I'm uploading over 100 long weekend photo's to Flickr and it's taking an eternity...I'll add the photos as soon as they are readyMy wife and I just got home from 3 nights in Jasper where I got to test out some of the stuff I bought over the winter. My new Morpho AR tents by Nemo was at the top of that list by far.
We arrived Thursday night...thanks for a complete highway blockage by local authorities looking for booze and drunks, we didn't arrive until close to midnight. Before this time I'd only set the tent up in the living room...and most certainly not in the dark.
Using only my Mini Mag light and the headlights of the Jeep I was able to set up the tent without any problems.
Once up and loaded we learned that while it is a 2 person tent, it's not as big inside as the reviews and retailers make it seem. I was happy with the head room as there's plenty of room to sit up but once my wife and I were down for the night we noticed a few things:
First there isn't much foot room...I'm a hair shy of 6' and my feet (and my wife's) touched the 'roof' when laying flat.
The 'coffin' shaped footprint means you need to be creative with stowing your gear. There's a bit of room at the sides and at the head...but not enough for anything more than a small pack. We kept a change of clothes, some flashlights, and some small odds and ends...there wasn't any room left. Our shoes had to go outside. Fortunately the tiny vestibule was just big enough.
One note about the vestibule. You might find it advertised as being quite sizable but you should know that the vestibule is tricky. If you extend the inner part of the tent the full length of the tent, the vestibule is about big enough for 2 pair of shoes. The inner part from the large air beam forward can be staked anywhere in between the air beam and the edge of the vestibule. If you stake it all the way in you have JUST enough room for a short person (or two) to sleep but the vestibule is fairly big. In the dark I staked out the inside of the tent while both should be staked out for best results. I took care of this in the morning.
It should be noted that while this tent comes with great '+' shaped pegs with pull cord loops...they're great but there's only enough of them to stake the corners. You'll need extra to stake the vestibule separately or use guy lines. It comes with 2 guy lines but no pegs for them...strange. I plan to pick up quite a few extras as well as some extra guy lines for those crazy stormy days.
That first night it got down to at least -1C. I'm sure it was colder but that was the temp when we got up. I was amazed that there was ZERO condensation on the walls...no joke. The only condensation was on the vestibule (but I think this was partly because it was not staked and in contact with the bug mesh) and in the valleys of my Ridge Rest sleeping pad...and this was so slight we didn't notice until the day before we left. It was such a small amount it didn't get into our sleeping bag. It didn't feel that cold while we were in the tent. Our old tent was much larger so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.
The clear window was a nice touch and came in handy right away as it allowed us to keep an eye on the tarp I'd set up over the picnic table when it was rainy and windy the second night. I was able to make sure it was still there without undoing a single zipper.
The next day I was feeling under the weather and had a nap in the tent in the middle of the afternoon while the temp. was about +23C. The vents work fantastically. Between the side vents, big rear scoop vent, and the ability to quickly open up all of the front bug netting (which I didn't even use as it was drizzling off and on that day), there is more than enough ventilation for this type of weather. As the summer goes on and proceeds to fall, I'll get to see if it's enough ventilation for the hot summer and cold fall.
The hanging clips at the center of the air beams are nice. The beams could support a LOT of weight before showing signs of buckling. I hung a Freeplay Inigo LED lantern from the front one and a Freeplay EyeMax WB radio from the rear one. It's easy to tonk your head on the lantern as the head room is only JUST adequate to begin with but I took it down before going to sleep so it wasn't an issue.
One nice feature which I hadn't noticed at home was the nature of the front door. It has a triple zipper which surrounds the front and one size of the 3 front panels of bug screen. This means you can get in from the front or the side. You can also unzip the entire zipper (or any small portion of it). Unzip it all and you get an enormous entry way. You need to be creative about how you stake out the vestibule depending on which door you want to use...or if you want to use both. Unzipping it all made unpacking and clean up a breeze. Typically the worst part of camping IMHO.
Speaking again of staking out the vestibule you can choose to stake it out or clip it to the inner part of the tent (which is what I did the first night). Either is good but each has it's pros and cons. Staking it makes it very taught but you can only get in from the front. If you clip it you can get in from the side or the front if you undo a clip or two. I like the fact that there are lots of options for configuration but don't recommend learning about them in the dark
The floor of the tent is tough but on the thin side. I'm glad I bought the foot print and highly recommend it. It clips to the stake out loops perfectly and comes with spare clips.
One thing you might remember from my preview post is that this tent comes with lots of extra stuff. In case you missed that one I'll mention that it comes with 2 spare bladders AND a repair kit. The idea is that you can replace the bladder while inside the tent and then repair the punctured one without having to sit in a half inflated tent and all without leaving the tent!
Packing the tent up something I was worried about doing cleanly as the ground was very dusty but it was super easy. Quickly put the deflation caps on the air beams (which can be done from inside or outside. I chose outside and had no problems doing it blind through the tiny zipper ports) and let the beams deflate. Pull the stakes and un-clip the foot print. Roll it up left to right to get rid of any remaining air. Stuff in the waterproof compression sack which it comes in...it took minutes. The foot print provided a nice clean space to do this. The foot print folded up easily but was tricky to get back into the stuff sack it comes in. A nice bonus is that it's a mesh bag in case the foot print is wet...should help it dry out a little between stops.
Conclusion: Personally I love it. My wife thinks it's too small for car camping but in 3 nights it's already starting to grow on her...especially after tear down. We woke up at 10:30am and check out was 11am...we had plenty of time to spare while our neighbors were still folding their poles and folding up rain flies. It's going to be a tiny bit heavy and bulky for backpacking with my wife or buddies but considering the quality and ease of setup and tear down, I think it's a worth while compromise. The only cons are the lack of a properly full vestibule, lack of included guy lines to match the guy line loops and enough pegs to match the guy points. These can be taken care of easily enough for a few extra bucks (I already carry extra pegs as a matter of habit). It's not perfect but it's by far the best tent of this type I've ever slept in. My wife even loves the color.
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