Tarptent Double Rainbow Double Wall Two Person Backpacking Tent Review
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- This is my personal review of the Tarptent Double Rainbow Double Wall (DW). This is a lightweight, two person tent from Tarptent. I go through the specs, pros, cons, why I bought this specific tent, and my overall thoughts. This is a tent that I purchased myself, and my opinions are my own.
Important note This is the sil-nylon version. Shortly after I purchased this tent, Tarptent released a sil-poly version, and even more recently an ultra version. The weights will very slightly between these versions, and if anything the rainfly performance is probably better in the newer versions, but generally speaking, the features, performance, and function is the same.
We just purchased the same tent in the 2023 model. We’ve used it once on a very wet, humid and cold, 7 day backpacking trip in British Columbia. Here is a quick synopsis of our experience.
The conditions were very difficult for both of the tents we used. We were 3 people using the 2 person Rainbow DW and another 2 person tent we have used on numerous occasions. After 2 days we switched tents and used the Rainbow as a single. This was because the problems with condensation with 2 people in the Rainbow DW. To be fair, both tents had extreme condensation because of 80% humidity and temperature almost at freezing. But because the upper panels on the Rainbow inner walls are rather slack it is difficult to avoid brushing condensation from inside the fly into the living area. Those same upper mesh panel form a low angle from the corners to the apex of the cross bar. That low angle makes it difficult to avoid touching the mesh and hence brushing the fly walls.
Now I’ll add some notes which may help you decide about purchasing this tent. First, this tent is very light and compressible. With 1.8 mm Dyneema lines at every guy point and fully seam sealed inside and out,the Rainbow still comes in at less than 3 lbs. With the aluminum pole. It doesn’t need to be rolled up but can be easily stuffed into the provided sack. The tent shed rain like a duck and the floor had no moisture forced up in-spite of being constantly on wet ground without a ground cloth throughout the trip. So as far as being weatherproof it was quite good.
The Rainbow DW has, in my opinion, an overly large footprint. This was a factor in controlling condensation because we were seldom able to properly stake the tent out to its fullest. (This was in a dense mountainous area, heavily forested). That is problem with many modern tents and not unique to the Rainbow. But the Rainbow’s design makes full tension vital for even moderate air to circulate. I didn’t find the freestanding feature to really help. The center clip that attaches midway on the trekking pole does not provide the stability of a true freestanding tent. This is a tent that needs tight corner tension to be effective. So, if you anticipate this need for small footprints in the areas you may be camping you might consider this.
So the drawback to this tent is a certain difficulty in controlling condensation and separating yourself from the moisture. This first test was about as extreme as can be in testing those qualities. In drier conditions with wider pitch this might not be as big an issue. But be aware, with too average size people, heads at one end, the practical space around you is limited.
I would like to add these additional comments after much further use with the DRDW. It has turned out to be a very good purchase. It is tight for two people and we can only sleep head to feet as it was intended. We usually use it as a single when we travel as a party of 3. My son, who is 6’1”, and I did use it as a two person tent on a 5 day mountain bike trip and we had no problems. However that trip was relatively dry with only one night of rain. We had two days where we could not find a decent site so pitched against a tree on one side and only extended the vestibule on one side to pull the floor taut. Worked out ok which showed us the tent had some versatility.
Our last outing with it was where it really shone. My son used it as a single with us on a six day trip up the Hoh River in Olympic National Park. We were not lucky with the weather on this one and were in some sort of rain for all six days including a 72 hour period with extremely heavy rain that sometimes sounded as if buckets of water were being thrown on the fly. This made for flooded sites at every location. The TarpTent polyester fly never leaked a drop, never became saturated and the waterproof zippers never became gritty from the splash dirt. Most mornings the floor was sitting on 2” of water to the point where if my son tapped the floor waves would ripple across it like a waterbed. The floor never leak even though no ground cover was used. Really outstanding. The only difficulty was on take down, once the central pole was removed, the tent collapsed in on itself and took whatever moisture was with it into the interior of the tent. But the conditions were so wet that everytime we set up the new camp, everything had to be dried out with a towel anyway.
So I’ll sum it up after 3 trips, one very cold (freezing) and very wet, one reasonably dry and buggy, and one an absolute soaker, that the TarpTent Double Rainbow Double Wall is a very good piece of equipment. We always seam seal thoroughly, inside and out. After the extreme rain conditions in the Olympics I’m very glad we did. We also always use the cross bar on the outside of the fly. It works much better it stopping condensation from collecting and dripping on the ends of the cross bar. We still have some learning to do to make this tent work in every condition but I can say now I would not hesitate to buy this tent again and look forward to its continued use.
Happy Trails
Funny how in 2024 tents are being promotted with 50” wide floors fir 25” wide pads when 90s tents were 54-56” widecfor 2p and we all had 20” pads. 😬. Nice to see more symmetrical designs. Genius design for freestanding mode
The porch mode comes in handy when you hike in rain and you need a place to cook out of the rain. In most situations you'll likely never use the porch mode. When you are above treeline and it's rainy, you'll love the porch mode.
Late to the party, but my rainbow Li came in last week and the zipper is sealed now! They must have heard you, lol!
Nice! Hope you enjoy the tent! I wish the seam sealing was my influence, but all the Li series tents come seam sealed. Still gotta pay for it on the non-dyneema tents.
Thanks for your time and effort in producing your honest ''hands on'' review. It is much appreciated by me as I am considering the very same tent; and I'm in no position to see the tent before purchasing as I'm Down Under in Victoria, Australia. Kind regards from Peter.
Glad it was helpful!
Have you purchased one? I’m in Australia, NSW, and am considering this tent.
Justin
I have the DCF version, and it works very well.
Waterproofing is obviously not a problem.
The setup is very easy and i like all the space.
I use it for a single person. I had a zpacks duplex tent before.
thank you
bill compton
Nice! The dcf version would made a great one person tent. Nice and light with tons of space.
Been waiting for someone to do a review on this model !
Good list of features! This tent seems really enticing to me because of the ability to do it freestanding with trekking poles.
Probably the biggest don't like factor about this tent to me is sleeved poles. I guess it makes sense because that is the way the arch support works. But after dealing with ghetto backpacking tents for the longest time, sleeved pole inserts it is the worst so its kinda dumb that to do ultralight it loops back around to having sleeves for the freestanding option.
This is the closest to a freestanding trekking pole tent option that exists. So, have to give them props for being the only company to come out with something for it but like, can others please come out and provide something?
The freestanding mode has definitely come in handy! Used it on hard to stake places a few times. I understand the sleeved pole concern, but it does maximize the space inside. You do think there would be more hybrid tents by now 🤷♂️
Great video just got the Ultra version.
How do you like it? I’m considering the ultra version.
@@melissaontrail waiting for ice out up here. Will have it out in April.
A different perspective... I kind of like the seam sealing "problem" with tarp tents. I had never done such a thing myself before buying one, and now I know exactly how to maintain my own tent say 5 years down the road when I feel it may be time to reseal the seams.
And doing it yourself when the tent is new adds years to a tents life. You can make the seams seals a centimeter wider than the sewn seem. It reinforces the weak area in the joined areas and really extends a tents life.
Great review Justin! Don't need to see any other reviews now as your's was comprehensive. One question though, can you still have it tied down to the ground with the trekking (I've got the same ones as yours, trail ergo BD) poles installed?
Yeah you could still stake it down with the trekking poles in place. However, I do notice the bathtub floor doesn’t lay quite as nicely with the trekking poles in place, so unless you really need to use the trekking poles, I’d just stick to using the stakes for a better pitch. Though, on my most recent trip I managed to forget the stakes so I’m glad that the trekking pole setup is an option!
Thanks for the review. You pitched this inner first: is there a pole sleeve on the rainfly allowing an outer first (or both together) pitch? This is a big deal for me as I'm in the UK and the rain is real...
There’s not a pole sleeve on the fly. However there’s a sleeve for the crossbar, and there are clips to attach the inner to the fly, so you can pitch it fly first. You would still need to insert the pole through the sleeve on the body though.
Make sure you get the polyester or the pro version. After I used the nylon version in extensive rain, it sagged pretty bad. Whichever version you get, you’ll still probably bump your head into the top of a wet door too. I think this a great fair weather tent. Especially if you want to stargaze, but it wouldn’t be my top option if I knew I’d be in a lot of rain.
@@justinhitsthetrail5225 Thanks so much for your response and for responding so quickly.
You highlighted a great point that I realised myself only this week; do you like it? There are so many reviews analysing gear but do you actually like it and enjoy using it. A personal and individual thing of course, but worth thinking about.
We have two 25 inch pads, I understand it's going to be a tight fit but it’s better than the tapered 2p tents. Do you think pushing up against the wall will cause moisture to get on the sleeping bags?
I think you’ll be okay. You’ll be pushing up against the mesh, but you’ll be far enough from the fly to worry about pressing against the condensation. Just be careful getting out of the tent with condensation on the doors as it does get in easy.
@@justinhitsthetrail5225 thanks! I think this tent will fit our needs really well.
Nice video. Do you think you could fit one adult + 2 dogs somewhat comfortably. I have a 20" and 25" pad.
Yeah. I fit two adults with 25 and 20” pads. Swap one of those adults with 2 dogs and I think that’d work.
does it come with apex grommets like in the regular double rainbow?
Also interested in this. Anyone?
Justin, what other 2 person tents were you considering before deciding on the Double Rainbow DW?
Six Moon Designs Lunar Duo Explorer or Big Agnes Tiger Wall 3. Wanted something 3 lbs or below that wasn’t a $600+ dyneema tent. Went with the Double Rainbow for the stargazability! It’s great for that when the weather is nice.
Thanks Justin
Hi
Is the vestibule Big enough to cook inside?
I wouldn’t cook in the vestibule. There’s probably adequate room at ground level, but the angle of the vestibule comes in too sharp imo. Top of the cook pot might be against the door… along with your face.
It’s been 5 months since this review. Can you please do an update?