We’ve been evaluating tents for months now. When we finally found one we thought might be suitable we went to the HUBB to see what advice people had to offer on the topic of choosing easily camouflaged colors (green), or something that stands out (bright orange). Almost everyone suggested we go with the green, but it wasn’t easy to find many people who had any real experience that would suggest a real difference. If you’re debating how important it is to have an easily hidden tent color I recommend you check out the thread on Horizons Unlimited.

The best advice we got was probably that from John Downs:

… get the color you like and that makes you happy.

We decided to go with the Marmot Limestone 4P, and while we were planning on going with the green, we went home with the bright orange. Here’s why we chose what we did.

Ventillation

It’s got plenty of mesh, but the bottom edge of the entire thing has solid material, which means that on cold nights we won’t have to worry about a breezing coming up under the tent fly nearly as much. Also, this particular tents tent-fly is supposed to be pretty flush with the ground. On the downside, the rain fly has poor ventilation, but for reasons we can’t explain ALL the 3 season 4 person tents have crappy ventilation on their rain flys. We’ll obviously let you guys know how it fares when we actually get out there in harsh conditions.

Construction

It’s got a 150 denier floor which is atypically high for a tent floor. This shouldn’t be much of a concern to most of you, but should definitely help it resist dog claws. The horizontal cross-beams [I]should[/I] give it additional strength in higher winds. On the other hand, it’s five feet tall at the peak, which means it’ll catch more wind. The fact that it isn’t entirely mesh should provide a little bit more resilience in the construction. Maybe that last bit is a pipe dream…

Interior space

The extra height is going to make it much more livable over the long-term, considering how many nights we plan on spending in the thing. You can stand up and pull on your pants (bent over yes, but still). Physical floor space is almost exactly 4 mats worth. We figure we take up 2 mats worth, the dogs take up one (when they spread out on warm nights) and wet gear will take up the other. (Instead of measuring floor space in Tatami mats like the Japanese, we measure it in exped mats). The Marmot Limestone 4P seems to be a good compromise when it comes to footprint vs height.

Real-life interaction

We were actually able to see this tent in person. This was a big deal for us. We find we have very little ability to judge the real size of a tent from the pictures and stats online. We pondered the Big Agnes, Big House until I saw a video of it wherein I discovered that the thing is freaking enormous. It gave us both peace of mind to have actually seen the thing set up in front of us before we purchased it. We’re very thankful to REI for letting one of their guys clear a space in the back of the store to let us set it up before buying it.

Color

Logically the folks on HU had us convinced to go with the green, but in the end we decided against it for a few reasons. The first being that when we saw it in person, we just liked it in orange. The orange makes us happier. And these adventures are all about being happy. The idea of waking up day after day in a dark green tent was just a bit depressing.

The fact that they didn’t have green in the store, and they had gone out of their way to let us set it up just made going with orange easier. ;) But, as we were leaving Tobi’s comment was echoing through our head and we came up with a real-world situation where we believe green would be a far worse choice.

Tobi said:

I wouldn’t worry too much about the color. If you enjoy having a red
tent buy it. The tent you have choosen is able to stand even without
hugs and can be used as Mosquito protection without the raincover.
Those two things matter everything else doesn’t really. As you said
your bikes and tire marks will easily be spotted and if you would carry
a camoflauge tent you might get trouble with the military…

We imagined ourselves riding through Colombia again, only this time hidey-camping. Now, we love Colombia, and can’t recommend it enough, but there’s no denying that the military has a problem with drug smugglers, and is everywhere as a result. We imagined what would happen if some military guys went driving by and caught a glimpse of an army-green tent nestled in some trees in the distance, especially if we’d managed to conceal the bikes behind it. Bad Things (TM) is what.

I think it is reasonable to believe that they would go on alert, and as they approached the tent their ever present machine guns would be aimed in our direction. Now, compare this to what would happen if they caught a glimpse of some bright-orange tent in the distance. They may still check it out, but we think it’s far more likely that they would be approaching it with a “WTF?” mindset than an “Oh Crap! Drug smugglers!” mindset. And when they notice the bikes they’ll know exactly what’s going on “Touristas!” They may still wake us up, or call us out, but the encounter will be very different, and involve far less adrenaline.

So, thank you Tobi.

We believe that in most circumstances we’re going to be noticed regardless of what tent we choose. We think that with a bright orange tent people are going to presume that we’re harmless campers / tourists. We also believe that, in general, people are good wherever you go. There are, of course, exceptions, but there’s not a lot you can do about them.

Would we recommend it?

Would we recommend the Limestone 4P for other adventure motorcyclists? Probably not. In fact, definitely not for most of you. The Limestone 4P does not pack small. It is almost twice the size of the REI Half Dome 4 when packet. If we weren’t taking a Ural I think it would have taken a lot of convincing to get me to take something that does such a poor job of packing up small. As it is, I intend on adding some cinch straps to the bag to compress it. At 11 pounds, 12 ounces t’s also not light. Going with the Half Dome would have saved us nearly three pounds.

I also wouldn’t suggest it because most of you aren’t going to be living out of your tents as much as we think we will. Hotels are great things. Running water is a great thing, and in much of the world hotels are really quite affordable (if you’re not picky). If you’re not going to be living out of your tent almost every day then you honestly don’t need the extra space. Our Quarter Dome T3 (the 2010 model) is a great tent for 2 people and their gear. The selection, and variety, amongst 2 and 3 person tents is an order of magnitude better than the selection for four person tents. You’re also going to find ones that will hold up much better in severe conditions.

It seems that everything in motorcycle adventuring involves a certain amount of compromise. You get this, but you have to give up that. This tent choice has been no different.