Sierra DesignsClearwing 2 & 3 Person Backpacking Tents

Great tent for the price! Little Condensation, great ventilation, and and take on a lot of rain.

First off the shipper, some place in Alabama was very prompt delivering. Much appreciated Now on to the tent. We have a 1995 Sierra Design Night Watch, 3 -4 season, 2 person that has been really exceptional. We did extra seam sealing on it before we ever used it and it has held up superbly. Still very hardy after big storms and week long downpours. Chinese manufacturing at its best. But we needed another 2 person tent and in this the summer of 2021 tents were hard to come by. So we had to kind of settle for this Sierra Designs Clearview. It was only $227, and is exactly as advertised. That means this is not a ultra heavy duty tent that will remain waterproof for years to come. It won’t survive 70 kilometer winds on an exposed rock outcrop ( like our old Nightwatch has). But if you are looking for a tent that will work decently for a summer adventure it should do. It doesn’t come with a ground cloth( a footprint) but that is easy to make with an old cheap piece of plastic or nylon tarp. The guys on the fly and tent are lightweight single stitch that we will beef up with some rip stop or even good quality duct tape. The most important mod on this tent will be to additionally seam seal all the fly seams. They are ok for a light rain but several days of hard rain will start to seep thru. But honestly, we feel you kinda need to do that on most tents unless you pay top dollar. It is pretty light. It listed as 3 lbs + and that seems about right. The poles are thinner than our other tents but they should be fine. The included stakes will usually be adequate but if you want something tougher just get 3 heavier duty to supplement getting the vestibule pulled out enough for good air circulation. This is the first tent we’ve bought since 2003 and I didn’t know what a “ burrito bag” was. It apparently is the type of sack new tents are using instead of a stuff sack. It opens on the side instead of on the top. Not a big deal just different. So once the extra seam sealing is done this tent should be a light weight shelter that will be good for bike backing and backpacking. The freestanding setup isn’t the sturdiest we’ve ever seen but you just have to stack it out more if it gets windy. Freestanding is something we appreciate when we have to use it because the sight is so rock hard but generally a 2 person tent needs to be staked out anyway to avoid condensation. But this is a summer tent and you may not see those conditions of cool and humidity. All and all a reasonable piece of equipment with a limited lifespan. But sometimes equipment surprises you and turns out to be more durable than you expected. And the little extra prepping on mew equipment often makes it substantially better. We’ll see. So at this point it is a thumbs up.

This tent is a very nice tent for the money you pay. I’d give it 5 stars if not for two things:1. The stakes are a little flimsy (one got bent pretty bad putting in the ground)2. The door zippers are on the same side on both sides of the tent but the vestibule zippers are on opposite sides. What I mean by this is you can unzip half of the vestibule and roll it up giving yourself more ventilation and this is how you access the tent. Great feature, Except for the fact the doors are two big c-shaped doors. On one side of the tent, the vestibule opens on the same side the door does, making it easy to get in and out. On the other side of the tent, the door opens on the same side, however the vestibule flap opens on the opposite side, making you have to crawl into the vestibule to access the tent. Not a dealbreaker for sure, but it deserves to have a star knocked for that and the stakes.Other than that, it was a great tent! Carried it by myself on a trip, sets up quickly, has lots of room, and I personally love the colors.