User Review: Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2

Summary

This is a great tent for lightweight backpacking. It is easy to assemble, effective as any double wall tent, takes up little space in the pack and is very light.

This tent has been great for my solo backpacking trips. I bought it as a two man tent for me and my wife, but have used it quite a bit for myself when backpacking with buddies.

It packs down to a small size. It is as light as my one man tent with twice the room. It is double walled and the fly can be used with just the poles and footprint for an ultra-light fast fly configuration. The tent, fly, poles and footprint are all well made and rugged for such a light tent.

There is a nice balance between weight and construction features. The weight is 3 lbs 11 oz, including footprint. That is not in the ultra-light range, but considering the size ( 28 sq ft ), the fact that it is double walled and it's durability I saw a good trade off between weight and function/feature. There is reasonable headroom to sit up and dress in the tent, due to the configuration of the pole support.

I re-rigged the stay lines, and swapped out stakes for lighter ones. I also bought small ultra-light weight ditty bags since the tent only has one small pocket.

One warning, this is a two person tent only if the people are small to average in size, height and weight. If you are a couple of small to average size you will fit well enough, but you will have almost no room for extra gear in the tent, and the vestibule is smallish. Note that if you decided to buy the newer and lighter Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 it is lighter than the Seedhouse, but the footprint and profile are almost identical. In fact the small vestibule is even smaller on the Fly Creek.

With all that said, I love this tent, and although I may buy a super lightweight 3 person tent eventually for me and my wife I will use this two man tent for some time. It is a great tent for me.