Description of GoLite Den 2 Shelter 2-Person 3-Season:
GoLite Den 2 shelter uses design to accomplish what others do with gadgets. This remarkably lightweight, 2-person shelter is perfect for those fast and light adventures where you still want full-tent protection and humidity isn't stifling. Its simple design erects in a flash so you don't waste valuable sleep time fumbling with parts and directions. Made with SilLite™ silicone-impregnated nylon, the body is burly yet ultra-lightweight. The floor is polyurethane-coated 6000mm nylon to provide extra weather protection where your body can cause pressure leaking. Saving weight, the Den 2 uses a forward-sloping angle at the door and an awning at the rear intake to keep out weather, shunning vestibules, a fly or other weighty bells and whistles. It comes with two Y stakes and six skewer stakes so you don't find yourself shrink-wrapped in a nylon cocoon about midnight. SilLite™ stuff sack and separate stake sack included.
Bottom Line: Shelter from the storm at less than three pounds – wow.
Super light, sets up easily, packs up pretty small for a two person. Only problem i have with it is the material on the outside really attracts dust and its kind of hard to clean off. I especially like the zipper at the bottom which allows a little more ventilation or an area to cook if you dont want to get out of your tent.
Just picked this up on S&C and used it this past weekend; for the price and weight this cannot be beat. A little time consuming to setup, but it was also the first time I had used it. Didn't have any condensation problems (although there wasn't much rain) and it's not the roomiest shelter (but what do you expect), fits two people just fine as well as a little bit of your gear.
For backpackers, I would recommend this as long as you have somewhere else to stow your bags (if they're big) for the night as the vestibule at the foot isn't that big. A couple of other small issues are that there are no loops inside the tent to clip a lantern to or string up some stanky clothes. My hiking buddy suggested cliping a lantern to the outside of the tent where the top-front guy line attaches; as it's right above the front of the tent. Of course we thought of this the morning after using the tent. Also, the guy lines are black and have nothing in them that reflect light, this to me is an issue as the front of the shelter has 3 guy lines coming off of it and there is one at the back. Before even using the tent in the field I replaced the lines with a set of NightIze Figure 9 Tent Line kit I got at REI for $10. The lines as well as tensioners are great and for the price cannot be beat.
Those little quibbles are quite small in my opinion though, the tent itself is great, as is the price.
