Eureka Apex 2XT Tent: 2-Person 3-Season Tent

I purchased this tent after using a Eureka Solitaire one-man backpacking tent. I didn't like the one-man tent at all. It was like sleeping in a coffin, and no room whatsoever for any gear. I upgraded to the Apex 2XT shown here, and I am very glad I did. I laugh at backpacker nazis who are so gram-conscious that they have to have little one-man "escape pod" tents because they weigh a pound less and take up an inch less room in their backpack -- but to each his own.

I use the tent for kayak camping. I have very little precious room in the kayak to bring everything I need for a 2 to 3 day journey, but I opted for a two-man tent just to have room to sit up, and have a little room for my gear. With this tent, I have the perfect amount of room for my backpack, my clothes drybag, and my self-inflating bed roll. Anything else that needs to be kept dry can go into one of the two covered "vestibules" this tent offers. The vestibules are pretty handy to have, especially in cold weather. I actually fired up my little sterno camp stove in one of the vestibules, and it heated the tent to a warm and cozy temperature within minutes. While I wouldn't recommend leaving it on for very long, I was able to open both mesh doors and heat up the entire rainfly enclosure with the stove, then put it out and close up the tent. I was warm all night.

The tent is very easy to set up, as it only has two poles. Those two poles clip into place, as shown in the picture. I like clips much better than the cloth sleeves used in early tent models. The rainfly is "color-coded" to only go on one way, and if you look at the above photo you will see what I mean. Each corner of the tent has a nylon webbing buckle, three of which are black and one is yellow (as shown above). The rainfly buckles to these straps, and one corner has yellow webbing. Just align the yellow corners together and the rainfly fits perfectly. This was an excellent idea, and works well.

I love these tents that have two doors. I can get to both vestibules easily, and during hot weather I can open the mesh portion of the doors for fantastic ventilation & visibility. The rainfly doors roll back to allow full visibility from within the tent.

Inside there are four mesh pockets for storing items - one pocket in each corner.

I purchased this tent from a local shop, but Backcountry has it available for the same price as I paid. If I had to make the purchase again, I would probably go with the Marmot Limelight 2 only because I really like that tent. But this Eureka tent seems just as good and less expensive.

I do not have any complaints, or anything I really don't like about the tent. It is lightweight and is easy to set up, and stayed dry for several nights with one night/day of rain. It is orange, but more of a nice pumpkin orange and not bright UT ugly deer hunting vest orange.

Looks like a nice tent. I ordered it for an upcoming hiking trip. Had to return the product because it is not 5lb 6oz or 6"x18.5" packed size as stated in the specs. It is 6lb 5oz and 7x24.
I was a little iffy on the described weight so an extra pound put me over the edge. Backcountry is great though and issued a RMA no problem.

I will be looking for a 4lb tent.