Too small for me and you together!
Written: Jun 14 '02 (Updated Jun 14 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lightweight, Setup Time
Cons: It's just too dang small and costs more than other comparable tents.
The Bottom Line: This tent is hardly big enough for two people and costs more than other quality tents of the same weight.
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| wvabackpacker's Full Review: Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight CD Tent |
First off, let me say that I do not own this tent. So then, why am I writing a review? I almost owned this tent.
My trail partner and I were looking for a lightweight dependable tent for a relatively low cost. The Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight CD was one of the tents we were recommended by a salesperson. So we set one up on the sales floor at Galyan’s.
Setup—
Setup was pretty easy. Lay out the tent (footprint if you have one) and stake the tent at the eight stake points. Make sure that the stake points are taut—the tent is not freestanding and if the stake points aren’t taut, then the tent could fall. If you want to lighten your load you can stake the tent at the head and the foot only, eliminating four of the eight stakes. The tent comes with nine stakes (but it has ten staking loops?).
At the store we used Velcro stakes that connected to the floor the same way a stake would be staked into the ground. After “staking” down all eight points you assemble the two support poles. The poles are made from aluminum and are connected by shock cord. Simply unfold the poles and they form a U shape instead of a straight pole. More on this later.
Next stick the ends of the poles into the grommets by the stake-points (there are only four with these grommets). Erect the tent by clipping the top two cam-loc connectors. Then simply clip-on the rest of the “swift-clips” for support. After connecting all the swift-clips close the cam-loc connectors on the top of the arch. Repeat this step for the foot of the tent. You now have an erect tent that you can sleep in. If you wish to add the flysheet (or rain-fly as other call it) simply drape it over the tent with the vestibule over the head of the tent. Then (this is one of the features I liked) clip the flysheet onto the tent body using four buckle-clips and then tighten their straps. The front of the vestibule will need to be staked down tightly, this requires two extra stakes and since the tent comes with nine stakes, you’ll need to buy one. If you don’t buy one, don’t worry, you can steal another stake from the tent body without compromising much stability.
Setup took us about 5 minutes. Setup time is important when there is a raging storm…
Misc. Info.--
I am assuming the tent got its name from the unusual amount of clips it uses—Cam-loc clips for the top of the arches, Swift-clips for the rest of the arches, and buckle-clips for the flysheet. However, clips instead of sleeves (for the arches) and buckles instead of grommets or stake points (for the flysheet) bring up mixed feelings among professional backpackers. The clips allow for an easier setup, but if one breaks in the backcountry, it isn’t as easy to repair as say a hole in the arch-sleeve. My dome tent also uses several swift-clips and I haven’t experienced any problems thus far.
The cam-loc connectors add 0.15oz of weight compared to the swift-clips but supposedly make the tent stronger especially in high winds
Poles—
The poles are 8.84 mm diameter DAC Featherlite 7001 poles. Sierra claims that the pole diameter (which is slightly smaller than average) saves 15% on pole weight without compromising strength. The poles form a U shape with two elbow-joints. This worries me. I feel that such a shape isn’t as sturdy as the classic time-honored and proven dome shape. A standard pole which bends to form a dome can resist a great deal of stress (a sphere is the most pressure resistant shape in the universe). Elbow-joints can create stress points that could possibly bend and collapse easier than a rounded dome. In the backcountry, if a dome-pole bends it can be repaired easily by sliding a bigger piece of aluminum over the pole or taping a few sticks to the pole. If an elbow-joint were to bend, I don’t see any easy method to repair the pole in the backcountry.
Contents—
Tent, flysheet, nine stakes, two aluminum poles, two guy-cords, a stake sack, tent sack, and a pole sack. Basically, everything any other tent comes with. You can reduce the weight by losing some stakes, the sacks (not recommended), and the guy lines (just use rope instead if you need it).
Dimensions—
The manufacturer dimensions are very optimistic if anything. After setting the tent up, my friend and I climbed in, looked at each other, and said “no.” The tent is way too small for two men. The U-shaped poles add a little more headroom than other tents, but not enough for two to sit up in at once. The tent dimensions are listed as 58”W X 89”L X 43”H. Add 21” to the length with the vestibule. Realistically the dimensions are much smaller. Those dimensions are from the outside. If I had to guess from being inside the tent, I would say the dimensions are closer to 44-46”W X 87”L X 41”H—quite small especially in width. Maybe I’ll head back over to Galyan’s with my tape measure and get more specific measurements.
Personally I like a tent that can support a third person in an emergency situation. There is no chance of that with this tent unless you are extremely close people who don’t mind sleeping on each other (overlapping or on the sides perhaps?).
Weight—
This is an excellent feature of the tent. Packed with everything the tent weighs 4lbs. 8oz. Light enough for one backpacker, super light when dividing the weight among two backpackers. Using this tent with the flysheet and poles can form a basic shelter weighing in at 2lbs. 6oz. Most backpacking tents will form a basic shelter in the same manner, so don’t let this feature alone sell you the tent. The basic shelter does not protect against bugs and water very well if at all.
Packed Size—
Packed size is an incredibly small 5”x20”, another excellent feature.
Fabrics—
I just stole this from the manufacturer website since it is just boring statistics:
Floor: 70D (denier) 2.6oz. Polyurethane Coated Nylon Taffeta
Canopy: 70D 2oz. Ripstop Nylon
Mesh: 20D 1.6oz Woven Nylon
Fly: 70D 2oz. Polyurethane Coated Nylon Taffeta
Suggested Use: 3 Season, 2 Person
Window and Door—
This is a good and bad feature. The door of the tent is large and easy to enter and exit (one at a time of course). The door also has a little pocket in the corner that it can be stashed into when open. This keeps it out of the way and eliminates (lowers) the possibility of the door being damaged. The bad feature: There is no window and no way to see out with the vestibule on and closed! So if it’s raining and you want to look out, you have to open the vestibule door to see. If you don’t have too much gear stored in the vestibule, you can open it slightly to see out without your gear being rained on. This tent is definitely not for the claustrophobic. I like my windows.
Gear—
Not much room for gear. You can fit your shoes and a couple other piece of gear in the vestibule and inside the tent. If you are camping alone you may manage to get your backpack inside, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Warranty—
Lifetime! Don’t expect it to cover normal wear and tear, just manufacturing flaws that may show up over the lifetime of the tent (i.e. design failures).
Conclusion—
Basically, the size was the only feature that deterred us from buying the tent. Price was second. We ended up buying the Mountain Hardwear Trinity which is very similar to this tent but large enough for two men to be somewhat comfortable. We also paid $136 for the Trinity and the Flashlight CD is currently selling for $189. However, if you are looking for a great one person tent and don’t like the claustrophobic feel of a bivy, you may want to consider this tent. For size and weight it would be close to ideal. However, I am not recommending this tent because it is optimistically listed as a two-person tent while in reality it is better for just one person. There are plenty of other two-person tents out there comparable in size, weight, reputation, and durability for a better price with enough space for two men.
Recommended:
No
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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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