Interested to hear any experience you might have with either of these. As always, compromises abound.... Duplex would be ideal for solo stuff, workable for my wife and I.... triplex would be great for the two of us, workable with the mutts....

Z Pack Review

Thanks. I'll pass that along to the missus. I suspect she's seen it- she's the driving force behind this; she's gone all bleeding-edge ultralight on me.

But I'm still hoping for any experience-based reports. Specifically, how does the "bathtub" hold up? Is the fabric they use for the tent really as good or better than high-end nylon? Etc. I'm not into fragile gear.

Jeff, a friend that backpacks with my wife and I has/had one. I found it fairly finicky to set up, but I'm no expert with it. It does tie-up trekking poles from use for day hiking out of camp. I don't use poles (I use a cane - I'm that old - grin), but my wife would in no way want to be forced to leave hers in camp. So, if you dive in for another 8oz's and $100 you can get carbon or aluminum poles. The thing to remember, while the Duplex may be light, it's not a weight getting shared between two people, so someone is ending up with a 20+ oz load, while the other isn't.

My wife and I, just back from 3 days in the mountains, use a BA Copper Spur 2P. With separate stuff bags and a Tyvek footprint, it's 3lbs 4oz's. My wife takes the body and stakes which totals 18 oz's. I take the rest. Well worth it for a roomy, non-finicky, freestanding, super-stable, generally condensation-free shelter. Frankly, I think there are many other areas to lose weight where the substantial money spent on the Duplex could be applied.

The Copper Spur:

I have the Duplex and always use it solo (have the poles for the reason Brad mentioned). I like it alot when bugs are an issue, but for bleeding edge ultralight, I'm smitten with tipi living, esp the MLD supramid in cuben.
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Thanks Brad and doc! Good stuff.

Wife and friends surprised me with a duplex for my birthday this year. IMO its the best thing going for an ultralight, fully enclosed shelter. I've had 3 different trekking pole supported tents and after a few practice setups I don't find them finicky to set up at all. I can usually set up or break down quicker than friends with "regular" tents. If you're a gram weenie, cuben fiber is great. If you're looking for bombproof, this aint it. I'm pretty picky about where and how I set it up, how I operate the zippers, etc. I thought about a solplex but like to be able spead my gear out at night sometimes and will use it occasionally with one of my kids. If it will be 2 adults most of the time I would definitely get the triplex.

Thanks for the info. I'm not a gram weenie- I trend towards bombproof- but my wife is. She's wanting to do the WA section of the PCT this next summer....it'd be for her solo on that trip, me solo hunting, and occasionally the two of us, though we have several other 2-person (or larger) backpacking tents.

Cuben fiber is a trip. I've worked a fair bit with UHMW plastic, which as I understand it is what it's made from.... crazy that they came up with a fabric made of the stuff.

I did the Wonderland Trail in Washington last year and can’t wait to get back up there. Washington section of the PCT will be high on my list after retirement. Good news is if you buy a Duplex and hate it, they’re easy to sell.