I do not plan to use the Photon when its super hot out. At night it can be in the 60's or 70's here in Pennsylvania. Nights like that i like to sleep under the stars anyway.

I did read that the new imporoved photon has additional tie outs on the pole hoop to help stabilze it in the wind. My TT moment was a bit flappy in high winds too. PA doesn't really get too windy here. Plus I do most of my backpacking in the woods, where the trees block the wind.

I was able to sell my Bibler bivy and a Down sleeping bag that I never use. I think I will be able to purchase both of these shelters. (i'm a single guy so I can buy whatever I want haha)

I think I will try both of them here. I plan on taking another trip to Alaska this summer as well. So I will be able to decide between these 2 shelters. Or maybe I will love both of them. We'll see. I appreciate everyone's input on the subject. Now I'm like a little kid on Christmas waiting for my packages to show up!

To be fair Nigel, i doubt any single pole tent would fare any better in those conditions.

I have been in your shoes with the usual condensation problems associated with single-walled tents that you mention made out of porous sil nylon especially when used in certain conditions and have found that the Lightheart Solo design eliminates all the problems and compromises that many of the traditional s.walled Tarptents and similar have by virtue of separating you from the wetness.
I don't have experience with the LH Duo and it has a different design altogether but the LH Solo has a full inner mesh that is separated from the outer and this simple arrangement takes care of the problems folks have with the single walled tents and works amazingly well even in the deep damp south. They are also surprisingly light and much more roomy inside if your into that.
I think the reason so many ultralight hikers on this forum quickly sell their traditional tarp type tents is because of the cramped quarters and moisture problems and even the folks that shave their knuckles to save a gram won't make the sacrifice needed to overcome some of the problems that are inherent in that design. We all love our Tarptents for certain conditions but for most folks some of the newer designs are much better suited and user friendly. Like the fellow said in the last TT thread having water drip on your head all night is not everybody's cup of tea.

Mike
You may want to take 1/2 a second to read the heading and think about that .
This is the thread start :
Tarptent Notch vs Lightheart solo vs SMD skyscape trekker

Now to get you up to speed, the Terra Nova Photon discussed here ,drips and all, IS a DOUBLE WALL tent, (the inner is mostly fabric)
The Light Heart and the SMD are both "hybrids" , that is a mesh inner attached at the apex to the sil fly.
The Tarptent Notch has a totally separate mesh inner and the usual sil fly.
Carry on...
Franco

For the new posters seeking advice on this forum Franco from Tarptent closely monitors the Tarptent treads daily and works directly for Tarptent and hides behind his internet persona while offering "unsolicited" advice to all the new posters seeking unbiased advice cough cough. A simple check of recent threads will show that anytime I even mentioned a tent other than one of their Tarptents as being suitable for a poster I will be immediately attacked solely for their financial gain and the detriment of the poster and Franco even recently bragged about all the tents they were selling to discredit my comments while other pumpers searched through my old posts trying to discredit my experiences with the product all in the name of helping the original poster cough cough.

By looking at all the Tarptents that are re-sold by unhappy campers on this forum every month you will see that they are not the panacea they are made out to be by the industry insiders.

Edited by breeze on 12/10/2012 07:36:23 MST.

Mike,

what specifically do you not like about the Notch? I understand your opinion of the traditional Tarp Tent, but what is your view on the Notch?

As Bugs Bunny said Mike, "unlax". Franco has his biases toward Tarptent (as do I) but since he sells soley in Australia I think is comments are not made out of crass commercial interest but merely out of the fact that he favors Tarptents, as he did long before he began selling them in Oz.

That said I have a TT Moment and the liner. Never had to use the liner yet but I can see it would give me a "double wall" where I needed it. So that complaint against the Moment is put to rest.

My only complaint about the Moment is that the floor tub perimeter netting (and the screened door/wall) will admit a lot of dust in a windy situation, like southern Utah's Escalante area or spin drift snow if you're caught out in snow, where the Moment is clearly not supposed to be. But to get it's good ventilation ya have to have that perimeter netting on the Moment and the Contrail as well.

P. S. A double wall Cuben fabric Moment with a carbon fiber pole is my wet dream but Henry will never make something that pricey.

Edited by Danepacker on 05/07/2012 19:30:01 MDT.

I also recommend the Lightheart Solo. I just love it. I've been using it here in hot and humid south florida and because of the hybrid design, condensation has not been an issues. I also find it very sturdy for a trekking pole supported tent. I like the pole device used to connect the two trekking poles, and that they are on the inside of the tent for easy adjustment in inclement weather. I had mine modified with a wedge for extra ventilation and views in bad weather. It does take a lot of stakes and has a very long footprint, but it's incredibly roomy inside.

Let me know if you have any more q's

Brad

Mike,

You are perfectly free to give your opinion but, honestly, some of the stuff you say is just out the wrong orifice. At least familiarize yourself with the Tarptent product lineup before launching into the single wall diatribe. Of the 13 models we offer, here's the breakdown: 4 are strictly single wall (including your Contrail from 5 years ago), 3 are hybrid double wall with liner option, and 6 are full double wall. Hardly the monoculture you keep ascribing to the product line. I'm sorry your Contrail didn't work out for you and I'm glad your new shelter does. There are a few thousand Tarptent owners out there for whom their shelter choice is working just fine. No doubt some get resold as do all shelters on the market--no shelter is perfect for everyone--but if you knew our sales you would also know that it's a tiny percentage.

-H

Mike, Franco wasn't even giving advice, just clarifying what types of tent are the three in the header plus the one mentioned in later posts. I'm truly puzzled as to why his post should have occasioned such a diatribe.

I own three Tarptents and am quite happy with them, even though I'm currently using a ZPacks Hexamid when out solo (two of the Tarptents are larger models for going out with the grandkids). The switch is only because of the lighter weight, not because I'm dissatisfied in any other way. My only connection with the firm is as a satisfied customer since late 2005. i live on the wet side of the Pacific NW, and I haven't found any of my three Tarptents to be "porous." Just one person's opinion here.

Do you consider that Franco's recent posts about snakes and stoves were also commercial advertisements for Tarptent?

Edited by hikinggranny on 05/07/2012 22:06:50 MDT.

Hi, Mark Beaumont, famed Scottish cyclist who biked around the world. Now I can't be 100% sure but his tent looks VERY like the Laser Comp and the timing would be about right in 2007/8 as the Laser Comp was THE tent to have for a wide range of conditions back then.

I watched the videos last week and his tent blew down twice, now that's only twice in a 7 month trip, that he reported, but it blew down all the same.

Video sequence starts here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd3gU0zuSqY
one of the times his tent blew down on a cliff in Australia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eHV324WLcis#t=652s
and another somewhere in southwest USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IlN4XJHDi-4#t=408s

Now I own and have used the Laser Comp, I have it well pegged into the ground via 4 guys with long strong pegs at max distance out, I don't know if Mark did that or not on the occasions above.

The two gripes I have are really its a condensation hog and it flaps a fair bit. Neither are reasons to call it a bad tent but simple facts.

Mark also only had a 1-season sleeping bag, and suffered a few nights because of that.

Well if you'd like to consider another similar design, the LightHeart SoLong 6 has much more room than a SkyScape Trekker (I'd say about 50% more room). The SoLong 6 is heavier though (by about 5 ounces I think.)

Mary - this should help clear some things up for you.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=62926

I am familiar with 6 different Tarptents being a long-time owner and user and so the owner of Tarptents can pretend that I am not familiar with their products but as others already know it's totally fabricated to discredit me. They went through my old posts and re-listed them on another thread just recently so H.S. fully knows better and I politely ask you in case of memory lapse from last week to go back and do a little research to get your facts straight instead of continually telling folks I am not familiar with your tents and I actually have more experience with them than most of the posters on the forum.... the posts you guys dug up about me clearly show that I own, use and reccomend TT's over a long time period so stop the fabrications for $$$ gain.

Edited by breeze on 05/12/2012 11:46:10 MDT.

nm. not worth the effort.

Edited by BER on 05/08/2012 12:38:04 MDT.

Sobr can you stop trashing up every thread?

Let's look at this logically. Either numerous other posters love TT profit somehow from pimping shires tents and are out to attack you. Or you alone are in the wrong.

Hmmm. Which seems more likely?

Here is a gem of a paragraph :
"I have been in your shoes with the usual condensation problems associated with single-walled tents that you mention made out of porous sil nylon especially when used in certain conditions and have found that the Lightheart Solo design eliminates all the problems and compromises that many of the traditional s.walled Tarptents and similar have by virtue of separating you from the wetness. "

So silnylon is no good except for when it is used by Lightheart, double wall shelters eliminate condensation problems except when done by Tarptent.
Brilliant.
Franco

Mike, again, what specifically do not like about the Notch? Your complaints about Tarp Tent do not answer questions about the Notch.

I love my Rain Shadow 2, but if I don't need the room, I take a smaller tent (BA FC2) but when I do, I really miss the ventilation the TT provides. I like the looks of the Notch but I like what I see from Lightheart too.

As for who posts what about which product, I think most of us can figure out which advice and opinions we will listen to and which we will take with a grain of salt.

Edited by bfayer on 05/08/2012 16:07:52 MDT.

Franco can belittle my bad communication skills but the original poster has at least hopefully gained useful inf0.

Edited by breeze on 12/10/2012 07:34:11 MST.

"If you look at all the posts the owner is clearly looking through $green$ glasses "

Funny, my dog chewed on my Rainshadow 2 and I sent it in to TT to get fixed. I told Henry that I was in no hurry whatsoever since I didn't need it for 5 months and to let me know what it cost when he was done. Not only would he not take money for repairing something that was clearly my fault, he wouldn't even take money for shipping it back to me because "they had it so long". Even though I got it back months before I told him I needed it. And I insisted multiple times to pay for both and he would not take a dime. So defining him as a greedy business owner just doesn't fly with me. Or as my friends in the south like to say: That dog won't hunt.