I am seriously looking at this tent to as a roomier and lighter replacement to my 8 year old leaky floored REI Half Dome 2. However, does anyone have any experience with how it does in the wind and/or storms. Is it very loud, shaky, and unstable in winds? Thinking mainly about 3 season Rocky mountain high altitude use and the occasional car camping. I see conflicting reports about this tent in windier conditions.....some say here at REI:

http://www.rei.com/product/807368/big-agnes-fly-creek-ul3-tent

that it is very loud and shaky in the wind. My experience this July was pretty much every evening/afternoon there were 20-30 mph rain storms. My REI Half Dome 2 did just fine in this stuff with very little noise, while watching 2 tarps get torn apart one night by hail and winds (gusts to 40mph). I know it's not a bombproof 4 season tent, but hoping that it'll at least be comfortable in the regular 20-30mph rain storms.

My experience with the BA UL Fly Creek 3 has been excellent. A lot of the time you see the tent in pictures with the guy lines still tied up, just like it came right of the box. This is a tent, like virtually all tents and tarps for that matter, that you need to stake it out fully to ride out a storm with minimal shaking and flapping. If you do you won't have any problems, as long as you realize this is a UL tent made with smaller diameter poles that will flex if stressed. Other than that, enjoy!

Here's my final take on the FC UL3, having used it quite a bit last season, and then selling it this past winter (geez where does the time go?).

The FC UL3 provides a ton of space for the weight. It's awesome in this regard. When the bugs are bad and you want space for two people to stretch out, there's no better double wall tent.

Unfortunately, it's not a great tent in the rain. It's not one specific thing, but rather the combination of smaller annoyances that make it sub-par on extended wet hikes. The main rain issues are (1) it's very difficult to not have the condensation lined sides of the fly stick to the inner, even when fully guyed out, (2), the doorway allows rain to fall directly into the tent and (3), the inner first setup means towel drying the floor if you have to set up it up during hard rain.

Regarding #1, you can stake it out well and use guylines and thus eliminate the flapping on the sides initially, but if you're camping in the rain for multiple days then the low denier fabric will eventually stretch so much that you can't get it tight, and then as soon as any condensation forms in the fly it'll be stuck to the inner.

Regarding the wind, I found in pretty good in the non-extreme winds I encountered. I would feel pretty comfortable using this tent in decent winds.

Overall, the space for the weight is awesome. For a lot of people it's a great tent. I found for me in the PNW it was too much of a pain on extended wet trips, but if you mostly hike in drier locales it's going to be great.

I'm using a TT StratoSpire2 now, which is far more pleasant to live out of in the rain. It is more finicky to setup though, so it depends on priorities.

Edited by dandydan on 10/09/2012 19:16:18 MDT.

Thanks Dan....this post was very helpful. It does not sound ideal for a week long wet backcountry base camp as I had imagined using it (July in Colorado). The door issue and the condensation issue sounds annoying. Also, I just noticed that there seems to be no vent in the fly, which may contribute to the condensation issue.