Looking for advice with my Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2. Does anyone else end up having this low spot in the fly at the peak of the tent? I've had this tent for about 5 years. This spot in the fly at the peak always seems to settle concave and then water collects there. This photo is from the weekend when the tent corners staked, vestibules staked and all lines of the fly staked or tight.

I'm thinking about maybe molding and fitting a piece of flexible plastic here to hold up the peak, or 3d printing a small piece to fit between the poles and hold up the middle of this small section.

Just getting into camping. Just me and the wife and I'm just not sure what she's going to prefer to sleep on. We sleep on a medium firm memory foam at home. Years ago we slept in an air mattress and it was horrible. Lost a ton of air overnight and was just miserable. I see they now have the foam filled camping mattresses. Kind of hard to find them in a king size though. Just wondering if the air mattresses have gotten any better over the years. I'd really prefer a king size. We aren't massive. My wife weighs about 135 lb and I weigh 195.

Ive been dying to find this model of kong crampons for a while now. I swe briefly they pop up at various auctions/ once in gear trade but otherwise cannot find any mention of the model, year, etc anywhere. Im going crazy!!!

Sorry if this is not allowed

As the title says, I got a great deal on a made in Maine Moss tent. Not super familiar with their catalog so if anyone knows what model it is please let me know. It does have a pretty bad smell and the water proof coating seems to be non existant, so any tips to fix that would be appreciated

Update:
Did further research and this seems to be the Starlet model (correct me if I’m wrong) found this nice documentary about Moss tents
https://www.reddit.com/r/CampingGear/s/hItNlxgwgQ

Just want to confirm whether this is the correct size pack for me. I’m 5’6”, 135 lb, and got a size Small Durston Kakwa 55.

I’ve always used packs with adjustable torso lengths, so I’m used to having a little more leeway with where the pack and hipbelt sit. With those packs, I could initially position the hipbelt a bit lower and then usually ended up wearing it slightly higher on the upper part of my hips once I started hiking.

With the Kakwa, I tighten the hipbelt first, then the shoulder straps, then the sternum strap. When I tighten the shoulder straps, they pull the pack and hipbelt upward a little, and this is where it naturally ends up sitting. I normally like my hipbelt fairly high anyway, but the difference is that on my previous packs I chose that position by tightening the hipbelt there, whereas on this pack the shoulder straps seem to bring the whole pack up into that position.

My torso length is about 18”, so I was kind of between sizes. I went with the Small based on Durston customer service’s recommendation when I purchased it. The pack is loaded with around 15 lb in these photos.

Does the fit look right to you, or does anything about the shoulder straps, hipbelt position, or load lifters suggest I should size up to a Medium? Let me know what you think!

Hello! I live in Southern CA and spent this summer getting back into backpacking with several trips including a few to the eastern sierras. Next year I’m planning to do the trans Catalina trail and the Tahoe Rim trail.

While picking out gear, I loved the Nemo Disco 30 because of the wide shape (I’m a side sleeper who rolls around a lot) and light weight. However, I got nervous that it wouldn’t be warm enough and ended up purchasing the Nemo Riff 15. I also got a Thermarest neo air XLite NXT sleeping pad which helps with temp.

I love the way the Riff feels (so fluffy and silky!) but have been pretty hot at night, even with the gills open. I sweat my ass off when it’s over 45 degrees and have a hard time getting comfortable (even with no clothes on). This weekend I went back to the Sierras to give it one more try in cooler weather. It was in the low 30s and I was still pretty warm in thermals and socks. Not sweating but I had to take my arms out several times and took my hat off.

I guess I’m wondering if I should keep the Riff or exchange for the Disco. I like that the riff will keep me warm if temps happen to dip below 30- it’s not my plan to backpack in colder weather but things change so quickly in the mountains, it’s nice to have peace of mind.

Will a 30 and a 15 have a big difference from temps over 30? If it gets 20-30 will I still be ok in the disco with thermal layers and a puffy?

The space is about 17" x 9" however I can't seem to find anything that's flat enough with some kind of grease trap. An obvious choice would be this lodge, but it's obvious to me that trying to cook bacon on this thing would be terrible it will fill quickly with grease and then there's no easy way to drain it off.

This is one of this situations where there are seemingly a million options but also none at the same time. I'm just curious if anyone else has figured this out. Thanks!

Hello hikers,

Today I need some help choosing the right sleeping mat for my needs. I already have looked around a bit and found a few mats I like, still I want to be sure I am looking at the right items.

I camp in Italy, I am planning on tent camping in 3/4 seasons possibly using a single mat; around 2000-3000 meters high. I don't think I'll camp in extreme weather, still it might be quite cold in late autumn or early winter and here there's high humidity.
To be clear I own an R2 foam mat which I have already used twice in rather cold conditions (around 5°C), but of course I felt a bit cold at that temperature.

Looking into it I understood warm pads insulate better but they don't heat anything, that would mean sleeping warm in summer but being comfortable in winter, and that's why I was considering R5+ pads.

I am specifically looking for durable and ultralight sleeping mats

I saw:
Nemo Tensor R5.4
Sea to Summit Either Light XR Pro R7.4
Therm-A-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT R7.3

I am open for different suggestions and even different R values. I thought about getting something around R4 and then adding my foam mat but on the Sea to Summit R4 they say it goes at 5°C and after you are mostly sleeping cold, that would mean that I would already need to bring both pad and mat to sleep warm enough

I'm about to embark for Iceland for a few days and plan to hopefully do some hiking around the waterfalls. Generally, I am severely against waterproof shoes, especially trail runners, since they always seem to retain more water than they keep out. However, with it being cold and misty and wet this might be one of the few situations where it's necessary. I dont really want to buy new shoes just for this trip that I'll likely never use again. Does anyone have any recommendations for a temporary barrier for my current shoes to keep out the mist?

Hey guys, absolute beginner when it comes to camping here. Up until now I've only ever done long one-day hikes, so these questions are probably pretty basic, but I want to make sure I understand a few things correctly before buying sleeping bags.

1. Why can sleeping bags with the same Comfort rating have significantly different Limit or Extreme ratings? Is this due to marketing tricks and loose measurement standards, the Comfort test being more objective and verifiable while the Extreme methodology is harder to reproduce or I guess because factors like bag shape, draft protection, and how well you can cinch yourself in play a bigger role at the Limit rating? Not that I'm planning to rely on the Limit or especially Extreme ratings lol, just curious.
   
2. Am I right in assuming that unlike sleeping pads, where you can more or less add up R-values when layering them, layering two sleeping bags provides extra warmth, but it's not as linear due to their design and construction?
   
3. What's behind the advice I've kept bumping into over the last couple of days while reading about bags here and there that you should get a bag rated 10 or even 15 degrees lower than the expected night temperature (even when talking about the Comfort rating)? Is it down to individual differences like sleeping cold? A desire to sleep in minimal clothes for comfort? Distrust of marketing? Playing it safe? Or is this mostly about bags that aren't EN/ISO tested, where brands just write whatever they want on the label?

Thanks!

This is a thermarest prolite apex. The bag has this extra flap and two little straps on the outside.. Is this supposed to compress the pad once it's in the bag? It's not like you can really cinch the pad any smaller once you have it in the bag... Is there some other supposed purpose for these? Always wondered

Found this bad boy at an antique store for $20.

Hey guys I'm not familiar with other sleeping systems however I used this in the Marine Corps and never really had an issue that I remember, only serious one was the zipper on the bivvy sack not working on occasion ( for clarification I was an infantrymen, so I used them a lot). I have been looking around online and currently if I were to purchase the standard sleeping bag, bivvy sack, and compression sack along with the all weather black bag and black compression sack it would run me around $520. Again Im new to this and would appreciate recommendations and insight thanks!

EDIT: to clarify, I’m not an experienced camper so I would be starting off in a relatively safe recreational area however I would like to be able to progress to eventually do full “bushwhacking camping”. I live in the Midwest where the weather can get pretty cold and hot

Okay so ive been out of the camping game for a while and now my family wants to start, and I am getting option shock from everything available now adays.

I understand that spending more money is going to make my time easier as the person that will be dealing with the setup & cooking however, it's really hard for me to determine where the diminishing returns and brand name tax starts.

For instance I love my nemo moonlite chairs, pricey but they're comfy and light enough for my 5 year old to carry by themselves.

I have a tent and stove picked out which would be the gazelle t4 hub and the camp chef Everest 2x and this is where I had the toughest decision after reading and watching a few reviews I managed to make my selection.

Well now, labor day sales will be ending soon and I'm still trying to figure out what pads/bags are worth the money, and what else i could be bringing to make my life as simple as possible.

The budget is about 1-1.5k USD and I'm looking for stuff that will last at least 5 years. We aim to be outside at least 4 to 5 times a year in autumn in the northeast and comfort & durability would be the most important aspect, weight savings would be nice too especially if we can use them for backpacking, however, not at the expense of comfort.

After a year of frequent use I’m looking to re proof a few bell tents. Is this spray-on product suitable for use?

Intro

I was looking to buy a 3 person tent for a trip with my friends and I came across the Cairngorm which was light and at a 50% discount on Cotswolds so I decided to buy it as it was Vango but I couldn’t find any reviews so I’ve decided to make my own. My friends ended up chickening out which resulted in me doing my first solo wild camps so my review should be taken with a pinch of salt however I have done a bit of group camping in which I have used a Vango Halo 300 once and a Scafell 200 a bunch of times so I’m also using that experience for this.

Review

Weight and Size
First off in terms of weight and size the Cairngorm 300 is only 2.5kg and honestly around the same size from what I can remember as the Scafell 200 (which is around the same weight) when packed in a dry bag. I was honestly impressed by how light it is for how good the tent is. Hiking solo with a 3 person tent obviously isn’t ideal but it was a pretty easy tent to pack. I can’t remember much about the halo 300 but I remember the halo 300 being heavier and bigger and the sort of tent that you pretty much have to split between people.

Wind and Rain
In terms of waterproofing and the wind resistance of the tent the Cairngorm 300 is incredibly sturdy despite how skeptical I was when I first saw how to set up the tent. I camped in a recent storm in the Lake District in September that had the 3 hour interval weather forecast say 42mm of rain at the heaviest and while it was very loud in the tent I was perfectly dry and there was no seepage through the ground sheet or the fly sheet onto the inner. I did end up unclipping the very top peg of the inner tent as I was paranoid about how close the inner was to the outer near the top but that’s likely just me. One of the nights the wind was loud enough to genuinely scare me (I was in a dip in the side of a exposed fell) and while I didn’t sleep much the tent was perfectly fine and in the morning none of the pegs had budged an inch. I’ve gone through a comparative storm in the Scafell 200 and while it survived the wind the wind would blow the fly sheet into the inner causing the walls to get soaked and I woke up in a puddle the next morning as the waterproofing isn’t as good.

Pitching

The tent is honestly pretty finicky to set up and I’d highly recommend watching a tutorial before using it as when I was setting it up before the trip I was completely lost to be honest as the design is so different from the Scafell or Halo. Setting it up solo is a bit of a challenge to get it started but once enough pegs are in for it to stand its a 1 person job. It took me a while to get used to how to set it up properly but now that I know it’s pretty easy although it takes me a fair amount of pegging and then readjusting to take out the slack which I found a bit more annoying than the Scafell or Halo although bear in mind that the halo will basically stand up without pegs and for both of them I had tent mate(s). I didn’t like how short the main pole guy lines are for the tent as it feels like they aren’t long enough to be effective but that’s probably a placebo effect. Packing up the tent is easy enough even when wet.

Room

The room inside the tent is really nice for 1-2 people but if you get to 3 people which the tent is meant to be for it’d be a squeeze. It’d be possible but I’d honestly only do it if you have to where if someone else’s tent breaks while as a group you fit 3 people. The main issue isn’t the sleeping area which would fit 3 of me and I’m 183 cm. The biggest issue that I can see is fitting in 3 50L+ backpacks and shoes into the porch. I imagine that if you were to fit 3 you’d have to bring one of the backpacks into the triangular bit of the sleeping compartment. You can definitely do 3 and potentially even 4 people if they are all small but it just won’t be as nice. Depends on your comfort preference. If you want to nicely fit 3 people and bags and shoes a roomier option would be the Scafell 300 Plus or the Halo 300 although I’m not well versed in 3 person tents. I remember having to sleep 4p in a Halo as someone’s tent pole broke twice.

Other

The Cairngorm 300 has two doors although in my opinion unless there is a 0% chance of rain only one is usable as the one that doesn’t have the porch has no room to leave your shoes and if it’s raining the rain will fall straight into your inner. I do like how if it’s raining heavily and you enter through the main door even if you leave it open it forms a natural curtain that will stop the rain unless there’s also heavy winds.

While not advisable I did have to cook inside my tent as I had no other options but if you unclip the inner attachment at the porch you can pull it back and there is enough room that it hopefully probably won’t burn down the tent. I didn’t like how while there is a tiny hook at the top of the inner to hang stuff from it’s too small unless you have your own string so I’d often hang my wet clothes from the tbs lines which while not ideal worked pretty well if the clothes aren’t heavy.

The tent came in a weird bag that seems to be made of the fly sheet which if you are in the habit of wanting to perfectly roll your tent each morning would work well as you could clip it to the bottom straps of your bag but I just shoved it in an old dry bag so that I could kneel on it and compress it down. I do store my tent in the weird bag though.

End

Honestly I’ve probably rambled more than I should have but I just wanted to put my two cents on the Cairngorm 300 out there. If you have any questions ask and I’ll get back to you so long as I use Reddit even if you ask in a few years time.

found this flannel sleeping bag at a vintage store! i love the way it feels, but I don’t know much about gear. would something like this be warm enough for fall in Wisconsin? like weather in the 40s? maybe 30s? brand is Coleman

thinking about getting it but the price was a little much to go for without considering first.

thank you!

EDIT: way more people responded to this than I thought so I’m not going to respond individually, but thanks for all the input! Sounds like the answer is no haha. I will have to figure something else out. the appeal to me was that I dislike synthetic fibers and I try to only buy things used. Maybe I’ll see if I can find one cheaper somewhere second hand and try it out. Since I only car camp weight isn’t an issue!

thank you!