Peterac wrote:Please elaborate jdeks and wim.
Well, you asked for it!
The pics with the bike below show a BearPaw Pentanet 1 with trailstar footprint, in a 'basic' bad weather pitch. Takes up roughly 50% of the floorspace in the 'Star, leaving you with an absolute palace of a gear/cooking/deckspace, all undercover. As you can see, I could just dump all my bike gear, sprawl out and cook and have room to spare, whilst still having a bed space big enough to squeeze in a partner if you're feeling friendly. Alternatively, you can use the deck as sleep-space for another two people in a pinch - as I have done on more than a few occasions when everyone elses dome's have blown down.
You can also pitch it higher with a full corner up to open your view and get a more easy entry and ventilated cook space. Or even extend all the ground lines out, pitch the apex high and use it as a camp gazebo. There's a tiepoint at the apex so you can ditch the center pole, and I've spent a week under it like this in the 35C+ wet season, eating, sleeping and passing time with 3 others. We were far more comfortable than the other chump sweltering in dome tents - in fact they usually spent most of the day under the 'Star with us.
On the other end of the spectrum, it digs in very easily to make a pretty decent semi-snow shelter, and with a few bracing poles, you can have a full solid cave set up in a fraction of the time it'd normally take
Pole, Pegs, net and Sil Star was just over a kilo. Pic shows size. It regularly attracts inquries at campgrounds, and everyone who's sat inside has asked where they could get one, esp when they hear the weight. Yes, you can save maybe 2-300g with a true UL 1 pers shelter or maybe a plain tarp, and I've done this. And each time, the loss in comfort and flexibility was profound enough to convince me the small weight margin is well worth it. I'm still yet to find anything offering the same capability-to-weight ratio. I've lived out of it for several months at a time comfortably. It's a proper pocket house.
The only downside I can find is it needs good peg tension (problematic on slab rock) and a sizable footprint (you can just pitch right over bushes...), and it's not
quite as multi-purpose as a flat tarp (but then you won't get the same wind resistant from a flat tarp, by a long way). You also need to take 5 and look at every pitch site and think, before you start smacking pegs in, and you need to get a good pitching drill memorized to get it tigcomvinceht and right every time. It's not just something you blindly drop wherever, you have to work it to get the most out of each pitch. But it's worth it.
No, Wim didn't pay me ( I suspect he may regret selling, personally
). And no, mine's not for sale. I just honestly think it's the best tarp shelter out there.