HotBox

I've had my Hotbox out for a few nights in the winter alpine and it holds up to the hype.

I've only used in cold weather, but I've had no condensation. The vents at either end can get through a decent amount of air with a breeze if you need it, but either way the tent is impressively dry and warm. There is a weight penalty over the lightest single-wall, but it's somehow lighter than some popular single-wall choices.

The Web Truss + internal guy lines make this thing wicked strong. Adding a couple guylines midway up the windward sides of the tent makes it bombproof. I slept soundly through a storm that shredded three other tents, and the "poles first"/"poles last" setup/teardown techniques proved useful in the gale.

For build quality: the materials, stitching, and design details make my $350 big brand backpacking tent feel cheap.

The side pods are interesting. The portholes eat up stuff like ski boot shells and packs: a massive improvement over trying to fit two + gear inside a typical bivy tent. A downside is that, with the extra fabric on the fly, I find myself wanting to stake or bury the sides in order to keep them tight and quiet in any wind. I wanted to try cooking in them in inclement weather, but I found they aren't big enough to safely use my stove without it being knocked over by wind hammering the fly. That said, I certainly prefer having them to not for the added space.

The guylines are the standard style that come on every tent I've ever bought (although higher quality, of course). I hate when guylines freeze to buried snow stakes and you can't slide them to adjust anymore, so I'd love to see Slingfin swap out the loop-style tensioner for something like a lineloc that adjusts without sliding over the stake and can be quickly clipped to different guyout points without (un)tying knots. Maybe the team knows something I don't about guylines, though?

Would buy again, and I'm writing this in September because I was staring at my tent in the gear closet waiting for winter so I can take it back out.

I bought this tent to replace a single walled alpine tent that had unreliable carbon fibre poles. There were two features I was really keen on: better condensation management and gear storage. For a minimal weight penalty the extra space from the Hotbox is fantastic. The height, interior layout and external storage are exactly what I was looking for. As for the condensation, I don’t think the double wall design is a panacea. I’ve used the tent in a variety of winter conditions now from -15C up to 4C and I did find lots of frozen condensation on the inner wall at colder temps. With the smaller size it means you’ll be getting wet in the morning as you rub against the walls. With that being said the tent dries out quickly and it’s obviously dependent on other factors besides temps. The coast mountains where I use this tend to be moist and cold vs. drier colder climates like the Rockies.

A few things I’d suggest for the tent to make it perfect:

1. Some sort of external half zip on the storage sections would be nice to easily load gear into the external storage and then access it internally. Right now I have to bring snowy gear in through the inside and through the side hole or undo the staked out side panel and push the gear underneath.

2. A very small extended front entry where one could keep boots. It would be quite ergonomic to load the gear through the outside and then get in the tent take off boots and leave them in the “mini front” vestibule. This is all in the name of not bringing snowy gear covered boots and gear through the tent to the side vestibules

3. I find the small porthole and mesh screen on the front door to be not quite enough ventilation for the environment I’m in.

Otherwise this is a great tent and I use it for virtually any trip 3 days or less

Have taken this tent on many trips in the high peaks of northern Montana just the few weeks I’ve had it so far. I’ve seen temperatures from -15 f to 30 f and winds up to 50 mph all above Treeline.
I’m surprised to see how well it handles condensation. Knowing condensation is inevitable I’m impressed to see the condensation frost on the outer wall instead of the inside almost every time depending on the dew point. It’s nice on multi day trips to be able to shake the tent free of any frost and be able to have a dry tent the next night.
I’m extremely impressed with how well it handles in wind. On a recent trip with 50 mph wind gusts, I used 4 outer connection guy wires and positioned the tent to take the wind opposite of the door and it did great.
I also experienced a snow storm with several inches of snow falling on the tent and it held up great and shed the snow properly. Pushing down on the top of the tent almost feels like I could stand on the thing. So it could probably take quite a lot of snow load.

I could go on and on about how well this tent performs and the countless features inside such as the pockets or side storage area. But well worth the money and excited to take it crazier and more extreme adventures.

Thank you slingfin yall are seriously top tier designers.

This was my first 4-season tent purchase and it will be my last. That’s because my Hotbox isn’t going anywhere. It’s a truly versatile shelter that I’ll be keeping along with my flat tarp as my only two shelters for year round camping.

I’ve camped in this tent during the summer, fall, and exceptionally windy, rainy, and cold German winter. My Hotbox never let me down (minus one exception due to user error).

My user error led me to have water ingress through the rear vent hole. I left the vent open during a windy rainstorm which allowed the water to funnel directly into my tent. Only use this vent during expected dry conditions. This is not a fault of the tent, and mine alone. I’ve since shut the vent during rain and have been kept dry since.

Small campsites? The footprint on this is exceptionally small and should fit in the tightest of campsites.

Worries about condensation? I’ve experienced ZERO in this tent throughout a range of temperatures and weather conditions (with the inner tent used).

Summertime use? Use the inner and open the gear storage vents. Treat the inner tent sides with premetherin and bugs won’t be a concern. The side vents allow plenty of breeze unless you’ve selected a campsite with no proper breeze. Site selection issues are always on the user, not the user’s gear.

High winds? With over 20!!! tie-out points, your Hotbox won’t go anywhere. I’ve had 65 mph gust for two days and my tent has suffers no damage. I slept soundly through the night and never once had to re-adjust. Don’t expect to lay out your tent in-staked and expect it to stay put, this is true of any shelter. Be realistic and you won’t be disappointed. I’m extremely happy with the web truss design and the versatility and strength it allows. I never plan on using the DAC clips as I find the Web truss benefits outweigh it’s weight disadvantage.

Don’t need the inner? Purchase the footprint at a reasonable price and you’ve got the strongest, full coverage setup I can imagine at a fraction of the weight.

Caution: If you’re super tall, check the spec sheet to ensure you’ll fit. I can’t two 6’3”+ folks fitting in this together.

Improvement areas: I’d suggest Slingfin add more photos to the product webpage to show the proper setup of the tent similar to how Stone Glacier does. Specifically, I’m referring to the clip points of the inner and outer tent; at first I was clipping both inner and outer to the same loop. After visiting S.G’s website, I realized the proper setup. No other complaints. Love what you guys are doing at Slingfin!

I have used the Hotbox for a year now, and it has fast become my go to tent for climbing trips where space and weight matter. It has performed well in exposed bivy sites like Mt. Shuksan's Fisher Chimney's route, alpine basins in the Rockies at 11-12k feet, and winter camping in the forest with loads of overnight snow. The hotbox breathes well enough to use for summer backpacking on trips where more robust protection is needed than ultralight tents. The tent material itself is great for moisture resistance and holding tension so I'm sold on sil/sil nylon tents. The side vestibules were an adjustment, but now I appreciate having a storage area that is not also used as an entry. The string and toggle port doors are also quieter than zippers if you need something while your partner is sleeping.