Right out of the parcel, the tent felt amazingly light. It read 575 grams on the scale, which includes the Tent, Cuben Fiber Twin ground sheet, 8 Vargo Titanium stakes in its stuff sack and a cuben fiber stuff sack with everything inside. The first thing I did was to check the seams, Joe now tapes the seam which otherwise required us to seam seal. I’m delighted that Joe tapes the tent now cause I hate seam sealing. It’s messy, takes numerous test and resealing. Joe has taped all seams (Taped from the inside) and side wall pull outs.
The next day I pitch it up for the first time following the instructions. It was easy enough but the pitch didn’t look right. To get familiar with the tent, I re-pitched the tent a few times. With each pitch, I found the it easier and taking less time. It seems that the main factor for the tent’s pitch is the main trekking pole, its tilt and placement on the mesh. I found that to get a good pitch I’ve to tilt the pole fairly straight up and place the tip towards the inside of the tent but still within the reinforcement patch. With that in place, all the other tie outs are easy.
The Hexamid twin is definitely a palace for one, the space inside is more than enough. I didn’t bring any mat to take a picture of the interior but I’m sure its enough for a mat and all the gear for one person. It was a 32 Celsuis/ 90 Fahrenheit with 95% humidity afternoon, laying inside the tent initially it felt warm and sweaty. However I figured it was because I was pitching the tent up and down for the past hour. After resting inside for a while, I felt more comfortable. There was only a slight breeze outside and due to the tent’s mesh design I could feel the breeze circulating through the tent.
Joe’s workmanship is great. Studying the tent’s design from the inside, you could see where the seams are and how Joe stitched and taped them. All pull outs are reinforced with tougher cuban fiber and bonded.
I was hoping for a thunderstorm today to test out the bath tub, in the end it was a scorching afternoon. In a week or so I’ll be planning a trip to a nearby island and with the flash thunderstorms we have recently, I’ll update the review. For now, the bath tub is a breeze to setup. I like it for the fact that when the tent is kept soaking wet from condensation, the bath tub can be removed, kept seperately and stay dry.
This tent will shave off 1.2kg off my pack, and i’m looking forward to more trips with it.
What I like about it?
- lightweight
translucent, allowing to view scenery while laying down
Airy
Packs down small
What I dislike or yet to find out?
- How well it will perform in a thunderstorm
Ability to setup on a tent platform
How to get the right pitch each time
Check out the pictures on my blog. http://edwinsoutdoorblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/zpacks-hexamid-twin-tent-initial-review/
