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I've shown this before but it's an ID silshelter with a few yards of blue silnylon and a zippered door added to it. As near as I can tell it's pretty similar to the sawtooth, mine is about 7x11 ft. inside and just a bit over 7ft tall and has been used for a few years now.

One of the benefits of using the silshelter is an abundance of quality guy points at the right spots to brace it for wind.

Good to know. For ME the 4man is the ticket. It doesn't quite have the standup space of the Sawtooth, and it's 13oz heavier, but it's got two doors for convenience and ventilation and an even more wind-proof profile. Probably overkill for one person, but not for two. At least that's my take.

My next one will probably be the 8man.

222,

The 4 man is an awesome shelter. I used one for years. Going back to the late 1980's when they were built by Mountain Smith.

Two doors are nice. I know my SL 4 would be better with two doors.

I've got the SL3, it's great for one person - not to much or two little. I don't know how you'd get three people in there without a shoehorn, much less two and gear.

If I can find one and have the scratch for it, I wouldn't mind an SL8 with an SL4/5 nest. I saw that setup on here and just smiled.

Personally I like everything about the Sawtooth but the price. 800 bones has a lot of competition...

NXP

Kifaru shelters aren't cheap, thats for sure, but I don't know of anyone that puts the gear through the testing that Patrick does.

Also if you compare a Super Tarp to this:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/stealth_one_nano_ultralight_tarp.html
they don't seem as pricy.
$330 for an 64 sq ft tarp. But it's less than 5 ounces and I'd love to have one.

Ahh so much gear, so little money

anyone can make one of those tarps with some cuben fabric and some seam stick tape. if you buy the 1.5 oz. cuben, you won't believe how strong it is for the weight. here's a video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gfcuCh7h04

Yup. I actually took my tipi down because of the beating it was taking. And you're right on about the reason for the sawtooth.

The stuff won't hold up long term as well as silnylon. The stuff in the vid that was hard to rip was heavier than the silnylon. There is an engineering student by the name of Brian McMillan who happens to make the finest hammock tarps in the world when he isn't doing grad school. He has access to some high dollar test gear and the knowledge to use it. He's tested all this stuff and he will not make a tarp from cuben. He does make them from spinnaker but he says they are somewhat weaker.

i have had spinnaker and it tears rather easily. sil ripstop is the best bang for the buck but i am going to get some cuben and build with it just to see for myself.

the blue sil in the video looked and sounded alot like spinnaker to me....

Thats pretty much what I gather about the cuben fabric as well. While it is lighter than silnylong it gives up quite a bit of strength that isn't worth it for my uses. My buddy has a cuben tarp and I just can't it being worth the weight savings for me for what you give up in fabric tear strength.

my project calls for 15 yds. of the 1.5 oz. cuben and get ready for this.... 525.00 for the fabric alone! get the checkbook out.

An Etowah tarp is a good shelter...I can set it up with a four foot piece of cord and six aluminum stakes...several ways to use it. Any good tarp is worth looking at.

You can leave the aluminum stakes and use wood pegs you cut from the forest...If you are wanting to go with even less weight.

The weight savings of Cuben are really minimal. They are significant percentage wise, but in actual weight, you might be looking at 5 oz for a Cuben tarp vs 8-10 for sil version.

Ounces do add up, but until I get to where I can't spare 5 oz off my miiddle, I don't think I get too worked up about it.

Ed,

The Sawtooth is very near a 4-man in terms of price and weight though the door looks a bit higher. I look forward to your reports on the new shelter.

While the "sawtooth" seems interesting... could someone explain why it is definitively better than the Ti Goat tent that has been out for years? Ti goat weighs less, more room, same features, made in the usa???? http://www.titaniumgoat.com/vertex6_5.html

?????

I don't think its a matter of better- just different. Kind of like MR vs Kifaru packs. I don't think you will go wrong with either.

I have a couple pieces of Ti-Goat gear ( bivy and tarp) and they are well made.

Just thinking about this light weight super thin material and remembered last year the nickel sized hail and heavy rains we experienced. Also in a woodland camp should a small branch fall onto your shelter, just how much damage will be done. The paper thin stuff is light, but what is being sacrificed?

Silnylon is pretty tough stuff, they make parachutes out of it.

I'm considering the SL1 nest for use with a Paratarp. Im wondering if there room between the poles to get the nest pitched taunt? Is there any chance of posting some pictures of the set up? Thanks

The SL1's nest footprint should fit between the poles on a paratarp, as it's much larger than the SL1. Don't think an SL2's nest will though.

I don't have a Paratarp (wish I did, but that's out of my budget this year - went with a new pack instead and yet another unnecessary recurve that I HAD to have), I hang my SL1 Nest under an upside down Kelty Noahs Tarp 9.

In the late spring to early fall I like the breeze/shade/coverage of the 10x10 tarp.

If you'd like pics though, I can set it up out in the backyard - suburbia and all.

NXP