I spent a long time evaluating all the alternatives and I think the Exped Venus III is the best tent for two-up camping.



The picture above is a little misleading--the tent is much bigger than it seems. It's rated at three person plus dog (the dog being in one of the large vestibules) which means there's ample room inside for two bikers and panniers and all their gear with space in the vestibules for wet gear, cooking etc. There's a gear loft in one of the vestibules. The interior floor area is 3.8 m2 and the two vestibules total 2.6 m2. As you can see from the diagram below there's tons of head room for getting out of/into biking gear without having to lie horizontal!

You can exit through either vestibule and best of all--despite 6.4 m2 of interior space--is the small packed size (48x19cm) and low weight (4.4kg). Exped reckon just two and a half minutes to set the tent up but I think you'd need to be on speed to achieve this, four minutes is probably more realistic.



Exped is a real quality brand and the Venus III is 'tent porn' with beautifully crafted poles slipping into colour coded, continuous sleeves. You can see more info at the Exped site and at Travel-Dri.

The tent has been used for a total of only four nights. The reason I'm selling it is that the vast majority of my touring is solo and I've decided to get a minimalist small/lightweight setup. The cheapest I can find this on the Internet is £460, so the price of just £340 (plus £15 p&p or pickup from Putney, SW London) represents a huge saving.

Tim
020 8785 9992
07976 683999

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Access the Morocco GS Knowledgebase

Too big for me also, but I'd be interested to know what tents you are porning over now.

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Anything can happen in the next half hour

I had a couple of unintended nights in the open in Morocco, both at altitude and both absolutely freezing. I was carrying an Exped down sleeping mat, a lightweight sleeping bag and a bivi bag, and had a groundsheet which I doubled over the top of the bivi bag, but without a tent I found I lost too much body heat.

I want a tent as small as possible so I won't be tempted to leave it behind!

The MSR Carbon Reflex 1 weighs about 1.2kg with a pack size of 51x15cm but this is only 16% smaller than the Venus III pack size which goes to show how small the Exped tent packs down.

The Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1 which is about 1.1kg has a smaller pack size of 46x11cm but I prefer the side opening of the Carbon Reflex.

The Exped Vela is 1.85kg with a pack size of 42x10. Although is slightly heavier it's a small pack size, but I'm having difficulty tracking down a supplier.

To get much lighter/smaller I would have to look at single skin bivi tents such as the Nemo GoGo LE which is 1.3kg with a pack size of 17x18cm.

Tim

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Access the Morocco GS Knowledgebase

I keep coming back to the Terra Nova Superlight Voyager, seems to give the best room/weight. Having been small tent bound in Scottish weather I'm looking for a bit more room.

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Anything can happen in the next half hour

Hi - can I ask; is this tent still for sale?

Thanks, Jon