MSR Carbon Reflex 3 Tent: 3-Person 3-Season

I was looking for a spacious 2-person tent for Europe travel, so we could be ready for camping in some cases, but I wanted to be able to pack camping gear without having to pay for an extra bag. This tent is amazingly light, simple to set up, and extremely roomy and comfortable to live in, and is really the ticket.

The poles are amazing, carbon fiber and weigh almost nothing, and even the tent stakes are an impressive bit of ultra light engineering which you can't help but appreciate aesthetically.

It's supposed to be a 3 person tent, and it seems very large for 2 (not always the case in my experience with "3-man"), which is nice if you are really staying in it with clothing, etc for a while.) It has nice head room in the center, and feels very large inside. While we were unable to bring the puppy on this trip, it will be a perfect size for 2 humans plus dog in the states. I especially like that each person has an identical side door with a vestibule. This makes it nice for both easy in/out at night, and also for eating in the vestibule on rainy days.

We have experienced some serious all-night rain, and have stayed overall very dry, with just a couple instances of light misting when the rain has saturated all surfaces and continued to pound for over 48 hours. Which I'd say is pretty good. Staking out the 2 sides of the fly is very easy, and helps with the tent's water-repelling system because it pulls the fly tight and keeps it from contacting the tent surface.

I've lived in a lot of tents, and this is my current favorite.

I've owned mine for a bit over a year now and have had it out in all conditions, from camping on snow to high-winds in the mountains to sunny and clear- it's a pretty fantastic tent system.
Since the weight is nest + poles/stakes + fly + footprint, you can split the weight out in your party such that each will be carrying minimal weight- and you can leave behind the nest or the footprint, depending on how you intend to use it.

Typically, the "3-man tent" is so often a term of fiction that we mostly understand it to mean "two close friends and possibly a chihuahua could fit", but the CR3 is an honest-to-goodness 3-man tent you can actually sleep 3 full-sized adults + gear in, without everybody being elbows and ankles in each others' space. When it comes to sleeping, spooning is an option, not a requirement- unless you try to stuff 4 people in there, which would be doable if you're willing to be as friendly as some tent makers seem to think we all are. My wife, 2 kids, and I can fit comfortably, with room for a lot of extra stuff.

Most of the floor space is usable up to a sitting adult's height. Each corner in the nest features a stow pocket for glasses, headlamps, or what-have you. There are also eyelets from which to hang sundries on the inside of the nest.

Space in the vestibules is generous, and each vestibule is accessible from both inside and outside. I can fit two large packs in a single vestibule and still have room for my stove, fuel canisters, and a couple pairs of boots. Vestibule doors can be rolled up out of the way (to be secured with a simple button/hook thingy), and nest doors roll up and to the side for similar stowing). There are guy points at all corners of the fly, plus velcro loops on the inside of the fly to secure the tent poles in place. (pro tip: without these secured, the tent is flexible indeed- so be sure to do these up even when the weather 'looks like it'll be fine'.)

Ventilation in this tent is glorious. Condensation is just not a problem at all.

Properly staked/guyed out, this tent stands up well to wind and weather- it flexes, but has stood through some significant storms (50+knot gusts) on my watch. I am routinely surprised at the conditions it withstands, actually- It doesn't make sense that such a light, flexible set of poles and fabric should be so strong and resilient.

With 3 poles, pitching is a simple one-man job, takes 3 minutes- a few more than that to properly guy out and secure all points. Taking it down is similarly simple- and unlike most tents I've owned, I am able to get everything back into the stuff sack without any extraordinary effort.

Basically, it's a bigger, lighter, roomier, more comfortable tent than anything your friends have.
The only downsides: it's pretty expensive, and you need a big enough spot to pitch the thing. Oh, and your friends will insist on using your tent, instead of theirs.

Freaking awesome tent! The weight with stakes and the bags for poles is 4 lbs 11 oz. With the footprint it is 5 lbs 6 oz. Now you know the actual weights as you always wonder what they do and don't weigh. I didn't like that they make you cut your own guylines. Did a crappy job of it in the mountains after pulling the tent out for the first time. A bit flopsy in the wind but if you stake it down really well it does nicely. You can close the doors one handed but it takes 2 hands to open them. I love the vestibules, one side held my XL K2 paraglider unfolded, just stuffed openly, and had plenty of room left. You can't beat the real estate for the weight and the tent is just marvy supreme. Coolest tent ever. Don't be a cheapskate, just buy the best the first time and be done with it. This one is the ticket!!

Plenty of ventilation, so no dew build up, but you must stake the rain fly or it will contact the tent causing water on your gear/floor. Very easy setup and take down. Get the footprint too, it's very light weight and has saved me from cleaning the tent several times.