setnei Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Any recommendations? I'm in the market for a Betamid, with the idea that it would be frequently used on snow and in typical PNW alpine and back-country environs. Initially, I've leaned towards the standard Beta with the thought that the a Betalite would get thrashed a lot faster. The weight difference seems worth the durability factor, but all I've been able to find as far as recommendations is the Lite, with no comparison or info on real-world durability. Any insight would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 I've had no durability problems with my Betalight; I'm not sure what durability issues you'd be talking of, all of my tents have fallen apart at either at the floor or bugscreen, a Beta has neither. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setnei Posted October 19, 2004 Author Share Posted October 19, 2004 I guess I was mostly thinking of snow issues - how the sil nylon holds up to being buried under a few seasons of snow crystals and the like.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracked Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Sil is way slicker than coated nylon. I think less snow will pile on a betalight than a betamid. But, I have yet to test my B-lite in snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Mine's held up fine to snow. Design wise it's not the tent I'd want for extended fresh snow only because it doesn't have a floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 Check out the Twin Peaks by MSR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marylou Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I don't think I'd worry about durability with silnylon over PU nylon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndavidjr Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 Three very similar tents: Beta Light is smallest, followed upwards by Beta reg., then ( in my view) MSR Twin Peaks, then, clearly, MSR Trekker. Beta Light is lightest, followed upward by Twin Peaks & then Trekker when you dispense with dubious insert. Beta reg. is heaviest. MSR Trekker also has two doors and is most expensive of the three (probably because of insert) Here are REI's specs for BD tents, MSR for MSR tents: Betamid: Floor dimensions 8 ft. 2in. (long) x 6 ft. 8 in. (middle) x 3 ft.8 in. (ends) Peak height 4 ft. 1 in. weighs 2 lbs. 4 oz 55 sq. ft. Beta Light is much smaller: Floor dimensions 7 ft. (long) x 4 ft. 8 in. (middle) x 3 ft. 10 in. (ends) 37.7 sq. feet "usable floor space" (? calculations suspect for both BD tents) 50.2 sf total. Weight is 1 pound, 4 ounces Peak height 4 ft. 1 in. MSR Twin Peaks is best because I own one. (Specs from MSR) 9 feet 5 inches long x 5 feet wide at each end (slightly wider in middle) Floor + Vestibule Area: 45 ft² / 2 m² Interior Peak Height: 42 in./1.1 m Weight: 1 lb. 12 oz./.8 kg Twin peaks unavailable from REI. They're pushing the MSR Trekker: 15 feet by 6 feet weighs 2 pounds without bug-screen/floor insert; 4 pounds with insert. Floor + Vestibule Area: 66 + 22 ft.² / 6.1 + 2 m² Interior Peak Height: 42 in./1.1 m Weight including insert: 4.0 lbs./1.8 kg I too wonder in passing about Sil Nylon's durability when you repeatedly heap snow on edges to seal it up, a highly effective procedure with these tents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullofadventure Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 The BD products are nice but I thought I would give you another option and you would save some oz's. It is from a cottage company called Oware and it is the Alphamid Tarp. http://www.owareusa.com/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marylou Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 JDJr: I've never heard of, or seen any information that would suggest sil won't hold up as well as PU. If you happen across it, please post anything you find. The denier of the fabric should have more to do with the durability than the coating, unless either PU or sil deteriorates from UV exposure more rapidly. It's an interesting question, though. Silnylon has been around long enough that if this was one of the issues with it, I really think the info would be out there by now. BTW I just did a little Googling and didn't get anything of note. Here's a bit about materials: the Betamid is PU, the MSR shelters are PU on one side and sil on the other, and the Beta Light is sil/sil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndavidjr Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Marylou I don't know anything about it either but it's a fair assumption that fabrics do vary in both strength & abrasion resistance. Yet given nylon's remarkable strength and manufacturers' increasing adoption of Sil nylon, I too, suspect the stuff is fine. Yet interestingly, the Ouware products linked by FOA above come in three different fabrics, including silnylon, for varying durability properties, according to the site. My main point is, that the Beta Light is TOO SMALL, given available alternatives. The Trekker is a vertitable circus tent by comparison, and weighs two pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 My main point is, that the Beta Light is TOO SMALL, given available alternatives. The Trekker is a vertitable circus tent by comparison, and weighs two pounds. The Betalight is too small? WTF? It's exactly the same size as the regular Betamid. Look at in a f'ing store before ranting. It sleeps 2 people way more than comfortably. Floor dimensions(from manu, as usual REI doesn't know WTF they are talking about.): Betalight 98 x 68 inches Twinpeaks 114 x 60 inches That's a whole 6" longer. But wait, it's 8" narrower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndavidjr Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 That's interesting. Black Diamond site says you're right that both tents are same size, but says both are 98x 44 in. rather than your info of 98x 68 in. BD says they both have 37.4 sf of "useable" floor space. Campmor sells regular Betamid and puts it in line with REI specs., i.e. larger than the REI/BD specs for Beta Light. As I mentioned, MSR puts Twin Peaks at 55 square feet, or, 47.05% larger than Beta light, & perhaps also Beta reg. Trekker is 135.29% larger. I'd be interested in where you got your measurements and what the correct measurements are. Sorry if my "rant" offended you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 My point is a Betalight is more than big enough for 2 people plus winter camping gear. It's bigger than most standard 2 man tents. More size is just wasted space & weight. And if they're different sizes how do the use the same floor & betabug My guess is BD's data uses the size of the floor (about 4'*8') which is smaller than the tarp by 6" 8" on a side. MSR is just measuring the size of the tarp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndavidjr Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 So are the MSR tents the same size as the Betamid tents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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