I’ve never been a big fan of tents.  My father was in the army and for the first 18 years of my life I never used anything except an army poncho and a mosquito net.  Over the last few years, however, I’ve learned an appreciation for them, especially when girls are involved.

I spent a lot of time researching which tent to purchase for my recent trip to South America.  I’m a bit of a gear-head, and I admit I take it a little overboard sometimes, but I want the best stuff because I like it and because I just love gear.  For that reason, I put a lot of time in doing research before I purchase a product.  For this trip I wanted something small, lightweight, packable, durable, and waterproof.  Being very lazy when it comes to setting up and breaking camp, I also needed something that didn’t take precious beer drinking time to set up after a hard day of fishing and filming.

After reading hundreds of reviews, specifications, talking to people, and playing with the tents in outdoor stores, I finally decided on the MSR MicroZoid.  This tent is one of the lightest on the market, a one person tent and not really much more.  When I bought it, I thought perhaps you could very cozily fit two people in it, but after experience found that it really is a ONE person tent.

At 2 lbs 11 ounces it’s a weight shaver and fastpackers wet dream.  The overall design of the tent is decent, the one flaw being that it droops in the middle of the tent when it’s fully assembled.  The first few times I used it I woke up with a wet down sleeping bag, a little uncomfortable.  When battening down for a wind ripping 3 day rager of a Andian storm, however, I figured out the addition of the supplied guy lines, if applied properly, will solve this problem. 

This tent uses seven stakes and when staked out in good ground is very solid.  I wish the tent was freestanding, as there were a few times that I had to tie the front to the trailer to keep it from being blown away while we were off fishing.  However, if you’re camping in decent ground or have access to large rocks to use as anchors, it may not bother you.

I didn’t use this tent for the first three months of the expedition, the weather was spectacular and I slept peering at the lights of the southern cross from inside my sleeping bag.  The last two months, however, found us in enough adverse conditions to warrant having brought it along.

It sets up in about a minute and a half once you get the system down, and takes down in about the same amount of time, which is exceptional.  However while it’s a fastpackers wet dream, it’s nothing more than an overgrown bivy sack, and if you’re clausterphobic, I would strongly recommend getting the Micro Zoid I.  It’s just long enough that my feet hit the bottom and my head hit the top, which can be a bit annoying, but the tent is designed for short, one night stays.  If you expect to be rained in your tent for more than two days, I would certainly recommend trying the next size up.

However, the ability to throw this bag on the back of my boat or in my backpack without hardly noticing it was a huge bonus.  As with all things, you must make trade-offs, this one shaves weight in exchange for spaciousness.  The gear vestibule could use to be slightly larger, it’s barely big enough for a fully packed backpack, but for it’s designed use of putting a day pack under it, it works perfectly.

My final complaint is the zipper / wind flap design.  I did not once manage to fully unzip this tent without the zipper catching; perhaps a stiffer wind flap material would help solve this.

All in all, this tent more than served it’s purpose on the expedition.  If you’re looking for a lightweight, packable, yet sturdy shelter that’s much more spacious than a bivy yet only slightly bigger and heavier, this is the tent for you.  For the next trip, I’ll purchase a MSR Zoid I or the new MSR Hubba, which is a free-standing version of the MSR Zoid I.  This tent, however, will always serve as my first choice for backpacking trips… 

 

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Ryan Davey
Fly Fishing Instructor, Guide, and Videographer
Angling Exploration Group

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¨Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go.  But no matter, the road is life...¨

- Jack Kerouac 

 

Article	067
Created	7-10-2004
Modified	7-10-2004
Author	Worldanglr
Rating