Quote:
Originally Posted by raised by wolves
The MSR is a good tent but not for me. I was drawn to the Sierra Designs Lightyear (1 person) and the Clip Flashlight (2 person). I love the light weight and tapered designs for dealing with wind on top of a mountain.
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I bought a couple of Sierra Designs lightweight tents about a decade ago, maybe more. That was the last time I bought their products. They were the exact same tents purchased within a year or so apart from different places. I thought it was amazing and that’s why I bought another one. The thing was that I didn’t get a chance to use it in crappy weather before I bought the second one. What I found out later, the roof leaked on both (material itself). And so did the floor if there happened to be water on the ground (obviously found out about it at night). Always used with footprints. Then, I haven’t used them for a few years because I bought something else, but when I wanted to do so one summer, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that all the tape has fallen apart. They were, of course, stored properly. Can’t say I really care about the tape at this point because I would never use them if there is a chance of rain. But the fact remains and there is more as shown on the photos below.
They do have lifetime warranty, supposedly. I contacted them a few times, but no one has ever gotten back to me. I wrote a story, took a bunch of pics and submitted a claim online. I received an auto reply about a week later that they were overwhelmed with inquiries and would get back to me within a few weeks (lol!). A few weeks later they sent me another email, saying they apologised for the delay and here is a 20% off coupon for me to shop at their store while I keep waiting (lol!). I have never heard from them again.
Needless to say, never again, even they start making the best products in the world.
For good summer weather though, they are hard to beat, lol. I also have a great quality light weight tarp, which I set up above a tent and it worked very well in a drizzle. That was before there was a half an hour or so long downpour in the middle of the night and I found out that floors were no good either. It’s kind of funny now, but it wasn’t at the moment. I spent quite a bit of time moving the tent around in the rain in the middle of the night trying to get it to a “better” spot to keep the water out. It was downpour, so eventually there was water everywhere.
The last pic shows that every single thing that was glued simply fell off. Can’t open vents now or hold the “doors” open.
These tents were over $400 each retail. I bought the second one at a deep discount because they were discontinued that year, if I recall correctly.
I still have (I think) that 20% off coupon if anyone is interested (not sure it is still valid though). Lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marky_mark
Hilleberg
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That is what I bought. Sure, expensive. But if you want a tent that would last a lifetime, quite literally, this is what one should buy. Every time. These tents would take you to Everest and back, if you are capable because the tents sure are. Plus, if you want to get rid of it, years later they will still cost quite a bit used and you will get most of what you paid for back. These are excellent tents. I have been to many places with mine, all kinds of weather, and have not been disappointed even once. Expensive is the only downside. Still looks like new after years of use.
In that story with the leaking floors above, while I was moving the tent all around, my friends were sleeping in the Hilleberg tent a few feet away and they didn’t even know it was raining like crazy for some time during the night, lol. That’s when I knew what I was going to buy next once I save up some money.
I heard plenty about MSR tents, mostly good things. What I remember reading a while back is that there could be problems with tape as well. These are very popular tents given the price point, so there are tons of discussions about them on different forums on the internet. You can try googling and see what people say. They aren’t new models either and have been around for a long time, so you can find some decent feedback.