Bushwalk Australia

Hey all,

Just thought I would introduce myself here as a newbie to hiking!

Myself and my wife recently have done several day hikes, and decided to move up to overnight, or multi day hikes. We intend to do some overnight hikes here in Victoria, and then do some Tassie hikes, and then off to NZ. We will obviously pace ourselves, and until comfortable, will be traveling with friends that are well seasoned in hiking and outdoors.

As such we have invested some money in some gear, but would like to seek some advice from people about a tent. I should note we are aiming at buying lightweight gear (not full on ultralight stuff, but we want our packs as light as possible!) from the outset as we can afford to do this, and already have most of what is needed. Listed here is what we have bought already. I have done my research on the listed items below, and believe they are suitable for us from both a weight perspective, and price.



So far we have the following:

Sleeping Bag: Roman Ultra Lite Trek Advance 1.2KG
Sleeping Pad: Therm-a-rest Pro-lite 3 Regular
Stove: Kovea Titanium super-lite stove
Water treatment: Steripen Traveler



Amongst the above items we have our thermals, first aid kit, gas, etc, however I'm mainly interested in advice for a tent!

So what are our requirements?

1. Well im 6'4, so it need to fit me in it!
2. Lightweight, lighter the better obviously
3. Easy setup (don't want to spent 30 minutes setting it up)
4. Room enough for 2 comfortably, and packs (can be in vestibule)
5. Small pack size

So far I have looked at the :

Big Agned Emerald SL2
MSR Hubba Hubba

I really like the Big Agnes Emerald, however its impossible to get in AUS for a decent price. I did find it on http://campsaver.com very cheap, and am waiting on a shipping quotation before I order it. If someone can suggest anything better, prefferably in AUS, and comes in at under $500, and is light, please let me know.

Anyways all advice taken with open arms.

Thanks in Advance, Adam.

Hello Adam,

Welcome on board.

The 2 tents you list have a fair bit of mesh as part of the inner tent. That's one of the reasons they are light.

If you are planning to walk in alpine regions (Vic, Tas, NZ?), then mesh may not be the best choice.

Personally I'd look for 4 seasons tents and either accept the additional weight or pay more money (or both! ).

Cheers, a.

My daughter just bought a Hubba Hubba from http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/home___ in the US.

Was quoted around $8-900 here in Oz, she paid around $480. Delivery was a bit (think around $60) but she bought other stuff at the time.
Second time she has used Moosejaw, happy both times.

She used the tent all last week in 4 season conditions but I have not caught up with her yet to see how it went.

We DID put it up at home before she went and it looked pretty good. Was just not sure about the poling system (especially inside with stuff we could break easily) Must write up a blog report about it......

..

I have been very happy with my Big Anges tent in terms of design and manufacturing quality.

My only gripe is that the mesh is a bit fine and so velcro damages it a bit easily.

Are any of the suggested tents ok for snow?

I doubt I will be camping in snow on purpose, but If I should go off on a hike, and get a bit of snow overnight, it would be nice to know the tent can handle it, and I will be warm enough.

Thanks for the replies everyone! Keep them coming!

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I've had a Hilleberg Nallo 3 as my light-weight 'all conditions' tent for a few years.

Went for the Nallo 3 coz I like at least 105cm head room inside.

Excellent quality, great vestibule with set back inner tent, bomb proof, weighs 2.3kg including stuff sack, all pegs, etc. That's slightly less weight than claimed by Hilleberg .

Had up to 3 other party members in the tent for some social time when the weather wasn't too inviting.

a.

The Mont Moondance is a cracker of a lightweight tent...mesh inner though so not ideal 4 season. Talking to mont recently about this though and the word is that pretty soon they will have a light weight small tent to fill the void that the old microlight has left in the market.

Has the Microlite been discontinued

no...but from all acounts quality will decline with the new macpac buyout and they are a touch harder to get your hands on.

Keep your eye on eBay; I just got a new Emerald Mountain SL2 for $300au incl. shipping.