pretty much my field experience too in harsh conditions (i mostly backpack in the arctic). i wont buy silpoly tents anymore, which sucks because a lot of companies have switched
Very interesting thank you - not many test are this exhaustive. It confirms my uninformed and unscientific view that a good quality silnylon is tried, tested, and takes a lot of beating. I'm not yet convinced that the latest new fabrics will perform as well for as long. The downsides of silnylon are that it's not as light as DCF, and it absorbs the most moisture meaning it sags more and is heavier to carry when wet - but hey, in real use we periodically adjust our pitch to take up any sag, and we give them a good shake before packing, and take advantage of a dry spell to dry them further. Hardly onerous, and not rocket science.
Why seek stopped making precipice,Brooks,broadwing and 7000 series???? That sidepockets are genius! I have an 5800 precipice guide slate from 2017 I think,love it!
I have a Tipik (french company) Pioulou XL ultra light shelter.10 D silnylon.i did 1500 kms in winter,wind,snow,rain...amazing fabric.not one problem.crossed the Pyrenees with it.
That was really interesting. If you ever decide to do something similar again would love to see an abrasion & puncture resistance comparison . Anyways thanks for putting this together for people to watch 👍
I still have my Unaweep 4800 in dark green and grey XPAC and codura material...a solid pack....I always wanted an older 3500 Divide in xpac but could not afford one at the time...then you switched to ultra...not sure why
Looks great! Reminds me of my old Gregory Palisade top lid, but way more functional. Is there going to be a shoulder strap for a loaded Mesa? And, when are we going to see that colorway in the main pack line-up on the website?
Back in the day the best double wall backpacking tents had a nylon body with a greater denier fabric for the floor and a polyester fly which was coated with polyurethane With stronger although a little heavier ripstop fabric sometimes available Silconized nylon flys slowly replaced PU coated polyester and siliconized polyester followed
We used what is popular on the tent market, I currently have 10 and 20 denier nylons being tested currently. 30D sil poly is not very common compared to 20D poly
@@seekoutsidegear No argument, just pointing out that there is a significant percentage difference between the yarn thicknesses and that should be recognized when comparing wear characteristics.
Many if not most of my staking experiences have included soft ground for a few inches that is atop a layer of rocks. If I try to stake it through many stakes can't take it and start to bend. Any ideas? My usual approach to this problem is then to move to attaching guy lines directly to heavy rocks or to use the stake that is only 1/3 in the soil as a dead man anchor behind a ser of heavy rocks. What would you do? Maybe I need better stakes? Also, I have 4 a set of good titanium nail stakes that have performed well. Unfortunately, after nailing them deep in the soil, it often becomes very hard to remove them afterwards. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Personally I will stack rocks on top of the stake if the staking conditions do not allow enough purchase on the stake. However a quality stake that is stronger is going to allow you to penetrate small rocks easier. Another method is driving the stake at a more extreme angle such as 45 degrees to get more of the stake underneath dirt.
Are you comparing a Sil/PU coated poly to Sil/Sil coated nylon? Maybe I missed exactly what silpoly you were using, but I think it was one from RSTBR that is Sil/PU coated. If it is, the PU is having a big negative effect on strength, so it would fairer to the poly to also choose a high strength version like the nylon is.
The grey poly was a sil/sil and you’d be correct on the RSTBR it was a sil/pu, surprisingly the sil/pu faired better at the end of the 30 days. And through out testing. Since filming the video we’ve also tested other sil/sil polys and had fairly simmiliar results
Intersting test. Looking for some clarification on what I think I heard. Besides fabric composition (Poly vs Nylon)- you were comparing a 20D to a 30D- correct? How much of a strength difference could be attributed to a simply beefier fabric (One might think 50%, but I am no expert in Materials Science).
20 denier silpoly is the most common variety of silpoly that you see out there amongst shelters ( Rip stop by the roll does not even sell 1.1 oz sil poly). Like wise 30d sil nylon is the popular variety of sil nylon amongst light weight shelters. Denier and having larger fibers doesn't always mean stronger. There are a lot of variables that go into making a good fabric such as how the coatings are applied, where it is sewn etc. but amongst popular tent manufacturers the conversation is usually 30 D nylon vs 15 or 20 d sil poly.
A 30D Poly will be stronger than the 20D Poly but it won't be as strong as the 30D Nylon. Not shown , is a test we did with a 10D Nylon we worked to develop , and it outdid some of the Poly shelters we tested. The 10D had the added benefit of being a fair amount lighter
That's a great test. Are you going to offer tents in brighter colors? We love our Cimarron but have had issues with folks set up close to us not seeing our tent. Another benefit of bright colors is emergency issues. Ungulates don't see color. When you're headed back to camp after dark, it makes it nice to have a beacon. Keep up the great work. That red cimarron looks very appealing.
Bright colors have a tendency to attract more bugs as well. I had a tent that was yellow and brown , before we ever were an official business (it was a prototype) . I was ion a buggy part of the weminuche and the yellow was covered with flies the brown not really. Now, I wouldn't say we would never offer one. However the quick fix is to simply tie something bright to it .. Ive done that before .
@@seekoutsidegear you deserve a new one. Talk to your boss about that would you… lol. Hey- what happened to the “roast my gear” series? I only saw a couple episodes.
@@seekoutsidegear maybe you could just find random hunters/people and roast their stuff. I bet local people would sign up for that! If you make it to Montana you are more than welcome to roast what I’ve got! lol.
