Zpacks Altaplex - Is It Really A Perfect Tent?

hey guys it's Darwin and today I want to finally give you a full review of my Z packs octopus all right so typically I like to wait quite some time before I review a new tint that I've been using on the trail I'd like to get about a thousand miles on it or fifty nights before I really talk about what I liked what I didn't like and the pros and the cons of using it but with as crazy as this year has been having to get off of the 80 early I might not be able to go up and do my next thru-hike I have been lucky enough to get this out in a lot of different environments weather situations on different trails since I've had it in mmm December so I feel pretty confident about giving a full review and my final thoughts on the Alta plots if you haven't been following along here on the channel I did go on a quest for the perfect tent and I tried a bunch of different stuff over the past year and I landed on this now I won't go into all of that in this video but if you do want to find out more about that quest I'll put the link to the video up here and before we jump into the review I got to say I am not sponsored by Z packs they didn't pay me to make this so this isn't an advertisement for z packs and I did buy this tent at full price with my own money come to think of it every single piece of Z packs gear that I currently own I bought at full price so let's go over the specs the Z packs Alta Plex is a one-person single pole tent that is not freestanding and does require tension to pitch it it's made out of a DCF fabric that is seam taped so it helps with weather sealing the Alta Plex is fully enclosed which means it has a no seam bug net completely surrounding the perimeter and an 8-inch bathtub for it has one huge rainbow zipper door and a single vestibule with double storm doors what makes the ultra luxe different than other tents is that has a super tall peak so it does require a trekking pole or a standalone pole that can go up to 58 inches and requires at least six stakes to set it up I personally use eight to get as much room as I possibly can the weight on the perd model of the alte Plex comes in at fifteen point four ounces and the price for this bad boy is five hundred and eighty-five dollars alright so usually this is the part of my review where I talk about the pros and the cons and what I like and what I don't like but honestly I like just about everything with this tint it did mark off all of the boxes of what I was personally looking for in a quote unquote perfect tint it works for me so I have no real complaints about it it's been great for what I need it for sure I could talk about the fact that it's expensive or the fact that it sucks that you got to use an extra long trekking pole to set it up or the fact that the company that makes it doesn't necessarily share the same ethics and ideas and passions about the outdoor community that I do but I digress instead of talking about the pros and the cons or what I like what I don't like I want to answer some of the most commonly asked questions that I've seen about the ultra Plex how easy is it to set up it's pretty damn easy actually this is probably the easiest pitching tent that I've ever used once I figured out the perfect pitch I did make a video talking about how to perfectly pitch this tent along with basically every other single trekking pole tent on the market if you want to check that video out I'll put it up here but once I figured out how to just put down those two back corners first put the trekking pole in the center and make a triangle it pitches perfectly every single time now with that being said you do need a nice flat ground because it is a tension tent and it doesn't have a free-standing structure so to get as much wall space as you possibly can it does require you to really select your campsite but overall it's pretty easy to set up how does it handle rain and storms well as far as rain goes the reason that I use DCF tents whether it's this tent or any of the other DCF tents that I've ever used is because DCF is great in rain you see so nylon will actually suck up water and start to sag where DCF kind of repels the rain it kind of bounces off the material and it can hold its shape when it's under a heavy load from the water so as far as rain goes it's phenomenal in the rain out on the 80 I had tons of super rainy days and wet nights and I stayed dry every single night inside of this tent as far as storms I haven't had it in any crazy storm but I have had it up at some higher peaks out here in Arizona at about eight nine thousand feet with about 20 to 30 mile an hour winds and it held up great again that all comes down to how you're setting it up where you're setting it up and making sure you're not just putting it out in the open wind but as far as I'm concerned it does great in the rain and it does great in storms how tall of a hiker can fit inside of the ulta Plex well z-pak says that somebody up to six six can fit inside of this tent I don't think so I'm 6 1 and on a three-inch pad with a 20 degree quilt I don't touch the wall but if I was like 6 4 I would definitely be touching the wall personally I would say that if you are over 6-3 this tent is still not gonna be long enough for you you know it is definitely a longer tent with the taller peak the walls do come out in allows you more foot room and maybe you're on a thinner pad maybe you're on a closed cell foam pad you might be able to get away with it but if you're like me if you're on a thicker pad you're using a thicker quilt six six six five I don't think so how does it handle condensation well whether it is out on the 80 where it's super condensation II or out here in Arizona where it's super dry condensation is just something that you deal with with a single wall tent it doesn't matter if it's made of DCF if it's made of some nylon if it's Zi packs or if it's tarp tent condensation is just a thing you have to deal with when you choose to go with something that is single wall so overall the condensation with this tent compared to say my Plex amid or my DUPLO or my hexa med I found that this actually does better with condensation because of one thing because the peak is taller so it creates more Headroom and more airflow inside of the tent now does that mean there's no condensation no it definitely still gets it but I have noticed less condensation when using the Ulta plex versus some of those other single wall single trekking pole tents and then the last question that I've been getting from a bunch of you guys and the one that I've been asking myself is this my perfect tent no there's no such thing as a perfect tent there's no such thing as my perfect tent like I said it does mark off all of the boxes of what I'm looking for right now it was great out on the 80 it's been great here in Arizona doing some of the backpacking trips that I've been doing and hopefully it'll be great if I get to go do the Colorado trail or the Great Divide Trail hopefully but no it's not my perfect tent I just don't think there's any such thing as a perfect 10 or any perfect piece of gear I'm going to be doing some bike packing trips at the end of this year and right now I can't find a single standalone pole that goes up to 58 inches so it's not gonna be perfect for that I'm probably gonna have to go back to using a tarp or some other shelter so no it is not a perfect tent but for what I've been using it for being out on the 80 being out here possibly going up and doing the Great Divide Trail it's been pretty damn good so hopefully this video helped answer some of your questions about the Z packs ulta Plex and maybe some of my recommendations maybe some of my info will help you decide if it's gonna be a good tent for you or not speaking of that what is your perfect tent right now what have you been using what have you been testing or what are you thinking about getting to test for the rest of this year leave me something down below and let me know your thoughts if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Darwin onthetrail

Views: 95,425

Keywords: Zpacks Altaplex, Gear Review, UL Backpacking, UL Hiking, Zpacks Duplex, Zpacks Hexamid, AT, Appalachian Trail, AT Thru Hike, Big 3 Gear, Perfect Tent, Colorado Trail, Zpacks, Great Divide Trail, GDT Thru Hike, Backpacking, Hiking, Adventure, Hiker Trash

Id: H7POTUQgCgY

Length: 9min 24sec (564 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 04 2020