New tent required

[Polar Bear]

We've been touring and camping generally with a Hilleberg Nallo 3GT.   I worked out that it has served us over 100 nights.   

Last week force 8 gales blowing higher tore her in two.   

Should I just replace like with like or is there something better out there?

[Butterfly]

If you are out in that sort of weather - maybe a mountain tent? Possibly a geodesic shape? Otherewise, same again and stay out of the wind.

[Polar Bear]

We were unfortunate.   11 solid days of winds and it just got very bad that night.  It had been force 5 or 6 most of the time gusting to force 7 but that night it got to force 8 gusting to force 10 or higher occasionally.    I watched with incredulity as the tent simply opened up.   The tear started down between the base of the zip and the front pole, then simply worked itself smoothly round just inside the pole.

Conditions were simply exceptional.   

Because the wind had whipped up I had brought the middle guys forward.   When the fly ripped the inner was like a windsock but the tent held.   We were able to rescue everything and decamp to the laundry room.    Had we really been in a jam I'd have simply turned the back half round 180 degrees and pitched like a non-gt but without a front!

I am inclined to buy another - perhaps a 4GT for even greater space.

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh dear! Sounds like you had challenging holiday weather then..... 

[Polar Bear]

Just a tad.   Made for interesting cycling and camping.

It was lovely if rather brief to have met you and Pingu.   We'll be back your way again - sorry         I still owe Windy a visit...

[Jord]

I used to have a Nallo 2 and found it excellent except in one respect - it is a noisy tent in the wind! I also had it collapse in high winds and a pole snap but I think that was as much to do with poor pegging - very boggy ground.

I have a G2 Lightwave  tent now and a bigger but lighter MSR Marth Hubba. Both are very good and much quieter in the wind. In the mountains the G2 is rock solid. I've never used the MSR in very strong winds so can't comment but it seems very stable in the moderate winds it has faced. Both brands do extended porch tents for cycle touring.

When looking I was also impressed with Big Agnes tents. Incredibly light for the weight and loads of space. lots of mesh inside which may make them a bit 'cooler' than some. I thing if I was going to use the tent just for cycle touring the Big Agnes range would be the first place I'd look.

[andrew_s]

look at a Nammatj 3GT
Stronger than a Nallo, crossways sleeping, door at back end as well as at the big porch

[Polar Bear]

I've been looking at the Nammatj 3GT though I didn't realise that it had a 'back door' as well as a front door.   That would have been massively useful last week.   Stronger fabric and thicker poles.   It tops my list with that extra door feature.   .     

[clarion]

Nammatj is a great tent.  We're after a Nallo 3GT, but a Nammatj would be even better (though heavier IIRC)

[Polar Bear]

I think that it is still a 1 door tent, the Keron being the two door version.   It is still my number 1 option though.   A tad of extra weight for a tent better ventilated than my old Nallo, and far stronger, will be worth the extra porridge to haul it around!