Sea To Summit

ALTO TR2 Tent: 2-Person 3-Season

Well designed and comfortable.

I purchased the Alto TR1 after having a disastrous experience with the MSR Freelite 1. The Alto provides superior shoulder and headroom, with a well placed door. Its super easy to pitch, and the little triangular space that pops out on the otherwise rectangular floor space makes the tent feel roomier, and provides space for my dog or gear. The vestibule is large and the ventilation, overall, with the fly closed, is pretty good. I bikepacked in below freezing overnight temperatures, and there was a bit of condensation at the foot of the tent, and overhead - even with the peak vents open and the cover unzipped. However, somecondensation is always expected when there is ice on the outside of the fly. 🥶 I highly recommend this tent for anyone looking to lighten their load backpacking or bikepacking. The tubular storage pack strapped down nicely on top of my handlebar dry bag. Well done, S2S!

Love my Alto TR2!

I bought this tent almost 2 years ago, and am not mad about this purchase. Over the couple years I've owned it, I've used it 10-15 times maybe more not sure. So far it has held up very well. I like how it has three different bags one for tent, fly, and poles. This allows for packing it separate in your pack, or between two packs. You also have the option to connect the pole bag to the fly and tent bag to make it on unit vs three. Also these bags also can serve a purpose inside you tent as gear holders and the pole bag as a lantern which is cool that they have more than one use. However the lantern is a joke as it's hard to snap on and comes off easily, so a good idea just needs some improvement. I found when I first bought my tent that it was hard to pack up as I was folding it up, and then it was extremely difficult to get into the bag, same with the fly. After a few times I started just stuffing in into the bag like a stuff sack, works way better and can have it all packed in minutes. Another thing I love is I was on an overnight backing trip by the coast, and during the night it started to rain and continued till mid morning. I was able to take down my tent and pack it up and fold up my footprint all under the fly. After my pack was pretty much ready to go, still under the fly where it was dry, I then took down my fly and poles packed that and hit the trail! I did get a 2 person mostly to use as a one person and have plenty of room, but have once used it with one of my friends which was pretty tight. So don't highly recommend sleeping two unless you’re comfortable sleeping really close together. There is room for a backpack and some gear under each vestibule so completely doable. All and all I really like this tent it's versatile, practical, and light.

Light but SMALL

I finally took this tent out on its first trip last weekend. Pros: it is very lightweight and packs down tiny, can be set up quickly (once you practice it, it is not the most intuitive tent I've set up), and reflectors on the rainfly make it easy to see at night. Cons: it is so small - my significant other and I both have regular-width sleeping pads (20") and they take up the entire tent floor. You would not be able to fit anything wider than that. I would only plan on using this as a 1 person tent unless you are very friendly with your tent partner. We could not fit any gear inside the tent which was a big drawback for us. Because the tent is so light, it also feels kind of flimsy. I'm hoping that durability won't be an issue going forward. I'm neutral on the light bar. It's an interesting idea and it does work but I wouldn't say that is a necessity by any means.

Very professional but also gave

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Very professional but also gave me personal service like I was their only customer

Easy set up and absolutely

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Easy set up and absolutely bug proof. Camping in North Florida for three nights was a breeze. Totally dry in a couple of downpours. Very pleased with the experience.

I love the tent. So

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I love the tent. So well thought out. Genius really!

Best Tent I Own

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] As an adventure guide I work with LOTS of equipment - from rock, tree and ice climbing, to caving, mountain biking, wilderness survival - I am constantly looking for the best gear to make my outdoor adventures enjoyable, both for my clients and for myself. When it comes to overnight and multi-day programming, I have gone through nearly a dozen tents over the past 20 years. Generally my go to brand for personal use has been Big Agnes. Until I tried the Sea to Summit Alto TR2. The Alto TR2 is easy to set up, works great for star gazing on clear nights, and provides plenty of weather proofing for rain and wind. As a semi-free standing tent, it is easy to move around when trying to find the optimal footprint, and set-up and take down is a breeze. The double-door vestibules mean I can store things outside of the tent and still keep them dry, or even cook over a stove if it is really pouring out. The light tube is a bonus for diffusing my headlamp light when getting ready for bed, and the unique 3 bag storage system allows me to stow gear in multiple packs or multiple places in my own backpack. This is a great help when I have to make room in my pack for carrying equipment for a tired client on a long hike. Although I currently have 6 other tents to choose from, I find myself reaching for the Alto TR2 every time.

Great tent, if you’re camping at home, perhaps

The tent structure is sufficiently spacious, but it still feels small for two people. You can barely fit both person’s backpack in the tent. It’s just enough room for two sleeping mats. The light bar, as another mentioned, is unnecessary as most lanterns only require a loop to clip on. There’s one tiny loop at the center of the ceiling and it’s likely not designed for hanging your typical LED small lanterns. The light bar also only clips on via plastic snaps, so it won’t hold much but a headlamp, anyway. I can’t stand it. Mostly, it’s because it’s really difficult to pack it into two awkwardly designed bucket bags when they are both fully packed. I went out camping at a very dry, hot climate environment and there were a lot of spiky objects on the ground. When I entered my tent, I couldn’t even put my knee on the tent floor because the spikes kept poking through the floor despite crushing the whole ground free of spikes prior to set-up. When I got home, the thin tent floor was covered in those spiky objects. The tent floor is ridiculously thin so I have to get the tent footprint. Lastly, I don’t understand why the pouches are designed so snug. I spent 15 mins just trying to push both the fly and the tent itself into both pouches while the rest of my friends had packed up into the car already. I was left alone for 20 mins trying to pack my tent. Also can’t stand that there are 3 pieces of components when they’re all packed up. They’re not held very well and if the two straps are not tightened, they will come apart. Sorry for the rant. I’m just a bit frustrated at what STS sacrificed for weight and not for durability. I have a mild form of trauma from entering my tent now that I realize how paper-thin the floor is. I also don’t know where to put my lantern since it won’t fit through the light bar. Even if it did, it’ll probably collapse on me due to the weight. Thanks for reading. Hope this helped.

Big fan of this tent!

Familiarity:

I've used it several times

This tent is an excellent, lightweight, alpine back packing tent! Especially for climbers out there who are going up into the alpine with a partner - the way this tent packs away is super convenient in that the tent, fly, and the poles are all packed into their own bags so you can split up the weight across you and your partner while approaching! Who ever has to carry that little bit of extra weight get to only carry 1 of the 3. Reasonably high head room and roomy enough to spend a day waiting out a storm, i've been impressed at how well this tent holds up and its ease of set up and take down.

Easy to use, light weight, cool design, but NOT waterproof!

Overall this tent is fine. It's easy to set up and take down, the quality of the components is really nice and feels pretty solid. I do like that it's almost entirely mesh on the body which allows for great views from inside as well as great airflow. For backpackers I'm sure being able to split the components between packs is a welcome feature. There's also ample space to stuff your gear, and you can turn the little stuff sacks the tent goes in into more gear pockets. The instructions for setup are right on the gear itself so you don't have to worry about losing it or trying to figure it out as you go along. Although as I said, setting it up is super easy as there's only one pole and the stretch points are color-coded. I wouldn't use this as an actual 2-person tent unless you like cuddling with your travel partner, but it's perfect for one person. I can't imagine that two sleeping pads would fit together well at the foot of the tent without overlapping or pushing up against the walls of the tent but the really depends on your gear choices. I wish the poles were just a bit shorter so I could fit them more easily into my motorcycle's panniers. They only fit in the middle my top case which means I have to sort of tetris other things around them. Here's the catch: I have only used this tent twice, but on one such occasion it rained throughout the night. Nothing too heavy, but it was constant. I woke up the next morning to find that the water had soaked through the toggles you use to hold the vestibule doors open and dripped onto me and my sleeping bag. For a $500 tent that claims to be 3-season, this is unacceptable. This is definitely something that should be reconsidered or redesigned in some way. This tent also does not come with a footprint. The material at the bottom of the tent seems pretty solid though, so it's not much of a loss and some backpackers may even like the weight reduction. I think for the price it should still be included but maybe that's just me. I feel like I could have purchased a truly waterproof 4-season tent for much less. I'm going to manually do some waterproofing and give it a few more tries, but as it stands now the pros don't outweigh the cons.