MSR - Hubba Hubba (Original)

Weird… I have an older gen Hubba Hubba and it’s been going strong and dry for 15 years. It’s not the updated light weight red and grey one, but green and black. I always use the footprint. I cant see the pic again without deleted my reply, but the tent “bucket” goes up a few inches on the long end and the screen goes to the ground under the vestibules. The seal tape is deteriorating and due to be replaced, but I have never washed it, DWR or otherwise and it’s kept me dry in the heaviest of downpours. Edit: ok looked again. Your “bucket” looks even taller than mine, but it def seems like the fly is higher off the ground, too. I’m sure you’ve tried this, but taught tent floor and then tighten the fly as tight as possible without warping the frame? You might also try hitting the bucket with a fresh hit of DWR like NikWax or equivalent. Getting some overspray on the screen where it meets wouldn’t hurt either.

I have an X Mid Dome 2 freestander: https://durstongear.com/products/x-dome-2-ultralight-tent It’s much pricier at $470 but weighs only 2.7 pounds. One great feature is after the first time setup, you can keep the fly and tent connected and pitch it all at once quite easily. I had a Hubba Hubba 2 person (much heavier, a little bit cheaper) and used it a lot. I keep thinking about a 1 person or the X Mid Dome 1+ but in the end I keep coming back to loving the room to stretch out (esp nice if you have to hunker down in bad weather).

From the standpoint of flexibility - I have a 10F down quilt and a 40F synthetic quilt along with a 3.5R pad and the cheap 2R waffle pack thing from Walmart for when I go out in anything under 20F conditions. It is cost effective, warm, and I saved a bunch of money by having four pieces that mix/match to cover camping year round. Granted this is for Scouting and I'm normally walking in only a mile or two to get to our site, so weight isn't a huge deal, but the overall penalty isn't that big anyway. My tent is the previous version of the Hubba Hubba and it works beautifully in winter as well. Coldest trip so far is 6F with a couple inch accumulation overnight. I will say the warmest I've slept in these conditions is when my 16 year old decided to share my tent because he was too lazy to put up his own. I put the 40F quilt over top of both of our bags and it was nice.

By the way I’m a member of r/snowpeak and thought your question asking about the Alpha Breeze entertaining to a bunch of Snow Peak nut jobs. lol I’ve had various tents for various situations over the years. Earliest memory was using a Coleman four man tent with my family when I was a kid, an acceptable tent for a child, but I also didn’t know any better. I would say any sub $200 tent now probably falls in the same quality of cheaper tent fabric and lower quality poles. In my teens and throughout my 30s, I got big into backpacking so it was with brands like MSR and Big Agnes. In that time of lightweight backpacking tents, I really loved the original MSR Mutha Hubba (3p), it was lightweight and very packable and was spacious relative to its total weight. I’ve since gotten a newer MSR Hubba Hubba (2p) which I like, slight lowering in quality since the 2000s era of MSR quality. Which brings us full circle to the Alpha Breeze, it’s now my dedicated car camping tent, having also slept in and seen other tents that friends bring on car camping trips. It’s something I view as a long term investment that features thoughtful tent design along with the durability that comes with quality. Last thing, the price is high, but I’m seeing this as something that will last me +10 years, if not 20. Which over time breaks down to about $60/year if using 10 years.

Can't speak to the OHM, but I have the Volt 3. You can compare specs on MEC site. It's bulky and a bit heavy. It fits easily on a tent pad. It fits 2 people with gear, ample space inside. Geometry was great for wind and rain. Any back country camping off a tent pad is a challenge, it has a larger footprint that makes finding decent flat space a challenge. I was extremely jealous of fellow campers in their bivvys or 2p spark or Hubba Hubba 2. Great tent, but I've added a 2p Hubba Hubba to my gear since and have much appreciated the smaller footprint and space in my gear. I won't be using it for 2 people though, maybe me and my kid. But, ill take the Volt 3 for wife and kid and pick my hikes wisely. Good price though!

I know this sounds ridiculous to a lot of people but me and my partner both have our own tents. I'm a horrendously light sleeper and also snore, we actually have separate bedrooms at home too. We both currently have the msr hubba hubba 2p because we like our space, but I might downsize to the new durston x-dome 1+. Having our own space is nice especially when we go on 10+ day backpacking trips and want some alone time.

I'd go for a 2p, but make sure your sleeping pads will fit. Many 2p tents are tapered meaning they can't accept 2 rectangle wide pads. If you're both on 20 inch pads, then it'll be fine. There are tapered wide sleeping pads for just this reason. The MSR Hubba Hubba and the REI Half Dome are examples of tents that have a full non tapered rectangle floor.

I like the Hubba Hubba dual door vestibule design. Can pee out the door without getting out of your sleeping bag.

My friend has an MSR hubba 2p which I find is tight for 2 people (especially in damp conditions) but is great for one and relatively light/compact.

I really love my Mormot Tungsten. It is a little heavier than some of the other Recs but is roomy and has withstood some intense PNW rain. It also comes in an ultra light version (I don’t think it’s actually ultralight, but it is lighter than the OG version). Don’t pay full price for it though, Marmot tents are on sale all the time. I don’t like the zipper geometry on the MSR elixir and hubba for heavy rain and damp/dew- it’s meant so you don’t have to reach so far out into the vestibule to open your fly, but i find it means the zipper can drip into your tent through the open door.

My wife and I backpack a fair bit (multi day up to two weeks). Our primary tent is an MSR Hubba Hubba 2 from a couple years ago (not sure if I’d recommend them now as company changes have affected their gear a bit, but just using it for reference). The tent floor is 84”x25”. We use Nemo Tensor Regular Wide sleeping pads which are 72”x25”. So, they fill the entire floor width with only a handful of inches top or bottom. I am 5’10 with wide shoulders and over 200lbs. She is 5’4.5 (the extra half inch is important to her) and 130’s. We are able to put our packs at our feet and sleep fine. She sleeps on her back. I tend to sleep on my side or stomach (and then feet end up on the pack or under knees if I do end up on my back for a while). We also have Nemo Fillo Elite pillows (with and inch of memory foam on top of the air bladder). Comfort is import to us while trying also be efficient about size and weight (but not ultra light). For packing, we mostly carry all our own individual stuff (quilts, clothes, headlamps, personal items, food, water, etc). A few random things get split; stove versus battery versus shit kit, etc. For the tent, the way we handle it is I carry the whole tent, but she then gets my sleeping pad and pillow to offset the volume and some of the weight. This is what works for us. For a two person backpacking tent, you will be cozy and hopefully like being near the person you’re sharing it with. I wouldn’t want to share it with a random person or someone I wasn’t very comfortable sleeping very close to. Carrying a 3 person backing tent would not be a bad decision if you want the extra space. You pay for it with about an extra pound of weight and a slight bit more volume in the pack, but it’s your choice to make on what is important to you (as well as what money you can spend). I personally prefer freestanding tents (and then still stake them down as best I can) because I’m in Colorado and find that staking can be hard enough to do that I really don’t trust trekking poles type tents that rely on staking. Too much risk of a staking pulling out due to poor ground. Means I will never have the lightest tent due to carrying tent poles, but I’m the one that has to carry them (not the randos online that are measuring the eight of a ziplock bag).