The North Face - Stormbreak 1

I have a North Face Stormbreak 1p, which I've lugged from the South Rim of Grand Canyon down to Havasupai Gardens twice. (A modest 9 mile, 3,000 foot elevation change). Tent is just the right weight for me, though a little cramped if lugging the 55L Deuter Aircontact Core pack in for the night with me.

27 lb is ridiculously no weight at all if you have a proper backpack which puts the weight on your hips. You'll barely feel it. Ignore the super-light extremists on this one.

On the upside, it's polyester, dries faster! Doesn't get so impregnated with water from outside or condensation from inside.

Holy crap that zipper and the stupid flap and the velcro on the door is such a massive pain in the ass!

Yeah, the zipper is SO BAD.

That zipper and flap design is absolutely so shitty in practice! I'm fairly cramped in mine at 5"10 even with the inner taut. 6" will be two inches less fun lol

Hey, I have the Stormbreak 1. It's tiny (I'm 5"10). But because it's tiny and because it has two proper poles crossing and no hub system, it's pretty strong and low profile to the wind. Replacing the insane massive pegs with a mixture of Groundhogs and Mini-Groundhogs immediately removes 100g of weight (approx lol). As for the footprint, I suggest you're going to question the decision to buy one once you see how THICK the tent floor is. It's thicker than any tent floor I've seen in the past 30 years. Also, it's polyester so dries quickly, WINNING. If you have inner-tent sagging issues on your head when you put it up, get back to me, I worked out by trial and error how to get the inner tight. Lastly, I lost my poles on a train a couple of weeks ago, and the North Face literally doesn't sell replacement poles, it's such a joke. I mean, the tent is cheap, but still, not very ecological to have to buy another whole tent when you lose the poles... May I ask where/website? you bought the tent? I will probably be in my Stormbreak (with replacement poles? tent?) also in NZ in the South Island in January...

I was thinking the tent is 82 inch long. I could sleep in it, but I would be more comfortably laying in a larger tent. I have a North Face tent that I thought was a great find, just to find out it's so tiny inside it annoys me (I think it is only around 80"). I would rather pitch a tarp and sleep in my bivy sack underneath.

Northface storm break 1

I hear you on that. I’m 6ft and I could probably use another inch or two of length. Haha, I affectionately call it my “coffin,” but I agree, I appreciate the small footprint. Kind of a requirement for some of the camping I do, where pad space is scarce.

The Northface storm break 1p has been an awesome tent for me! Water tight, lightweight and very capable of withstanding high winds. It’s also very cheap, which is the opposite of many backpacking tents. I wouldn’t call it ultralight, but it’s not far from it. I’ll actually be using it for a trout fishing trip today, time to get packing!

Yeah, I really like it, you get a lot for your money! I usually use it for weeklong canoe trips. Never had any issues with rain either, plus it take like 1 minute to set up.

Honestly you just need something with a fly. We’ve had a North Face, and Coleman and a McKinley all with fly’s and all have been perfectly fine riding out rainstorms. A ground sheet/tarp tucked under the tent is never a bad idea either as long as it’s not sticking out catching rain. Set the tent up properly with the guy lines out and you should be good. A vestibule has always been something we have too, one with the full fly not just mesh screens.

Stormbreak is a great tent at a good price! The one person will be lighter but they make me claustrophobic:)

For a wet NZ month, the headache isn’t strength, it’s that the inner pitches first. In real rain, your mesh gets damp while you slap the fly on. Add 3.2 lb you’ll feel by week two, a small vestibule, and only “fine” wind unless you beef up guylines and nail your site.

I love my stormbreak 1. It's probably too small if you're 6 ft or taller but it's perfect for me. A lot of people say they prefer a 2 person tent for just themselves but I love the coziness of a 1 person

I'm also own a NF stormbreak 1 and a stormbreak 2. I love my stormbreak 1, it is small (cozy and easy to find a place to pitch) and very sturdy. The downsides are that it's small and very sturdy (aka heavy), my head touches the top when I sit straight up in the tent and it weighs roughly 3.3 lbs which is not that much less than a lot of budget 2 person tents. I would never even consider taking the stormbreak 2 backpacking.

I’ve owned a lot of tents Eureka, Kelly, North Face, Big Agnes, REI and our last two have been Core (big and cheap) tents. Only one of my tents has ever leaked even with significant rain and thunderstorms.  Make sure things are not pushing on the wall of the tent and properly stake out your tent and fly.   Others have pointed out getting a better tent will help, and it will but if you have stuff pushing on the wall or you don’t stake it out, they will leak too.   Pay attention to how you are storing your tent too.  I had a wonderful North Face tent that got moldy and after that, the waterproofing was shot.  Water literally pouring in the tent as a thunderstorm roared over Lake Superior.  This was the only tent I ever had that leaked and it was an entirely my fault.  

Love mine. The only mild complaint I have is that the rain fly zipper catches, but as long as it's staked out tight enough and you use 2 hands it's not a real problem.