Anyone used this one yet? Is it good for Elbrus, Aconcagua, Denali and winter climbs?

Bump

Never used it but I only hear good things about it.

Hotoven wrote:Never used it but I only hear good things about it.

My friend insist on buying this one for our climbing trips, although it's € 350 more expensive than a VE25 (for me).

They have a good reputation, but the earliest ones had a problem with the poles. If the poles are pre-bent (ie. when you buy it) then it is OK. There were problems with the original, straight, poles breaking if the tent was left up for a long period of time. That was around 2002-03 so most tents on the market now should be fine.

This place here in Australia has some cheap, but I have not seen the tent in person, so I can't be sure about it:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 3588wt_913

Thanks for the info Damien.

Edit: the more I look into that, the more confused I get. Is it a Lightwave tent or a Crux tent? Is it the G2 or the storm? Something fishy about that I feel... .

stefschuermans wrote:Why don't you check out the mountain hardware tents?

Because my friend REALLY want the Crux tent and I'm agreeing with him that it's a good tent and more importantly a light tent. However I can get seriously good deals on the TNF tent, so I want to make sure that it's worth spending the extra € 350. All other options have been looked at and found "not for us".

The Black Diamond First Light, HiLight and Lighthouse are insanely light and small (packed) as well.

Just throwing that out there .

Luciano136 wrote:The Black Diamond First Light, HiLight and Lighthouse are insanely light and small (packed) as well.

Just throwing that out there .

They have one of the worst E-Commerce websites I've seen this far (and it's my job, so I've seen a few). I'm aborting looking at it.

WouterB wrote:

Luciano136 wrote:The Black Diamond First Light, HiLight and Lighthouse are insanely light and small (packed) as well.

Just throwing that out there .

They have one of the worst E-Commerce websites I've seen this far (and it's my job, so I've seen a few). I'm aborting looking at it.

Haha, well, it's the tent that matters. Just look them up on other sites than the official one. Sadly, I found with many products that the official websites actually suck the most.

I have the HiLight. I can fit it in one hand. Some mark the tents as 4 season but I think that's debatable; probably more of a solid 3 season.

Luciano136 wrote:Haha, well, it's the tent that matters. Just look them up on other sites than the official one. Sadly, I found with many products that the official websites actually suck the most.

They are the ones that need to find a balance between marketing and commerce, which seems to be very hard.

Luciano136 wrote:The Black Diamond First Light, HiLight and Lighthouse are insanely light and small (packed) as well.

Just throwing that out there .

yeah...we can vouch for the BD lighthouse....we've used it in what seems like every kind of weather....and it has performed wonderfully!

Wouter,

I was also suspicious, but I think I know what is happening.

Crux and Lightwave were - maybe still are? - made by the same company. Lightwave is for trekking and Crux is the 'hardcore' arm for climbers and proper mountain use. Lightwave tents have 3 poles, Crux tents have 4 poles etc etc. The basic designs are similar, but modified according to those intended end-uses.

So either:
1. There have been some Lightwave tents sold in Australia, but not many. I think whomever imported the Lightwave tents maybe also got some Crux tents, just a small number, maybe excess or remainder stock and they did not sell, so this is them. The shop selling them is a camping/fishing shop - they do not know what they have sitting in their shop, in this case! But then they do note the original price, so maybe they realise it's a better tent, but not for the type of people who come into their shop. My only concern in this case is that they are excess from Europe because they are the original model with the bad (straight) poles.

or

2. They have a Lightwave tent in their shop for sale, but are mistakenly showing photos of the Crux tent. But I don't think this is the case. I was going to go and check, the shop is about 2hrs from my home, but I have not had a chance yet.

I have a Firstlight, used it in winter in the mountains, and an overnight in good weather on Vinson. I've used a Lighthouse in the Himalaya, last year. They are not 4-season tents, they were not designed as such, and to take one as your only tent on Aconcagua or Denali would be madness - a night or two up high in good weather might be OK. I spent a night at Camp Berlin on Aconcagua last February and it damaged a Bibler Tempest. My Firstlight would have had no chance. Also, being single-wall, they are noticeably colder than double-wall tents. I used single-wall Bibler Torre and Eldorado tents on Denali years ago and they were very cold. I also used a Bibler Bombshelter up high in Antarctica and it was much colder than the double-walls that I normally use.

D

Thanks Damien! Very good advice! If you get a chance to stop at that store, let me know. If it are Crux', I'll order one through them. I still have more than a week before my friend returns from a sailing trip, so I can wait a bit longer... .

I mailed the store too with some questions. Not sure if they'll reply though.