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Tent decision

RafterR

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Dec 4, 2017
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Abilene, Tx
Trying to get my gear set up for back country hunting. One thing I can’t decide on is my tent. The 2 choices I’ve narrowed it down to are the Hilleberg nallo 2 gt and the seek outside 4 person tipi. I like the extra floor space of the tipi but have always used more of the standard style tents like the Hilleberg with a floor in the past. Can anybody chime in on the pros of a floorless tent over your standard tent with a floor? Is one a better choice over the other in all seasons or just some seasons?
 
I’m not a big fan of floorless tents unless there is a good reason for doing so like burning a wood stove inside or weight savings.

Problems range from mice chewing your stuff apart to water/mud and whatever else you can think of.

That said, I still use them when needed.
 
Floorless:
-Is lighter per square foot
-You can muck up the part you're not sleeping on with wet/dirty gear and it's no big deal
-If a tipi you can stand up in it
-If a tipi you can put a stove jack in it

The Nallo GT is a great all around tent that will last. You can easily remove the body when you want to run it floorless to have a TON of space and save weight. Put the body back in when you prefer or conditions dictate. This is one of the benefits of the inner tent hanging from the fly/pole structure that Hilleberg uses.
 
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I would only go seek outside if I was going to use a stove and I would pack in some kind of ground cloth for my pad. For most people I think dome style tents are the way to go and tipi and tarps are really for people who are geeks about them. It's pretty hard to totally screw up picking a location for and pitching a dome tent but I have had several friends get a tarp/tipi and spend a number of wet cold nights in the woods because they didn't know what they were doing. Also some terrain makes tipis a pain to set up.
 
I'm a big floorless shelter fan. To me the best part is being able to go in and out of the tent without taking your boots off. No need to pack a separate pair of flip flops or crocs. Being able to sit and stand in the tipi is really nice too if you end up having to spend any amount of time in there.

I do carry a ground pad for the area under my sleeping bag. The only time I've ever had a problem with mice was when we camped next to the truck at a big trailhead area that had lots of horses and trailers.

I wouldn't classify myself as a geek, but I do like quality gear. Spent many nights in my tipi in the rain and snow and never had a wet night. Without a liner you have to be careful to not touch the sides of the tent in the rain though.

My main backcountry experience is with a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2 tent and a Shangri-La 5 tipi. I sold the Big Agnes.

When I'm not packing on my back I use a Seek Outside 6 man tipi, sometimes with a stove and sometimes without.
 
Most of the time this will be used in the fall/winter months for rifle hunts. I like the fact that I have standing room with the floorless and the fact that I can use a stove. For those of you that use the floorless models, how often are you packing in a stove and using it?
 
Don't forget the optional NEST you can get with some of the Seek Outside stuff, I really like mine with the Cimarron.
 
Quick question.....Since I'm not familiar with Tipi's I'm guessing that they would weigh more (maybe considerably) than the Hilleberg?
 
How big of a tent do you need to be able to stand?

I have an SL5 and I can’t come close to standing in it.
 
I'm 6'2" and I can easily stand in my 6 man tipi from Seek Outside. I can't stand in my SL5, but I can move around in a crouch in it without having to get down and crawl in on my hands and knees like I would in a more traditional backpacking tent.

As far as weight I would guess when comparing apples to oranges and looking at just square footage, the tipi style tents are going to weigh less than a Hilleberg of similar size.
 
I really like my Nallo 3 GT. Personally, I’d want a floor. I’ve had too many mice encounters to allow easy access when camping.

I’d get the Akto if the tent is to be used for one person.
 
Quick question.....Since I'm not familiar with Tipi's I'm guessing that they would weigh more (maybe considerably) than the Hilleberg?

From what I’ve found the hilleberg comes in at 5 lbs 15 oz packed weight and the seek tipi with stove comes in with 8 lbs 8 oz.
 
Nallo GT2 will be nearly 6 pounds to sleep 2 people with no stove. A seek Outside Cimmaron is 3lbs 4oz with the carbon pole and sleeps 3-4 without the stove. Add the large stove, weight is 5lbs and sleeps two with a stove. Both are bombproof shelters. My weights are form my personal use. The 4-man weight of over 8 pounds includes the half-liner which is not needed.

This was my first season with the floorless shelter and I think they will exceed your expectations in every way. It truly was a game changer for me. It will be my new tent for 90% of my camping. I can nearly stand in my Cimmaron. Dome tents don't hold a candle.

To vrybusy, floorless shelters provide more space for less weight. Ultralight tipis are made from the same tent materials, but they do it with fewer poles and half the fabric because a floor is not required.
 
Epfd217 thank you for that. Never having used a seek tipi before, I like hearing from someone that uses them. Also knowing now that the 1/2 liner isn’t worth spending the extra cash for. Does the stove do a pretty good job heating the shelter as long as you mind the fire? I really think I’m leaning more toward the seek tipi the more I’m hearing about it.
 
The stove does a great job. I opted for the large stove because I live in MN and I will be using it for winter camping. I also wanted a stove option because of my experience with rain and snow on my September elk hunt last year. Surprisingly we had rain and snow on our September hunt this year. WHen I say game-changer, I mean it. Last year we retreated to town because all of our gear was wet, the wood was wet and hunting was miserable. My ultralight dome tent didn't provide enough gear storage to protect our packs and we were soaked.

This year I had the Cimmaron and the large stove. The day it started raining, I put the stove together. We had already prepped a small pile of wood just in case because we knew the forecast. We proceeded to get about 12 hours of rain followed by almost 18 hours of snow in southern Idaho, in mid September. The tent is large enough for two 6-foot guys with the stove, our bows, packs and a small tupperware tote each we used as a dresser/nightstand. All our gear dried out and we stayed plenty warm.

After having such an awesome experience using the tipi/stove combo, we brought it again for a December cow elk trip to WY. We lived in the tent for 5 days in December. The stove was actually too warm at times.

If you're were closer, Id let you take a tour. Its a great tent.
 
A stove really does shine in wet weather, probably more than in just regular cold weather. It is so nice to be able to hang stuff up and let it dry out around the stove.

I have a 18" cylinder stove that I use in my 6 man tipi and it can heat the tent up even in below zero weather to the point that you can't zip your sleeping bag up. The trouble with the backpacking type stoves are long term burns though. You can only cram so much wood in them and even with the damper set down as low as you can get it you aren't going to be getting more than 2 or maybe 3 hours before you need to add more wood. Waking up every 2 hours to put wood on the fire isn't my idea of a good nights sleep.

It is much better to just plan for the temperature you are going to encounter and use the stove just for comfort heat in the evening before going to sleep and/or in the morning when you are getting going.
 
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It is much better to just plan for the temperature you are going to encounter and use the stove just for comfort heat in the evening before going to sleep and/or in the morning when you are getting going.

YES YES YES YES YES!! This is so true. I say this all the time when people ask about a stove that burns all night. First of all, it doesn't exist in a portable form. Second of all, the heat is for comfort. Your sleeping bag and clothing need to match the weather. Lots of things can go wrong and you are left without a working stove. Your sleeping bag will keep you sleeping all night if its rated for the temps.
 
Epfd217 thank you again! The more i hear about the tipi with the stove option the more I like it. I think y’all have sold me on going that route.
 

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