Tha ks for the video. I've been looking for a 3 person hiking tent that could fit gear, expecting it to be tight. You're the only person I've seen measuring the sleeping pad!!! So many people show how a tent looks, but don't say how big a sleeping pad is. You guys have really wide sleeping pads. Standard size is 20", which is unrealistic. But a good-sized pad is 25" not too big, not too small. It It really sounds like you want a 4 person tent. Kelty makes some good, affordable, spacious ones, so does Eureka.
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, not a lot of people measure things, and I always want to know the measurements, so I always try to measure a lot when I do a review. Thanks for the tent recommendations!! We picked up the Kelty Late Start 4 a few days ago, and I’ll be doing a review on it soon. I think it’s the one we’re going to keep🤙
@Adrian of the West nice. Thats what i am leaning to buy for a summer tent. And then the big agnus 3 hotel for fall & spring. Possibly adding a hot tent chimmny hole kit for even colder weather.
Thank you for the info! The Big Agnes web site has some instructions I can't quite understand (for the Blacktail 2, but I assume it's the same: 7. Drape the fly over the tent body and match the colors of the webbing on the fly with the webbing on the body. 8. Insert the tips of the crossover pole into the small pockets located on the underside of the fly. 9. Make sure the webbing at the corners of the fly is completely slackened. Attach the buckles on the fly to those on the tent body. 10. Tighten the webbing on each buckle as needed to keep the fly taut. I don't see any color coordination for webbing (or where the webbing is for that matter). I don't understand where the pockets are on the underside of the fly for the crossover pole.
This is a very informative video. Taking measurements is always a good thing in my view when doing a review, so well done. Do you mind if I ask how tall you are ? Cheers
Thanks man. At 6' 4", I'd say you *might* fit, but you'd probably be in contact with the tent on both ends. If you're solo, you may be able to sleep diagonally, which should give you the space, but that might interfere with your sleeping pad, depending on its width. We ended up eventually buying the Kodiak Canvas 8.5 x 6, which is a great tent for car camping but isn't suitable for backpacking by any means (too heavy). If you want a car camping tent, I highly recommend the Kodiak 8.5 x 6. You can see a video I did on that tent here: th-cam.com/video/ckqsodcjKfk/w-d-xo.html. Also, you might want to check out @DarwinOnthetrail. His channel is loaded with great videos and tons of info. Darwin is a taller dude, too--I think he's 6' 2". He's a true outdoorsman who has hiked about 10,000 miles and knows his shit. His channel is pretty big, so you may find a good tent on there, but if you don't, you could drop a comment or shoot him a DM in Instagram and maybe get a reply/recommendation from him. But again, his channel is >300k subs, so I wouldn't bank on him replying because he probably gets a ton of comments, etc. Good luck bro.
Overall good review. Would have been nice to tell us how tall you were when you were saying how much head and foot room you had. Also, regarding bent poles, did it occur to you that it was intentional to reduce stress on the poles by pre-bending them? It seems like a good idea to me, i really don't care about the slight bend when packing the tent. IT would have been nice to show how spacious the vestibules were.
The one nitpick about the Blacktail is there are no velcro tabs on the fly to attach to the poles at the guy out points. I prefer having the velcro tabs on the fly for windy situations, where then the poles will take the brunt of the wind load, instead of relying on the stakes and the plastic connection points to the body. Also, the doors on mine have a zipper defect on both sides. There's enough tension on the doors, at a section of the zipper on both doors are pulled apart (you can see a lot of light through the defect)
I just bought the 4-person version of this tent because it seems possible here to build up the outer tent first, using the matching footprint. Do you agree or have you tested that? Or the other way round: if the rainfly is wet inside and outside, it should be possible to take away the inner tent first and pack it up dry, am I right? We had the Salewa Denali IV and there it's not possible that way, because the pes go through hoses on the inner tent and you always have to remove the rainfly first...
I didn't test that, but I would say it would probably be difficult. The poles gain a lot of their stability from the tension the tent itself places on the poles when the tent is clipped onto the poles; if the tent weren't clipped, the poles may just fall over. You might be able to take down the tent body before removing the rain fly, but it would probably be difficult if the fly was still under tension from being staked to the ground, and it might be hard to pull the tent body clips off the poles with the rain fly still attached (especially if the fly is under tension). And again, without the tent connected, the poles may topple over--although, if the fly were staked and under tension, that would help support the poles, but then the fly might be so tight you couldn't unclip the tend body from the poles. Overall, I don't think it would work, but please test it out and come back and let everyone know!
So out of all the tents you reviewed which did you go with? (you also should do a review on it out in the wild with your thoughts on it) Also, you never did the orange sleeping pad review? (I didn't see it anywhere)
First off, this is an awesome review. Extremely thorough and plenty of detail. However I am curious if you think the rain fly vestibule offers enough space for one 50L pack on each side?
Thanks! And yeah, I’d say you could get a pack in there. A 50L might be a bit tight, but I think it would work-really just depends on the dims of the pack.
Thank you for great and details review. I thing I want to ask, you added footprint weight to the description of the video. Does the tent comes with footprint?
@@adrianofthewest Thanks again for quick reply. Yes I just ordered 2P version for occasional 2P backpacking trip. Can’t do 3P for weight issue but I think we can fit inside during summer well enough 😂
Thank you so much for this. I just bought, I am a novice, and watching this was comforting as it confirms I made a great choice, especially for 1+dog hiking situations. Really thorough review. Would have loved to know how it performed in rain, but hopefully I don't find out any time soon.🙂
Great thorough review, just my metric sizing needs google to tell me, but with that accent I kind of get it lol . The original specs of actual weight in hand and the length are BS form Big Agnes though!. Why do most tent manufactures BS on this. The tent is nearly half a punt heavier and quite a few inch's! shorter than the actual specs given from BA. No wonder people send things back all the time. I was going to buy this but considering its way shorter and a lot heavier than claimed I wont bother.
Tha ks for the video. I've been looking for a 3 person hiking tent that could fit gear, expecting it to be tight. You're the only person I've seen measuring the sleeping pad!!! So many people show how a tent looks, but don't say how big a sleeping pad is. You guys have really wide sleeping pads. Standard size is 20", which is unrealistic. But a good-sized pad is 25" not too big, not too small. It
It really sounds like you want a 4 person tent. Kelty makes some good, affordable, spacious ones, so does Eureka.
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, not a lot of people measure things, and I always want to know the measurements, so I always try to measure a lot when I do a review. Thanks for the tent recommendations!! We picked up the Kelty Late Start 4 a few days ago, and I’ll be doing a review on it soon. I think it’s the one we’re going to keep🤙
@Adrian of the West nice. Thats what i am leaning to buy for a summer tent. And then the big agnus 3 hotel for fall & spring. Possibly adding a hot tent chimmny hole kit for even colder weather.
That would be legit with a chimney
Nice video! You skipped the sliding the cross pole into the rainfly pockets. I found that part to be a bit tricky.
Thanks!
This is great thank you mate!
Glad it helped!
Thank you for the info! The Big Agnes web site has some instructions I can't quite understand (for the Blacktail 2, but I assume it's the same:
7. Drape the fly over the tent body and match the colors of the webbing on the fly with the webbing on the body.
8. Insert the tips of the crossover pole into the small pockets located on the underside of the fly.
9. Make sure the webbing at the corners of the fly is completely slackened. Attach the buckles on the fly to those on the tent body.
10. Tighten the webbing on each buckle as needed to keep the fly taut.
I don't see any color coordination for webbing (or where the webbing is for that matter). I don't understand where the pockets are on the underside of the fly for the crossover pole.
Thanks!
Good job. Just the detailed info I was looking for. Looks like it is what I want for one person motorcycle camping.
Thanks man, glad it helped 🤙
This is a very informative video. Taking measurements is always a good thing in my view when doing a review, so well done. Do you mind if I ask how tall you are ? Cheers
Thanks mate🤙 And I’m 6’ 1”
Very nice review. I'm 6' 4", so I assume the tent isn't suitable for me, right? Do you have any suggestions for a tent that might fit? Thanks a lot.
Thanks man. At 6' 4", I'd say you *might* fit, but you'd probably be in contact with the tent on both ends. If you're solo, you may be able to sleep diagonally, which should give you the space, but that might interfere with your sleeping pad, depending on its width. We ended up eventually buying the Kodiak Canvas 8.5 x 6, which is a great tent for car camping but isn't suitable for backpacking by any means (too heavy). If you want a car camping tent, I highly recommend the Kodiak 8.5 x 6. You can see a video I did on that tent here: th-cam.com/video/ckqsodcjKfk/w-d-xo.html.
Also, you might want to check out @DarwinOnthetrail. His channel is loaded with great videos and tons of info. Darwin is a taller dude, too--I think he's 6' 2". He's a true outdoorsman who has hiked about 10,000 miles and knows his shit. His channel is pretty big, so you may find a good tent on there, but if you don't, you could drop a comment or shoot him a DM in Instagram and maybe get a reply/recommendation from him. But again, his channel is >300k subs, so I wouldn't bank on him replying because he probably gets a ton of comments, etc.
Good luck bro.
I just started to use the Big Agnes Blacktail 2p tent warmer then my Nemo aurora 2p tent
🤙
Overall good review. Would have been nice to tell us how tall you were when you were saying how much head and foot room you had. Also, regarding bent poles, did it occur to you that it was intentional to reduce stress on the poles by pre-bending them? It seems like a good idea to me, i really don't care about the slight bend when packing the tent. IT would have been nice to show how spacious the vestibules were.
Thanks, Mike! I’m 6’1” for reference. And I didn’t consider the poles were bent to reduce stress on them, but thanks for pointing that out for us.
The one nitpick about the Blacktail is there are no velcro tabs on the fly to attach to the poles at the guy out points. I prefer having the velcro tabs on the fly for windy situations, where then the poles will take the brunt of the wind load, instead of relying on the stakes and the plastic connection points to the body.
Also, the doors on mine have a zipper defect on both sides. There's enough tension on the doors, at a section of the zipper on both doors are pulled apart (you can see a lot of light through the defect)
Good feedback, thanks 🤙
I just bought the 4-person version of this tent because it seems possible here to build up the outer tent first, using the matching footprint. Do you agree or have you tested that?
Or the other way round: if the rainfly is wet inside and outside, it should be possible to take away the inner tent first and pack it up dry, am I right?
We had the Salewa Denali IV and there it's not possible that way, because the pes go through hoses on the inner tent and you always have to remove the rainfly first...
I didn't test that, but I would say it would probably be difficult. The poles gain a lot of their stability from the tension the tent itself places on the poles when the tent is clipped onto the poles; if the tent weren't clipped, the poles may just fall over. You might be able to take down the tent body before removing the rain fly, but it would probably be difficult if the fly was still under tension from being staked to the ground, and it might be hard to pull the tent body clips off the poles with the rain fly still attached (especially if the fly is under tension). And again, without the tent connected, the poles may topple over--although, if the fly were staked and under tension, that would help support the poles, but then the fly might be so tight you couldn't unclip the tend body from the poles.
Overall, I don't think it would work, but please test it out and come back and let everyone know!
So out of all the tents you reviewed which did you go with? (you also should do a review on it out in the wild with your thoughts on it) Also, you never did the orange sleeping pad review? (I didn't see it anywhere)
Funny enough, we ended up with a totally different tent, and I just posted that video now.
First off, this is an awesome review. Extremely thorough and plenty of detail. However I am curious if you think the rain fly vestibule offers enough space for one 50L pack on each side?
Thanks! And yeah, I’d say you could get a pack in there. A 50L might be a bit tight, but I think it would work-really just depends on the dims of the pack.
@@adrianofthewest Awesome, thanks for the reply! I went ahead and bought one
You bet! Come back and let everyone know what you think of the tent 🙌🤙
Thank you for great and details review. I thing I want to ask, you added footprint weight to the description of the video. Does the tent comes with footprint?
Thanks, dude! I copied and pasted the description from Big Agnes' website. The tent didn't come with a footprint.
@@adrianofthewest Thanks again for quick reply. Yes I just ordered 2P version for occasional 2P backpacking trip. Can’t do 3P for weight issue but I think we can fit inside during summer well enough 😂
Yeah buddy🤙🤙 hope you like it!
Thank you so much for this. I just bought, I am a novice, and watching this was comforting as it confirms I made a great choice, especially for 1+dog hiking situations. Really thorough review. Would have loved to know how it performed in rain, but hopefully I don't find out any time soon.🙂
You bet! I’m glad you found it helpful!🤙🤙
The vestibules are perfect for backpacks no?
They're ok, better than nothing for sure. I personally like to have my pack in the tent with me, but that's not really possible with smaller tents.
I am looking at the two man for myself your sleeping pads are huge tho ,cheers
Massive!
Great thorough review, just my metric sizing needs google to tell me, but with that accent I kind of get it lol . The original specs of actual weight in hand and the length are BS form Big Agnes though!. Why do most tent manufactures BS on this. The tent is nearly half a punt heavier and quite a few inch's! shorter than the actual specs given from BA. No wonder people send things back all the time. I was going to buy this but considering its way shorter and a lot heavier than claimed I wont bother.
Glad it helped ya mate🤙
How tall are you
6’ 1”
LOL....Pro Tip..."sometime you need to step on your tent to stop it from sliding" How many years did you have to study for that? LOL
All of them haha