The North Face - Trail Lite 2

I own Kelty, North Face and Marmot backpacking tents, and can attest to their durability, ease of use and agreeable weight. I've used them both in the backcountry as well as when going car camping.

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.

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.

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.  

Second what others have said. UL is always a bet that the worst won’t happen and you can ignore discomfort in the name of weight as comfort. The same can’t be said for winter camping where the margins are much tighter. With that being said alpine climbing has been doing UL since before it was cool. There are plenty of 4 season (in reality 1 season) alpine single wall tents like the Rab Latok, Samaya 2.0, MHW AC 2 that are all around 1.7kg and designed to take intense weather. They tend to be designed for snow not rain, so struggle above 0. I got a TNF one on pro deal it’s only useful for mountaineering ascents. But they’re cramped and you get wet every time you run any body part along the wall. I’ll take the extra 1kg of an MSR Fury which is more spacious and more comfortable any day. For ski tours I prefer pyramid tents and dog down using the snow for insulation. One option that balances out fairly well is the SeekOutside hot tents. Tent pole pyramids with the option for titanium stoves. They get super hot, too hot really while you feed the fire. Unfortunately the stoves only accept small bits of wood and require regular feeding. You often go to bed sweating and wake up very cold. You also need the time to gather burnable firewood, which is not always easy in some environments. Without the stove they are lighter than compatible pyramid tents, especially the Dyneema version.

Yes and no. I have a half dozen tents that I bought for less than $100. Most are decent enough and for the casual camper they’ll last quite some time. I also have a $600 North Face tent that I could live in for years.

The easy answer is that it’s a well built solid piece of gear. Color coded tabs so there’s no guesswork with the fly, aluminum poles over fiberglass, good quality screen and the seams are still solid after a decade. It’s just made really well.