Exped Polaris Tent Review
| Categories | tent camping equipment |
| Product Code | B0038WL77C |
| Product Rating |  |
| Price | $929.00 |
| Where To Buy | See More Details |
| Customer Review | See More Reviews |
Product Details
- Size: 2 Person
- Color: Yellow
- Brand: Exped
- Model: 30600420
- Released on: 2010-02-01
Features
- Single-wall fabric; highly breathable and waterproof VentAir 3 layer PTFE tent-specific laminate
- Tent is fully freestanding; full length ridge pole supports the structure and forms the vestibule
- Dual non-slip loops attach stuffsacks to the guyline
- Ventilation and views on all 4 sides through door, rear window; two offset tunnel vents
- 2-person capacity; weight 5.4 pounds; packed weight 6.5 pounds; 30 square foot area
- Single-wall fabric; highly breathable and waterproof VentAir 3 layer PTFE tent-specific laminate
- Tent is fully freestanding; full length ridge pole supports the structure and forms the vestibule
- Dual non-slip loops attach stuffsacks to the guyline
- Ventilation and views on all 4 sides through door, rear window; two offset tunnel vents
- 2-person capacity; weight 5.4 pounds; packed weight 6.5 pounds; 30 square foot area
Product Description
An ingenious stuff sack made for tent guylines enables quick packing and leaves them ready for use next time without the hassel of tangles.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
By Andy K
I purchased this back in August and have used it several times so far. I'll do the Pro and Con thing to make this easy and address some concerns I had purchasing this sight unseen.Pros-- Easy and fast to set up. Color coded poles and numbers make it a no brainer. Easily a one person job and can be done in several minutes. Instructions say the middle pole is optional but I can't imagine setting up without it. The Exped set up video on YouTube is spot on. This one is easy to master and you'll be as good as Ted with a few tries. I wasn't a big fan of sleeves (think North Face VE25) but they really aren't a problem with this one. Just slide them through and a pocket on the other end catches the pole.- Staking out is as easy as any other tent. The triple guy-out points in the side are pretty handy and easy to manipulate. It comes with two sets of stakes, dirt and snow, but they are both so similar in size I can't imagine using them for snow. I brought along the wider snow stakes and am glad I did- more on that later. It has a lot of guy out points which make it very secure when the winds pick up.- The integrated vestibules(s) are awesome. The front one is spacious enough for boots and a few other things you may not want in the tent. Back one is pretty small but good enough that if you are on snow and dig it out, you can store more things there. This was another pre-purchase concern for me since I had become accustomed to the integrated EV2 vestibule. Vestibule space adds a lot of room to this tent.- Very spacious tent. This was my biggest concern pre-purchase. I have had a Mountain Hardwear EV2 and have spent some time in MSR 4-season tents. This has less square feet than the EV2 but feels roomier. The asymmetrical shape of this provides plenty of room and you can sleep with your head on either side of the tent easily. My wife and I are 5'7" and 5'8" respectively so I can't vouch for how taller folks would fare in this tent.- Two internal pockets are convenient and big enough to hold a headlamp and the other junk that ends up in your pockets.- Internal rings along the inside spine on the ceiling are nice. I strung a piece of accessory cord the length of it which serves two purposes. It supposedly strengthens the tent and also give you somewhere to hang up some wet clothing or smaller items like the BD Orbit lanterns.- Comes with a decent repair kit including a zipper repair, fabric swatches and pole sleeve in the event of a broken pole. For the price, I'd expect this to be included.- The mesh bags for the guy lines are very handy and tame all the cordage when you're packing it up.- Top loading storage bag is something everyone should be doing.- Pole bag has multiple pockets. One large one for poles and two external zip pockets for stakes in one and accessories in the other. Adds a little weight but the organization is worth the grams in my opinion.- Tube vents are nice. You can actually look out of them and see what's going on. They are pretty small but you can still peer out. The zippered mesh over them is nice too because you can hand small items in and out without having to open a door.- Air flow is unmatched by any 4-season tent I've been in. Both doors have mesh panels plus the two vents in the side which can be adjusted to suit your needs. Condensation was not an issue at higher elevations. Tent stayed dry during a two-nighter on Rainier. At lower elevations where it was wetter, we had a lot of moisture build up but I don't think any 4-season tent would do well in wet conditions.Con-- Metal tubes that accept the poles have a tendency to creep out unless you really push them down deep into their pockets. I also think these could be made smaller and overall shave a little weight.- Single door on the vestibule side can make getting in and out a pain. I think this tent would be improved with doors on both sides.- Middle pole takes some getting used to when setting up as it can get tangled and misrouted through the guy-out cords.- "Snow" stakes are pretty skimpy. For $850, it would be nice to have Exped switch these out with some wider ones.- No attachment points for an overhead gear loft. The EV2 doesn't have this either but it would be a nice option for a few grams of fabric loop.- While top loading bag is nice, I don't think you could stuff and go like with cylindrical sacks. You have to fold this one in thirds or quarters and roll it a bit to get it in neatly.- Price. Ouch this one is expensive! Over $200 more than the competitors but the features make up for it. Not a lot of single walls out there with a good external vestibule like this one.We were on the Ingraham Flats of Mt. Rainier in August. We had some pretty strong, sustained winds and this held up quite well under the conditions. We heard from others as we were coming down that winds were sustained 60mph and gusting to over 70. From the way it felt on the route, I don't doubt it. Other friends in my party had bent poles in their EV2 and Trango tents. We even saw an EV3 from another party blow away and drop into a crevasse. Felt bad for those suckers. Anyway, winds were strong enough to break a pole on this tent but I chalk that up to not properly guying it out. It broke when were were on the way to the summit and I'm not sure if the wind did it or a buddy of mine fell and tried to use the tent to catch himself. Anyway, I contacted Exped when I got home and they replaced the entire tent for me. Even drop shipped the new one before I shipped back the defective one. Excellent customer service. As a side note, make sure you use some good deadman to secure your tent to the ground regardless of how good the forecast it. Exped also recommends always guying out all points of this tent which we did but the one on the broken pole appears to have popped out so I may not have done a good job with burying it. I expect with proper guying, broken poles wouldn't be an issue.Bottom line: I'd recommend this to anyone who truly needs a good 4-season and can afford it. I can't think of another single wall I'd rather be using. For comparable weight in other single walls, this one provides luxury the others don't have.
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