Zpacks - DupleXL

My Duplex lasted my entire thruhike of the AT and I still use it!

I’d forget those heavy options - save yourself the equivalent of (considerably) more than a glass bottle of wine in weight on each tent and consider getting Durston trekking pole tents. They are proven options for 3 season UK hiking, reasonably-priced, and way way lighter! Nobody needs a Hilleberg or equivalent for a summer C2C! Truly! Edit: By the way (and out of budget for you), my personal shelter preferences for hiking in 3 seasons anywhere in Europe (Scotland, the Alps, the Med and anywhere in-between) are the ZPacks Plex tents - a Plex Solo Lite for me on my own, a Duplex when I'm out with the Mrs. No need for an even more expensive 1.3Kg - 3.5Kg Hilleberg when you can take a 332g or 507g tent to cover the same conditions. Hillebergs are great if you want a 4 season shelter for exposed environments, and even then I'd only have one for actual winter trips. It's like buying a Ford F150 Truck to go shopping or to take trips down the M4 from London to Bristol - total overkill!

If you are both under 6ft and sleep on 20" wide pads then the Duplex (*still*) has no UL equal as a fully-enclosed, 2P, UL shelter.

Hi, hiked jmt with a double rainbow. Mine was made in USA before tarptent started manufacturing overseas, so not sure about quality now :( Replaced it with a Zpacks duplex. Loved many things about the tarptent, but also had many issues... 1) Biggest issue I had with the tarptent was that the weatherproofing/seam sealing started to fail. This can't happen with the duplex because the fabric is naturally waterproof 2) Set up is similar but SO MUCH easier & quicker for duplex because it uses trekking poles vs tarptents dedicated tent pole that you have to carry, assemble & shove into a sleeve. I am much less frustrated setting up the duplex vs the tarptent!!! ----- Both tents rely on staking! That being said, if you are new to these kinds of tents they can present condensation issues vs double walled freestanding tents (waking up because water is dripping on your face). Allegedly can be mitigated by campsite selection & leaving doors open etc. Never looked into it much because I don't care Staking is definitely a learning curve and not always possible, might end up having to use rocks to try to secure the tent! Sometimes I didn't have the energy to try to use rocks for every stake, so I just used it like a bivy. These are very loud in the wind if you can't stake well because they depend on staking. My husband hates these kinds of tents, constantly complains about condensation & and will not participate in any complex staking games with me 😂

Get a DCF/Dyneema tent. It is completely waterproof. Zpacks duplex is going to be a nice 2p tent for you. It has large vestibule doors. The only thing is that with most lightweight tents, you won't find a fly that goes to the ground. That is because you need ventilation inside. With the zpacks I've never had my pack or shoes get wet from rain when they were in the vestibule.

Second this, had mine since 2017 and still going strong.

Save yourself the headache and get a Zpacks duplex. It didn't become the most popular ultralightweight tent by accident. And yes, it should pack down small enough to fit nicely in 36L.

I used the Copper Spur UL2 on my hike of the AT 10 years ago. It's a great tent & over the years has been given great updates. After putting tons of miles on it, I gave it to a buddy & he's still using it today. I currently have one of the Copper Spur UL1's as well & really dig it for certain hikes. On my PCT hike, I used a Zpacks Duplex. Also a great tent & was perfect for that hike. Still have it, but haven't really used it since. That being said, I've used a single wall DCF trekking pole on ALL of my other thru-hikes since. The only downside to using an UL DCF trekking pole tent on a thru-hike is that "most" folks will wear one out over 3-4K miles. So, if you plan on only doing the one trail (PCT), an UL trekking pole tent is the clear winner for its simplicity & weight. If you're planning to do a bunch of thru-hikes due to getting the "bug" & can really only justify buying one tent/ aren't as weight conscious... I think a tent like the Copper Spur or Tiger wall would be a great choice. \- Darwin

I used an original Z Packs duplex and my hiking partner used the X Dome 1+…. Both tents performed absolutely fine for the entire PCT plus some. Issues faced were user errors Also had zero issues with the footprints being to big on either tent. Often camped together and even when it was tight we’d pitch them in a fashion where the stakes were staggered and apart

I’ve heard ppl say that it condenses. I’ve haven’t had that problem before. You need to make sure that air is flowing thru. So I leave a door partially open. Even if it’s pouring rain, I can leave a door slightly ajar to prevent condensation.

Another vote for a mid, forget the USA thru hiking tents for bad weather. MLD do mids in various sizes in various materials. Locus gear if you want something a bit more fancy. Tarptent Scarp is good in bad weather as well I don't get as much condensation on the inside of my DCF tents, but as long as the tent is big enough that your not brushing the sides, i've never had a problem, not even in the UK I've got: Locus gear - Khufu DCF-B Colin Ibbotson - Tramplite (DCF) TarpTent - Scarp 2 (Silnylon) Zpacks - Duplex (DCF) Sold TarpTent - Strat 2 Happilly take any of the tents out in re4ally bad weather except the Duplex Mids are fantastic in bad weather and easy to put up, only ball ache is if you decide to also use a inner You can use 2 hiking poles and something called a "Dual Pole Tip Extender" DPTE, rock solid, plus you can hang your inner BUT it is more of a faff