User Review: MSR Hubba Hubba

MSR Hubba Hubba
Above: The current Hubba Hubba, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed November 23, 2005 by canuck

Rating:
Design: 2.5-season freestanding
Sleeps: 2
Ease of Setup: easy
Weight: 2kg

I bought this tent a year ago, and my wife and I have put it through the ultimate test in that year. We used it in Australia, Africa, Europe, and South America; from sea level to 5,000 meters, deserts to rainforests. It's been set up well over 100 times. Here's what I found:

Weight: Excellent. It packs up super small, and you can't do much better than 2kg.

Warmth: As expected. It's a 2.5 season tent, but we did camp out several times well below freezing, and with warm bags it did the job.

Ventilation: Poor. In Australia and Africa, this thing really cooks. The all-mesh material is deceiving. The best we could do was open up the fly doors, and roll up one corner of the fly as well.

Space: Poor. This tent is really a one-person tent. We were shoulder to shoulder, and still brushing the sides. The length is OK. With two people, there is only enough room left over for one small pack inside. But what about using the vestibule?...

Vestibule: Really Poor. It will not fit even one 65 litre pack and a pair of shoes without tripping over them as you go out for the midnight call-to-nature. So, if it's raining and you have two packs, forget it.

Waterproof-ability: Poor. The floor leaks in water under the thermarests, with or without a footprint. I can't see any rips in the floor. The fly is OK, as long as you keep it off the mesh (hard to do). Otherwise it'll drip in the massive amount of condensation (see Ventilation)

Durability: Really Poor. I don't expect this tent to hold up for another season. Here's why: The door zipper has split. The fly is apparently rip-stop, but tell that to the little kitten in Zambia who tore a couple holes with its claws. It's just too thin. For example, the bag that the poles come in is the same material, and the ends of the poles have just about managed to rip it wide open. The "mould-free" floor has mould growing in two corners. And I'm not convinced that the mesh can handle so much strain at the little pole clips forever.

Conclusion: I've had a Whisperlite for 15 years, and it's without a doubt the best stove out there. Plus, we've used the new Miox purifier for this trip, which kicks ass. But MSR cut so many corners with this tent, just to say it's the lightest free-standing two-man tent on the market. I debated a long time between this and the Sierra Designs Lightning. Unfortunately I've made the wrong choice.