipper requires two hands to manipulate.  (Small issue, but a bit inconvenient) 

·        Condensation was a large problem with two persons, or with one person and the shelter not fully vented.

·        The tape style loops look attractive and their reflective qualities are a nice touch, but I prefer a narrower diameter tie-out. 

Some Suggestions for the Manufacturer

Add some venting near the apex of the shelter.  Making the zipper for the vestibule a two-way zipper would allow the option of opening the top a bit.

Change the elastic loops meant to hold up the rolled window flaps at the center sides of the shelter to something substantial enough to withstand use as side wall pullouts.  I don’t have confidence in the elastic maintaining its stretch and bounce back qualities.  Alternatively, reinforce the inside of the flaps at the center buttons so that they can receive a small stick or rod to hold the sides up and out.

Make up for the added zipper pull weight and side attachment/reinforcements by reducing the amount of reflective ribbon at the bottom corner tie-outs.  Plain loops would do the job very well, so the weight of those adjustable buckles could be eliminated. 

 Conclusions

I am impressed with the quality of the materials that GoLite uses for this shelter.  It does, to me, seem to be paying a slight weight penalty for more durable materials than some ultra lighters might choose.  I would use lighter materials if I were to build this shelter for myself, but I would be willing to assume the risk of needing to repair or replace it.  There does seem to be some “wiggle room” for playing with pitching options to try to ventilate the shelter a bit.  The user may need to have some time and patience in learning what works for him or her under various conditions.

Tester Background

 I’m an aspiring Ultralighter.  Most of my backpacking happens during weekends in New England.  Additionally, I have been lucky enough to experience hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and a 110 mile (177 km) stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Pennsylvania to northern Virginia.  My preferred gear at this time includes a hammock, alcohol or tablet stove, mini or no-cook home-dehydrated foods, and the least clothing and gear that I can feel comfortable carrying.

 

With appreciation for the opportunity to test this product,

 

Rosaleen Sullivan

 

Product Specifications

• Size:     Height: 48 in / 122 cm, Area: 35 sq ft / 3.25 sq m
• Weight: Stated in the literature: 2 lb 15 oz / 1332 g main + 6 oz / 170 g stakes

 As received and weighed on home electronic scale:  Shelter plus bagged stakes in a carry bag, with the instructions, 1485 g / 3 lb. 4.5 oz

Product Description

The TRIG 2 SHELTER is designed to be a 3 season, 2 person backpacking shelter. Including the permanently attached vestibule and rear storm beak, it has an elongated pentagonal shaped footprint.  To keep the weight minimized, GoLite makes this single-walled shelter with a form of silnylon in the walls and a heavier coated fabric for the floor.  To save more weight, the shelter utilizes a tree or the user’s hiking poles for vertical support.  Readers may find a more detailed description in my Initial Report.