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Mountain Hardwear Drifter 2 DP

rated 4.0 of 5 stars

The Drifter 2 DP has been discontinued. If you're looking for something new, check out the best three-season tents for 2024.

photo: Mountain Hardwear Drifter 2 DP three-season tent

"Average" means average :) - not bad, not good - suitable in general, but with rather annoying cons.

Roomy, lightweight, very easy to setup — and equally easy to pack and carry in a backpack.
Relatively weatherproof, especially being strengthened by extra ropes.

But bottom is thin, and on harsh stony surface, or if sharp prickles or thorns are abundant - a floor may appear to be too thin and prone to perforation - even with a footprint.
The same may happen on the lava platos, which are abundant, for example, in South-East Asia - and, during heavy rain, you may find that the floor and gear are wet also.
For me - it's lightweight tent, not SUL, but sufficiently - it seems to me, that further the tent weight also decrease its reliability. I'm watching now my friend, using VauDe PowerLizard - it's True, HardCore SUL - but not a half so reliable as Drifter.

Ventilation is insufficient for me - in a stable humid air especially. Condensation may be abundant and annoying.

And - for US climate it may be 3-season tent - yea, and for Florida it may be used even as a year-round tent :)
But for me, and for my comrades in rather continental climate - this tent is only for summer conditions.

Pros

  • Very easy to setup
  • Lightweight
  • In general — good construction, tough built
  • roomy
  • Large and usable vestibules

Cons

  • Condensation is abundant
  • Very (in fact - _v_e_r_y_) weak floor
  • Lack of ventilation
  • A little too expensive

Setup: Very easy to setup — it's good. I'd used it in rather uncomfortable conditions — big rocks, sand, slope — it was not hard to set up this tent.

Stability: Stays relatively stable in wind (10 - 25 m\s, nearly whole day) — with some extra ropes, certainly.

Weather Resistance: Fly is rainproof, but floor is too thin for stony ground with thorns, sharp-edged little stones, etc, and, being pressed to ground, bottom became wet. Even with footprint.

Ventilation: It's the really weak side of the tent — ventilation is insufficient! Condensation is heavy, if you somehow touch the inner of the rainfly, you'll be wet, and your sleeping bag (or backpack, or what else you are touching the fly with). It's very unpleasant.

Room & Storage: I'm 190cm\105kg — so it's not so easy to find suitable tent with adequate room inside — this is suitable. With my comrade (186\90) and my dog, with all the photo and hunting equipment we were not very comfortable in this tent, but also not so cramped. It's very good, I think.

Packability: Easy and fast to pack, also, to carry unpacked!

Ease of Use: Zippers sometime caught the tissue, but it's an usual problem and not very annoying.

Features: For me, it's strange to see such a tent without vents, and bottom is just too thin. Maybe, in some laboratory tests it's really super-puper-hyper-waterproof, but in real outdoor it is not.

Construction & Durability: Used it only for 1 year, 3 trips, in general, about 2,5 months in the outdoor. It seems to me, that in 1 year else in will be replaced. 

Conditions: Altai, 3 weeks, July 2013. Iran, 4 weeks, May 2013. Laos+Vietnam, 3 weeks, February 2014.

Source: bought it new
Price Paid: about 400$

Great tent, such a shame that they have discontinued this great product.

Pros

  • Ability to set up the rain fly while it's raining, before setting up the actual tent itself, to keep the tent and your contents dry.

Cons

  • N/A

This tent is great. Highly recommend.

In the summer of 2013 I was backpacking and my tent poles broke on a Eureka tent that my family had for decades. 

My family and I looked at tents and tried this style. It's great and fantastic. It works well in all 4 seasons.

Background

I have been backpacking with this specific tent since 2013.

Source: bought it new
Price Paid: $100

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Specs

Price Historic Range: $164.43-$235.00
Reviewers Paid: $100.00-$400.00

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