REI Quarter Dome SL 2 Tent Review

While REI produces a footprint special for this tent to safeguard the bottom, we didn’t utilize one for this trip, in spite of our dog. We didn’t experience any pinholes or braiding, but it probably wouldn’t really be a bad idea to employ a footprint if you would like ’t mind taking the extra 6.4 ounces.

For a little while, I was having a Mountain Hardwear Ultralight 2-man tent, and it only had one door near our heads. If you had to get up in the middle of the night to pee, it had been very tough to sneak out without bothering the other person. Following a few years with this particular tent, I determined both side doors is crucial. Not only will it be easier to get in and out, it is possible to remain more organized by keeping you and your hiking partner’s equipment different on your own individual vestibules.
To throw on the fly, all you have to do is match the doors, and the fly clips into the ends of the tent poles. Then stake outside the vestibule doors. It’s ’s super easy, and the fly gets pre-installed tension lines so that you may snug up everything.

In regards with all ultralight tents with this much mesh, you have to be careful not to catch a zipper.
I recently tested out the new REI Quarter Dome SL 2 Tent to a recent 5-day packrafting excursion in Southern Utah. Published in Spring of 2019, the Quarter Dome SL comes at at a minimal trail weight of 2.8 pounds and is about a pound lighter than their longstanding, ever-so-popular Quarter Dome tent.
The REI Quarter Dome SL 2 backpacking tent is an incredible lightweight choice, especially for the cost. At $319, it’s in some instances $200 less expensive than the competitors, while coming in rather close . Click here to check it on REI’s website and to read other users’ testimonials of the Quarter Dome’s evolution.

I’ve tested numerous ultralight tents over time, and many come with their compromises. Whether you sacrifice distance, forgo double side doors, or have a tent made of thin, weak material so as to save weight, a lot of the milder weight stalls have their downsides.
With that said, packing as light as you can on our latest packrafting excursion was important, therefore it was the ideal chance to set the newest REI Quarter Dome SL 2 Tent into the test.

This is the first trip I used the Quarter Dome SL 2 tent, and we had been fortunate with very little breeze and amazing weather. This enabled us to sleep soundly without the fly and also stargaze from bed because the whole tent is just mesh.

1 thing I really like about this tent is that you may roll back both the garage door and the tent door for super easy accessibility whenever you are unpacking your luggage and placing up your sleeping system.

In this blog post, I discuss my favorite characteristics of this new tent which make it a fantastic addition to almost any backpacker’s gear cupboard.

The huge doors and vestibules, together with the roof port, allows for good ventilation on warmer evenings.
As always, all opinions and words are my very own.

The thing to know is this tent is semi-free standing. This indicates you’ve got to pull tight and stake all of the endings to be able to acquire the most space out of the tent flooring. Additionally, this is critical for equilibrium. It is possible to see from the picture below that the base of the tent only has a rod in the middle. As for me, I didn’t discover this a big deal, particularly when reducing the amount of rods ends in weight reduction.
When comparing it to some other popular 2-man tents below three pounds, the more floor dimensions of the tent are really quite ample and marginally larger than its more expensive competitors. We all felt helpless, and also the big vestibules on both sides of the tent, we could store a majority of our gear outside of the tent and still have easy accessibility.
So how did our dog match? Charlie is a border collie / mini-Aussie combination that weighs about 38 pounds. I was surprised that both of us fit without a lot of trouble. The tent measures 88″ inches long. I’m 5’5″ (~65 inches), therefore Charlie was able to sleep at the bottom corner near my toes with no cramping my style too much. Of course, a three-man tent is cushier, however with the weight savings, it’s nonetheless manageable to receive a good night’s sleep along together with your loved ones (as long as you aren’t 6 ft tall).

Double Cabinets and Vestibules

Final Thoughts

I put up this tent myself all in under 5 minutes to the first attempt without really reading the directions.  First, there’s a single pole system which operates off a central hub. The tent rods, clips, and also endings are also color coded so you can easily find out how to orient the rods.

When you have experience with ultralight tents, then you know that lots of two-man tents are generally little – more like 1.5 person chairs. Having a spouse and a puppy, I  always size around a 3-man tent. For that reason, I was a little skeptical that we’d all be able to fit comfortably within this ultralight 2-man tent.

With 38″ inches of peak headspace, we felt as though we had lots of headroom. There’s also a spacious interior pocket on both sides that will readily match your headlamp as well as other evening essentials.

The sticks and fly seemed durable and nicely built. I’m convinced that this tent will stand the test, however I’ll come back and report once I utilize it into gnarlier weather. In this case, the included guylines will be convenient.

I’m unsure about you, but I tend to be tough on my equipment, so durability is very important. Also with a spouse and a puppy, we need more room than most ultralight two-man backpacking tents may probably afford.