WindQuester Horizon Lite 2 Pro

A solid, slightly more budget friendly two-person ultralight tent.

Most of us have probably never heard of Windquester before, so I decided to take their Horizon Lite Pro 2 tent and see how it performed.

The Pro version has a heavier nylon fly and mesh (15D vs 10D) and different pole to body connectors. So it is a few ounces heavier and a little more expensive. Usually lighter is more, so this is a little different from most manufacturers.

Our tests have been in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. With Cirque of the Towers and Titcom Basin being the highlights. All campsites were above 10,000' elevation and there was some rain in the forecast, so we were a little nervous taking an unknown tent on its trial run.

Our first trip was unseasonably warm, then came some heavy rain and 15-20 mph winds. We stayed dry, the tent stayed tight, and handled weather better than expected. A few quirks, but overall it is a solid shelter.
Our second trip was much cooler at night with highs in the 60's and lows in the 20's.

Conditions & Weather Performance

We had everything: warm nights, nighttime rain, and sustained winds. After one particularly nasty rainstorm, we woke up expecting to pack up a wet tent. However, with the warm temps, wind and a good waterproofing we had a completely dry tent to pack.

The fly has two guys at each end, a mid-head guy and vestibules with short guys and line locks. With stakes at the vestibules + mid‑head/foot guyed to a rock (the guys are plenty long to go around large rocks), it stayed solid in 15–20 mph gusts. The line locks at the vestibules are a welcome extra, my BA tents are lacking these and I typically added them for more flexibility in stake placement. Deploying all guys would obviously keep this solid in some pretty bad weather.

Ventilation & Livability

The first trip, with nighttime lows in 40's and breezes, we used the head vent and the mid‑head pull‑out engaged, and we experienced no condensation inside. With the higher temps and a 20-degree quilt, we found ourselves in need of cooling. The fly doors can be pinned open using door bars + foot‑end loops to let air move through. This combo was easy to deploy and undo when the rain started. With everything closed up, it was too warm and I decided to try hooking the door zipper to the fly loop to create a half‑door opening. Pretty sure it’s not “official,” but it kept rain out and boosted airflow. This is similar to the half door vent mode on the Copper Spur. 

Our next trip into the wind rivers in October had night temps in the 20's and several pitches near lakes.  We woke up with a little condensation on our quilt and on the fly. We wiped off the fly, put in the sun while we broke down the rest of camp and it was dry by the time we were ready. Overall, I would say it does breathe well, but dual zips on the doors could help create extra vents and better circulation.

This is an ultralight 2-person tent and interior space is limited to 83" long, 53" at the head, tapering to 44" at the feet. For those over 6'2" you may want to look elsewhere or sleep diagonal. I would like to see a few more inches in length so we could more easily stow our packs at our head.

Our Exped Duo pad fit perfectly with room for shoes at the sides, one pack at the head, and one pack in the vestibule. 

A 30" spreader bar and the Y poles make fairly vertical walls and good head room (44" at max) so inside is not terrible for two.  

Setup 

Setup is fast and easy for one person. The ball‑end pole connectors snap in securely and make the pitch effortlessly taut. With color coded ends, and the snap connectors, this is the easiest and fastest tent I have ever set up.  

However, those ball connectors are too big for the grommets on our multipurpose footprint/tarp/poncho. So we had to leave our footprint unconnected. I also worry about the durability of the plastic clips. If one of these breaks, there is no easy field repair. I much prefer a skinny end and hole like a more traditional Jake foot that is available on the Horizon Lite (not the pro). 

As mentioned, there are 5 guys, 2 vestibule guys, and loops at each end for 11 possible stake points. The tent comes with 8, 6" DAC stakes, so if you want to use all guy points, get a few more stakes, or use rocks.

The fly can be pitched in awning mode using poles. I prefer having tips down, and found the loops on the fly were too small to fit over my Leki pole handles. This could be fixed by re-tying the loops, but I opted to just hook the loops to my flick locks, it was too windy for this mode after setup, so we didn't use it much. But on a calm rainy day, or with a good view, the awning mode can be nice.

My wife loved awning mode on the Copper Spur as it opened the fly and made setup (getting in and out, blowing up pad...) easy. However, on the Windquester, because the fly opens from the head and can be easily pinned to the foot of the tent, it creates a huge doorway—better than awning mode.

I did play around with a fly first pitch and because of the secure ball connectors, it can be pitched fly first without a footprint. 

I posted a video here of fly first setup.

Doors, Pockets & Usability

The fly door opens from the head of the tent vs the traditional mid vestibule. I really like this design as you don't have to crawl out to open the fly and the fly seems to stay more taut without having to constantly remove from the stake to get out. I need to test if this opening can let in more rain, it might, but I was not able to confirm or deny. 

The nylon extends 16" high (higher at head), which provides good privacy, keeps blowing sand down and helps keep the wind at bay. 

Fly zippers are notorious for jamming in the rain flap. This happened much less often on the Windquester compared to my BA's—especially the Tiger Wall and its terribly jammy zips. The Windquester also has multiple velcro closures on the fly, I did run into these with the zipper and you have to sort of hold them out to enable the zipper. Maybe this is why the zipper didn't jam as much? I'm not sure, but I was happy not having to unjam a zipper in the middle of the night.

The mesh body has a single half circle zipper that works much better than the two zippers on the Copper Spur. However, at the seam with the interior pocket, there is a little zip hesitation, Be sure to keep this area clean as it could be a spot for zipper wear.

Storage is decent, but lacking compared to the Copper Spur. There are two larger than normal side pockets that easily held my gloves, socks, med bag, headlamp, phone, charger. I really do love the large pocket at the head like the Copper Spur and Tiger Wall have and it was missed.  

The foot‑end pocket sits low enough to eat into foot room and is sort of hard to get into. I would much prefer this to be up at the top of the nylon—a foot or so higher.

Packing & Accessories

The stuff sack is decently sized, rolling things up tight makes it easy to put the tent away, but it's easiest with two people (one holds, one stuffs).

The included 8 DAC stakes are short (6"), but honestly some of the best I’ve used. Reflective guy lines and guy points make the tent easy to spot at night. They guys on the fly are very long, I ended up looping them several times around some rocks with plenty of line left. And an included split and repair patch are nice extras.

Weight

Total packed weight on my scale: 3 lbs 1.2 oz.

Breakdown:

• 8 stakes + splint: 2.3 oz

• Stake bag: 0.2 oz

• Poles: 11.2 oz

• Pole bag: 0.3 oz

• Tent bag: 0.7 oz

You could drop the bags and a couple stakes, but the fly, body, and poles make up the bulk of the weight.

This tent impressed both my wife and I. Making us question if we actually need the extra space in our Copper Spur UL2 XL. And now we will have to flip a coin as to which tent to bring. The Windquester wins on price and is close enough on most other elements, to make us question prior purchases.

If you want something lighter, cheaper and don't need heavier fabrics opt for the Horizon Lite 2 (yet to be reviewed however).

Background

This is my 16th tent since I started backpacking.