Mountain Hardwear - Mineral King 2

I've been using the same 2p MTN hardware tent for yeaaaaaars at this point. It's nothing special. Yeah, sometimes I wish it could pack smaller (compression bags ftw) but I'm not that bothered, and I've set it up in the dark in 2 seconds when I needed it. A lot of the lighter and fancier tents seem to have more complicated pole systems, something to be mindful of.  Pretty much my one pannier is my sleep system (bag, tent, pad, clothes) and other is food and cookware. It comes down what packing system you have. Posting in bikepacking (seat bags, frame bags) will get you different styles of touring vs your post in biketouring (more pannier focused).

I have a mountain hardwear mineral king. They’ve since released a 4 season model but I have used mine in over a foot of snow below 0°F. On mine you can roll back half the fly to stargaze/ look around.

Was going to say this. Mountain Hardwear Mineral King is pretty good as well.

We've got an REI Kingdom 6 and love it. I think the new version is called the Wonderland. Also, if budget is an issue, I'd consider lightly used, good quality gear. We got an almost new Kingdom 6 with add on vestibule (plus a bunch of other gear I didn't want) for $100 on FB Marketplace. The good stuff tends to hold up well if it isn't abused. As an example, I've got a Mountain Hardware 2 person tent coming up on 30 years old that I had to reseal the seams but is otherwise still going strong. Spent a few nights in it recently and plan to continue using it as long as I can.

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.