Gear Review: Mountain Equipment Tundra 2 Tent

In a nutshell

It's a good two person backpacking tent from Mountain Equipment, light (minimum 1150g each carry-weight) and with space to bung your packs.

Do buy if... 

You require a light tent that'll stand up to a fair amount of abuse.  Featherlite aluminium poles are strong but light enough not to weigh you down.  The overall tent design is good for ventilation and is easy to construct (fly sheet and inner pitch as one).

Ideal for those who love to backpack / long distance hikes in wet terrain and its good enough for most mountains.  It's features are ideal for those of us who have to pitch in the wet, dark and whatever else you might find yourselves in.

Don't buy if....

You want a hard-core tent for very windy / snow prone areas - this is a tunnel tent after all so isn't the best for high mountain weather.  It can of course be used in the wind but extra care will be needed when pitching (direction, pole placement etc.) to counteract the high velocity gusts.  Personally I'd pip for a geodesic design for super-hostile environments.

The Pro's

• As always with Mountain Equipment, much research has been done to produce a solid design, using high-end materials and it's well thought-out.
• Fully-taped ground sheet, hardy 40D Rip-Stop means when it says it's waterproof, it means it.
• Weight vs. Durability - this tent strikes a good balance between lightweight and long-lasting.
• The shape- tunnel tent designs generally mean you get better space (and a little extra for your gear)

The Cons

• The shape - whilst it supplies extra space compared to geodesic and may be perfectly okay in high winds if set up by a master, my physics mind suggests that it won't stand up to the wind as well as a geodesic design.  Going up high - into deep snow or expect high winds? pip for another tent.

The spiel...

Following on from Mountain Equipments very good Dragonfly Tent, the Tundra addresses the need for those whom space and low weight is a higher priority than extreme stability. That said, this is no slouch and the offset tunnel design ensures that when carefully pitched, the Tundra can still happily cope with unpredictable mountain weather in all but the worst of winter storms.

The result is a lightweight and extremely spacious 2 person tent. The offset tunnel uses Mountain Equipments now tried and tested simultaneous pitching system, the inner and flysheet going up as one, ensuring an extremely quick and straightforward pitch as well as guaranteeing that the inner canopy is never exposed to the elements.

Features

• 40D rip-stop nylon flysheet and inner tent with DWR coating
• 30D Nylon 6.6 groundsheet is fully taped with 8000HH Polyurethane / Silicone coating
• Duraflex® buckles and rings and colour-coded DAC® Featherlite® NSL 8.6mm aluminium alloy poles
• Lightweight and spacious 2 pole offset tunnel pole design
• Flysheet and inner pitch as one for hassle free pitching
• Continuous lightweight pole sleeves for rapid pitching
• Fully taped bathtub groundsheet
• Large single porch for gear storage with no-see-um mesh doors on inner keep bugs at bay
• Aerodynamic ventilation hoods, Internal mesh pockets
• Shock-cord pegging points and attachment rings for drying lines
• Glow-in-the-dark zip pullers and reflective guy-lines
• Supplied in strong and light compression sack
• Repair kit includes emergency pole sleeves, seam-sealant and fabric swatches

Buy Your Gear Online