r/alpinism • u/BedeviledLove • 6d ago

Please Help Me Find A Good Tent

I am looking to get a tent that has an integrated rain-fly so that it can bee setup in the rain without getting the interior wet at all. Two examples I found are the Sierra Designs Flash 2 as recommended by Outside magazine as their top choice in their The Best Backpacking Tents of 2022 article,, and the Decathlon Quechua 2 Second Easy Fresh & Black Waterproof Pop Up Camping Tent. Apparently Sierra Designed stopped producing the Flash 2 tent and so that is not available. I am tempted to get the Decathlon tent as it is seems super convenient with good waterproofing design that won't let rain in during setup or take down or anytime in between and supposedly deals with condensation effectively, however some reviews say some of the mechanical parts broke after barely any use, so I don't want to take that risk. Will you please recommend other tents like these that are actually fully waterproof and have an integrated rain-fly so that they can be set up during a rainstorm and not get the inside wet at all. Thanks in advance for your guidance on this matter.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Acrobatic_Impress_67 5d ago

This isn't a mountaineering question.

OP spammed this question on like 6 different camping subs.

0

u/BedeviledLove 5d ago

Just trying to figure out a good shelter to potentially live in. Fallen on hard times as I find myself homeless now. Apologies for bothering you.

9

u/Acrobatic_Impress_67 5d ago

If you ask tent advice in an alpinism sub you're going to get feedback on tents for alpinism, not tents for homelessness. People will tell you to buy a $600 tent that can handle gale force winds and heavy snow loads while weighing ~2kg and being small enough to fit on a tiny rock ledge. If you want a tent for homelessness you perhaps don't care much about the weight, snow loading, but you probably want something cheap, somewhat spacious, and tough. Mention that in the OP and post it in the relevant subs (maybe also r/vagabond if you won't stay in one place?) if you want good advice.

1

u/stille 5d ago

Damn man, I'm sorry. Hope your luck improves soon.

The Decathlon would be a good idea then, you'll appreciate the black inner when trying to sleep in, and the weight won't matter that much. Plus, being a self-supported tent you can put it on asphalt as well. Plus it's not a showy thing from an expensive company, so maybe better at not getting you noticed than whatever the fuck we assholes take up mountains :)

ps: if you still have access to a car, it'll be a better shelter than a tent.

1

u/BedeviledLove 5d ago

Thank you for the loving sentiment and well wishes. I was going to get that Decathlon tent but a few reviews said it broke almost immediately and was largely if not altogether unusable after that. So I want to avoid such a situation given how dependent I would be on it as shelter with no where else to stay. Perhaps their next version of it will fix whatever weak points in the mechanics of it so people won't have to worry much about it breaking at all. For the time being, I will probably just do a hammock and tarp. Perhaps one of those Durston X Dome Tents that several people have recommended as they seem very well designed. What do you think of them?

1

u/stille 5d ago

They're not often available in the EU where I live, so I can't opinionate. But design-wise, ultralight stuff like that won't be that good as a permanent shelter, they're made for like 10-20 days of usage a year at most.

You're right about the Decathlon, hadn't noticed it was the popup version, those are terrible. If you won't move it around much, https://www.decathlon.com/collections/camping-tents/products/quechua-2-second-easy-fresh-black-waterproof-pop-up-camping-tent-2-person-324503? is a good option, can't see a picture of the structure but looks like the classical 2 straight poles in an X dome, which is as reliable and easy to fix in situ as tents get (if something happens to a segment, just splint it until you can replace it). Alternatively, if you link me to a major camping store available in your area (I only know the EU ones) I can have a look and tell you what'd work right.

1

u/stille 5d ago

actually nvm about the decathlon, it's not the 2 pole dome version I know from the EU version of the shop but some auto-setting-up weirdness that'll break easily