MSR Freelite Backpacking Tent Overview: Ultralight and Comfy

My backpacking life is an limitless wrestle between my want to hold as little weight as potential and my want for consolation.

These days, consolation has come to imply good meals. That’s: actual meals, not the everyday dehydrated, boil-in-pouch, backpacking meals. If I can carve a bit weight out of my fundamental package—tent, sleeping bag, pad, garments, and such—I can deliver bacon and eggs with out overloading myself. Because of this the MSR Freelite piqued my curiosity.

At simply 2 kilos for the two-person model, the brand new Freelite shaves 9 ounces off the earlier mannequin, however stays surprisingly spacious. It’s well-ventilated, options loads of storage pockets and kit lofts, and in contrast to many tents at this weight, affords two doorways with two vestibules.

Ultralight However Not Too Tight

There are three Freelite fashions out there: a one-person, the two-person I examined, and a three-person. All are manufactured from 15D ripstop nylon with MSR’s 1200-mm Durashield polyurethane and sturdy water repellency (DWR). The 15-denier (15D) polyurethane and silicone-coated nylon isn’t fairly as heavy because the 20D utilized in MSR’s standard Hubba Hubba tent (see our information to the Finest Tents for extra comparisons). As with all light-weight tent, you’ll wish to deal with it with care. I might strongly recommend selecting up a footprint to increase the lifetime of the tent. The mesh higher portion of the tent is 10D micro mesh, which is fairly typical for a well-made light-weight tent.

MSR payments the 2-person mannequin I examined as a “semi-freestanding tent for backpacking pairs.” I feel what MSR means by that’s that this tent is nice for 2 individuals who don’t thoughts being, properly, shut.

At 50 inches extensive, the Freelite affords room to your normal 25-inch extensive inflatable pad. I examined it utilizing a pad from Sea to Summit, and the Tensor pad from Nemo.

Certainly one of my favourite facets of the Freelight is that there’s no taper. The Freelite is actually rectangular: the width on the ft is similar on the width on the head. The tent is 82 inches lengthy, and the interior partitions are steep, making it good selection for taller of us. I’m 5’ 11”, so it’s a bit robust to actually check, however I might suppose it will be snug for individuals as much as 6’ 3”.

Whereas it’s simply extensive sufficient to accommodate two, there isn’t a lot room left over. For {couples}, or if, like me, you’re backpacking with youngsters, that is the proper quantity of sleeping house. I shared it with my 10-year-old and located it to be a lot roomy. In the event you don’t wish to be proper subsequent to your climbing companion, you would possibly wish to have a look at the three-person mannequin ($480), which provides 12 ounces however is over a foot wider.

{Photograph}: MSR