Jack Wolfskin Exolight III FR
Easiest tent to setup
Our take Watching your tent fill with water as you pitch it in a storm will ruin any trip. That’s why we love the external pitch of the three-person Exolight (the poles are on the outside of the fly): “I set the tent up in misty weather, and the only water that made it in was from my clothes,” said one tester after a trip to the Adirondacks. (When guyed out, there was no flexing or shaking in winds up to 20 mph.) And thanks to near-vertical walls, he was able to crawl inside without worrying about the drip line during the wet weekend. Tradeoff: It’s expensive for the weight and space.
The details The Exolight’s 38-square-foot floor is a tight fit for three adults sleeping head-to-toe, and the two 7-square-foot vestibules are snug for three people’s-worth of gear. Designers shave weight with a 20-denier nylon fly, and the tent’s 40-denier siliconized nylon floor handled a season of New England’s sharp rocks and roots without any marks. Bummer: Breathability is minimal on cold nights.
$550; 5 lbs. 1 oz.; 3P