The North Face Manta Ray 33 Tent 3-Person 3-Season - 2009 BCS

I've got quite a few tents, but this is hands down my new 3 season favorite. The interior is key - each person has their own spot for gear, and their are plenty of stash pockets. The vestibules aren't huge, but they are big enough (some of the vestibule space is taken up by those sweet gear areas in the tent). The pole interface (check out ball and socket type deal) is very functional - they won't accidentally come out if setting up solo. This system also creates more of a gap between the tent body and fly which improves ventilation. Bomber for a three pole 3 person.

I could not have asked for a more efficiently designed tent. There's plenty of room for gear, pets, people, and whatever else I haven't thought of yet. Very comfortable moving around on the inside, and great for keeping your pack dry in the side compartments.

I think this tent is wonderful. Tent technology has really advanced in the last couple decades!! My husband and I set this tent up for the first time about a week ago--- at about 10pm in the dark and it was really easy. It took a total of 7-10 minutes from start to finish. The poles are color coded, which correspond with the correct hooks.
We were nervous because it was sort of a wet night but we were totally dry.
The separate compartments for space were really nice too so we didn't have to worry about sleeping up against our gear.

A long time ago, The North Face made a tent called the Peregrine that had almost the exact same layout as the Manta Ray 33. The Peregrine had less mesh and weighed a little more. I missed out on my opportunity to get a Peregrine and was thrilled to see the Manta Ray series. It's quite light and clearly has some improvements over the Peregrine. I used the tent a couple of weeks ago, shortly after purchasing it and found the set up to be quick and easy. The footprint fits the tent nicely and snaps onto the tent securely. The rain fly also clips in nicely and when staked out provides you with a great water proof shelter. The only downside I can see is that when opening the rainfly flap, it wants to fall into the tent opening. As long as you're expecting that, using two hands during the opening process to toss the flap to the outside while pulling the zipper open seems to take care of this. If you didn't do this and the fly was wet you might get some water in your tent. This is not an uncommon design problem with some tents though. Just a matter of getting to know your equipment. The tent breathed well and there was no condensation on the inside of the fly in the morning. I also have a North Face Mountain 24 and I can't believe how much water develops between the tent and the fly.

The Manta Ray 33 has plenty of room for my wife and myself. You could fit a third person in there if it was a small child or perhaps a dog but it would start to get pretty tight. Typical 3 person tent. It's a comfortable 2 person and a tight 3. Having the "wings" off of each side of the tent is the big plus for us as it gives a place for gear for each side of the tent. If we're not backpacking we'll drag along the 26" wide Thermarests and the two of them fit in there quite well side by side.

Can't say enough good things about this design.

I recently purchased the Manta Ray 33 tent from Backcountry.com to gain a little more useable floor space over my two older backpacking tents. I had a chance to put it to use over an extended 4th of July weekend in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho that saw temps ranging from the mid-30’s to the low-90’s, some fairly high winds at times, and a number of thunder storms and downpours. I can say that the tent is very well-built, is fast and easy to pitch, stable in winds, has great ventilation/lack of condensation, and is completely waterproof (except for one design issue I’ll mention in a minute). The “doors” on either side allow easy entry/exit without having to disturb the other tent occupant (three people in the tent would be a very tight squeeze unless they’re really skinny folks). The “wings” of the floor layout add a perfect amount of reachable storage space right where your shoulders, arms and head are while lying in the tent. The vestibules and misc storage pockets add plenty of additional dry storage.

The only quibbles I have with the tent are:
1. If it’s raining or the rainfly is wet and you unzip it, water drips from the zipper cover-piece for the rainfly through the mesh doors and onto your sleeping bag/gear. Not a lot, but just enough to be annoying. I tried staking out the fly in every imaginable configuration, but still couldn’t avoid this.
2. If you want to really properly stake out the tent and rainfly/vestibules, you will need at least 16 stakes and as many as 18, but the tent only comes with 8. (barely enough to stake out the tent without the fly).
3. While the tent packs light for its size, it takes up a lot of space at a roll of 2 feet long and 7” diameter. My 15-year-old Peak 1 Apollo packed at less than half that length at the same diameter, but has only maybe 35 percent less floor space. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled for all these years, but it seems like an awful lot of pack real estate to give up.

In all, I would recommend this tent for anyone looking for a well-made, comfortable tent, and not-going the minimalist route. And, Backcountry.com offered it at a great price and the shipping time really was “wicked fast”. Thanks!

I purchased this tent few weeks ago and used it during my hiking/camping trip to Jones Gap Sate Park in SC. Hiked 16 miles in 2 days and this tent packs very light indeed. Set-up and take-down were also a breeze. Lots of space for 2 + gear, 3 + gear might be little tight. I liked the built-in gear loft and the 2 large vestibules. Overall, a great tent if you want to pack light.