Thanks for the reply 45. Understood on the colors. There's just something about the neon tents that bothers me to no end. Anyone ever tried dying a tent?
I am not sure it is a good idea to dye a tent due to the coatings.
Bright colors bother you how, standing out in the natural world or from inside.
Here is another option that can be requested in earth tones
Warmlite Climbers Two Person Tent | Stephenson's Warmlite Craig has an idea to use a fly or a subdued siltarp covering like
Siltarp 2 ? 8? x 10? | FELLFAB Military that would subdue you from the outside view.
Catoma tents I know little about but goggling their name, two person tents are dark and their listed weight is too much for my use. Using pole clip design is better than threading poles through sleeves but still waists time, energy and adds weight. Their dome design eats up internal space for their floor size and weight.
I used one of these too, lot of room for less weight, smaller pack, will take abuse.
Tempest Tent - Black Diamond Gear I currently use Bibler and Marmot for backpacking/mountaineering/even car camping- have withstood some insane high alpine storms and torrential PNW rain and kept me dry. Marmot has a few darker green options currently, their older models were also kind of a "sand" color rainfly.
I stay away from any "general" sporting goods manufacturers' tents...you do get what you pay for, and considering a simple motel rate anymore is at the very least $100 pretty much anywhere I go, spending 4-900 on a tent is easy to justify for as much as I use them. Keeping me and my wife dry-and enjoying our precious time off...priceless.
I have used and enjoyed Hilleberg, Moss(now MSR?), TNF, Sierra Designs, Wild Things, Rab,and Mtn Hardware plus a few others I forget... my favorite 2p tent is the Bibler/BD Awahnee with the vestibule...i know of no other tent that can do K2 AND Kauai exceedingly well.
Sound advice from my experience. Shelter failure is not an option in my experience and I have seen good quality tents shred in a blow, digging and diving to bolt holes in the middle of the night. I have slept a few nights in tents all year round, down low, up high and have seen many tents just not hold up well in bad weather or even rain. I have had 5 Bibler Tents that have went through some insane weather and abuse without failure. The vertical walls allow more internal usable space for the floor size, a smaller tent that gives more room for changing clothes and such Vs a larger dome tent, less weight to pack plus smaller stuff sack to pack too. Erecting from the inside means; pull out the tent from the pack by the zipper, slide the tent over your head, pull tent poles from the pack, erect the tent from the inside and over time, can be erected in 30-45 seconds.
The only other tents that I can say that I never seen or had fail is the The North Face VE24 but the weight and packed size is just too much. Original Marmot Mountain Works tents out of Durrango CO was also an extreme tent.
