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Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Sierra Designs Hercules Assault AST > Chuck Carnes > Long Term ReportSierra Designs
Hercules Assault AST Tent  Long Term Report by Chuck Carnes Report Date: March 7, 2006
Name:
Chuck Carnes
Age: 36 Gender: Male Height: 6 ft. 0 in (1.83 m) Weight: 175 lb (79 kg) E-mail address: ctcarnes1(at)yahoo(dot)com City, State, Country: Greenville, South Carolina USA
I
love
the outdoors – I’ve spent time camping in the outdoors since I was
born, and
have been actively hiking and backpacking since then. I
consider myself a lightweight
hiker, usually carrying 20 – 30 pounds (11-13 kg)
for
hikes up to a week in length. I hike at an easy pace, averaging 2 mph
(3 kph).
I am a one-man tent camper for now. I like to carry a single trekking
pole when I
hike to
help relieve stress to my legs and knees. I like to get out on the
trail as
often as I can.
Manufacturer: Sierra Designs
Model: Hercules Assault AST Year of manufacture: 2005 Season: 4 Person: 2 Color: Yellow / Navy Blue URL: www.sierradesigns.com Trail Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz (3.0 kg) Fastpack Weight: n/a Packed Weight: 7 lbs 2 oz (3.2 kg) Packed Size: 22 in x 7 in (56 x 17 cm) Number of Doors: 1 Interior Area: 35 sq ft (3.2 sq m) Vestibule Area: 7 sq. ft. (0.6 sq m) Peak Height: 42 in (107 cm) Floor Type: SuperSeal Floor Material: 70D Taffeta Nylon, 3000mm Body Material: 40D Rip Stop Nylon, DriZone 2L Fly Material: 40D HT Rip Stop Nylon, 1500mm, PU/Silicon Number of Poles: 3 Poles: DAC Press-Fit 7001 MSRP: $549.95 US Features (taken from the web site): The Holy Grail of tents just got lighter and faster. All the great technology and superior strength of our high altitude tested Hercules AST, but with a lightweight single-wall construction. Includes a large vestibule made from our lightweight fly material and the new Air Flow Vent System preventing condensation.
The Hercules Assault AST Tent is a single
wall, four season tent that is very spacious and practically bomb
proof. The ventilation options are plentiful for a four season tent.
The tent comes equipped with a system called the Hercules Jake's
Corner that creates a very sturdy skeletal pole system. For more
information on my initial thoughts, see my Initial
Report.
Overall, I am very happy with the design and construction of the tent. I am able to get in and out of it easily. So far, I have been the only one sleeping in the tent so I am able to place my pack beside me instead of the vestibule; which I still think is to small to fit a large sized pack in. To read more about this field experience, see my Field Report. For the last phase of my testing period I visited two other places to test the Hercules Assault AST Tent. Below are the two locations along with approximate elevation, weather conditions and a brief summary of the trip. Location: The Great Smoky Mountains Elevation: 5500 - 5775 ft (1676 - 1760 m) Weather Conditions: Some sun at first of the trip. Then the clouds rolled in with wet snow mixed with ice at night and into the following day. Accumulation of 2 in (5 cm). Temperatures ranged from 55 F (12 C) during the day and 28 F (-2 C) at night. Summary: This was a fun trip in the beginning. The sun was nice and warm during the hike in and during camp set up. The tent went up very easy as usual and just about diner time, the clouds rolled in and the temperatures dropped. I was able to get my diner fixed and eaten before the rain started and I quickly turned in for the night. Again on this trip I was sleeping solo so I was able to spread out and get comfortable for a long evening. The way I normally sleep in this tent is with my head at one of the rear corners (rear meaning opposite end from the door) and my feet at the opposite front corner. This gives me room for my sleeping bag not to touch much of the side walls. During the night I was awakened by pitter patters of ice on the tent walls. I looked at my temperature gage and it read 33 F (0 C) inside the tent. I know that this tent holds in the heat fairly well, even when I have the vents open, so I am sure it was much colder outside the tent. The next morning, at 6:30 a.m., the temperature gauge read 28 F (-2 C) outside the tent. The temperatures were gauged by my Casio Altimeter watch. There was at least 2 in (5 cm) of ice and snow on the ground that morning. The good thing was that I did not feel any of the effects of the ice and snow while inside the tent. No snow blowing through the vents and no condensation build up. The tent stayed in the same location throughout this trip. I didn't have to pack it up and move to another site. The temperatures warmed up during the day and melted the snow and ice but the cloud cover stayed. That night the conditions were just as cold; crisp air flowing through the valley of the mountains. The following morning I awoke to a dry, cold sunrise. Too bad my camera was still in the shop; this would have been a great picture. After breakfast I packed up and headed out. Location: Paris Mountain State Park Elevation: 1450 - 1550 ft (442 - 472 m) Weather Conditions: Sunshine during the day and the moon and stars at night. No rain. Temperatures ranged from 62 F (16 C) during the day and 30 F (-1 C) at night. Summary: This trip was with my son and his cub scout troop. This was a camping trip instead of a backpacking trip but I used the Hercules for our shelter during this trip. I finally got my camera back and the photograph at the top was taken during this trip. This was the first trip that I took during this testing period that I shared the space in the tent with another person. I was anxious to see how this was going to work out. We arrived at our campsite and I put the tent up in normal fashion. I placed his sleeping pad on the left side of the tent and I placed mine on the right. The widths of the pads together worked out perfect. I took my heftier pad since I didn't have to pack it in. It measures 27 in (67 cm) wide and 79 in (201 cm) long. My sons pad measures 20 in (51 cm) wide and 46 in (115 cm) long. The length of my pad barely fits the inside length of the tent. It works real well when I am sleeping solo and I can place it from corner to corner. At least now I know it will work when it is laid from the front of the tent to the back of the tent. Having my son next to me did not pose a problem during the night when I needed extra room. He slept mostly at the wall of the tent which gave me a little bit more elbow room. The temperatures dropped to about 30 F (-1 C) that night. The next morning I was able to see if having two people in the tent would cause a condensation problem and it appeared that there was no sign of condensation. My son is pretty good about figuring out zippers and tie backs on tents so I was curious to see if this particular tent baffled him any during our stay. I watched him from a distance and he picked up on the color coded zipper pulls pretty quickly; the tie backs were very easy for him to use also. Now at least I know the tent is kid friendly. More dirt got in the tent on this trip than all of the other trips combined. I am very careful about taking my shoes off outside the tent, but not my son. The floor of the tent held up very well to his shoes bringing in dirt and the grit grinding into the fabric. I didn't stake the tent down on this particular trip so I was able to remove everything from inside the tent, grab the tent poles above the door, raise it above my head and shake the dirt out. Next time he's going to learn some ethics in shoe removal. I truly enjoyed testing this tent. I believe I was able to put it through some pretty good test but I was never able to test the wind speed specifications of the tent. It is a solid built tent for what I put it through and for it to be a four season tent it held up well. I will say it worked fine as a two person tent when two people were in it but I liked it better when I was in it alone with my gear; more room. I think the tent is very durable up to this point and the construction of the seams, material and poles are top notch. The weight of the tent is a little heavy but the fact that this is a solid tent makes up for it in the long run.
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