Marmot - Tungsten UL Tent: 3-Person 3-Season

I own Kelty, North Face and Marmot backpacking tents, and can attest to their durability, ease of use and agreeable weight. I've used them both in the backcountry as well as when going car camping.

Marmot makes some excellent tents in that price range. I have the tungsten UL 3P, it’s a little outside your range, but the non UL versions are within your range and still around that 5lb mark. Personally, I’d avoid naturehike. Materials, testing, and quality control are really important with tents, and these are the main things that get skipped by Chinese brands seeking to undercut the market. Nothing worse than a tent that just WONT pitch taut because the pattern it’s sewn with is a little off, or the material is a little too stretchy. Nothing worse than rain running down the inner wall of your tent because the rain fly is sagging and touching it.

I absolutely love my marmot tungsten ul 3P. Perfect size for two people and a dog or two. Price has gone up since I got mine, but if you can find it on sale it’s a fantastic tent for the price. [link](https://www.bushwhacker.com/tungsten-ul.html)

I got mine in 2020 for like $240, I was so stoked. It’s been absolutely bulletproof over the 75 or so nights I’ve spent in it, including one time when we woke up to water actively running under and around the tent (tons of rain and poor site selection on my part) but were still perfectly dry inside. And while it obviously can’t compete with single walled non-freestanding tents in terms of lightness, the liveabiliy trade off is so worth it for most of the types of hikes I like to go on (pretty low miles).

2 adults and 2 medium/large dogs is how I regularly backpack. A 3p tent is perfect. I absolutely love my marmot tungsten ul 3p. It’s always more weight efficient to get a larger shelter than to get an additional shelter, so whatever you do don’t get two 2p tents. That’s two sets of poles, two sets of pole clips, two sets of stakes, two sets of door zippers, basically double of all the heaviest parts, rather than just a bit more nylon and slightly longer poles.

I have a Tungsten UL 3p and it is like a mansion... Love that tent. We take it when we take a dog or just want spacious luxury... Even if it is a couple lbs heavier than our Durston. I'm not a fan of 1p tents in general. Just not enough room. Our first Marmot was a 3p Limelite.... Like a Cadillac, but just as heavy, LOL. Carried that sucker for 10 years before it started to wear out. I'm a fan of the brand.

I have the Tungsten UL 3p and we love it. Not sure how different the UL is other than materials? Easy setup, very roomy, great in rain. One vestibule is smaller than the other, stakes out closer to the tent so my wife who is 5'3" can reach the zipper easily. It is very similar to the Limelite that we used to have, but half the weight. Our other tent is a Durston X Mid, which we use most of the time. But we take the Marmot when we want a little bigger space or if we are taking the dog.

Marmot Tungsten UL the much better choice and way lighter.

Must haves (I’ve passed over and returned tents for these) Poles that clip instead of slide into sleeves. Makes setup/takedown super fast and easy.  High Quality zippers/fabric/hardware Full rain fly with vestibule for shoes. Double doors.  Good ventilation and plenty of mesh. Available oem Footprint Nice to haves: (Increase comfort and usability but aren’t total dealbreakers) Headroom is important to my family, but not a big deal for me personally.  Straight walls which keep the interior feeling open.  These two hit all those marks for me: Mountain hardwear Mineral king https://www.mountainhardwear.com/p/mineral-king-3-tent-2102591.html Marmot tungsten https://www.marmot.com/equipment/tents/4-person/tungsten-4-person-tent/SP_1031644.html

I love my marmot Tungsten UL. I have a single person and two person. Good weight and is durable.

If weight wasn’t such an issue it’d be fine, but for backpacking specifically, I’d definitely go lighter. Also, that extra width in the Tungsten does make sharing a tent way more comfortable, especially if you have wider pads.

We downsized the tent we take on kayak trips to save on space and a bit of weight. Our 3 person marmot is almost 8 lbs vs my Durston XMid but if I didn't also want something for backpacking a Naturehike Mongar 2 would be a good balance between size, weight and costs.

Yeah we have a 3P Marmot that's similar. Very sturdy and great for its intended use but there are much lighter weight options like the Mongar that's also quite cheap. Basically unless you already own the heavy tent there's little reason to buy one when there are lighter, cheaper options which are readily available.

You'd likely be better off buying a Mongar 2P than either of those tents, even with the discount. We have a Marmot 3P that gets used for car camping but its way too heavy to hike with.

Do you need the 2P to be wide enough to have two 25" pads? That'll narrow your search pretty quickly. I just got an XMid 2P which I'm super excited to start using. That's replacing a heavy Marmot 3P that we've been hauling on our kayak trips.

tungsten ul is so simple and fast to set up. I love my tungsten so much, especially when it rains, no sagging like my nemo kunai 3p does. It ventalates well too. I didn't consider the limelight ul, but is seems a bit lighter. The weird wings are interesting, seemto require extra stakes, but could add indoor space if you need it more than the vestabule.

I'd add marmot to that list too for the 3-season and backup the canvas with stove for freezing weather.