Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight 2 Tent

I purchased this tent nearly a year ago, and wanted to give it a good, solid year’s worth of use before writing a review. If you are a backpacker, you cannot buy a better tent for under $200. Let me take you through the “why’s.”Weight: If you backpack, the first impact that a tent has on you is its weight. At 3 lbs 6 oz., the Flashlight 2 is a good single person tent. At 3 lbs 6 oz, the Flashlight 2 is an EXCELLENT two person tent. When we have used this tent with two people, we split the load in half, with one person carrying the fly and a pole and the other the tent body and the other pole. The result is that each person is carrying just over 1.5 lbs in tent weight. Even with an ultralight (and ultra-expensive) tent you cannot beat this weight.Size: For tent to be any good, it needs to be roomy enough to do its job at the end of the day. Here again the Flashlight 2 delivers. I am 6’ and 200 lbs, and I have shared this tent with each of my three sons, all of whom are near 6’ as well. Though there is not a lot of room to spare, there is enough for two large men, two packs (60 to 80 L) and boots in the vestibule.Construction: After weight and space, a tent needs keep you dry, warm and stand up to the elements. I have used this tent in the high Rockies and extensively in the Ozarks (MO and AK), through high winds and and down-pouring rain. Not ONCE has this tent leaked, torn or frayed.If there is down side to this tent it would be the vestibule, Through roomy enough for two peoples’ gear, it tends to sag when it rains, thus making it wet and muddy while getting in and out of the tent in nasty weather. Likewise, since this tent is all mesh with a seperate fly, set-up during the rain will result in some water in the tent. Not more water than we could not mop up with a bandana, but some water nonetheless.These minor flaws aside, this is a solid, lightweight and excellent backpacking tent. If you find a better one for under $200, buy it.

I bought a 2018 model on sale. Upon receiving the tent I set it up in my yard and a problem with the design became immediately apparent. Just about every time I attempted to zip close the rain fly from the inside, the zipper rain flap would snag in the zipper. It was so bad I wondered if my next attempt to zip it would tear the zipper and/or flap up to the point of making the tent unusable. This problem was present in both rain fly zippers. There was no way I would trust this tent not to fail.Seeing how no one else had mentioned this problem in the reviews, I thought my situation might a manufacturing defect. I called Sierra Designs, and that is where it really got bad. I described the problem to the service rep, and his first suggestion was “maybe you could send it back to Backcountry Edge, get another one, and see if the second one has the problem”. He refused to tell me if mine was defective or if that’s just the way it was. He asked if I could email him some pictures of the issue and he would get back to me in a couple of hours. I sent the pictures, and 2 hours morphed into 3 days without a response. Enough was enough, I sent the tent back to Backcountry Edge for a refund (no problem). I then emailed Sierra Designs to tell them their tent was no longer my problem. They finally responded “Oh so sorry that you had a bad experience, here’s a 20% off coupon code”. I never want to deal Sierra Designs again.Other than the rain flap issue, the assembly quality was excellent.

This tent really sucks! And that is really sad because the earlier versions of this tent were GREAT! Have owned about four of the earlier models, and loved then. This one sucks, and I DO NOT RECOMMEND this model. Terrible. If the company were smart, they would go back to the earlier design and color! This blue thing is horrible! And, the two zipper front is horrible! If they want to sell this to beach people or something, fine, but bring back the earlier model as well. They screwed this up like Coke did on the COCA COLA!! IF it ain't broke, don't fix it!!! I have done a lot of backpacking, and I am not a fan of the side opening tents either!!!!! Stay away from this generation of clip flashlights!!!!!

This tent was purchased as a replacement for my 20 year old Kelty Zen. The Kelty was actually quite similar to the original Clip Flashlight and very well made though it lacked the vestibule space of the Flashlight. When it became apparent the trusty old Zen was no longer serviceable and needed replacing I decided to buy the tent that had influenced its design, the Clip Flashlight. The latest iteration of the Flashlight retains it's simple two pole set up, generous, versatile vestibule and light weight mostly mesh construction. The mesh construction makes this a great summer shelter. When the skys are clear leaving the rain fly off gives a splendid view of the night sky with amble protection from insects. There are mesh pockets in the front corners of the tent for small item storage helping keep the small space tidy. The rain fly provides very good coverage for the tent. It has hook and loop attachments for a solid connection to the tent frame and guy lines for staking the fly out in inclement weather. After having used the tent a few times at this point I find it fills my needs as well or better than my old Zen did for all those years. Unfortunately I have serious doubts about this Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight 2 lasting as long as the Kelty Zen of yore. Overall this tent doesn't seem to compare in quality to the old Kelty or the Clip Flashlights of the same vintage. The fabrics seem cheaply sourced and the stitching can only be described as sloppy in some places. The mesh seems more fragile than it should being such a large part of the structure. The myriad buckles, straps and tabs used in pitching the tent all seem delicate. In general there is a feeling all corners were cut to bring this tent to market at a modest price. It's a very functional , no nonsense design and will serve its purpose very well but I have some doubts about longevity. For the money I would say this is a very solid option but i would gladly pay a bit more for this tent if the quality were little better.