Hi there! First of all: why did I want a new tent? The tent that I bought for Japan was one with few demands: cheap, but very water-resistant, easy to pitch, lightweight if possible and I needed to be able to sit up in it. It was a very good tent and I still like it very much. For this new trip though I had some extra demands. The sitting up was just barely possible in my previous tent and I never had to spend an entire day in the tent. I can't imagine it to be productive though: I can only sit up in one position, at one place in the tent, I absolutely can't cook inside the tent and if I have to get out the rain will immediately fall on the inside of my inner tent... . So I needed a new tent: one with large vestibule in which I would be able to cook. The route I'm taking is very adventurous and it is certainly possible that I will need to spend a lot more time in it! the other demands are also still valid, although my price range went up and the water-resistant level went down a bit. I ended up with the tent you see here, a Mini Peak II. It has a lot of space and when it's really warm and there are no bugs you can even use it without the inner tent. It weighs a little less than my previous tent, but I still need to buy a groundsheet so the weight will be equal (just under 2 kg). The online reviews are very good and the minor points were mainly for higher people or nitpickers, so those I could dismiss. The tent isn't sold in Belgium, so I had to trust my gut-feeling and the internet. I bought the tent and that same weekend went camping with it. How did it go? Unpacking was easy. Setting up the outer tent was easy, but damn.... That's a large tent! Putting in the pole was fairly easy as well as putting in the inner tent. damn, that inner tent looks really tiny... . I adjusted the tent here and there and everything fell into place a bit more. I now realise that I should've put my pole higher, because that's why it didn't all work out perfectly. Okay, tent is set: let's take a tour. The tent has two entrances: one in the front with a large vestibule (see picture) and another one that is pretty useless when you have pitched your inner tent as well (you can't enter the tent from that side!). You can allow a nice breeze though, so that's good. The vestibule is more than large enough to sit in, lay down in, cook in, put stuff in, ... In worst case scenario's I think I can even fit my bike in there! (No idea how to get access to my inner tent than though, unless I turn it around and use the other exit) The inner tent is big enough for my sleeping gear and an extra bag. In case of extreme need I can also take the other bag inside, but then it will be filled with bags! I have no clear image of the inner tent, so I give you another one of the tent as a whole. I slept only one night in the tent, the second one was too cold (I'm in the process of buying a new sleeping bag so it will not be 'too cold' anymore). At first glance the inner tent seemed small, but once inside it was spacious enough. I do not believe it's meant to stay in for long periods of time while you're awake, but hey... You have a vestibule for that. I could feel a difference in temperature when I stepped out of the inner tent into the vestibule in the morning, so that's a good sign as well. The outside of my tent had frost on it and that also got on the inside of the outer tent, so that worried me a bit (it was pretty though, it sparkled!). Fortunately it did not have any effect on the inner tent! It was sooooo nice to be able to get in and out of the inner tent in a fairly normal position and not crawling, or keeping your head very low. So, what are the downsides? To be able to enjoy the space of the vestibule I'll need to buy a groundsheet, which will make sure I can sit in the vestibule without sitting on wet grass and stuff. This will add some weight and make it equally as heavy as my previous tent AND bulkier. That will be solved by putting the outer tent and groundsheet on top of my bags, so all in all not that much of a problem. The positive side of a groundsheet is that it will also protect the weak underground of the inner tent, so less chance of sharp edges making holes in it.
Another downside is that you can pitch it with just 4 pegs, but I do find the sides sagging a bit then. I suspect it will be less when I highten the length of the pole, but still I'll need 7-8 pegs to pitch it good. On the positive side that means it's more weather proof and there are additional guylines provided for real stormweather. I really love this tent, so that was about it! I might find more, but I'll let you know if I do. My next focus will be on a new, warm sleeping bag. I want it to have a comfort level of -5°C, but don't like the weight of 1.5 kg that comes with it! I already found some alternatives, but of course.... they are a bit more expensive (plus added costs of sending it from oversea to here...). I'll let you know when I have more detailed progression on this! To close: another nice picture of the tent! :)
1 Comment
4/4/2018 22:11:02
A really happy nest and helpful review. I'm getting too old for tiny tents and have just ordered one of these as nobody had anything bad to say about them.
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