The common lengthy path thru-hiker will spend between 1,000 and 1,500 hours inside their tent. With that in thoughts, it’s no surprise that selecting a tent is without doubt one of the hardest gear choices. Many ultralight tents compromise between weight, value, or consolation. Tarptent’s new double wall Dipole 1 DW seems to stroll the road between all three, whereas additionally contemplating elements reminiscent of ease of set-up, weatherproofing, packability, and livable house.
Who’s Tarptent?
For twenty years Tarptent has been bringing intelligent and progressive tent designs to light-weight backpackers. Henry Shires and his spouse Cynthia launched Tarptent in 2002, a couple of years after Shires thru-hiked the PCT with a selfmade A-frame shelter of his personal design.
The corporate began with two shelters, the Virga and Squall. Gross sales have been higher than they’d anticipated and after being featured in Backpacker Journal, Shires determined to depart his profession in physics and focus his power on tent design. Inside a decade Tarptent had a dozen distinctive choices, starting from one- to four-person capability, manufactured in Seattle with as many US-sourced materials and supplies as attainable. In 2017 they employed an engineer and launched their first Dyneema tent.
In recent times, Tarptent has made a flurry of recent tent releases and redesigns of earlier fashions. In the present day Tarptent works with world manufacturing companions however nonetheless maintains its homegrown roots in Nevada Metropolis, CA, promoting on to clients.
Tarptent Dipole 1 DW At-A-Look
MSRP: $289-$329
Shelter Sort: Non-freestanding, trekking pole shelter
Weight: 33 ounces (with mesh inside, folding struts, and 4 stakes)
Stakes Required: Sure, minimal of 4
Supplies: 20D nano ripstop, 30D silnylon, bug mesh
Capability: 1 individual
Variety of Doorways: Two
Flooring Dimensions: 84” lengthy x 36” huge
Peak Peak: 43”
Packed Measurement: 11” x 5”
Supposed Use
The Dipole 1 DW is a one-person, light-weight, double-wall trekking-pole tent designed with optimum inside dwelling house in thoughts, in addition to wonderful bug and climate safety. It’s designed for fast and straightforward set-up in any climate situations.
Tarptent additionally presents the Dipole 1 in a lighter, single-wall Dyneema design.
Circumstances of Evaluation
A wind-proof pitch utilizing vestibule man outs.
I used the Dipole 1 DW on a two-week, 115-mile part hike of the Nice Divide Path in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. I pitched it on a wide range of terrain from meadow to forest duff, river financial institution, and gravel. Temperatures ranged from the mid-70s to the freezing mark and in solar, wind, and rain.
Tarptent Dipole 1 DW Options
The 2-door two-vestibule design means extra adaptability.
Useable Inside House: Considered one of Tarptent’s design objectives for each tent is to maximise usable quantity. That they had a further purpose for the Dipole 1 to accommodate taller individuals and longer, wider, thicker mattress pads. The tent flooring is hourglass-shaped. Which means the center of the tent is barely narrower than the pinnacle and foot, leaving loads of room to stow gear. Every finish of the tent has foldable 18” exterior struts that convey the roof larger and away out of your sleeping bag and equipment.
Twin Doorways and Vestibules: The Dipole 1 DW has a door and vestibule on either side and doesn’t have a chosen head or foot to the design. The inside doorways are offset from one another (not mirror picture). Which means regardless of which method you sleep you’ll have a door at your left arm and the opposite at your proper leg. Whereas not notably giant, the vestibules may be guyed out for extra cupboard space.
Straightforward and Quick Pitch: In contrast to many trekking pole tents, the Dipole 1 DW solely requires 4 stakes for a full and secure pitch. Lengthy guy-outs should not required for the nook stakes which suggests the tent may be pitched in tight spots, and opening each vestibules doesn’t compromise the soundness of the tent. It is usually attainable to arrange the fly independently of the inside.
Air flow: The double wall design of the Dipole 1 DW guarantees much less fighting condensation switch and extra choices for air flow. The fly consists of closable apex vents on the prime of every vestibule and zippered finish vents on the head and foot. The Dipole 1 additionally pitches fly first maintaining the inside utterly dry when organising within the rain, additional decreasing moisture build-up.
Tarptent Dipole 1 DW Professionals
The roomy inside leaves sufficient house for my pack
Habitable House
Throughout thru-hikes, our tents grow to be residence for months at a time and habitable house turns into actually essential. I would like to have the ability to sit up, change garments, manage gear, write notes on my cellphone, stretch, learn, relaxation, and sleep comfortably. For the previous couple of years, I’ve been sleeping below a two-person single-wall tarp. Because of this, I anxious that I’d really feel a bit claustrophobic in a one-person house.
That isn’t the case with the Dipole 1 DW, which supplies me all of the house I would like. There’s loads of room to stash all of my gear, together with my pack, even when utilizing a wider sleeping pad. I additionally like that every inside nook of the tent has a pocket that’s tensioned to behave like a small shelf and might completely match an e-reader, my cellphone, and glasses.
I notably admire how the ends of the tent are lifted away from my face and my toes, which makes the tent really feel even roomier. With the double-wall design, I don’t have to fret about getting condensation drops on my quilt or wetting via the fly as I attempt to dress within the morning.
Sturdiness
The Dipole 1 DW is very engineered and designed to final. Seams are well-stitched and all attachment factors on the tent are bolstered with additional cloth and stitching. The zippers are of wonderful high quality with bolstered stitching. The ground of the tent is fabricated from siliconized 30D ripstop nylon (SilNylon) which is robust and in a position to deal with fixed use even and not using a separate groundsheet.
The fly is fabricated from 20D silicone-coated ripstop polyester (SilPoly) which is lighter and has higher UV resistance than SilNylon. Extra importantly, SilPoly doesn’t sag and stretch out when moist that means higher tensioning and tent stability. Whereas produced abroad, all Tarptents are hand-checked, examined, and accepted at their Nevada Metropolis, CA workplace earlier than being shipped out.
Pricing
Tarptent’s Dipole 1 DW may be very competitively priced when in comparison with different double-wall tents weighing round two kilos.
Tarptent Dipole 1 DW Cons
The fly may be arrange with out the inside mesh for a light-weight and quick choice.
Weight
Weighing about two kilos with stakes, the Dipole 1 DW isn’t the lightest choice in the marketplace. The double-wall design, additional inside quantity, and a extra secure setup drive this compromise. For those who’re an ounce-hound, Tarptent presents the Dipole 1 in a single-wall Dyneema model which weighs nearly eight ounces lighter (and prices $350 extra).
Seam-Sealing
The worth of the Dipole 1 DW doesn’t embody seam-sealing. Tarptent sells a seam-sealer equipment or you may pay a further $35 to have Tarptent do the seam-sealing for you.
Ultimate Ideas
The phrase “elegant” stored surfacing whereas I researched Tarptent and the Dipole 1 DW. Shires has mentioned in quite a few interviews that learning physics gave him a powerful appreciation for magnificence and the ability of simplicity. Class is a novel descriptor for a shelter with the seemingly primary function of offering a weatherproof place to sleep, and but, it’s an apt phrase for the Dipole 1 DW.
This tent incorporates a lot of what Tarptent’s designers have realized through the years, providing a splendidly easy but elegant dwelling house for long-distance hikers, with out compromising an excessive amount of on weight, value, or consolation.
Store the Tarptent Dipole 1 DW
Comparable Ultralight Tents
DurstonGear X-Mid 1
MSRP: $240
Weight: 31 ounces (together with 6 stakes)
Learn our assessment of the Durston X-Mid 1 Strong right here.
Large Agnes Tiger Wall UL1
MSRP: $399.95
Weight: 32 ounces
Tarptent Stratospire 1
MSRP: $279
Weight: 36 ounces
Zpacks Plex Solo
MSRP: $599
Weight: 14 ounces (not together with stakes)
Learn our assessment of the Plex Solo right here.
The Tarptent Dipole 1 DW was donated for the aim of assessment.
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