REI Co-op Quarter Dome SL 2
Best all-around
Our take The Goldilocks of two-person tents, the Quarter Dome SL 2 has a just-right balance between weight, space, and price. Shaped like a trapezoid, the floorplan is wider at the head than the feet to put space where you need it, and integrated corner struts in the foot keep the tent from hitting your sleeping bag. (Two full-size sleeping bags fit fine.) A pair of 10.8-square-foot vestibules fit enough gear to make mountain guides happy. Ding: Interior mesh pockets are too close to the doors and get caught in the zippers.
The details “Thanks to the full mesh walls, this thing breathes incredibly well. We never saw a drop of condensation,” said one tester after a 40°F night in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. A hubbed-pole design and color coding make for a two-minute setup, even when one tester pitched this semi-freestanding double-wall by himself in a downpour on Vermont’s Long Trail. Bummer: One mountain guide says the 15-denier nylon floor never quite pitched tautly, which diminishes floor space a tad.
Trail cred “Thanks to the pole’s five branches and a secure fly pitch, the Quarter Dome stood tall in 30-mph wind and heinous rain in Vermont’s Green Mountains,” says our guide tester.