MSR - Elixir™ 2-Person Backpacking Tent

The Elixir is a great tent - is pretty tough while still being on the lighter side compared to standard or cheap tents. I’ve had one for 5+ years and taken it on portage trips and car camping trips and it holds up well. The 2 is a good size for one person and some gear, and I bought a 3 to camp with my gf. My only reason for changing tents was weight. I recently sold both of them and upgraded to a Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL 3, a much lighter tent to make portaging and backpacking easier. They are a bit more delicate feeling than the elixir, so I am more gentle with them. The Elixir is the kind of tent people live in while tree planting for many seasons in a row. The single zipper door design on the Elixir is nicer / smoother to operate than the Tiger Wall. The fly also opens closer to the door, so it’s easier to get in and out, whereas the Tiger Wall you have to lean out pretty far to close or open the fly. My friend who is also a gear head bought the nature hike tent - he’s had it many years and it’s worked well. Basically an MSR quality tent without the brand name. Just make sure it’s not “used” and being sold as “new” - hold the fly up to the sky and loom through it to check the waterproof coating / pour water on it before your first trip to make sure. Use your footprint and it will last many years! TLDR; the Elixir is a great tent - buy it!

MSR Elixir is superior

TLDR - Vango make solid cheap tents. If you want fancy go MSR or Nemo. Mid range Terra Nova Wild Country make some exceptional stuff. Avoid OEX. Alpkit make some cracking stuff. For convenience go dome style self standing tents ( ie elixr or Nemo Dagger or MSR) I work in a hiking shop in Scotland and I'm an avid keen hiker and camper. One thing I'd suggest is the tent you use to wild camp, if you care about it, I wouldn't take it to festivals. This is for me any way. My tents are precious you wouldn't see me putting my nice MSR or Nemo tent in a boggy field full of drunks. Personally I'd take any old Decathalon tent to a festival one with a front entry and cross bar easy peasy. Any way wild camping it's a whole different box of frogs. I'm not going to tell you the best because that is largely dependent on what you want out of a tent. So here are some questions you need to be asking yourself and what your priorities are. Am I back packing long distance or do I want luxury? - weight - pack size - Head room - strength of the face fabric Am I a fair weather camper or am I putting my tent through serious duress? - strength of the tent - hydrostatic head - construction of the tent (so these are how the poles are orientated) - shape effects how well it handles wind (wedge low profile = better for wind however less room for you) Do I want free standing or a tent I have to tension? - free standing is great for convenience - tents you have to tension are normally lighter and more Packable. Do I need storage? - Somewhere to store gear from the rain - Vestibule for things like beer and festival stuff Where am I camping? - depends what you mean by wild camping - is it campsites - am I camping on a windy peak or near a loch/ lake Few more things to consider. -I'm sorry but no one is back packing or wild camping in a 3 man tent. You go wild camping in England in a 3 man tent chances are you'll be moved on very quickly. In Scotland. It's very different. 3 man tent you're not bringing very far and I'd be surprised if you can find many spaces in Scotland to put a big 3 man tent. Also do you want to carry a 3 man tent? I certainly don't. You CAN break it up a 1 Carey the poles 1 carry the top sheet and 1 carry the inner. -2 man is a much more sensible option. -Make sure your camping mat fits in it. -Most or if not all 2 man tents are going to be fairly straightforward to put up if you know what you're doing -Go to a hiking shop and ask the folk there. You can actually get in them and have a look yourself. - side entry is a lot easier to climb in and out of. Couple tents I'd suggest that are roughly around your price range I'd say £250 + that covet these aspects 1. Good head room, strong, easy to put up, spacious However they lack in packablity and wouldn't make the best pack packing tents. These normally have 2 side entries. 2 vestibule for cooking in and a cross bar or dome style tent for better space MSR - Elixr 2 Terra Nova - Helm Compact 2 Wild country - Axis 2 (they may not make these any more) 2. Light weight is always going to cost more or you're going to have to compromise on headspace and luxury. Lighter back packing tents tend to be single pile or a 2 poke wedge style tent Terra Nova wild country - Coshee 2 (small wedge - tiny pack size but not a lot of head room) MSR - l hubba hubba like the elixr but light and more expensive Vango - Helvellyn (cracking inexpensive 2 man with decent head room and front entry) 3. Cheap and cheerful no frills place to get your head down for festivals (this is what I'd pick) Quecha - 2 man HM100 (self standing cross pole 2 man. What more can you ask for ) Vango - Nevis 200 (bit of a darling in the hiking/ tent world everyone has a soft spot for this tent. 1 pole bang. Up. Inexpensive. Easy tent and isn't too heavy. Top picks for me. If it was up to me if you want strong and longevity get the MSR Elixr. Little bit of the heavier side but it can handle a lot. If you want a reliable tent thats solid for medium length backpacking and wild camping. Get yourself a helm compact 2 Cheap and cheerful - anything by Vango is going to be solid. Avoid OEX like the plague their stuff is dogshite. I'm sorry they have some serious major design flaws. Avoid the Phoxx 2. Alpkit have some decent tents around that price range - for example the Auronaught 2. Bonus if you made it this far https://www.ddhammocks.com/collections/tents?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=google_shopping_ads&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21929368775&gbraid=0AAAAAD-IR3dVnNRUuSjzhMDqi_nR2JXg9&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_dbABhC5ARIsAAh2Z-TBB2Q7VWM_b9wkYJ452ExPlpsaw1A2Hp7gwwht6DVUNVt8JbEmWt4aAqscEALw_wcB These guys sell big pyramid tarp style tents. That require one pole and some of them are for entire families. They range from £100 to £150+ they also have midgie nets and ground sheets you can use in conjunction with. Great for a bit of everything. And they have your superlight backpacking/ wild camping stuff I hope that helps.

The elixer 2 will be fine, a bit small, for 2 in winter. Has guyline points! Pile snow around lower edges of the fly & it'd be quite snug enough. If you can leave inner tent at home, so much the better. It's great to trash bits of snow, coffe grounds, tobacco spit & pee- bottle contents inside a floorless tent. Anything gross can be buried. Alternately, a much larger, floorless pyramid-type tent with center pole is "popular" snow-camping rig. These are light, & fairly blizzard-proof with guylines. The floorless "floor" can be excavated for lots of headroom, in theory. Obvious alternative is "expedition dome" type tent. Can be very heavy & expensive & probably excessive.

Four-pole domes, or certain hoop tents may survive, but assuming that conditions would actually obliterate elixer, then any tent will be severely stressed & potentially destroyed. Shovels to build snow walls may be necessary, but building such a camp takes hours. Alternately use rocks. A sledge (sleigh) could be handy if snow permits.

I had the Elixr 2 for ten years. It manages four seasons just fine. It's a very sturdy tent. Heavy af though. So I got rid of 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.

Seems we have an elitist over here? I did multi day (5 till 10 days) hikes for years with an MSR Elixer to no problem whatsoever.

The MSR Elixer 3 would work and has a unique yet intuitive pole design that is incredibly strong in high wind. I have an Elixer 2 and it has held up without fail in many wind and rain storms.

I’m looking to lighten up my wild camping load out. I’m currently using the msr elixir 2. While it’s a great tent, It’s contributing to my pack weight being regularly over 18-20kg so I’m looking to massively lighten my load. I’ve done the classic beginner mistake of going far too bulky. Live and learn eh I really like the look to the newer durston gear x mid 1 solid. It retails on valley and peak for about £340 (great company for anything wild camping) but I was looking for some feedback from people who’ve battle tested it. How’s it fared? I’ve heard it has quite a big footprint and can be difficult pitch at times? I was also wondering how it would fair in comparison to the msr in terms of wind resistance and strength? I’ve been in some decent gusts around 35 - 40mph and the msr has held up well although this was on the harsher side of conditions it could cope with. How would the durston do in comparison? From what I can see it’s a 2 piece so condensation shouldn’t be too much of an issue, right? Any info or advice is much appreciated.

I like my msr elixir 2, it packs very small if you squeeze it in. It is usually too expensive but it often goes on sale on one website or another