Great 4 person tent

By J. Troxell Ranked #101 - 3-Season Tents August 30, 2011

My wife and I have decided that it is time to start taking our two kids (3 and 5) out backpacking. My old 2 person tents definitely aren't going to do the job for the four of us, so I started looking at 4 person tents. I narrowed my search down to the Copper Spur UL4 and the NEMO Losi 3P. I am well aware that the Losi 3P is a 3 person tent, but the advertised 50 sq ft floor space made me optimistic that it could be big enough for our purposes. I ordered both tents and set them up side by side to compare them. See my review of the Losi 3P for my thoughts on that tent.

Copper Spur UL4 impressions: This tent is light! While I've been backpacking for many years, this is the first piece of ultralight gear that I've purchased, and right now it seems almost scary-light. I would describe the material as almost wispy, and the fly is actually partially transparent. I'd love to know if this is by design, or if it is a factor of how light-weight the fly material is. The tent setup is very straightforward. i didn't look at the instructions, and I initially attached the poles to the tent body in the wrong orientation. It became obvious pretty quickly that I didn't have it right, and once I rotated the poles, everything went together easily. The clips on the fly are color-coded, so there was no question of what the correct orientation of the fly to the tent was - very nice! The inside of the tent is enormous - especially for a backpacking tent that weighs as little as the Copper Spur UL4. While the colors are not my favorite, the cream/rust (oops - I mean cool grey/terra cotta) combination makes the inside of the tent very bright. I liked it, but my wife didn't - to each their own. There is one pocket in each corner of the tent, as well as mesh pockets up in the ceiling - lots of room to stash things so that they are out of the way. 4 regular size sleeping pads (20x72 inches each) fit in easily with room to spare. Each vestibule easily fit 2 backpacks without obstructing the door. The fly comes down almost to the ground, and there is good separation between the fly and the tent body. There are also two nifty vents built into the fly that should help cut down on condensation. Oh - did I mention that the Copper Spur UL4 is light, almost to the point of feeling fragile?

Room for improvement: 1) It took more work to get a taut setup on the Copper Spur UL4 relative to the Losi 3P, and it was most evident because the zippers didn't work as well as on the Losi 3P until the stakes were pulled really tight. This was more true of the tent body than the vestibule/fly. Before I went around a second time and pulled all the stakes even tighter, I had several incidents where the zippers for the doors into the tent body snagged on the surrounding fabric. 2) The doors on the Copper Spur open down. When compared to the Losi 3P which opens to the side, both my wife and I preferred the side-opening doors. Definitely not a deal breaker. 3) The walls which do not have doors are not as vertical as the walls of the Losi 3P. They are still much improved to older tents that I have, but my wife commented that she felt like the sloped walls cut down on the usable space in the tent. 4) Finally, because of the pole configuration, there are only 4 attachments for guy lines. I understand why there are only 4, but I do wish there were more.

Comparison to Losi 3P:
1) Bigger footprint, higher ceiling, bigger vestibules than Losi 3P
2) The Copper Spur UL4 is lighter, but right now seems to pack larger. This might just be a matter of practice.
3) The interior of the Copper Spur UL4 is brighter - your choice if this is a pro or a con
4) Not as solid-feeling as the Losi 3P
5) Both tents only have attachments for 4 additional guy lines - I wish more could be provided for tents as large as these are.
6) Footprint is absolutely necessary; really this is true of most tents though.

Final Decision: the Copper Spur UL4 is the winner - it is an amazingly large tent for a very low weight (1.5 pounds per person!!). If you cannot tell from my review, I do have reservations about the durability of this tent - I need a lifetime guarantee like backcountry.com offers to really feel comfortable making this purchase. However, assuming that it does prove to be durable, I am hard-pressed to imagine a much better freestanding 4 person tent than the Copper Spur UL4.

Update: after 4-5 uses, I still love this tent. The color has grown on me, although I was surprised with a full moon, how bright the inside of the tent is. The one concern I do have, is that when the fly gets wet, even from heavy condensation, it definitely starts sagging. Plus, the condensation definitely comes through to the inside of the fly. Because of this, it is a little harder to get the fly dried than I would have expected. Plus, in a heavy rain, I could see where it might be necessary to go outside and retension the fly from time-to-time. I still think this is a fantastic tent, but if either of these issues actually becomes a problem I'll be sure to update my review.

View Details: Big Agnes Copper Spur UL4 Tent: 4-Person 3-Season

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