Reader Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5

I recently bought this tent for a trip through New Zealand. I also purchased the inside liner and it was $250 total. I do not use trekking poles, so I've been setting it up with stakes, but I have tried it at home with poles, and was amazed at the stability.

Pros:
*Light at 48oz with liner and stakes
*Floor comes up a few inches on the sides to keep water out
*Bug netting for protection
*Doors and vestibules on BOTH sides (no crawling over someone to get out!)
*Good fit for 2 people (unlike many 2-person tents)

Cons:
*Stuff sack is huge, use a compression sack instead
*Slightly flimsy, heavy winds might be a problem since there is only the one main pole
*The plastic in the vents to hold them out does not keep shape after being packed in a compression sack
*The sides do not go quite all the way to the ground - this is not a problem for rain protection since it goes beyond the floor, but wind comes through. It would be fine for summer as a vent but not great in colder conditions

I was looking for something resembling a regular tent but reducing the weight and this was great for that.

Rating: 5 / 5

With only one review for the rainbow, I had to put my 2 cents in here.

Adding on the above post.

Straight out of the box (tent, stuff sack, stakes etc.) and thrown on a scale, mine comes in at 40.55 oz. Quality is outstanding and has held up well to my abuse.
Primary use is for 3 season camping with my girlfriend and solo winter use. If pitched properly, and site selected with care, this is a very versatile shelter. I have not experienced condensation in the summer months – winter use shows significant frost on the inside of the shelter. Open the doors and shake it out. Nice length for a 6’2.5” person, a winter bag, and plenty of gear.
Dual door/vestibules, great ventilation, easy setup (freestanding option), and a light weight make this my top pick for a 2 person tent.

5 stars all the way!

Rating: 5 / 5

DR in the snow!




Its a great lightweight 2 persons tent.
First i like the headroom and 2 larges entries .
My wife and i are not tall ( 1,74 and 1,60) so we have room at our feet for some equipement
It is very easy to set up, with doors closed or open as a "porch" when climate permits for more ventilation.
I had some condensation as i expected, but there is enough headroom and the wall are verticals enough so i dont touch them while sleeping and i can easily wipe the condensation if i wake up during the night.

edited : now the link works :)

Edited by Fre49 on 02/20/2008 09:46:18 MST.

Rating: 4 / 5

This is my favourite tent, BUT we have had to make a LOT of modifications to it to get it this way. Ours is the original version, and I think Henry has fixed a lot of these problems on newer models which would make it a 5...

Room fo both of us AND still has enough footroom for our small dog and his foam mat :)

Extended rain porch (a DIY job) adds enough coverage for two extra people sleeping in bivys in a pinch. Added guy line tie outs and centre pole grommets allow trekking poles to add additional support in strong winds. Awesome amount of space when porches are deployed. Plenty of room to cook out of the rain (of course this is not officially endorsed by the manufacturer). Like all single wall tents, it's prone to condensation in cool calm weather, but there's enough headroom that you don't have to brush up against the condensation. The optional liner didn't work well for us...it just channeled the condensation to the edges of the tent where it overhangs our sleeping bags and drips on them. But the liner does reduce heat gain on hot sunny days. We have used it in gale-force winds, and with plenty of staking, it holds up fine. I'm talking 12-14 stakes and extra guylines. The tent only came with 4 stakes, which isn't enough unless you use the freestanding trekking pole set up with no or light winds. We cut this option off our tent as we would never use it.

For the weight, this is a choice 2-person 3+ season tent. If it were available in Spectralite or similar spinnaker fabric, I would definitely buy another one!

Rating: 5 / 5

My wife and I have been using a Double Rainbow for about a year now, and aside from it being a little too narrow in some instances, we give it a 5.

The BPL review and previous reader reviews are accurate in our experience, so I'll just share one story. We were on our honeymoon in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, camping at one of those remote sites on the older lava flows where the huge slope of Mauna Loa meets the sea. The tent was really tested when the trade winds came overnight, blowing strong enough to press the top of the tent--the apex of the curved pole--against our faces while lying down several times through the night. Wondering how the one-pole design would stand-up to these winds, we could only laugh as the tent snapped back into place again and again. (We do not have the optional extra ridge pole guy lines.)

The seams and craftmanship of the tent were also put to the test, as the walls were absolutely covered in those big Hawaii cockroaches all night--without a breach.

Rating: 4 / 5

Just to add some to the above reviews:

Wind: Hadn't had a chance to use in the extreme wind but contemplating taking this tent on a winter trip. The new version has standard tieouts on the sides plus you can utilize your poles for extra stability.

Poles as freestanding: never had to use this setup as stake setup provides the most tention.

Guylines: Doesn't come with extra so make sure you get your own line for the porch setup and other more versatile setups. the tent comes with very short guylines.

Floor: make sure to tie the sides of the floor to the stakes - it makes the floor more tub-like.

Seamsealing: is the pain..don't make your own sealant, buy the silnet. I ruined my cell phone by not tieing up my acetone bottle correctly and placing in the same backpack pocket.

Leaking: your tent will leak at the seams if you don't seamseal the seams, especially the ones on the side of the tent in the area where velcro door ties are sewn in. Those leaked in the rain, but i didn't seamm seal the tent. Make sure to seam seal if you expect rain.

Space: is amazingly large, very nice for two people.

Assembly: quick and easy - great feature.

Condensation: compared with our predecessor, double walled SD Clip Flashlight, there is no major difference. Both experience fairly the same amount of condesation in various conditions (we live in WA state). so no need to buy inner tent wallls.

Stakes: don't use the provided stakes (they are fragile) but get a set of thin titanium stakes instead.

I would give it a five if not for 1. extra guyline 2. seam sealing and 3. better stakes.

Rating: 4 / 5

I got to finally test my 2010 updated Double Rainbow on Superior Hiking Trail last weekend.

There is enough room for two 6'1" 220lb guys sleeping head to toe.

The vents at each end and the option to raise the bathtub floor is great.

Setup was extremely fast. It would only take me a minute or so.

The zippers are very tiny so I added some reflective cord to make it easier to zip.


A few minor things I would change.

I felt the bathtub floor could be higher around the doors. There seems to be too much mesh on the door sides which cause the floor to lay flat close to the ground.
The Vents do not stick out as much as the earlier version of the Double Rainbow and restricts air movement.
The cross strut at the top could be longer so the mesh walls are more vertical. I noticed I would be touching the mesh when I was sleeping.
The interior pockets could be sewn into the mesh walls not just hanging because if two are sleeping in the tent, items in the pocket would hit your head or feet.

Rating: 5 / 5

I bought this a few years ago. This was the first single wall I liked. We bought a SMD Lunar Duo and didn't like it so we went with this one. I use this as my solo tent so that I can have my stuff with me inside the tent. I have seam sealed this tent a couple of times, once the wrong way but it has worked itself out. Never had any condensation issue once the tent was seam sealed properly, my fault. I used it on a couple of cold nights in the whites. I put it up on a tent pad with guy lines and it was great. No issues. When I set it up on the ground, I like the additional vestibule space that can be made with the doors, especially if its raining outside a little. If the bugs aren't bad, Ill just hangout in the doorway setting up my sleeping stuff and just getting my stuff organized. I don't really carry much "stuff". I keep things pretty simple in my pack and this tent is the perfect shelter for long distance hiking. Like I said, I like it as a solo tent. My wife still doesn't like the single walls so this is my tent for part of my e2e this summer.