M Sierra Designs Vapor Light 2 Tent Review

by Ray Estrella

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Article Summary:

The Sierra Designs Vapor Light 2 has the lowest trail weight of all the company's two-person double-wall tents at 3.44 pounds (1.56 kg). An interesting pole design adds room to make it more livable inside. Will the Vapor Light be one we want to share, or will it turn out to be Vapor Ware?

The Sierra Designs Vapor Light is a single-door, front entry tent that uses a hubbed pole system, ala the Big Agnes Seedhouse tents which I have years of experience with. But the Vapor Light adds something to the recipe with its trademarked Spider Hub. This Spider Hub, which is at the front of the tent, has a couple of short poles angling back towards the center of the tent. The ends of these poles clip to the inner tent body, holding the sides out to create steeper sides and more room inside.

Like many tents these days Sierra Designs has opted to use the DAC Jake’s Foot anchoring system with the Vapor Light. The poles snap into the Feet at each corner of the tent. Then the body clips to the poles with five pole-clips and a single H-clip under the Spider Hub. One thing I discovered while using the Vapor Light is that the optional footprint is easiest to clip to the Jake’s Feet before placing the tent on my desired spot, as the ends of the footprint have to be snapped on the bottoms of the Feet. This is the first time I have used a footprint with a Jake’s Foot tent.

The rain fly sits on top of the poles and hooks to the Jake’s Feet. Straps at the ends allow the fly to be tensioned after set-up. Hook-and-loop tabs inside the fly attach to the poles at the guy-points to add strength.

Two stakes are used to pull the vestibule out. The vestibule has a good sized door which makes entering and exiting a breeze, rather than an exercise in contortion.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

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