Reader Reviews

Rating: 3 / 5

Good:
*Sil-nylon cat cut tarp, elongated hexagon.
*Small and light.
*Can purchase with REI gift cards!
*Use as dining fly or windbreak for 2, awning, minimal solo shelter, etc.
*MSR suitably answered my questions via email.

Bad:
*Not in REI stores. Online only.
*Perhaps a few dollars more than some comparable cottage goods.
*Emergency packaging/soda can size. Good communication for mass market, but readers of BPL will unpack and test before bringing on the trail.

Note: The factory packed, PU-coated nylon taffeta, soda can sized stuffsack shares it's bottom panel with a larger silnylon stuffsack inside. Easy to re-pack in the larger sack, if less elegant. This is only a small price to pay to see such a product carried by a major retailer.

Edit: Downgraded from 4 to 3. I just returned it to REI after a whole year (so I guess you can add a point to REI) because it is just not big enough to inspire confidence. I haven't found a bivy I like, so I never use the E-Wing.

Edited by tippymcstagger on 02/02/2010 22:33:24 MST.

Rating: 5 / 5

I'm giving this a five because I have no complaints, provided you keep in mind what this critter is (small).

The E-wing is not big enough to provide fail-safe solo protection for one person in strong rain and wind without a bivy sack. It is big enough to protect one person without a bivy from normal rain, and works quite nicely as a head tarp for two people in (waterproof) bivy sacks. It makes a great vestibule for a BD Firstlight.

The Hex shape is very quick and easy to pitch taut, and it's small and light. Stitching is tight and with nice burly industrial thread. It's a mainstay of my fairweather summer solo kit.

Rating: 4 / 5

I use my e-wing in conjunction with a lightweight RAB bivvy bag. In fairly calm weather I pitch it in ridge tent mode, otherwise as a lean to windbreak. It is NOT a tent - it provides shelter for your top half so you don't need to pull the bivvy bag tight, with all the condensation that entails. The combination, weighing about 650g, has kept me warm and dry in seriously wet and windy weather at summit height (1000m in the UK). Apart from the weight, the good thing is the cut: the fabric is all in tension, middle and edges, so there's no machine gun rattle in a wind. The one thing I don't like? Seams need sealing.