My boyfriend and I are looking at Easton Mountain Products Kilo 3 tent as a double wall tent that is lighter than our current one. I can't find any reviews anywhere about it, even though it's received an Outdoor Gear award for 2012. The one thing that I'm a little concerned about is the fact that is uses carbon fiber tent poles, simply because I've never used them. We are not thrashing our gear, but take care of it, so I assume I should have no worries, but what happens if a pole breaks? I know what to do for an aluminum pole, but carbon fiber tends to shatter, not bend.

How sturdy are the carbon fiber poles, and what do you do if they fail?

7 page thread with several people showing their pictures and discussing them

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=35678&startat=100

3 person review

http://www.upadowna.org/gear/review/easton-kilo-3p-tent

2 person

http://sectionhiker.com/easton-mountain-products-kilo-2p-lightweight-tent-review/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27uaoLRQol0

Carbon fiber poles seem pretty good to me. I have a Sierra Designs tent, maybe twenty years old, that uses early carbon fiber poles. Those poles have been used in the slightly curved way for all of these years without any problem. I agree, if you beat on them too much, they would shatter. Also, you want to keep them somewhat clean. Sand and gravel will shorten the life of the joints and the internal shockcord.

I also have straight Fibraplex poles that I use for a modern low tarp. They are much lighter and much shorter, but they seem to do OK as long as I don't let airline baggage handlers get their hooks into them. One Fibraplex was crushed on the way across Alaska.

If you have a minor problem with a pole, you might be able to apply a piece of duct tape. They also make an aluminum repair sleeve to slip over two ends. However, mine doesn't fit anything, so I never carry it. You can splint a broken pole with something and then use duct tape. In Alaska, I simply picked up one piece of tree branch and used that instead of one pole.

Now, when I carry my Fibraplex poles, I wrap them up with my plastic ground sheet and pop a couple of rubber bands around that. Then they are carried inside my backpack. No problem.

--B.G.--