User Review: The North Face Spectrum 33

The North Face Spectrum 33
Above: The current Spectrum 33, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed July 8, 2006 by Ted Callahan

Rating:
Design: three-season freestanding dome
Sleeps: 3
Ease of Setup: Easy
Weight: 3lbs
Price Paid: $288

I would highly recommend this tent if you are looking for a roomy, dependable, easy to use lightweight tent.

I recently used the Spectrum 33 above 10,000 feet during a very raining/hail filled week in Colorado and it preformed better than I expected for a single wall tent. Plus hiking around with such a lightweight tent was a real joy.

The setup was easy and quick, and I even did it once during a hailstorm. It has three poles, eight stakes and no guidelines. The first two poles are a snap to put in, but the third pole with the cross connects can be a bit of a challenge for one person in a hurry, but do not worry, the tent can easy be put up by a single person. The third pole is also a bit awkward to get back into the pole bag.

Without the guidelines the tent did fine in the high winds and I liked the fact the guidelines where not strung around to be tripped on.

I liked the roominess of the tent, as two of us were very comfortable with great headspace for sitting up and moving around. A third person would have been a bit tight though.

The inner door and fly zippers were easy to use and I liked the glow in the dark zipper handles, and inside of the outside fly gave us a great place to keep our dirty boots.

They say single wall tents are much colder but in our zero degree lightweight down sleeping bags we never got cold despite rain, hail, and 10,000+ feet altitudes in June. In the morning sun the tent warmed very quickly which was great but in the afternoon it could get too hot unless a breeze was allowed to through the front door. If the breeze hit the backside of the tent towards the two vents it was not enough to cool the tent off in a warm afternoon.

The vents did do a great job of keeping the dew point low in the tent at night and we never had a problem sweating in our bags despite the high humidity from daily rains.

The biggest problem was the moisture, as anything that touched the floor or sidewalls got wet. I would highly recommend the footprint to help with the floor moisture and we used plastic bags and rain gear to help keep things dry where the sidewalls and floor meet. We did have a few drips during the hail and heavy rain but it was not a big deal. The hail did collect near the pole sleeves where there was additional dripping until we knocked the hail off.

Overall this tent is great with its light weight, ease of use, roominess, and dependability.

Where to Buy

Buy Online We found the Spectrum 33 at 5 online stores:

Store

Product Description

Price

Moosejaw 2 purchase options:	Spectrum 33 Tent (Fall 2006 Discontinued) - Best of BB Award	$245.65	Buy Now
Moosejaw 2 purchase options:	Spectrum 33 Tent (Spring 2008) Add Spectrum 33 Footprint to Cart for FREE with Tent Purchase	$299.00	Buy Now