A great 3 season tent for one person, but it will work for two
Written: Jun 04 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lightweight, Budget Friendly, Awesome internal Pockets
Cons: Not Freestanding, Very Cramped for two people
The Bottom Line: Lightweight, easy on the budget, great for one person, okay for short 2-person trips. It has its flaws but I still recommend it. Read on...
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| wvabackpacker's Full Review: Mountain Hardwear Trinity |
The Mountain Hardwear Trinity. What can I say? It's a great tent for one person or two small persons. I slept in this tent with a friend. Both of us are around 5'11" and weigh from 180-240lbs. And let me tell you...I wouldn't want to be stuck in this tent very long with a friend in a storm.
We paid $136 for this tent on closeout. It is manufactured by Mountain Hardwear. Our model is from the year 2001. I don't believe this tent is commercially available anymore, however, you may find it on eBay.com and other websites such as GearXchange.com.
The lowdown:
Dimensions: The posted dimensions for this tent are 102" X 57" X 40.5"h
Weight: 4lbs 2oz. packed
Material: Made of naturally hydrophobic, UV-resistant 50-denier ripstop polyester, it doesn't stretch like nylon when wet, so your original pitch stays taut. Floor and fly are both fully taped.
Epinion: Don't let the dimensions fool you. The tent is oddly shaped. The actual interior dimensions are around 76"x56", the vestibule takes up the remaining 26". The manufacturer claims that the vestibule is 6.5sq feet.
Sleeping: Like I stated earlier, great for one person. If you are using this tent alone you can fit most of your gear inside the tent and vestibule and sleep comfortably. However, sleeping two can get quite close. My trail mate and I both sleep on foam RidgeRest mattresses. The mattresses have a few inches between them at the head of the tent, but they end up overlapping at the foot. The tent goes from wide at the head to slim towards the foot, but to a flat end, not a point. This means you should be comfortable with the possibility of bumping your trailmate when you sleep, no freaking out. If you move around any, chances are your legs and feet will bump and possibly your upper body, arms, etc. This tent IS close quarters. Be glad when you're camping people spend very little time sleeping...
Take note that there wasn't much room in the tent with two people and sleeping bags. We had room in the vestibule for our shoes and a couple small items.
Pockets: The tent has some cool inside pockets. Both sides of the tent of pockets big enough to store everything in your pockets. I put my wallet, watch, compass, chapstick, ring, and a few more items in my pocket and had plenty of room for more. Also, the coolest pockets...I didn't notice it until I laid down... Up high on the side is a pocket to put a small flashlight or a pair of glasses. If you stick a flashlight in the pocket and turn it on, the light will reflect off the tent ceiling and light up the tent. If you choose to put your glasses in the pocket like I did, the pocket keeps them way up off the ground so there is no chance of them getting smashed.
Vents: The main door on the tent is the biggest vent. I tend to scoot toward the bottom away from the door when it gets cold since it lets a lot of cold in. There are also two large mesh vents in a triangle like shape on the roof of the tent running almost the entire length of the midsection. They provide adequate ventilation at night, but not enough on a hot day, especially with the fly up. The fly in combination with direct sunlight can cause the tent to heat up quickly. This is good for winter, but bad for summer.
Height: The highest point of the tent is around 40 inches. It’s good enough for one person to sit up, but bad for two. When changing clothes, entering, exiting sleeping bags, and removing or putting on shoes…do it one person at a time, it will be much easier. The highest point of the tent is at the front near the door. The tent slants downward from this point to the bottom which is high enough for your feet but nothing else—so no sleeping opposite ends. This is the reason I wouldn’t want to be stuck in this tent with another person in a storm. You would spend most of the storm cramped and bent over or laying down. Close quarters, remember.
Rain: The first time we used this tent it rained. The tent leaked. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. We managed to sleep through it. Also take note that we didn’t dig a trench around the tent. Digging trenches destroys the landscape and is harder to repair when you move on from that spot. A trench can also attract more campers making the spot more permanent. Practice low-impact camping when in the wilderness. If the site you are sleeping on is not a designated highly used campsite, don’t dig a trench. We think we fixed the leaking problem by using some of McNetts seam sealant. I’ll let you know the next time I’m in the tent when it rains.
Dew: Dew can make people mad, it’s cold and wet and I hate it. To keep the dew out of this tent you must sleep with the fly (rain fly) on and with it closed. This makes the tent hot to sleep in on a summer night. We left the vestibule open one night and the tent floor and sides became covered in dew. Closing the vestibule on any night will keep the dew out. In case you are unfamiliar with tents, the fly of a tent usually forms the vestibule area by the door of a tent.
Setup: The first time I setup this tent was in the dark at 1:30am on the side of a mountain. Not a pleasant experience. The tent is not free standing. To setup the tent you unfold it, assemble the two poles and slide them through their respective sleeves. Then you have to stake down the tent to raise it. There are two stake points at the foot and three at the head (I think). After you have staked the tent you put the pole ends through grommets on the stake points and the tent is raised. To install the fly means more staking. Throw the fly over the tent, then stake it down at each of the 9 (I think) locations. The fly is not connected to the tent at any point, so make sure you stake it down good or it could blow away or come loose. Setup sounds easy, but you have to do a lot of stretching and a lot of staking—this is why I like freestanding tents unlike this one. However, don’t be like me, practice setting it up before you go out.
Conclusion: I recommend this tent for one person, or two people unconcerned by close quarters looking for a lightweight budget friendly tent. If I’m going on a long trip with a friend, we take this tent if our packs are heavy to relieve a little weight (saving 3lbs can work wonders, not a joke). On shorter trips I take a bigger heavier freestanding dome tent with more room. When going in a group of three, we take the bigger tent (divide the weight among two people) and this tent and it works well. One person gets this tent to himself, and the other two share the bigger tent. We alternate who gets to carry it and sleep in it alone. It’s a nice tent when you have it all to yourself… You can also get the weight down to around 3lbs 5oz which is also nice. So if you go camping by yourself or in groups of three, this tent will work out well.
I hope you found my article informative. If I encounter any new information I will update the article, so check back occasionally. Please rate my article honestly and email me if you have any questions! Thanks for reading! -J
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
wvabackpacker
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Member: Jeremy Hays
Location: Columbus, OH, USA
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 46 members
About Me:
Maybe I'll write another review someday...lots of new gear...
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