Bushwalk Australia

I've been deliberating about starting a new thread about "i wanna buy a tent, please help", but I have to. There are simply too many tents to choose from!

I'm down to a few in 2p or 3p configuration

Mont Moondance (heard they are fairly robust, but they seemingly never go on sale....ever)
Marmot Limelight (3p has space to take the kids 7 & 9)
Big Agnes Copper Spur (gets good reviews)
Tarptent Hogback (that thing just looks awesome)

Ideally I'd love to stick around the $500 mark, but the better options seem to tickle the $800ish mark which makes me choke up a little hahaha. Mainly going to be packing these for overnighters and weekenders all year round and I would like to get the pack size down a little for bike travel as well. If you have some suggestions I would really like to hear them. Trying to stick with dome style as I currently have a Vango Banshee and I find it to be rather restrictive if I'm trapped by the weather.

I have a copper spur hv ul3 that i bought from the us on a sale. It is a fine tent and quite palatial for 2.
For the money and weight you can buy integral pitch tents that are cheaper. I like thd big agnes for its ease of pitch but it wouldn't be my first choice for an alpine tent.

If you are comfortable with buying from the US, tarptent is a popular option.

Being trapped by bad weather does need a bigger tent for long trips but if not for winter/Alpine use perhaps consider a slightly smaller tent plus an UL tarp for a porch extension. A winter tent will be too hot in the warmer parts of the year so you do need to decide what the main camping and bushwalking season will be for you and get the tent that meets the main use; $500- is very low for a winter tent s I did assume summer and shoulder seasons were what you were looking for
Rays have MSR tents on sale just now [ a so-called "Member Special"] the Hubba Hubba 2 for $589-

Backpacking with kids would suggest that you will avoid well exposed areas and extreme weather, so the Hogback will do for that.
It has a very small footprint for the available inside space.
These two shots I think tell the story :

Moondog55 wrote:Being trapped by bad weather does need a bigger tent for long trips but if not for winter/Alpine use perhaps consider a slightly smaller tent plus an UL tarp for a porch extension. A winter tent will be too hot in the warmer parts of the year so you do need to decide what the main camping and bushwalking season will be for you and get the tent that meets the main use; $500- is very low for a winter tent s I did assume summer and shoulder seasons were what you were looking for
Rays have MSR tents on sale just now [ a so-called "Member Special"] the Hubba Hubba 2 for $589-

Are the MSR tents robust-ish? I've looked at a few of them at Rays and the material just seems like it'd shred in a stiff breeze. Looks can be deceiving though and I haven't had any experience with them.

You're right. Once I started looking at proper tents the price shot straight up, but so did the quality. Seems like I might need to invest in a few tents hahaha

Franco wrote:Backpacking with kids would suggest that you will avoid well exposed areas and extreme weather, so the Hogback will do for that.
It has a very small footprint for the available inside space.
These two shots I think tell the story :

lbala_hb.jpg

Hogback inside.jpg

Wow! They look huge inside! How long have you had yours for?

Did I see on here at some point that there was an Australian rep somewhere?

Robust enough for summer and mild shoulder weather.
Put things into perspective, my new 3P winter tent weighs in at just over 6 kilos when I add in the extra guys and snow pegs/pickets but uses the same approximate weight of fabric as the MSR Hubba The fabric is a very small part of the overall weight. If I was starting all over again I think a Hubba or a clone thereof would be on my shortlist. Also the Hubba series can be made stronger by utilising walking poles as extra verticals on the outrigger

Dieselpower wrote:

Franco wrote:Backpacking with kids would suggest that you will avoid well exposed areas and extreme weather, so the Hogback will do for that.
It has a very small footprint for the available inside space.
These two shots I think tell the story :

lbala_hb.jpg

Hogback inside.jpg

Wow! They look huge inside! How long have you had yours for?

Did I see on here at some point that there was an Australian rep somewhere?

look under my name , on the right of the screen...
(I never used one but seam sealed several a few years ago)

If you are going to tent it while biking, I personally would get a freestanding tent rather than a semi-freestanding. A lot of ground is quite hard during those rest stops next to the highway or even some of the national parks you may be biking to. Having crossed the Nullarbor last week, I was so thankful that I brought my free standing tent (Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3), it saved so much time and cursing expletives @#$%% at my partner. There was no way I could have hammered those pegs in the ground at those rest stops, national parks and caravan parks. The ground was like rough cement. Also after a long day of travel, all we wanted to do was get the tent set up quickly which we did in 3 minutes with 2 people, make the food and crawl into bed.

For general use the BA Copper Spur UL 3 is hard to beat, its so light for 3p only 150g more than other 2p tents and you can store gear inside. It’s mostly self supporting with dual entry vestibule etc.

I have a BA Fly Creek UL2 and incredibly light around 950g and I’ve done a dozen overnight alpine trips and it does the job. However, it is not free standing, needs too many pegs, not great in wind but has lots of room for two, great for 1p camping. It’s actually fared quite well despite the above. In order to get the weight down the material is very thin and probably wouldn’t last more than say 8-10year depending on usage.

I also now have an MSR 1p that I will try soon which has more durable material, freestanding and stable in wind but a few hundred grams heavier and will be my worse weather tent and freestanding ground option.

Unfortunately there’s generally no free lunch in tent choices at ok prices, one either gets UL with less poles so less wind stable and not so free standing and thin materials vs heavier tent that addresses those issues better. One really needs two types of tents for different situations but the Copper Spur UL achieves most of that.

lorrainey100 wrote:If you are going to tent it while biking, I personally would get a freestanding tent rather than a semi-freestanding. A lot of ground is quite hard during those rest stops next to the highway or even some of the national parks you may be biking to. Having crossed the Nullarbor last week, I was so thankful that I brought my free standing tent (Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3), it saved so much time and cursing expletives @#$%% at my partner. There was no way I could have hammered those pegs in the ground at those rest stops, national parks and caravan parks. The ground was like rough cement. Also after a long day of travel, all we wanted to do was get the tent set up quickly which we did in 3 minutes with 2 people, make the food and crawl into bed.

Good call. Never thought of it like that. Does it pack down relatively small? Looking like the go for a new tent I reckon.

Did I see on here at some point that there was an Australian rep somewhere?[/quote]
look under my name , on the right of the screen...
(I never used one but seam sealed several a few years ago)[/quote]

I'm such a dummy! New to the site so didn't see the affiliation under the username

Don't worry, I don't look there either....

This question pops up once or twice a year. There probably should be a tent sticky.

slparker wrote:This question pops up once or twice a year. There probably should be a tent sticky.

Agreed. I have used the search function for some of the options, but if there is a sticky, seeing as though it's a massive part of hiking, it might make it a little easier. There is simply far too many options on the market for the novice (such as myself) to even contemplate. I'm in the middle of making an Excel spreadsheet of dimensions, weight, sleeping capacity etc. which is the only way I can make sense of it all.

The BA is kicking goals at the moment, and sleeping in the Vango Banshee 300 piece of trash last night, I'm now so much closer to getting a new tent and sleeping bag now hahaha. I had a Mountain Designs 5 degree sleeping bag along with a Sea to Summit Comfort plus inside a Vango Banshee. The tent is a massive let down and couldn't fit myself (5 foot 5) and my 9yr old son very comfortably. The sleeping bag isn't overly broad and the down seems be compressed and let the cold in. Once I chucked on the Sea to Summit liner I was relatively toasty, but they are fiddly and heavy to carry, so a new sleeping bag it is!

This new outdoor obsession is going to send me broke!

lorrainey100 wrote:If you are going to tent it while biking, I personally would get a freestanding tent rather than a semi-freestanding. A lot of ground is quite hard during those rest stops next to the highway or even some of the national parks you may be biking to. Having crossed the Nullarbor last week, I was so thankful that I brought my free standing tent (Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3), it saved so much time and cursing expletives @#$%% at my partner. There was no way I could have hammered those pegs in the ground at those rest stops, national parks and caravan parks. The ground was like rough cement. Also after a long day of travel, all we wanted to do was get the tent set up quickly which we did in 3 minutes with 2 people, make the food and crawl into bed.

How does the BA stand up for longevity? Hoping to get a few years out of it at the very least...

Dieselpower wrote: How does the BA stand up for longevity? Hoping to get a few years out of it at the very least...

I bought my BA Copper Spur UL3 tent in August 2015. I've done overnight and multi-day overnight bushwalks in Australia with it and car camped in the US, Canada and Australia with it. I probably have used it at least 60 days per year. I also use the footprint that came with it and which makes it easy to clip on to the fly or main tent.

It packs down small in my backpack for flying overseas although I take the poles out and place that in my carry-on so that rough baggage handlers do not have a chance to break it (my alcohol stove and titanium pots have ended up dented by rough baggage handlers). It's been through some stormy weather with wild winds and hail and held up. Currently, it is almost as good as new, no tears, no holes, but then I am very careful with it, unlike my partner who will pack it under really heavy equipment or leave it wet and muddy in its bag after camping and forget about it. Without my supervision, he is only allowed to use the cheap tents when he is out camping by himself. One thing I can say about the material, after shaking the water from the fly, the silnylon dries very quickly in the wind or sun.

lorrainey100 wrote:

Dieselpower wrote: How does the BA stand up for longevity? Hoping to get a few years out of it at the very least...

I bought my BA Copper Spur UL3 tent in August 2015. I've done overnight and multi-day overnight bushwalks in Australia with it and car camped in the US, Canada and Australia with it. I probably have used it at least 60 days per year. I also use the footprint that came with it and which makes it easy to clip on to the fly or main tent.

It packs down small in my backpack for flying overseas although I take the poles out and place that in my carry-on so that rough baggage handlers do not have a chance to break it (my alcohol stove and titanium pots have ended up dented by rough baggage handlers). It's been through some stormy weather with wild winds and hail and held up. Currently, it is almost as good as new, no tears, no holes, but then I am very careful with it, unlike my partner who will pack it under really heavy equipment or leave it wet and muddy in its bag after camping and forget about it. Without my supervision, he is only allowed to use the cheap tents when he is out camping by himself. One thing I can say about the material, after shaking the water from the fly, the silnylon dries very quickly in the wind or sun.

Perfect! I am pretty easy with my gear, and if I can't clean it right away, I clean it at the first available opportunity. Sounds like the BA is the way to go seeing as though it's ridiculously light as well

Thank you for answering my questions