Bought tent many years ago. It has been through hell, lightning storms on mountains, and hail, and all night downpours. It's still one of the lightest 2 person tents out there. And for its time was state of the art ultralight before that became a fad. I still use it because it stands rock solid through "dung" storms of all kinds. However, I just bought a SD Iota because I like the side entrance on the SD tent. And, it is smaller, but lighter too. This will allow me to take a sil nylon tarp along and make an excellent awning/porch, and kinda sit in the tent and hang out the side, under the tarp, during rain and social camp times.

I took this tent on several solo expeditions in Peru---12 days to the ruins of Choquequirao and 14 days to the Chachapoyan region of Gran Vilaya---and in Lauca National Park in Chile. It is a fine tent, lightweight and very strong. I camped below a 14,000 foot pass in the Andes, and when I awoke the fly was covered in ice. No problem, though. It sets up fast and tight as a drum. I always used a footprint.

Customer Service

None needed

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Noirth Face Cirrus and Slick Rock, MSR Ventana

Great tent. Sets up in minutes even in the dark. If you have trouble getting this one up, you'd better stay home. Light and breathable. I haven't been in any major storms in it yet.

Customer Service

Haven't needed it.

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North Face Walrus

HAve only used this tent on 3 trips so far. Let me just say that there were some newsworth windstorms in April in southeast Utah. We were camping in a remote section of Capitol Reef National Park and had 2 solid days of windstorms. Gusting 50-70 mph. Downed fully grown pine trees and ripped off some roofs in Torrey. The wind blew my 40 lbs. pack 15 feet across the ground. It was holding down my sleeping bag and thermarest - which blew a quarter mile away. This tent was staked in shallow sand, guyed meticulously of course, and did just fine. Enough said

Customer Service

n/a

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Survived for the past 10 years with a $100 Kelty zen precurson. Lived in it for 2 months in Eastern Tibet. No problems in snow, rain, desert. This mountain hardware tent, however, is like driving a Le

Thought the recent Backpacker review a little odd, so I thought I'd give my 2 cents. Tent goes up in a few minutes - 3 easy poles, a few clips, it's up. There's a arched pole, and to make life easier, I've marked the adjoining ends with a black line - I match up the lines and the arch is correct. Fly is nice and tight over the tent. Backpacker had concerns over durability of the lightweight material - time and Mountain Hardwear's reputation will tell, but it's worked great in the rain and wind. Vestibule is small, but can squeeze my pack and boots. Head room is tight - I'm around 6' and have to hunch a bit- and interior is cozy for two, but that's one of the drawbacks that comes with the luxury of a sub-5 lb tent. The vestibule door design does shed some water into the tent as it's opened, but I'm prepared for it now and it's not a big deal. Lots of mesh in the body, and two fantastic windows in the fly make my falling asleep and waking up to stars, trees and sunlight a treat! Would never go back to a no-window tent after this one. Ventillation is a little sparce on warm nghts, but I haven't experienced any major condensation with everything buttoned-up. Body, fly and footprint (purchased seperately) fits into a squished volleyball-sized lightweight package, and poles/stakes are easily stored in my Gregory. When researching last year, I looked at 2 of the other tents Backpacker reviewed with better scores (Zoid and Orion) and am very glad I bought the Approach. Did I mention I love those windows?

Customer Service

Haven't needed it

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Walrus, MSR, Kelty,

None

None

This tent was bought with one thing in mind, to be a light weight freestanding single person tent. Although listed as two person, I''m a pretty big guy and any second person in there with me would have to be fairly attractive. Performance wise, this tent rocks. I''ve used it now for about 5 months in the SE on a couple of trips and it has held up nicely. The rainfly, when pulled tight, repels water extremely well. Also, the abundance of ventilation doesn''t make you feel like you are going to sweat to death either. If you are tall, you will love this tent since, although short in height, it is VERY long in length and with only one person in there, there is plenty of room inside for gear if you don''t have enough room in the vestibule.

Customer Service

With proper care of the tent, it should hold up really well. But I have dealt with MH quite a bit and their CS is great.

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None

I had to laugh when I read the review that says this is a hard tent to set up - it is by far the easiest tent to set up I have ever seen. I can set it up in less than 2 minutes. Great attention to detail. Well made. wish the vestibule was bigger. OVerall you get what you buy - I was looking for a small light free standing tent and this was the best I could find after LOTS of research.

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None

I've always thought of MHW gear as bombproof but heavy.

This is a great lightweight tent. I got it earlier this summer and have used it twice on trips in the North Cascades. I took it on a 3-night trip in which we experienced sun, rain, sleet, snow and wind. This tent held up great. I was worried that it would not hold up under less than ideal conditions since it is so lightweight but I was wrong. I had to get up a few times at night and knock off the wet snow from the rain fly, it wasn’t designed to shed the snow. It had plenty of room for 2 + some gear. The vestibule is small but adequate. I haven’t yet sealed the seams on the tent itself but there hasn’t been any leaking yet. I did experience some condensation along the lower portion of the walls (where the fabric isn’t breathable) and one night in the mesh along my side of the tent (I perspire a lot). On other trip I took it on we experienced extremely high winds. I was surprised that the fly was not torn up. I would not suggest that this tent be used in such conditions (your really taking a chance that a tent that was not designed for extreme weather) but it is nice to know that this tent might be able to handle some bad weather.

Overall I think that this tent is an excellent summer+ tent. It’s lightweight! With the reduction in weight you have to sacrifice some vestibule space/headroom. I would also like some sort of vent in the fly to reduce condensation but it is not really necessary and would add weight.

Customer Service

After my first trip I set the tent up in the garage and let it dry off. The poll in the rear of the tent snapped and tore the sleeve that holds it. I called MHW and they said to send it in for repair. They said that the polls are under a lot of tension and need to be fully inserted into each other (they were). I think what happened is that that poll is pre-curved and I didn't get the curves lined up correctly. MHW replaced the poll and fixed the tent (I could hardly tell that it had been repaired) and I had it back in a week or so. No complaints on the service. Everyone at MHW was nice and pleasant to talk to.

Also, I thought that the instructions were quite nice. This tent is not very complicated to set up. If it were my first tent it might be a little intimidating, but you can always have the guys at REI set it up for you in the store.

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Walrus Rapeede

Admittedly, I am not the "Great White Outdoorsman". So when I had to take a trip, my more experienced outdoor cronies suggested I look at MH. After some research and reflection, I purchased the MH Approach. After several attempts to decipher the poorly encrypted manual, my Approach now sits in my closet, in a nice green bag with a MH label. If you are a novice, stay away from this tent with its current maunal unless the sales person comes home with you and shows you how to set it up.

Customer Service

Due to the problems, I contacted MH. The folks there kept referring me to "Shawn". However, he was never there and would not return phone calls. To be fair, I did have a telephonic communique with another person who admitted that MH was re-writing thier maunals in full recognition of their substandard manaul. They did try to help.

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None

Very nice tent. Light and well designed. Great roomy solo shelter. Not bad with two, great with a girl. Without the rainfly the ventalation is superb but I would like a peak vent in the fly, something closeable like in a Garuda. I'm thinking about doing this but the silicon impregnated fly material has me thinking twice about the mod. Money but worth it.

PS I think people tend to over rate things in these reviews. Just so you know it's the best 3season tent I've ever owned.

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Most of the ones that count