Reader Reviews

Rating: 4 / 5

I've spent about 10 nights in this tent.

What I like:
- Carbon Fibre Poles are ridiculously light
- 10,000mm waterproof floor is impressive for an UL tent
- Overall trail weight under 3 lbs with Ti stakes and no stuff sacks (I use 2 hair elastics to keep it rolled up)
- High quality feel
- The 1.5 pole tent design is clever, spacious (headroom!) and solid.
- The cleaver tension adjusters at the 4 corners make it very easy to adjust the tension of both the tent body and fly.
- Inner mesh pockets are well placed. You can easily find them in the dark
- Having about a foot of extra length is really handy for our dog to sleep. It's also nice to have this space for chucking your misc stuff.

Dislikes:

- Access to the back vestibule through the vertical zip is difficult. I almost never use this vestibule because it's a pain. An L shaped zip would provide much better access.
- Being non-freestanding, you can't pick it up and shake out all the dirt that accumulates after a few days on the trail.
- Could be lighter with a silnylon (or cuben!) fly.
- Could use an extra couple inches of width to make things more spacious for two larger adults.

Edited by dandydan on 12/23/2009 23:39:22 MST.

Rating: 4 / 5

My wife and I purchased this tent about 3 years ago. Since then, it's accompanied us to a variety of destinations many of which span the reaches of the globe. The necessity of an extremely secure and weatherproof two person double walled shelter led me to this purchase, which was not an easy one to swallow. The first thing that, I would assume, most people will notice about the MSR Carbon Reflex series is the stinking high price tag, but if you can come to terms with that great, and if you can find one in superb used condition even better. I think we paid something in the neighborhood of $450 U.S. which at least by my standards is out of the realm of sensible judgement. Regardless, once you can swallow the price tag, then it's really smooth sailing. The CR2 is very sturdy, in wind, rain, and a combination of both. I personally can't recall having another shelter that out performs it in the category of durability. Many of the bombproof features of the carbon reflex can be attributed to the robust materials. To my knowledge there isn't an inch of silicone nylon on this tent, which means no sag, and no groundcloth necessary. The Hubba style tent vents extremely well in environments both humid and arid. I think it's a time tested design that works. I found the specified floor space and overhead to be accurate. There is plenty of room for two adults, and tons of vestibule space on both sides of the fly.

Criticisms that I have include the weight and packed volume of this tent. The packed weight measures 3lbs. 8oz. on my scale which is by no means light as hell, but when the contents is split between two people, it's quite manageable. The packed size is 6"X20" as well. While this is both heavier and larger than my Big Agnes Fly Creek 2, it's also, drier, tighter, and roomier. I also had the shorter carbon pole that spans the top of the tent fail on the second night of a 6 day trip in RMNP which was a bummer. Fortunately, I had the necessary repair sleeve on hand, and it was no biggie. Cascade designs was awesome about replacing the part, paid for shipping, and sent me a completely re designed version of my pole.

In Conclusion, I think this tent is an excellent choice for anyone who might camp with others (wife etc.) requiring a fully enclosed floored shelter that is sturdy, dry and has tons of storage. While pricy, it is quite worry free, and you can spend some serious time in it.

Edited by ctufankjian on 10/05/2012 12:34:11 MDT.