Backpacking Tents vs Tarps

[Chipz]

Anyone here use a tarp or tarp with walls when doing long backcountry trips? Seasons and conditions you use them in? How do they compare to a tent?

I've always used lighter 2 person tents for 3.5 season use and was looking at tarps to shave some weight and bulk.

 

[Elkdreamer]

In the early season I have been using a 6 x 9 tarp with bivy. If weather turned bad I might be in trouble.

Just picked up a Seek Outside Eolus floorless shelter. Going to be using it mid to late September depending on forecast. It offers much better protection.

 

[AgentVenom]

Went from bivy straight to full tent. Skipped over tarp my Big Agnes Copper Spur can be erected just with Rainfly frame and floor if I want even lighter.

 

[sneaky]

I use an MLD Patrol tarp duo with a bivy. Tarp with guy lines is 13oz and DCF so there's no stretch. Has an enclosed back and you can raise or lower the sides and front to suit the weather conditions.

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[Wacko]

Tarps will reduce bulk for sure. However, they do require a bit of practice setting them up. They can be made into just about any shelter you want. For solo or maybe 2 guys, I recommend at least a 10x10.

Tents offer simplicity. Find spot, set up tent. Done.

I will be using a tarp this year. I like the versatility, reduced bulk, and don't really care what the weather is. It would be the same in a single wall tent anyway. One "advantage" a tarp has for me is I can build a fire in front of it if I have to. I don't have a "hot tent" and stove though.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I've been using tarps/floorless shelters for all my hunts now for the last 9 years, and in pretty much all types of weather with the exception of really heavy snows. I've been snowed on while using them, but only an inch or two, so nothing big. My current ultra light 2 person setup weighs 17 oz. including guy lines and stakes, and it's about the same packaged size as a small 1 person tent.

 

[Poser]

I use a 6.5x9.5 doorless tarp until November.
If the weather is going to be particularly heavy, I’ll break out a tarp with doors. Once we get to November, the hot tent comes out. I do have a 4 season conventional tent I bough some years ago for mountaineering, but I haven’t used it in 7 or 8 years. In fact, I’d be more prone to use the Cimarron for such trips short of extreme high winds.

 

[mcndrew]

I've been using tarps/floorless shelters for all my hunts now for the last 9 years, and in pretty much all types of weather with the exception of really heavy snows. I've been snowed on while using them, but only an inch or two, so nothing big. My current ultra light 2 person setup weighs 17 oz. including guy lines and stakes, and it's about the same packaged size as a small 1 person tent.

Can you tell us more about this setup?
Thanks!

 

[AK Troutbum]

Can you tell us more about this setup?
Thanks!

Sure. It's a Dyneema Locus Gear Hapi with 4 mini MSR Ground Hog stakes and 4 titanium shepherd hook stakes.

 

[sneaky]

Sure. It's a Dyneema Locus Gear Hapi with 4 mini MSR Ground Hog stakes and 4 titanium shepherd hook stakes.

And, it's in "I'm confident in my manhood" pink. Bears give it a wide berth lol

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[HoneyDew]

Am I crazy? But I don’t see a center pole. How are you maintaining the vertical shape?

 

[Elkdreamer]

Where does a person purchase one?

 

[AK Troutbum]

And, it's in "I'm confident in my manhood" pink. Bears give it a wide berth lol

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Hey, it's RED damnit!! I wanted something that was highly visible and Locus Gear offered it in "red", so that's what I ordered. Ever since I got it, I just keep telling myself, "I wanted high visibility, and that's what I got."

 

[AK Troutbum]

Am I crazy? But I don’t see a center pole. How are you maintaining the vertical shape?

When I'm using it with a hunting partner (my son in that photo), I pitch it with two trekking poles and two carbon fiber pole extenders, in an A-frame configuration. I think it probably makes for a little more rigid pitch, and it's nice not having a pole in the center.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Where does a person purchase one?

Sometimes you can find them on the used market like backpacking light, but it's pretty rare, and when they do come available, they're usually snapped up pretty quickly. Otherwise, www.locusgear.com

 

[sneaky]

Hey, it's RED damnit!! I wanted something that was highly visible and Locus Gear offered it in "red", so that's what I ordered. Ever since I got it, I just keep telling myself, "I wanted high visibility, and that's what I got."

Oh, it's visible all right! Fly that flag!

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[justinspicher]

I’ll use a tarp/hammock combo until it starts snowing, then I switch to my Luna 6.

 

[Captjohn71]

Depends on season and location.
You don’t want a floor less in AZ In late summer or fall, to many critters and bugs. But high country of Utah and Colorado in summer/ fall your good.
I like 10x10 tarp and I just through my bag on a piece of tyvec.