REI Clipper Review

"Great tent for the money. Easy to setup and free standing. I had the NiteLite but returned it due to the none free standing situation. I lost some square footage, but since I'm a single user I didn't feel that was an issue. Setup is very fast and you can't get confused, unless you cross the two side poles in the front like I did once, duh! After that it is a piece of cake. Felt pretty stupid and didn't let anyone see it in the camp site. Took it out on a short jaunt with a buddy in 18-30 weather. He forgot the tent I loaned him and we had to share. :-( Well, I thought it would be a tight fit due to the lose of footage, not even close. We fit everything we needed in the tent and vestibule. I don't store my pack in the vesitbule anyway. Very nice and comfortable. Tent heated quickly with a small lantern, keep it away from the screen!! We had what would have amounted to condensation, but was ice instead. I believe the condensation would be a non-issue if the vestibule flue is open, or at least greatly reduced. I guess it will always be an issue when you have people breathing. The only con so far is that there is no footprint or gear loft for this tent. I will have a more in depth review at www.tnrdgrnr.com/backpacking"

"What a great lightweight tent for the price! On my first AT trip, after a grueling 11-hour first day on trail, I wasn't thinking straight and set up directly at the bottom of a hillside runoff path. When the skies opened at about 1:00 a.m., the path turned into a river that deposited itself directly under my new clipper. I was laying in 4 to 5 inch deep water, and had the "waterbed" sensation that we all dread.
But I'm here to tell you that the only moisture INSIDE this tent occurred when I rolled over onto the bite valve of my water bladder and released a little! If I had a canoe paddle, I could have paddled my clipper right out of there. I was completely impressed with the performance of this shelter."

"Had this tent a huge storm with 40+mph winds and a lot of marble size hail. The wind shook the tent but it stood up like a champ."

"My wife and I used this tent for 7 weeks backpacking the PCT in Oregon and Washington this past summer and it held up great. We really loved the mesh ceiling - great for stargazing and watching meteor showers. It held up quite nicely in the rain with good ventilation. It's weight was quite good considering that we wanted a free standing tent. The vestibule was a little small, though; but I guess that is simply a function of the weight. There is now a footprint for it which worked alright as well."

"Best tent I have ever owned. Between back country trail work and Fire camp I have really put this little baby through the ringer. Many soggy days and no leaks. It fits two if need be but one has all the room they need. There is even a cot that will fit in it(after 6 weeks in fire camp a cot is a good thing). Great value !!!"

"When I'm out alone I usually use a bivvy shelter but when I want comfort or I expect really bad weather, I take along the Clipper. This one is a late model so it has a loft and I use the footprint made for it. This time there were three days of almost non-stop, drenching rain in the White Mountains of Massachusetts. The tent didn't leak a drop. It has a small vestibule which makes it hard to get into it without dragging in some water, but once you're in, you're dry. The window in the rain fly and the mesh top are nice touches. Very easy to put up and take down, something I had to do in the rain this trip."