Free Duo Free-standing Tent from Zpacks

A bit of a gimmick IMO. This seems primed to appeal to the growing "more money than time" crowd who are willing to drop the better part of a grand on a tent on advanced fabrics in pursuit of lighter packweight, yet want to still pack their fears about not being able to set up a traditional non-freestanding shelter.

I believe most people who have a ton of experience would agree that there's always a way to pitch a non-freestanding tent. Heck, I've pitched a tarp on slickrock before, or those wooden tent platforms in the Whites. But until you try it for yourself many times over, I can see where folks would be skeptical.

I think this is also indicative of the movement of ultralight away from the dark arts/MYOG/bring skills instead of stuff ethic, and toward an out-of-the-box/mainstream/beginnerish reality. None of that's a bad thing - quite the opposite IMO - but certainly represents a change.
 
Really interesting with the poles/frame on the outside. I know they say it would do well in wind, and I'd imagine/hope they've tested it a fair bit before putting it out as a finished product, but having the frame on the outside would make me worry about tearing at all the points where the tent attaches to the poles. Just seems like the design wouldn't shed wind like a standard one where the poles are underneath the rain fly.

30 ounces for a 2 person freestanding tent is impressive though. Makes me wonder if that weight range will the new standard in 5-10 years.
 
I saw something funny and annoying camping in the desert last spring: a meshy tent (exactly like this one!) was allowing windblown sand to pass under the fly and then the sand was dropping into the tent. There was like an inch of sand in there before my kid and his friend got fed up and called me over. It was totally unliveable in there.

Just curious how y'all deal with this. I've dealt with it by mostly sleeping in a bivy bag that seals up nice and tight.
 
regehr said:
Just curious how y'all deal with this.
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I sleep very poorly and have sand blow in and land on my face all night. Haha. Fortunately, I've only been in wind and blowing sand that bad a few times. My bad experiences were with a tent where the bottom of the fly is 5 or so inches above the ground. The edges of my tent fly now come very low to the ground, so that keeps most of it out.
 
I don't trust a tent in the rain that doesn't zip shut...overlapping material is great until it rains and blows.
 
regehr said:
I saw something funny and annoying camping in the desert last spring: a meshy tent (exactly like this one!) was allowing windblown sand to pass under the fly and then the sand was dropping into the tent. There was like an inch of sand in there before my kid and his friend got fed up and called me over. It was totally unliveable in there.

Just curious how y'all deal with this. I've dealt with it by mostly sleeping in a bivy bag that seals up nice and tight.
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The key is no shelter at all so the sand just blows over you. ;)

Like @LarryBoy said, non-freestanding can be used anywhere with experience. I’ve used an MLD duomid for years in canyon country. I don’t even carry stakes, just have extra long guylines and find a few rocks. Pitches in a couple minutes. E3B73BB3-65CA-4F50-8722-AEC6C8D47CCF.jpeg
 
Brendan S said:
The key is no shelter at all so the sand just blows over you. ;)

Like @LarryBoy said, non-freestanding can be used anywhere with experience. I’ve used an MLD duomid for years in canyon country. I don’t even carry stakes, just have extra long guylines and find a few rocks. Pitches in a couple minutes. View attachment 87112
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@Brendan S ---How long of guylines do you use? Also, do you have a particular knot/technique you tend to use most of the time? I also have a duomid, and would love to become more skilled at setting it up without stakes. In particular, I plan on heading out to Southern UT pretty soon to camp in places like in your photo (slickrock and sand), so your post is inspiring me to try your approach...
 
ZPacks fanboi here. Interesting concept and probably something I wished I would have had last year when I thought I was going to lose my Duplex in high winds. As Larry said I have yet to be unable to pitch my Duplex even when no stake options are available. Usually it involves rocks or really long guy lines. BTW, the overlapping doors are surprisingly good at keeping water out, especially if pitched low.

Duplex in storm mode pic for reference, complete with rocks saving my tent from being sent to the abyss.IMG_20190826_090816.jpg
 
I’ve been Looking at this tent...How has th duo mid held up? Do you have th insert? Is it an xl or th reg. Mid? how easy is it to get in and out of? Would you buy it again?

thanks,

john
 
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