3 person 3 season tent

Hi all,

Am looking for a 3 person, 3 season tent for use for backpacking, cycle touring and hiking. Am willing to go up to 4kg as it will always be used by at least 2 people. Am willing to spend up to $700Aus (around $450US).

At the moment the Macpac citadel and North Face Roadrunner 33 seem to be leading the field but am keen to hear about others experiences either with these tents or something similar.

Cheers
Mick

The Big Agnes Copper Spur SL 3 is an awesome tent. It retails for $499, but I guarantee you can pick one up on sale somewhere. This tent is super light (hence the SL). It weights a little over 4 lbs. There are also two doors and two vestibules which make it easy to get in and out of. This tent also won an Editor's Choice award from Backpacker magazine in 2008. This tent has good headroom and length for bigger guys (my cousin is 6'2"). I don't know the sizes of the other tents you are looking at right now, so definitely compare floor space and height. One way to put it into perspective is that a Thermarest pad is 20 inches wide. That will give you an idea of how much elbow room you get. When you guy this tent's fly out there is little condensation because of all the mesh (which also cuts weight, but isn't as durable). The mesh is also nice for star-gazing on clear nights.

I have a Jansport Geodesic (Dome) tent that I would sell you. Its about 30 years old but has never been used. It was in storage. It sleeps two people. And its price is only $30 plus shipping.Email me at garyclaytonpalmer@yahoo.com if you are interested?

daorth and Gary-
Did you guys notice that Mick is in Oz? First, I am not sure that Big Agnes is distributing in Oz yet. Second, Gary, I suspect that shipping is pretty expensive to Oz, plus they might charge duty for a "foreign-made" tent (yeah, I know, it was probably made, even 30 yrs ago, in SE Asia, but JanSport is a US brand name).

Mick, g'day and welcome to Trailspace! Given the two tents you list, I would pick the MacPac. It's much better quality than TNF. Plus it is more or less locally made (at least it's made in the Antipodes). I have been quite impressed with the quality of MacPac gear (I have one of their packs). They have been shipping to the US only a couple of years, but my mates down under have been telling me about them for years. Now that I have the pack, I have to agree - they make excellent kit.

I need to get back down your way again for some climbing. Except that Macca (who sometimes posts here) decided to play "cowboy" - he recently bought 150ac and a bunch of cattle, so I fear no more time for climbing.

Oz, is that near the Emerald City or is that that prison on TV? :)

Oztralia (Australia)
There is a TV channel that bears this name.
I go to their website sometimes just to read.

Check it out.
http://www.oztralia.tv/australia-information

I know, I was just joking.

I'm really, really happy with my REI Quarter Dome T3.

And I have a buddy who loves, and I mean loves, his JanSport dome tent. I'm almost tempted to buy it just to give him a replacement.

Thanks for the advice.

Went out and looked at some tents on the weekend and chose to get the Mountain Designs Kaon. huge inside, 3 pole dome, 2 vestibules for $250 less than the others (got 25% off at a local shop).

Defintely worth checking out Mountain Designs gear if you are ever in Aus.

Mick