Backpacker Magazine – January 2013

Gear Review: Marmot Traillight 2 Tent

68-denier ripstop polyester on the canopy and fly make this tent a burly one.

by: Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan

Tags:
• Gear
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• Tents
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• Marmot
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Durable Value
This tough tent saw our tester through two months of continuous use on a West Coast road trip and emerged like new. Credit the burly, 68-denier ripstop polyester on the canopy and fly (70-denier on the floor), the snag-free zippers, and DAC Pressfit poles (see "Tech Talk"). Eight guy-out loops also helped anchor the Traillight in 50-mph gusts near Death Valley National Park; the wind blew the poles inward but left no lasting damage—remarkable strength in a sub-$200 tent. The shelter doesn’t skimp on living space, either. A six-foot tester and his girlfriend rode out a three-day Oregon downpour comfortably, and “there was even enough room for us to bring a duffel bag of climbing gear into the tent.”

Two large doors offer easy entry/exit and a 9.6-square-foot vestibule provides plenty of elbowroom for ventilated cooking (the other door sports a mini vestibule that fits two pairs of boots). Two color-coded poles with clips make pitching swift and easy, and large mesh sections enhance airflow, keeping sleepers from stifling on 100°F-plus nights in the Mojave. Tradeoffs: The Traillight lacks a bathtub floor, so when hard rain splattered mud under the fly, it gunked up the mesh canopy. The storm flap on the vestibule’s zipper leaked when wind-blown rain snuck underneath. And it’s among the heaviest in the test. $199; 5 lbs. 3 oz.; marmot.com


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