Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

[SomeWeirdWoman]

REI has some great deals on tents right now and frankly, I dont want to go another year with my boyfriends cheap yardsale tent that his nephew peed in.

I am considering two models that are on sale and are around the range I would like to spend. Just wondering if anyone had any advice or opinions on the two I am considering to help me make a good decision.

http://www.rei.com/product/864812/re...l-buy#specsTab

The one above has a history of being a solid tent. My backpacking mag recommends it and all reviews I have seen on it are positive. It would be great for backpacking and also for camping where there are great views. Its all mesh. A little nerve wracking, but not a big deal with the fly added in. Most likely on either of these, I would have the fly on in a campground setting.


The one below is also from a good company but I cant find any reviews on this specific model. It weighs a bit more, but honestly, I dig that it has more room inside and with the vestible. It also has a from what I read a stronger material and a tad bit more privacy without the fly but still decent viewing from within.



http://www.rei.com/product/868730/al...l-buy#specsTab

They are both 3 season, 3 people tents and I want something that will stand up to less optimal weather. Last year the pee tent was horrible on a cold rainy night. I woke up to everything soaking wet. Even though I cant read reviews on the Alps, im kind of leaning that way as I think the slighty higher material durability and space outweigh the extra mesh and lightweight material of the REI quarter dome. I dont want to do all campground camping, but realistic at times.

Grassy Bass!

[genewiseman]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

The ALPS seems to be the better choice all around and the cheapest. It is somewhat heavy though. I don't know anything about the quality of ALPS but it looks like the best deal on paper anyhow. If you split up the weight in 2 packs you shouldn't notice the extra weight and the lightest tent is not necessarily the most durable.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

Coated nylon basically is stronger than coated polyester so since no denier is listed fer either tent (bet REI would tell you if ya called em)I'd go for the
REI Quarter Dome T3 Tent. Should point out that the packed shape is only listed for one tent and tat can be a deciding factor for backpacking. HTH and welcome!

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

I would chose the rei tent, I know the brand and the quality that comes with it. Now I also have 2 Alps self inflating pads, and they have held up as well. But I would still chose an rei tent over alps.

[MacGyver]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

As much as I'm a fan of REI's tents, out of those two choices, I would say to go with the ALPS. I'm lucky enough to live and work near two REI stores that I go to a lot, so I get some real feedback from people using their tents. The Quarter Dome uses little clear plastic hubs where the poles crossover and, according to more than one person, they're easily broken. One woman said she actually wrote the company and had them send her a bag of the hubs to keep spares on hand. Not exactly a user friendly issue and probably something they'll work out in future versions of the tent.

Oh - and I see no reason to hate a weird newbie (unless you're my ex). Welcome to the forum!

[tplife]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

Please NYCgrrl! Polyester ripstop is the highest quality material and is sometimes used only on the fly to save money rather than also for the inner tent body. This is because it costs more, but resists UV and water penetration better than nylon. Nylon is only "fractionally" meaning "hardly at all" stronger than polyester. REI, EMS, A16, NorthFace, Sierra Designs, Marmot, Big Agnes, and Mountain HardWear all make outstanding tents of the highest quality with lifetime guarantees on material defects. You can move into companies like Kelty and Eureka! but you better know your designs and manufacturing techniques as they cleverly mix junk in with gems. You can get better prices for new-with-tags tents through Ebay rather than through REI, although if you need customer coddling and can't make up your mind (easy return policies) then REI may be the best place to buy at.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

Please NYCgrrl! Polyester ripstop is the highest quality material and is sometimes used only on the fly to save money rather than also for the inner tent body. This is because it costs more, but resists UV and water penetration better than nylon. Nylon is only "fractionally" meaning "hardly at all" stronger than polyester. REI, EMS, A16, NorthFace, Sierra Designs, Marmot, Big Agnes, and Mountain HardWear all make outstanding tents of the highest quality with lifetime guarantees on material defects. You can move into companies like Kelty and Eureka! but you better know your designs and manufacturing techniques as they cleverly mix junk in with gems. You can get better prices for new-with-tags tents through Ebay rather than through REI, although if you need customer coddling and can't make up your mind (easy return policies) then REI may be the best place to buy at.

Uhmmmmm but but poly ripstop isn't mentioned in the specs for either tent

Here is what REI sez about tent fabrics; no need to do more than read and acquire knowledge for self,SWW:

Fabrics







Nylon and polyester are standard tent fabrics. Nylon is fractionally lighter, tougher and more abrasion-resistant. Polyester is inherently more resistant to water and has a reputation for better withstanding degradation caused by ultraviolet rays in sunlight (though no study has verified polyester's UV resistance). Thus polyester is commonly used for rainflys.


The weight of tent fabrics is expressed in denier (D), a measurement of a yarn's weight (in grams) based on a 9,000-meter (5.6-mile) length of that yarn. (Why this length is used is a mystery to us.) Higher numbers indicate coarser, more rugged fabric; lower numbers reflect a lighter, finer material.


A common tent floor fabric is 70-denier (70D) nylon—light but relatively durable. Standard canopies range from 40D to 70D. In the endless quest to deliver lighter tents, though, some canopies dip as low as 20D and floors to 30D.


Ripstop nylon (woven with a doubled thread at regular intervals; it prevents rips from spreading) is often used in tent canopies. It is a touch lighter than taffeta nylon (a common, high-durability floor material) and gets used for floors in low-weight tents.


As stated earlier, the weight reduction of such lightweight engineering is fantastic, but using such feathery fabrics requires users to take extra precautions to minimize (or avoid) highly abrasive use. As a result, backpackers who don't carry footprints (ground cloths) with standard tents often choose to tote the footprints of ultralight tents.


Coatings: Tent floors and rainflys come with a waterproof coating (commonly polyurethane) applied to their interiors. Tent manufacturers sometimes apply a coating to the exterior of a rainfly or occasionally coat both sides.


Ultralight tents use low-denier fabrics in floors and rainflys to reduce weight. Often silicon is used to treat such fabrics for waterproofness. Polyurethane (PU) is a fractionally better waterproofing agent, but silicon boosts the tear strength of lightweight fabrics.


Some tents apply PU to one side of a rainfly and silicon to the other to get the optimal benefits of both coatings. Rainflys of the REI Quarter Dome, Arete and Cirque tents employ this 2-sided PU/silicon coating on 40-denier nylon. Other tent brands may use a lower-denier fabric in rainflys for ultralight tents. REI choose 40D nylon for its UL rainflys to enhance good abrasion resistance. Outside of the ultralight category, REI uses 75D polyester taffeta in its rainflys.


Technical footnote: Because nylon has the capacity to absorb some water, polyester is commonly used as rainfly material. Yet silicon-coated nylon resists the absorption of water equally as well as PU-coated polyester.


Nylon treated with silicon is often referred to as "silnylon." Silicon is also used to coat polyester.

and here is what outdoorlab.com sez:

Fabrics
Backpacking tent floors and flies are made from, in increasing order of performance: coated polyester, coated nylon, and cuben fiber. Nylon is generally stronger and more abrasion resistant than polyester. Both materials require a coating to become waterproof. A fabrics’s denier (D) is a rough indicator of its weight per square area. The lightest tent fabrics are 10D, most tent floors are made of 40-70D, and expedition duffel bags are made of 1,000D. We list the floor and fly fabric and coating in the specifications table for each tent.

Polyurethane (PU) coated fabrics
PU is the coating of choice for all budget tents because it is the cheapest way to achieve a waterproof fabric with reasonable durability in cold and wet conditions. Unfortunately, the PU coatings found on less expensdive tents are susceptible to hydrolysis (chemical breakup), which eventually destroys the waterproof coating. The wetter and warmer the conditions (the tropics are worst) the sooner hydrolysis takes place- the fabric becomes sticky and the PU may flake off when dried. The best mountaineering tents and some tarp inserts have PU formulations with polyether, which makes them highly resistant to hydrolysis.

fabric composition for the REI is:
canopy - ripstop nylon
floor - coated ripstop nylon
rain fly - coated ripstop nylon



and for the ALPS
canopy-poly tafetta
flr- coated poly
rain fly- coated poly

I'm standing by my initial suggestion based on the fabric and with the provisos listed in post 2.

[SomeWeirdWoman]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

Wow. Thank you all for your insight. I can say, I am down to the wire trying to decide here. The REI Quarter is out of the picture because the price went up on it. REI's Taj 3 jumped in the picture since it is now at a good price. I dont like the extra weight of it, but I do like the highly regarded reviews. They are both on the outlet, meaning a 30 day return policy. I suppose the reviews provide me some comfort... I still really do like the Alps... So I have a 20% off REI coupon that I can use tonight and if I link through fatwallet.com, Ill get another 3% cash back on that. Finally, there is another tent I am considering, the Zenith 3... the only Debbie Downer with this one is I dont like how its wider in the shoulder area and smaller in the foot area. There were some complaints that people felt they did not have enough room. Feel free to comment.

And MacGyver, No, not your ex. But probably someones "weird" ex ;-) Thank you all for your hospitality. Looking through the forums, I am impressed on the friendliness here as opposed to some other unrelated forums I occasionally use. Seems like a cool group. *BIG CHEESE*

http://www.rei.com/product/829979/re...buy#reviewsTab

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/alp...colorFamily=03


I also found an interesting article on floor materials I will paste below where someone tested some of the flooring out I was comparing. I thought y'all might appreciate it.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-...hread_id=38155

[SomeWeirdWoman]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

I was actually hoping my newbie posts would post kinda quick for deciding, but I think I mentioned in an earlier comment I received a 20% off coupon from REI and also got 3% cash back through another website I use. I really felt it was a toss up between the positives and negatives of the REI Taj and the Alps Helix 3. I cannot find a single thing, even on Alps website about this tent. Im still scratching my head over that. I actually emailed them to ask them if they even sell a footprint for it since I cant find anything on it.

The tents are also on a 30 day return policy since they are on sale. NJ is in our rainy season so I am going to give the Alps a test out in the back yard and see how she makes out in the rain. If yall think Im making a big mistake and should have picked the Taj, speak now while I can return! Slightly higher price (About $40ish) and more weight, but had very impressive reviews. :-D

Thanks again for your thoughts. Im super excited to try this tent out!

[SomeWeirdWoman]

Re: Tent Considerations. Dont Hate Me Because... Im a Newbie.

I just called up Alps to find out the deal on the Helix. It is basically comparable to the Aries 3. They said they make the Helix specifically for REI.