Mountain Hardwear - Meridian 3

I have the Mountian Hardwear Meridian 3 - it’s one step down from the Mineral King in that it lacks the extra cross beam and upper vents on the doors. Honestly I haven’t missed them, the tent is well ventilated and has plenty of headroom without. It’s definitely a car camping tent at 6lbs. I can fit two adults with 25” wide pads and a medium sized dog inside. If you ditch the dog you could each fit a backpack. It’s well made and easy as heck to set up. I like the stargazer feature that allows me to roll back half the fly for a sky view.

We have a Mountain Hardwear Meridian 3. It is absolutely bombproof and has kept us dry through some absolutely torrential downpours. It also only weighs about 6 pounds and packs up nicely. I think the line has been discontinued and I think they mainly make 2 and 3 person tents but I can’t recommend this brand enough.

I’m happy with my Mountain Hardwear Meridian 3 - there are lighter tents out there, but it’s not bad. Mineral King is another decent option. And their customer service is good. I lost a tent pole piece, my fault, and they replaced it.

MSR or Big Agnes for backpacking get my vote. Mountain Hardwear also make some nice backpacking tents. Nemo and Marmot would be the next ones I look at. I love my MSR and Hardwear tent. if you want to go ultralight, just stick with a two person and you’re gonna be really snug but totally doable if you’re with a partner. I’m 6 foot three and I have slept in a two person MSR tent with another 6 foot three person. Go with the three person if you want to compromise comfort while in the tent for added weight. Chances are you will be splitting the tent up into two separate packs to offset the total weight or you’ll carry it yourself and have the other person carry other stuff to equal out the weight. It may not seem like a huge deal, but when your backpacking every little bit counts.