The tent is not freestanding. It requires a minimum of three stakes (two at the head and one at the feet) to stand and is best if you set all seven. (Sorry for some reason this posted twice but i didn't get to finish) As far as mesh goes- there is very little. There is no separate rainfly for this tent. (Technichally when you pull out the front two tabs and stake them off it creates a small fly space between that section and the actual tent and the small pole that runs a short length of the tent on top creates a small lifted section.) But basically it's just a single wall tent (essentially the whole tent is the rainfly). It's why it's so light and why it doesn't breathe very well creating moisture inside (a lot of the moisture is coming from you breathing). The small section at the head under the "fly" has some mesh running around the sides- maybe about 3" tall around those 3 sections near the ground. Under the upper "fly" there are two vents you can unzip- each about the size of half a CD, and at the feet I believe there are two small vents with a little bit of mesh on them. All of these are to help with venting. I leave my upper two vents open all the time. It seems to help it breathe some but you still get a lot of moisture inside the tent each night. I think it's a really good tent for what it is. But you have to have realistic expectations. It's an amazingly light tent and gives you a little more space than a bivy to move around and keep some gear inside (not much). I'm 6'1". I'd guess at around 6'3"ish you'd probably start to be pushing the length limits of this tent. I bought it for use in kayak overnighting and it's been pretty good for that. Very light and very compact. Just got off cataract canyon and two of our nights had a lot of rain and crazy winds. It held up well. The amount of moisture inside after those nights was no different than any other of the nights. I usually have an MSR Packtowel with me and i use that or a sponge from my boat and just wipe down the walls inside in the morning. It's not perfect but there are always going to be tradeoffs. I guess North Face could make it out of Gore-Tex but the price would probably be at least double and it would be a good bit heavier. Other than that, it's typical North Face. Made very well. I'd rate it maybe 3.5 stars. If it could breathe better I'd bump it up a star. If it were freestanding at about the same weight/pack size then I'd give it 5 stars. Or if it had more space to sit up and change inside at same weight/ pack size- five stars. Hope that helps.

The Tech Specs say that it is freestanding, but it looks like it needs stakes in the picture (for the fly at least). As far as the amount of mesh goes, I'm not sure. Check thenorthface.com for alternate views.If you're in the desert won't you leave the fly on to keep the sand out though? There is no fly, it's one layer, only mesh is for venting. This is not a freestanding tent. There are 7 anchor tabs for stakes. The tent will stay standing with two anchor points, one on the foot end and one at the head, but if there is wind it's gonna move. I am planning on using it for South West desert camping and I think it will do fine.