Hi All!
Several people have now written to ask why I advocated a good though inexpensive tent when they know I have "better" in reserve. Given Anto's (jags') desire to get the perfect tent for himself at a good price, I thought it might be helpful to answer here rather than by PM.
Earlier this year, a friend gifted me his near-as-new Terra Nova Laser Competition 1, a truly premium one-person tent I chose to leave home on this last extended trip, knowing full well I wouldn't be able to give it the care it deserved on this journey and would put the equivalent of years of use on it in just four months.
Starting each day before dawn and ending at sunset, my tent was almost always packed wet, often steaming atop the rear rack as the day warmed and then sometimes grew torrid. This is a proven killer of tents, steaming the tape off sealed seams and promoting mildew. When it wasn't raining, I had condensing humidity to contend with in river valleys and heavy dewfall. Though I did my best to shake off the water and swab things as dry as possible, the tent still packed wet more often than not.
The last couple weeks of use, I smelled the sharp tang of mildew on the mesh above my head, where my nighttime breath condensed. Amazingly, a quick swab with white vinegar after my return removed the mildew and stopped it in its tracks. Coleman's tape stayed securely applied as well, assuring waterproofness past my manual sealing.
Often pitched and decamped in darkness, my tent found its share of berry vines and acacia thorns. It fared well, but I'm not sure a more delicate silnylon would have endured such treatment so nicely. With respect for the materials, my benefactor agreed the Coleman was the better choice for _this_ extended trip and conditions.
That said, I saw any number of very expensive tents come to grief with expensive consequences for my fellow cyclists this trip. Mildew was the main culprit for the reasons cited above -- peeling floors, flies, and sealing tapes and leaving behind that distinctive odor. Pitch-in-one tents seemed most affected, mostly 'cos people were less inclined to partially disassemble them to swab condensation off the underside of the fly before packing the lot away.
What a contrast to the 30+ years of service my Gore-Tex bivy tent rendered in the drier deserts and forests -- even rain forests! -- of less humid western North America! Where and how you use and pack a tent really can make a dramatic difference in its practical service life.
Too, so long as the design and materials of a good cheap tent are appropriate to the expected conditions and can remain both dry and intact in rain and wind (the alternative is one nobody wants and the results can be dangerous or fatal), money saved on portable lodging can go a long way toward funding longer or more frequent travel. That's why I have the Terra Nova...and three of the USD$60 Colemans, which do the heavy lifting more often than not. That's also why I endorsed good cheap tents. Bad cheap tents do no one any favors, and are best passed by. The very definition of value is getting more than you paid for. The trick is to find great value that includes the very features important to you and appropriate to use. Best to jags and all of us on finding that perfect combination of livability and value.
Dan.
