MSR Hubba Hubba NX
I used this two person tent for a walk in the Blue Mountains from Green Gully to Jenolan Gorge via Carlons Gully, Breakfast Creek, Ironmonger Mountain
Lightweight: I wanted a light tent for the 40 crossings of Breakfast Creek and the steep slog up Ironmonger Spur. This tent weighs the about the same as my old sleeping bag at 1.56k kg! How is it so light for a 3 season tent? Mesh and lightweight nylon fabrics are used throughout. There is a super lightweight pole system made of DAC Featherlite aluminium. Only thin tapes, small toggles and cords are used where possible. It is not at all fiddly though, just well thought out. In the inner tent there are simply two storage pockets and 4 small ceiling loops for hanging stuff eg. lamp/clothes.
Easy to put up: it is a no brainer – great after a long walk. Inner tent and fly done in under 2 minutes without practise. There is only one aluminium pole with 2 triangular sections at each end and a horizontal crossbar in the middle. 8 Easy clips on the inner tent attach it to the pole.
Liveability: possibly the best feature after its lightness is the liveable design
Very spacious- all the wall panels of the bottom quarter of the tent are vertical and on the 2 lengthways panels they are vertical all the way up. After the vertical base section the foot and head ends of the inner tent slope inwards gently to a wide ceiling panel. There is a lot of head room at 1 metre high and a due to the wide flat ceiling of the inner tent there is a feeling of breadth. My husband who likes lots of space and manoeuvrability commented on how spacious it feels. There are two wide doors on each side allowing 2 people to sit by side in the doorway eg. to eat with cover from the vestibule in bad weather. It is also easy to enter and exit. There are 2 vestibules on the long sides of the tent.
Very light inside: the lower portion of the tent is red and then at least 3/4 of the inner tent wall panels are white or mesh and the rainfly is white/light grey. These light colours create an airy feeling inside the tent and counter well any impression of being in a small confined space.
Aeration: the top third of the inner tent is mostly mesh, two windows at each end of the fly can be held open with stiff material stays.
Waterproof: the rainfly is finely woven 20 denier high tenacity ripstop nylon with water repellent coatings. The inner tent is 20 denier ripstop Nylon. All seams have been taped and proofed. The floor is a bathtub design of 30D ripstop Nylon 3000mm.
I can recommend the tent if you want a lightweight robust option for two that is really pleasant to use for hiking and backpacking. Short of snowy or below zero zones this will do most jobs.
Jane Diemont
Jane was on the trail before Gore Tex, and she never complained about the breathability of her gumboots.