Reviews: Hilleberg Anjan 2 Tent, Thermarest Neoair Xlite Sleeping Pad, and ZPacks 20 Degree 900 Power Down Twin Size Quilt

As promised I will now present brief reviews of the three pieces of gear that will make up the shelter portion of our Appalachian Trail Thru-hike. Really, these are not comprehensive reviews, but a few thoughts and observations we made while trying them out for a short three-night hike. I will let you know how they hold up over the course of the six-month trek across America. That will be the true test, but as for now, I am quite happy with our selections. Really, if this were any kind of review I would take all kinds of photos to show you what I am talking about, but right now we are camera-less so I'll just add some photos I found online.

Hilleberg Anjan 2 Tent

First of all, this tent is quite easy to set up. Previously in my life, I had only set up super easy tents and hadn't ever even bothered to stake them down. I always figured since I would always be inside of my tent, I would be heavy enough to hold it down. From now on, however, I will always stake down my tent as this is very important when the weather turns bad. This tent is staked at each corner and twice in front and back. Additionally, guy lines are provided at each corner. These offer extra stability for strong winds and I will always stake them in, just in case. At 3 lb 12 oz, this tent is quite lightweight. Although there are several lighter options, it is certainly lighter than the more cheap and mainstream options out there at your local outdoor store. Most of the structures that are ulta-light are really just tarps and you have to buy an additional floor if you want one and use sticks or hiking poles as poles. This tent has everything you would need for a three-season tent. It easily fits in its stuff sack and slides neatly in even the smaller of backpacking packs. The tent also has two storage pockets and a clothesline inside. We really got to test out the weather resistance of our tent during our trip because during our last night out it had to endure a powerful thunderstorm. This tent is actually two tents, one inside the other, but you still set it up as if it was one because they are connected. This helps break up the wind better, keep out the cold, and also provides a buffer for condensation buildup. Morning dew will always build up in temperate climates and coat the inside of the tent. But with this tent, the outer layer takes the hit and the inside tent stays warm and dry. This is important in ensuring our down sleeping quilt does not get wet since it takes very long to dry. During the storm the rain pounded on our tent, but we stayed dry inside as the storm ran its course. We did get some splash-back along the edges, but I have read no tent is completely free of this. It was no significant amount and the downpour was fierce. It was so fierce that it quickly flooded the ground our tent was resting on so that the water was actually rushing beneath the tent floor and it felt like a waterbed. Still, no water leaked through the floor. The winds were also extreme, but the tent withstood it all. I am quite confident that we will have no problems with the weather while we are in the tent. There in enough space inside the tent to fit two people fairly comfortably. We can sit up and stretch out alright, but we wouldn't want to spend too much time inside when not actually sleeping. We did have to spend many hours inside during the evenings to escape the bugs and we read books without feeling claustrophobic. I think this tent will serve nicely for the duration of our trip because it was rated highly for being durable, weather resistant, and it is a nice plus that it is easy to set up and take down since we will be using it most nights for privacy in lieu of spending nights in the shelters.

Thermarest Neoair Xlite Sleeping Pad

I never liked to use sleeping pads. In fact, we have to bring a sleeping pad with us for every field exercise we do in the military, and yet only once or twice have I actually unrolled it and used it. I always just go without. For several years of my life, I chose not to sleep in a bed, but on the ground to practice living without that luxury so sleeping on the ground without a sleeping pad wasn't difficult. I thought the only use of the sleeping pad was to cushion you. After researching for the AT, I realized a sleeping pad has another important function. It keeps you warm. The ground gets very cold and no matter how thick the tent floor of the sleeping bag is, cold penetrates a lot better to your body from the ground than the air. A sleeping pad creates that distance from the ground so the cold has to first go through the pad. A lot of pads are bulky and roll up so you have to attach them to the outside of the pack. This pad is really light at 12 oz and rolls up as small as a water bottle so you can stick it in your pack. It does not lose its effectiveness though. It was really warm and is fashioned in some kind of way that the air chilled from the ground circulates at the bottom of the pad and back down to the ground while the air warmed by the body lying on top of it circulates at the top, staying warm. The pad is easy to blow up does not reqire any device besides your own lungs. It only take a minute or two. We both are using the woman's pad because they are lighter and I am short enough to use it. The pads fit us just right, so if I were to purchase them again I might upgrade a size just for some extra wiggle room, but it isn't really necessary, especially since we are trying to shave off every ounce of weight we can. When I read reviews of these pads everyone talked about how loud the pads were when you tossed and turned on them. Any movement and the pad makes a crinkly noise like aluminum foil. I was expecting far worse. The noise didn't really bother me. It really wasn't all that loud and on the AT we should be pretty tired by the end of each hiking day and drop right to sleep. I really think this pad does a great job while being both light and packable. I couldn't ask for anything else in a sleeping pad.

 ZPacks 20 Degree 900 Power Down Twin Size Quilt 

I already explained in an earlier post about how down sleeping bags are really light and warm and advantageous if you are backpacking with a tent because it doesn't work very well if it gets wet. The true test of this bag was to see how warm it was. It is extremely warm! In fact, we could barely use it. We sweated in it and used it merely as a cover for our legs most of the time. It is really going to work well on cold nights, especially at the beginning of our thru-hike. It is light, compresses down pretty far, and will keep us nice and toasty. However, since it is built to fit both of us, it is quite snug in there, which might be fine for someone like my wife, but I sleep very hot and need space to feel cool when I go to sleep. But all that might change on the Trail! I might be so dog-tired by the end of each day that I might very well become the snuggler my wife wishes me to be. We will see. Now, this isn't so much of a sleeping bag, as it is a quilt. It fits over you like a blanket and you tuck the sides under you to keep the air out. So it doesn't wrap completely around you like a mummy. This makes owning a sleeping pad essential, but we found out that having two separate sleeping pads under our single quilt made the sleeping pads split apart. We are going to try using a fitted sheet to connect them, but if that doesn't work the company that made this sleeping quilt also makes some velcro straps specifically created to attach the sleeping pads together. I might find myself wishing we had two separate quilts on the trail if it gets too hot for me, but for now the lower weight and cost of purchasing one sleeping quilt instead of two makes this the right choice for us.