Tiger Wall 3 Carbon

The zoom ul is a good lightweight summer pad but notorious for sleeping cold for its r value. Their sleeping bags/quilts are nothing special either comparing them to cottage companies. Where they shine is their tents. The tigerwall and fly creek ul series semi freestanding tents were the gold standard for backpacking before high end trekking pole tents swooped in. They are still great products though and depending on your use could be worth owning. Their skyline ul stool is overpriced and doesn’t belong in a ul thru hiking bag but is nice to have for shorter trips and other uses outside backpacking. It’s very light and compact so it can come in handy if you need a portable chair for anything.

Big Agnes tiger wall . If you’re looking for lightweight and dependable, this is it. It’s tight for two people with gear, but we make it work. Every time I use it I find myself saying “I love this tent”.

The best bang for your buck when it comes to livable space, size and amount of pockets, ease of setup and teardown, and quality is the **Big Agnes Tiger Wall**, followed closely by the **Big Agnes Copper Spur**. I've tried literally dozens of tents and cannot recommend those enough. They are spendy, but when it comes to a freestanding tent that's durable and reliable, these things are really, really tough to beat. I see them all the time on thru-hikes like thet Colorado Trail, CDT, and PCT where rain / random mountain weather is common. A close second is the semi-freestanding **MSR Freelite 2 or 3**. It's also a solid, bombproof tent that's lightweight. My only real complaint about it is the cutout on one end effectively makes one narrow end a single-wall, which can condensate and get soaked in long periods of rain. But, it also dries fast, and ventilation is so effective it's rarely ever been an issue for me. Final recommendation if you want a non-freestanding tent is the **Six Moons Designs Lunar Duo.** Trekking pole tent that's budget-friendly, comfy, and just big enough for two people. Much more limited headspace compared to the above, but vestibules are large enough that I've never had an issue. Good luck!

My go to two person tent is a three person. I highly recommend Big Agnes tigerwall or copper spur. Kinda pricy but sometimes they go on sale.

How much and for what are you gonna be using your tent? If it'll just be for occasional weekends where you're backpacking for short distances in good weather, that Dick's tent oughtta be fine. But if you'll be backpacking frequently for longer distances in questionable weather conditions, it might be a good idea to spend up. I say that because I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2023 with a shitty silnylon Big Agnes Tiger Wall tent that was maybe $350, then rode an ebike across the US in 2024 with a high-end Zpacks Duplex Zip dyneema tent that cost over $600 I had sticker shock at first, but unlike the Big Agnes tent, the Zpacks tent was rugged, quick and easy to set up, and totally waterproof. It packed down to practically nothing. And since dyneema doesn't absorb water when wet, it stayed much lighter in the rain than silnylon would've. I have at least fifty nights in it and it still looks brand new. Edit: there's also the avoided cost of hotels and/or hostels to consider. A tent can pay for itself in just a few nights that way.