Gear Review: TarpTent Double Rainbow

This is the first in a series of reviews of the gear we have been testing for our 2013 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

TarpTent Double Rainbow

We've used our tent about a dozen or so nights this Summer in varied weather conditions. The more we use it, the more we learn about it. Our initial reaction was "quirky". If you've followed our blog, you know we've had a few "concerns" about our Double Rainbow.

  The Double Rainbow fits all of our criteria for our shelter: lightweight, two doors, ability to be free standing. It has adequate room for two. It is easy to set up/take down. A lot of variation with ventilation by opening various sections.

We are on our second arch pole as the Bald Guy chose to lift a rain saturated tent by the pole. A section of pole slipped out of a ferrule and it split. Continued using it a couple of trips, but decided it would be best to replace it.

One of our concerns was with condensation. We are learning how to control that by where we choose to camp. Under the cover of trees, on dirt, at higher elevation and away from water seems to help.

Another issue we had was with the zippers. The zipper tab is very small (probably to save weight) and very difficult to see/grab in real world situations ("It's 3 am and I have to go the bathroom, now!") We have added zipper pulls to help. As there is multiple zippers for entry and exit, we had initially put the zipper pull on the "entry" side of the fly and encountered difficulty with proper operation while exiting. We have now moved the pull to the "exit" zipper and have yet to see if that is going to do the trick.

 MSR Gear Loft

Well, here is a surprise. A spur of the moment purchase that actually works great! Keeps gear off of the floor and is within easy reach while snuggled up in our sleeping bag. We attach  it to the clips that are supposed to be used with the available liner (to help with condensation and extreme weather conditions --which we chose not to get) for the Double Rainbow. We just leave it in place while we pack up the tent and when we set up for the night it is already there!

Custom-made Ground Sheet (Not Pictured)

Not happy with using Tyvek, we had a custom ground sheet made for our TarpTent. Our super seamstress Kathy took a ground sheet from an REI Half Dome 2 plus, trimmed and stitched it up for us. We also use it to sit on during extended breaks.

Overall, absolutely satisfied with the TarpTent Double Rainbow. Most of our issues have been operator error. We have agreed that we don't want our gear to delay/stop our thru- hike and don't mind (well, maybe a little) spending the $$$ to get the good stuff. Always researching for the best gear to meet our needs, and have yet to top our Double Rainbow.

Here's a link to TarpTent. Great site! http://www.tarptent.com/double-rainbow.html#overview

Please feel free to comment or ask questions!

Happy Hiking!

Jeff 'n Sue