Review: 2 lightweight tents - MSR Hubba (1 person) and Stoic Arx 2XL (2 person)

As many hikers know, hauling a lot of weight in a backpack is not much fun. Which is the reason driving the innovations behind much of the lightweight gear and clothing. In the last few years there have been major advances in production of lightweight tents, backpacks, jackets, sleeping bags and more.
Most of the weight savings come from better designs, but a good share also comes from new materials and philosophy of “less is more”.
Since I subscribe to the idea of lightweight hiking being more enjoyable, I’ve done some research in order to buy two light tents: a one person tent for when I’m hiking on my own and a two person tent when I’m with someone else.
So what else besides weight did I take into account? Price! I don’t have much money in the bank, so the tents needed to be reasonably priced. They also had to be double wall type to help with  condensation,  warmth during cold nights and bugs during warm ones.
After much searching around I’ve found two tents that I liked and eventually purchased.

One person tent: MSR Hubba
The weight clocks at 3 lbs. 4 oz but it can be reduced further by removing some of the stuff sacks and replacing aluminum stakes with titanium ones. The tent has a ver clever design that minimizes the number of poles, yet provides very rigid structure.  The tent two vertical sides (left and right) and two very steeply sloped front and back. Due to these steep walls, the tent feels much roomier than most others. In fact with my height of 6’3” – I can sit inside and have a light attached above my head shining down during the evening.  Such roominess in a single person tent is invaluable as it allows one to change clothes easier while inside, stretch and simply have more air inside the tent.
When lying down, my head and bottom of the foot do not touch the sides of the tent unless I really try to stretch and point feet down. The last thing you want is to touch a wet wall while sleeping in a down bag, as it will absorb the water and become less effective.

As you can see in the pictures, the tent is a single entry with all mesh interior. It has very generous vestibule space, which I usually use to store my backpack, shoes and any other wet or dirty gear.
At $250 (from Amazon with free shipping) for a brand new 3lb single person, three season double wall tent – it doesn’t get any better. One can always find lighter shelters such as Big Agness Fly Creek UL1 for $300 (save 1lb) . However Big Agnes FC UL1 is not as rigid in high winds or in snow due to thinner and more flexible poles and is not as roomy height wise, which makes changing clothes inside the tent an exercise better left for contortionists.

Two person tent: Stoic Arx XL 2
At 4lbs for a fully featured tent Stoic Arx XL 2 is a great option. Its construction is somewhat similar to MSR Hubba in that I uses single short pole across the top portion to give the inner net more volume. Again, this provides for more vertical space and easier time sitting or moving inside the tent. What is truly great about this tent is the fact that is it double entry (has doors on two opposite sides) and has two substantial vestibules. This way you don’t have to crawl over the other person if you want to get in or out, while getting something out of the pack in the vestibule or just sitting and looking outside. During the last trip with my dad – we could easily sit inside the tent while preparing for sleep, move around and not bother each other. There are also four pockets for small items such as flashlight, phone, etc located in the corners of the tent. Note, that one side of the tent is wider and steeper than the other, this is the side that provides more shoulder and head space. The doors are wide and well designed. Just like with MSR Hubba, you can open the outer door and not worry about rain getting inside the inner tent. This is not the case with many other shelters where outer door is located above the inner net.

While this is a three season tent, we have taken it on a trip where temperature went below 0* C and there was some snow around the camp. Tent had good ventilation and we didn’t experience any condensation issues.

Now as far as price goes – you can get this tent from Backcountry.com for about $270 which is kind of steep. Or you can look for it on SteepAndCheap.com and see if you can score it for $130 like I did. You just can’t find lighter, two person tent with lifetime warranty for that price.