For almost a year now I have been interested in a new tent. I currently use a MHW Drifter 3 which I love, but my tripping partner has converted to hanging so I would like to down size and reduce overall weight since I will be solo in the tent. I have gone back and fourth between Tarptent, BA, Mountain HW, Rei, pretty much everything. For some reason the Tarptents really intrigue me. I have been looking at the Bowfin 1 and Bowfin 2. Does anyone have any pros or cons to Tarptents? Or any info in general about tarptents? I have not seen one in person, only pictures online.

Just FYI, as of now I am debating the BA Copper Spur HV UL 1 and the Tarptent Bowfin 1 so any comments between those two could be really helpful as well. As always, thank you for any input!

JC

I converted to hammock camping several years ago and looked toward Tarptent for a lighter backpacking tent for my non-hammocking wife.

When backpacking I use hiking poles so the tents which utilize the pole I am already carrying made the most sense. We enventually landed on the Stratospire 2 (Sleeps 2 easily, Sleeps 3 with a slight modification, sleeps 2 and 2 dogs if necessary). The amount of space, including giant vestibules on both sides, is amazing - especially considering how light it is. You might want to include the Stratospire 1 among the tents to consider.

The Stratospire, like most of the Tarptent line, is a bit non-conventional with respect to geometry so, it always generates a lot of interest among our hiking partners. It can be used as a Rain fly alone, a bug net alone or with both clipped together. (You could also set-up the rainfly in a downpour then, clip in the inner bugnet after, protected from the rain).

The workmanship is great. Henry Shires was terrific to work with - he ensured we received our tent before an approaching Isle Royale trip.

Eventually, we added the accesory poles and our pre-teen son has taken the SS2 on several Boy Scout trips. It has proven to be a durable product.

One additional benefit- used Tarptent products sell very quickly and at a high percentage of orginal price on Whiteblaze.net. While I am fairly certain you'll love any Tarptent and keep it, should you find it "not quite perfect" you can resale easily and recover much of your investment.

Good Luck

Tarptents are interesting, but quite a few solo and 2 person self supporting tents are available under 3 pounds. I own a BSI Chinook solo modular tent that can be reduced in weight to well under 2 pounds, also a BA Flycreek 2person Platinum that I used last Sept. weighing under 2 pounds. Both are framed 2 wall tents.
Get a budget decided then configuration, then shop. Cottage Industry tent makers are numerous.

butthead

PS: The Flycreek Platinum I have offered for sale in the past and still consider. bh

We have a Tarptent Hogback which is a 4 person tent that weighs just a bit over 4 lbs for 49 square feet. These tents are extremely well designed and made and by giving up being freestanding (for most configurations) you save a lot of weight. I can't go back to a freestanding tent and carrying the extra weight. We've had no problems with setup in the BW. Henry, who designs the tents, has been to the BW and gives great advice. We actually have the first non-prototype Hogback which he did a little handwork on and rushed to us for a trip. He's very helpful.

A word about Henry. He's makes tents for the ultra-lightweight backpacking crowd and is one of them. His idea of a persons' space in a tent is a 20" wide pad by the length of your sleeping bag. Gear goes under the vestibules. That's it. I think he finds the idea that we use a Hogback for 2 people a bit amusing. I am interested in switching to his Cloudburst 3 person tent for the two of us. I think that one is just about what we really like for 2 people and I like the doors in the ends. So, look carefully at the layouts of the tents and what you like in terms of floor area.

But I have no regrets on having a Tarptent.

JC, I have the Tarptent Scarp 2, in my opinion this is a well made, user friendly, plenty of room for two, free standing, duel vestibules, weight of 4#, Made in USA. All in all great tent. I'm considering the Moment DW for solo use.

From Big Agnes, you might also consider the Fly Creek UL1. It's 2 pounds, and has a bit of nylon up the walls instead of mesh, which will make it less drafty. It's pleasantly roomy for a solo tent.

A way weight is cut from a freestanding tent is by using thinner fabric. In the tarptents the fabric is very strong 30d. He doesn’t even recommend needing an innie or outie for the floor. Instead he drops weight by removing poles needed to be freestanding. I didn’t see that BA mentions the fabric weight and just goes the coating level. Either approach is valid. It’s just good to realize that both involve trade offs.

I have a Tarptent for Backpacking and am very pleased with it.

I would not use my model however for cane tripping as it is not free standing.

I do not have a Tarptent, but they get a lot of good reviews. I have looked at the Scarp1 for quite a while. The Bowfin looks like a really nice tent also. I have also been intrigued by the Big Sky tent that Butthead has. Another thing that is different about them compared to most other tents is the exoskeleton design where the inner tent and fly stay attached and are set up together vs. the usual structure where the inner clips to the poles and then the fly is put over that. Setting up as one unit would have advantages in rain.

Once you get into the customer section interested in Tarptent's you have taken a step up the gear ladder into custom goal oriented gear. More drawbacks that casual users are not willing to accept. Lighter weight at cost, fragile materials, complicated pitching/deployment, somewhat more specialized gear. My Flycreek2 Platinum is a good example,
Thin fabric feels fragile (isn't in my use), more mesh on body so bit chillier, need min 6 stakes to setup tight 8-10 is better.even as listed for 2 it would be a tight fit but doable.
Tarptents require some user adjustment. More staking, more guylines, the use of poles for some, dealing with a single wall/hybrid tent-fly combination (condensation). Shire's TT fans will not worry about these items but casual users will.
I really like the BSI Chinook I have mostly due to it's completely self standing needing no stakes or guy-lines at all to setup and use, But realise it may be more than casual users want.
I may not be able to describe my use of a Shire's TT (never owned one yet), I'm not adverse to "tarp tenting",

Owned a CSpur 1, not TT Bowfin. CSpur is easier to set up apparently needing fewer stakes guys, has less under fly space, packs smaller and can be seperated into several smaller packages (frame can be fully removed). Both seem to hit same weight range, I know the CSpur weight can be reduced some (judicious weight trimming and packing), the fabric on the CSpur feels close to 1.1 ripstop, TT Bowfin is listed as 30d (1.1) weight, CSpur 1 door vestabule, TTBowfin 2.

butthead

Well put butthead.

I’d yearn for the days of our Eureka Alpine Meadows except that it weighed so much more than all of these choices. But it was simple and rugged.

FYI slight adjustments on our tarptent hogback for temp and moisture are quick and easy. The microadjusters on the stake lines work very well.