Portal 2

I don't normally leave reviews but I felt compelled to write some for a few choice gear selections following a recent unforgiving Alaskan tundra backcountry caribou hunt. My Slingfin Portal 2 tent happened to be one of the notable ones. The muskeg covered terrain and extremely wet late-summer conditions, although anticipated, were a challenge. Paired with heavy winds due to lack of vegetation, I was especially concerned about leaving my tent unsupervised when afield.

To enable peace of mind, I was prepared and paired this tent with eight MSR Cyclone tent stakes. At ten oz, this was a tad heavy considering the tent is only around three lbs. After all, ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain especially hiking in and out several miles... However, I justified the added weight and was glad that I did. The tent was anchored like a rock and shed driving rain excellently. I currently live in the coastal PNW so can further attest to the tent's performance in rainy and windy conditions. I'll add that I would not consider getting anything smaller than a two-person tent for hunting purposes. The additional space is nice to keep high dollar weapon(s) and gear out of the elements while enabling some nighttime drying. Highly recommend this product and company!

Pros:
-Durable
-Waterproof
-Structurally sound
-Quality
-Relatively lightweight

Cons:
-Expensive (buy once cry once)

I just took this tent for 6 days in the High Unitas. Had some rain. Had some cold. It was a perfect tent. I’m not a super experienced backpacker but this tent was light and easy to set up. One day I set it up fly first in an absolute deluge of rain and had a great experience with it. Having a matching reflective tab that lines up the footprint, fly, and tent- so brilliant. The vestibules made it possible to cook in the rain. No condensation or wet inside the tent because of perfect guy lines. Thank you SlingFin. I’m headed back out this weekend because this tent made me feel like getting out there more.

The best 2-person ultra-light backpacking tent I've every owned! Just returned from 5 days in Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness during which I experienced two nights of severe winds and torrential rain from fringes of the hurrican that hit southern California. The tent performed perfectly...slept dry and secure, no problems whatsoever. The interior design is spacious (for one person) and makes it easy to sit up and prepare food while waiting out storms. I think I counted 7 interior mesh pockets to store stuff in and maybe 8 interior rings to hang things from....nice for drying stuff out. Once I figured them out, I really like the toggle design for attaching the rainfly to the tent poles. Sitting up the tent is a breeze once you get used to the toggles. The once very minor "niggle" I have is its a bit confusing and time-consuming to figure out the proper orientation of the rainfly on the tent body and I wasted some precious time in a downpour using trial and error, compounded by wind gusts blowing the slippery lightweight rainfly around. It would be very helpful if SlingFin would color-code (or flag) the two very-important rainfly toggles that guy the rainfly to the cross-pole -- finding these two toggles immediately and locking them in place are the key to setting up the tent quickly. The workmanship and quality of this tent is truly outstanding...good job SlingFin! I have maybe 8 tents on my shelf and this is certainly the best.

Update to review (a couple of reviews down) having now used the tent extensively across a range of climates and conditions in New Zealand, Asia and Europe (including Scandinavia).

My only initial concerns are:

1) Around how the fly attaches to the cross pole via the toogle/O-rings. The toogle on the underside of the fly seems slightly small and easily popped free of the O-ring while test pitching, albeit the tent was not under tension when the toogle popped free on various occasions.

UPDATE: [This is still a persistent issue although can be somewhat mitigated by a tight pitch. It DOES NOT affect the weather tightness or durability of the tent in windy conditions but it is something that’s always in the back of the ‘chief tent-pitchers’ mind.]

2) And; the central swivel at the junction of the two main poles impedes the pole sections snapping together completely (the swivel sits at a join). This might not be an issue, but if the poles are not completely snapped together I feel this could impact upon the structural integrity of the tent. I could be wrong!

UPDATE: [Having spent an uncountable number of nights in the tent across the world in variable conditions I can confidently say this minor remark can be disregarded, it is not an issue.]

New remarks:

I would not choose another tent to take on a hike. The Portal 2 has quickly become my only go-to tent primarily due to the remarkable balance achieved between WEIGHT and DURABILITY. The key feature driving this balance is the ability to quickly add a hiking pole to either end of the cross pole via simple velcro sleeves supporting it in windy conditions. This feature coupled with an extensive number of guy-out points and the ability to tighten things up using the internal guy-lines ensures hiking 3 1/2 seasons in ranging conditions is stress free.

This tent really does scream “BUY ME” if your main priority is to provide a safe, secure and liveable home while out adventuring.

I've used this tent in the Canadian Rockies in deep snow and in Los Padres National Forest in snowy, windy conditions.
So easy and fast to set up.
Great for backpacking trips.
Roomy, sturdy and warm when paired with a good sleeping bag.
Lots of room for gear inside, but still so light in the backpack.
The only thing I don't like are the stakes. I bring another brand of stakes with me.

Customer support is really, really great. Great communication.