Huge Agnes Copper Spur UL1 Assessment: Small Tent, Huge Winner | Mage Tech

you realize Huge Agnes? Possibly you’ve got seen it excessive up on a shelf at REI or lounging at a neighborhood campground. Does not ring a bell? You might not be sufficient of a fan of ultralight tenting to have been launched to it.

The Steamboat Springs, Colorado-based firm makes a few of the most progressive tents within the outside business, however solely on the larger finish of the market, geared toward hikers and backpackers who need the lightest-weight tents. and better yield and have the money. to pay for them. The Copper Spur collection was up to date in 2020 to incorporate a vestibule that may be opened with a pair of trekking poles as a porch cover. The newest mannequin comes with a lighter cloth and a brand new shop-style buckle system for the man traces.

I put it by a multi-week check in California’s Demise Valley and Arizona’s Grand Canyon, subjecting it to temperatures starting from close to freezing to over 90 levels Fahrenheit (32 levels Celsius) and tenting websites from humid mountains and thick riverbanks to scorching desert soils. Learn on to search out out why, even with a few main drawbacks, I like to recommend the Copper Spur UL1 as the perfect ultralight backpacking tent available on the market. If you would like the perfect, typically you must pay for it.

pondering round

Weighing in at 2 kilos, 2 ounces (about 960 grams), it is on the forefront of ultralight tenting tents. The Copper Spur is a totally self-contained tent, just like the MSR Hubba Hubba NX from the competitors, which means it would not depend on man line tethers (traces which might be hooked up to the bottom or different objects) for core structural integrity. Exterior wall tie-downs enhance exterior canvas protection and vestibule house, however are usually not strictly vital. There are semi-freestanding tents, resembling Sea to Summit Alto TR1, which keep most of their construction with poles however require some lashing to take full form. Freestanding tents just like the Copper Spur usually flap much less in excessive winds and will be absolutely pitched even when the bottom is just too agency to drive the tent stakes.

As a result of this tent is made with such a light-weight nylon cloth, you’ll need to watch out with it. It is going to maintain as much as adventures, however in the event you drag it carelessly, it’ll develop holes and tears. That is the compensation for taking kilos off your load.

It is a good suggestion to make use of a floor tarp or tread to guard your tent flooring from abrasion, and you will have to shell out $70 for a kind of. There’s a bike packing footprint for $80 that additionally covers the foyer flooring house, if you would like a little bit extra protection. Whereas the bottom is not thick sufficient to withstand punctures, I extremely advocate it for such a frivolously constructed tent. It’s less expensive to exchange a tarp than to vary a complete tent.

pole place

Gearing up for a cold night time at Mather Campground on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, I used to be gingerly flexing a pole into its eyelet on the within wall after I heard a crack in one of many aluminum DAC Featherlite poles. Ultralight tent poles require care throughout arrange and take down as they’re extra fragile than commonplace tent poles. But in a complete profession of climbing, tenting, and climbing, he had by no means damaged a pole. Possibly the close to freezing temperature had made them extra brittle than normal, however I am simply guessing. It was not more than a nick within the fringe of the put up, however a number of days later, on an equally chilly night time, the dented piece lastly shattered fully.

That stated, utilizing the included pole ferrule, I stored the tent purposeful for the remainder of my journey, and to its credit score it did survive some terrifyingly sturdy night gusts of wind on the Boucher Path. The tent dealt with excessive winds nicely in conditions the place different tents I’ve tried would have led me to count on. That’s partly because of the good design of the tent and partly because of the good poles. Establishing the tent was fast and straightforward, actually sooner than the Hubba Hubba NX, so even with the trouble of a damaged pole, I used to be pleased.

Repairs had been additionally straightforward. After I received again residence, Huge Agnes mounted the damaged put up for $4 a section, plus transport each methods, which is terribly low-cost. The corporate additionally promptly returned it to me. It is top-of-the-line producer restore applications I’ve seen, and the costs for different repairs are fairly low-cost too. I plan to make use of the Copper Spur once more in chilly temperatures in Idaho or Utah later this 12 months. I’ll report if my repaired posts endure comparable breaks once more.

buttoning up

Pictures: Nice Agnes

In a market section the place all producers compete to distinguish themselves from the competitors, one in every of Huge Agnes’ foremost calling playing cards is their TipLok Tent Buckle. It is a fancy title for a buckle system that attaches the pole suggestions, outer (rain) wall, tread, and man line tie-down loops by grommets and buckles, like these used on backpacks. As an alternative of tying man traces to tent stakes, as is conventional, the entire thing merely clips on. Changes are straightforward and it’s not tough to maneuver to put a tarp underneath the tent. The buckles had been intelligent after they labored, however coarse sand had an inclination to get caught in there, disabling them till I used to be capable of get my knife out and really rigorously dislodge the grains.