Contributions by Davide (2)

I have been traveling for work this past year (2-3 trips a month), but I only had a large rolling type bag that I had to check-in for each flight. I've been searching for a good business travel bag that I could carry-on. However, I wasn't certain if I wanted a rolling type carry-on bag or if I wanted the over-the-shoulder kind. Well, after being stuck at an airport for 4-hours because they lost my bag, I finally decided to buy something else. Also, I had a business trip coming up and I would be traveling to Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York in a short 5-day period. And since I would be walking A LOT and taking mostly trains and subways, touting around a traditional rolling luggage didn't seem so appealing. Well, since I am use to shopping at REI and this site, I've become very a custom to buying equipment with the option of returning it if you didn't like how it performed. I was really happy to find the Patagonia MLC Carry-on Bag (2150 cu) at this site. This bag was actually highly recommended by another site, which is a good website if you are trying to reduce your travel load and they have a lot of great packing tips. However, now that they are selling their own bags (the quality doesn't look so great) they no longer have a list of recommended bags from other manufacturers. I've been very pleased with the Patagonia MLC Carry-on Bag (2150 cu). It is a great size, works flawlessly, and packs down small and light. I am also very happy with the bag's quality and construction. It converts into a backpack very easily, which I use often, and there are lots of pockets for travel documents and things. However, you will have to pack a little less with this bag; but, it will hold a 1-pair of shoes (not 2) with all of your other clothes and it is not ideal for winter trip to the East Coast since there is no space for large sweaters and jackets. However, this bag works great for the other 3-seasons, especially for shorter trips on the West Coast. I also use it for leisure travel as well. Great bag!!

I just used this tent on a weekend trip to Glacier Point, Yosemite during a winter storm in February. We were expecting blizzard conditions on Saturday night and I was a little worried about the Lighthouse tent holding up to this sort of weather because I had only used it in ideal conditions up to this point. Also, I was a little confused about the rating of this tent because Black Diamond describes it as a 4-season tent, while BC.com said it is only 3-season worth. In addition, some reviews here said that it is a good winter tent, but not if you “expect to get dumped on.” Thus, since I could not get a definitive answer, I decided to try it out for myself in blizzard conditions with 65-mile an hour winds. However, my brother and cousin did hull up their 10-Ibs REI Mountain 3 (4-season) tent. If the Lighthouse didn’t work out in the storm, my backup plan was to abandon the my tent and squeeze into REI Mountain 3 tent with my brother and cousin and ride out the storm. At about 6:30pm, in a blizzard at night using our head lamps, we setup our tents in a snow covered meadow. The lighthouse setup fast and I barely got any snow in the tent. I basically secured the 4-corners of the tent first and then quickly open the door, put in the poles in place, and zipped the door back up (I secured the tent to the ground first since I was afraid it would blow away with all the wind). I finished by setting up the guy-lines, which is what really make the tent wind resistant. Since I was tired, cold, and hungry this did not take long. Then I jumped in the tent and secured the poles to the velcro straps and that was it. I was in my sleeping bag and eating dinner while my brother and cousin were still out in the cold setting out their tent in the storm (also, cooking inside the tent works very well if you are using a JetBoil and open up the vents enough to allow the steam to exit the tent). I am very happy to report that the Lighthouse stood up just as well as a heavy duty 4-seasons tent. The REI Mountain 3-tent was completely covered with snow, all I could see were the guy-line strings. However, with the Lighthouse’s high upright walls, I barely had any snow on the top of the tent. But, all sides of my tent were surrounded by 3-feet of snow. I got very little condensation from the walls, about the same amount as a traditional tent with a rainfly. I was only able to unzip the door about a foot from the top; otherwise, the snow wall would have come crashing in. The tent held up amazingly well. I was able to slide thru the small door opening and dig out the tent. However, I did have to purchased after market snow stakes for the tent corner and the guy-lines. I highly recommend this tent for Summer and Winter backpacking. However, I wouldn’t recommend on using this tent in extremely wet or humid climates, it’s not designed for that. I would go with a Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2. This is truly a 4-season tent and I am extremely happy with my purchase.