Travel to South America - A tent

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stanlee 22 Jul 2019

Hi. Hi. Hi,

At the beginning of 2020, I'm going with my gilfriend on a 'one-year' journey through South America. We start at the bottom and finish at the top ^^. We are looking for the perfect tent to spend most of our nights in. So far, our travels have been limited to one region and one type of climate, and we have all gone through the quickhiker-ultralight-2 tent.
And he was my biggest friend in Norway (in winter and summer). Winter was not for him, although it was possible to survive. I liked him very much, but it is not a tent that I would take on a year-long journey through almost all geographical zones. We are going to hike a lot in the mountains, which means that the tent must be resistant to the local winds. We will try to climb Acouncague and a few other peaks (here it is a matter of it will be in our tent or rented on site). High altitudes and high air humidity are certainly issues to be kept in mind when choosing. I wonder how with the ground (it's a matter of choosing a free-standing tent or not). I also think whether it is worth investing in a 4-season tent or better to rent a storm tent for a few days when climbing the summits. Later, however, we will be in Colombia and the return will probably be from Mexico, so the tent has to handle the humidity and temperatures. 
I have researched a lot of websites, read several forums, tests and reviews and listed a few tents worthy of attention. So I would like to ask you about the opinion of what kind of tent would you choose for such a trip? 
The list I managed to create (I suggested weighed up to 2.5kg):

MSR Hubba NX - 1.7kg, a lot of good reviews, but I am worried about two issues. One is an overlayed tropic, which when set up in the rain will cause water in the middle of the tent. The second one is also connected with the tropics - from what I've read some opinions and films of reviewers, it's not long enough to "close" the whole bedroom and seal it off from the bottom, strong winds and jamming rain. Here also the question of safety of leaving backpacks in the vestibule in more dangerous areas, if they stick out from outside the tent :/

MSR Access 2 - 2kg - 4 seasonal, good reviews. Same thing with the tropics. I am also worried about the water resistance values - 1200 thousand mm in the tropics and 3 thousand floors. And lack of information about the wind power that can push it (the same as in the case of NX), people's opinions in this regard very unspecific.

Hilleberg Nallo 2 - 2,4 - 4 seasonal, non-free-standing. Waterproofness of the tent shell: 5000 mm, Floor waterproof: 15000 mm. Well, I must admit that it sounds better 

Hilleberg Anjan 2 - similar but 3 seasonal, much lighter - 1.8kg

Hilleberg Niak 2 - different design, 1.7kg, one side output ;/

Robens Verdin - 1.8kg, he is said to survive 170km/h - probably unrivalled here. I don't know how to deal with waterproofness.

Salewa Litetrek Pro II - 2kg, 90 km/h

Blizzard 2 Terra Nova - has a very interesting performance but the red color rather disqualifies him.

Southern Cross 2 Terra Nova - 2,3kg - Here is a very strong competitor for Hilleberg with similar prices.

Voyager 2 Terra Nova - 200 g lighter than above. Here good opinions among older colleagues using 

Copper Spur HV2 Expedition - 2,4kg - here it is hard to find any specific opinions

A little bit of it came out, it's hard to decide for now, at first I couldn't find anything for myself and then suddenly as I dig deeper, it turns out that there are some interesting options. Only as if there were more travelers who would like to share their opinions from similar trips!

I would be grateful for any feedback! At the moment I feel a little lost and I decided that when you buy a tent for a year trip, you should choose the best  And maybe it will last much longer!

In reply to stanlee:

can't help with the tent but after a few Andes trips I'd get a very good extra groundsheet, there's the pointy rocks and needle grass which will eat your groundsheets!

stanlee 22 Jul 2019
In reply to JJ Krammerhead III:

Some tents have extra groundsheet, of course I will take one for the trip

Thanks!

 damowilk 22 Jul 2019
In reply to stanlee:

Patagonia is harsh on tents. I did a 6 month trip round S America, mostly camping, on a overland truck climbing trip, with up to 30 others at a time, including higher up trips to eg refugio Frey near bariloche. It was a great laboratory for tent failure testing! Plenty didn’t do well, including any light weight models, and disappointingly the recent version of the Terra Nova Quasar didn’t last well. The standout tent of them all was the Crux Storm, unfortunately no longer made in the same version. Any good bomber geodesic should be ok though, like some of the Hilldeberg tents. If you wanted to chance a lighter tent you could consider something like the Tarptent scarp with the extra poles. Take a good range of pegs including some titanium nail types that will go into hard stony ground. Good call on the ground sheet, maybe a tyvek one perhaps.

aultguish 23 Jul 2019

What ever you decide on, make sure you have a mozzy net option on the inner

stanlee 25 Jul 2019
In reply to damowilk:

Do You think that fully free standing tent is needed?

Then i need to throw some tents from my list.

I also found another one - Big Sky Chinook.

If you are planning to spend "most" nights on a "one-year" trip, then weight might not be the most important factor.  

I'd consider options that are a bit heavier than 2.5 kg, as well as the lighter tents.  For the extra weight, you might get something more durable, more storm resistant, and also more pleasant to be inside.  Bigger vestibules, better ventilation, more sitting space might all be quite useful at times. 

Anyway, sounds like a great trip - will you be doing a blog/instagram/other updates during your travels?

 MischaHY 26 Jul 2019
In reply to stanlee:

Anjan. It'll be mega! (And for the next 20 years as well). 

 Ramblin dave 26 Jul 2019
In reply to stanlee:

Have you looked into Lightwave? We picked up a G15 Raid as a backpacking tent - it's a snug 2 person semi-geodesic. At 1.7kg, it's not the lightest thing out there, but they make a point of using slightly heavier fly fabrics for more durability, less UV degredation and a higher life-expectancy than you'd get with something that was totally optimised for weight. We've got no complaints so far.


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