LazyrLegs wrote:Sierra Designs made one, the Assailant, at a fraction of the price of the very excellent Hilleberg. It is a solid piece of gear (especially for the money), and is actually fairly light-weight (perhaps 4#) for a 4-season tent. It is indeed a real-live tent, and not merely a propped up bivy sack.
I am not absolutely sure if SD is still making it, having not checked their website recently.
I'm pretty sure it's still on the market, and I own one. It's been good for rain and very good for wind. I'm 6'1 and fit in it decently, but cannot sit up without doing some serious bending over, which defeats the point of wanting to sit up. It has enough room for my pack and myself for sure though. Super fast and easy setup, three shock-corded poles. Comes with shitty stakes. I've liked it quite a bit except....
I'm not too happy with snow performance. I haven't had it in heavy snow, but I got about 3 inches of snow @ 11,000 ft one night that was wet by Colorado standards, but not super heavy. Condensation built up a bit with all the vents open (the night was totally still though, and it's a single wall tent so no surprise this happened. The side vents were all open, but the door was totally closed so I probably could've helped the situation more by venting with the door a bit.), but what worried me more was that the roof didn't seem to be slanted enough to slough snow, so if I got a lot of snow, it would just be loading the tent directly unless I woke up and punched it. The area that collects the snow is on the backside of the tent, between the two poles. It held up the three inches of snow fine and it's a relatively stout tent, so it could probably hold up a good deal of snow before anything happened, but it was something that should be mentioned. You can get the tent for $250 from Moosejaw currently. Oh, it's 3lbs 3oz barebones supposedly, but I haven't ever weighed it.
I've also got a BD Lighthouse that I like. Similar weight, claims 4 season, and is way more comfortable. I've only gotten it exposed to some light rain, so can't speak to its 4 season-ness.