Deciding on a Hiking Tent
- Poco
- Jul 6, 2017
- 4 min read
It has taken an inordinate amount of time and research to make a decision on which tent I would purchase. With a plethora of tent styles, mind boggling features, and varying prices, my head was swimming. It came to the point I had to put in some 'deal breakers' to widdle my selection down.
The Deal Breakers
Weight. If you are car camping, weight is by and large a non-issue. However if you are hiking, particularly hiking where there is no option for a support car to deliver gear, every kilo on your back counts. The Big Four (Backpack, Tent, Sleeping Bag, Mattress) are the four items that have the greatest opportunity for weight reduction. As carrying a 20 kilo pack has zero appeal to me, I have been very mindful of the pack weight of the tent, whilst balancing that with comfort and protection from the elements and curious critters.
Pack Size. Similar to the above but in terms of volume it takes in the backpack. It needs to be small and easy to carry, allowing room for other important items such as food and scotch, strike that, I mean water.
Freestanding. Maybe not everyone's idea of a deal breaker, but to be able to pick up a tent, move it to a slightly different location without it collapsing, or even to be able to shake off the morning dew prior to pack-up, is a wonderfully great thing to be able to do, and is only achievable for a solo hiker if the tent is freestanding.
Head Height. Bivy bags may be the ultimate for keeping weight down, but if the weather rolls in and you're stuck in one location for a day or more, being stuck laying flat in a bivy bag would send me all sorts of crazy. The height of luxury (if you excuse the pun) in those circumstances is being able to sit up comfortably without your head hitting the tent.
Separate Fly, Full Mesh Tent Body. Having the versatility of taking the fly off when conditions are right was an absolute must. To be able to lie in the tent looking up at the stars, whilst being protected from mozzies and other critters is what I dream of.
The Contenders
The above 5 deal breakers eliminated the uber lightweight shelter options such as bivy bags and tarp tents, as well as the more luxury tents that simply weighed too much or took up too much room. What was left was:
Mont Moondance (Australia)
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV (USA)
In all honesty, either of these tents would suit my purpose. The features are pretty comparable. Both have similar floor plans and a neatly designed vent to reduce condensation. Another impressive feature both have is that the footprint, poles, and fly can be set up independently to the mesh tent body. This means is that if it is raining during set-up or pack-up, the tent body itself can stay dry (theoretically, wait for field test review for how this actually turns out in reality). It also means that if you want to save even more pack weight and you are hiking somewhere that is not likley to have 'weather', you can leave the mesh tent body at home and simply have a tarp-like shelter arrangement with the footprint, poles, and fly.
However, having said all that, this is dependent on having the footprint which is sold separately and naturally adds a little weight.
Copper Spur / Moondance Face-off
So how do these two stack up against each other? Because their features are relatively similar, and what differences there are were not that important to me in the whole equation, I'm going to focus on size and weight of the 1 and 2 person versions of each.
Mont Moondance 1 person
Floor Dimension: 220 x 80 cm
Floor Area: 1.74sqm
Height: 95 cm
Vestibule Area: 0.77 sqm
Tent Weight: 1.7kg
Footprint Weight: 0.16kg
Total Combined Weight: 1.86kg
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 1 person
Floor Dimension: 224 x 81 cm
Floor Area: 2.0sqm
Height: 94cm
Vestibule Area: .93sqm
Tent Weight: 1.13kg
Footprint Weight: 0.12kg
Total Combined Weight: 1.25kg
Mont Moondance 2 person
Floor Dimension: 220 x 123 cm
Floor Area: 2.66 sqm
Height: 101 cm
Vestibule Area: 1.25 sqm
Tent Weight:1.98kg
Footprint Weight: 0.22kg
Total Combined Weight: 2.2kg
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 person
Floor Dimension: 224 x 120cm
Floor Area: 2.69sqm
Height: 101.6 cm
Vestibule Area: 0.84sqm
Tent Weight: 1.39kg
Footprint Weight: 0.142kg
Total Combined Weight: 1.532kg
The Winner - Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 Person
I love the designs for both Moondance and Copper Spur, with the air vent, the 2 side access with the 2 person version, freestanding, versatility with a footprint... both tents have everything I value.
I've also made a decision to go with the 2 person version. Whilst I am mostly going solo, I like the flexibility of the 2 person. There will be ample room in the tent for sleeping and backpack, or an additional hiking buddy. Plus the cost, in terms of weight, was not that much more e.g. Big Agnes Copper Spur HV 1 person comes in at a meager 1.13kg with the 2 person version only weighing 260 grams more. Yes, that's right, the 2 person Big Agnes Copper Spur HV only weighs 1.39kg!!! That's less than the 1 person Mont Moondance tent that comes in at 1.7kg.. and that my friends, was the clincher.
Ultimately, when the features are so close, the deciding factor came down to a matter of weight. The Big Agnes Copper Spur is significantly lighter than the Mont Moondance.
I'm eagerly awaiting arrival of the purchase, let's hope it lives up to expectations... stay tuned, a full review of the tent including a field test, will be posted in the coming weeks.
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