The Zpacks Duplex Zip Tent is a single-wall 2-person tent made with Dyneema DCF that weighs 20.4 oz. It has two doorways, two vestibules, and requires two trekking poles to erect. Regardless of its high-tech development, the Duplex Zip is a remarkably easy tent to arrange and use, very similar to the unique Zpacks Duplex Tent, which remains to be accessible right this moment. Whereas the Duplex Zip relies on the unique Duplex design, it has three further options: waterproof vestibule zippers, ventilated vestibule peaks, and magnetic door toggles, which improve its winds and climate worthiness and make it extra handy to make use of.
Specs at a Look
- Weight: 20.4 to 22.3 ozdepending on the colour (20.4 oz, precise in Olive Drab)
- Kind: Single-wall, two-person
- Materials: Dyneema DCF, Insect Netting
- Doorways: 2
- Vestibules: 2
- Minimal variety of stakes to arrange: 6; Really useful: 8
- Dimensions:
- Inside Flooring width: 45″ (114 cm)
- Inside Flooring size: 90″ (229 cm)
- Zipper entry top: 36″ (91 cm)
- Peak top: 48″ (122 cm)
- Ridgeline width: 53″ (135 cm)
- Width together with vestibules: 93″ (236 cm)
- Vestibule Depth from ground: 24″ (61 cm) all sides
- Exterior Size: 100″ (254 cm)
- Packed Dimension: 6″ diameter by 12″ tall (15 cm x 30 cm), 340 cubic inches (5.6L).
- For full specs go to Zpacks.com
The Duplex Zip tent is made with Dyneema Composite Materials (DCF) which is an ultralight, high-strength, waterproof materials that’s good for making tents as a result of it doesn’t soak up water or stretch in a single day. Whereas the Duplex Zip is giant sufficient to suit two folks, it’s light-weight sufficient which you can critically think about using it as a spacious 1-person tent. That is maybe its best benefit over tents made with typical materials like nylon or polyester.
The Duplex Zip has a easy design. It’s a single-wall “tarp tent”, with a water-resistant DCF bathtub ground linked to the sidewalls with insect netting. The tub ground is 8″ deep, which is able to defend you from puddles and working water if it rains. Like most tarp tents, the tub ground is linked to the tent’s partitions with insect netting to offer air circulation and assist forestall inner condensation.
The netting connecting the ground and the ceiling additionally lets the ground “float” which may be very useful on uneven tent websites, the place one aspect of the bottom could also be greater than one other and it is advisable alter your trekking poles to completely different lengths. It is a nice profit when you camp on “wild” unprepared tent websites, particularly in a forest.
An added guyline working from the ground to the overhead panel allows you to angle the ceiling so any inner condensation will drip outdoors and never onto the ground. Nonetheless, I’d advise packing a path towel with you to wipe up any inner condensation that’s shaped inside in a single day earlier than you pack up the tent within the morning or if it will get very damp at night time.
The Duplex Zip has two mesh partitions and doorways that are protected by aspect vestibules. The vestibule doorways open within the center (with a zipper), so you possibly can roll again every half independently for elevated air flow. Zpacks has added magnet toggles to the doorways to carry them rolled when rolled and these are straightforward to attach or launch from inside the tent, which is kind of useful when it begins or stops raining.
Lengthy rainbow-shaped zippers within the mesh aspect partitions allow you to get out on both aspect of the vestibules when you solely have one half-open. The mesh partitions are versatile, so it’s greatest to make use of two arms when opening or closing their zippers to assist help the material and stop zipper jams. There’s a mesh pocket on the midpoint of every door alongside the tub ground, however regardless of Zpack’s suggestion, I wouldn’t put a telephone or my glasses into it. There’s merely an excessive amount of danger of crushing them when you get out or again within the tent at night time. I cling my glasses from the zipper pulls on the rainbow mesh door for the reason that tent lacks another inside cling loops or pockets – which Zpacks does promote individually.
The vestibule doorways have a YKK waterproof zipper which offers added wind and rain safety in comparison with the unique Duplex, the place the vestibule doorways overlapped each other by weren’t linked. The vestibule doorways don’t attain the bottom on this tent to offer enhanced airflow to be able to mitigate inner condensation….though that’s thought-about a necessary characteristic in very windy and stormy environments like England and Scotland.
The Duplex Zip additionally has mesh-backed vestibule peaks which assist create a small overhang to stop rain from getting into the tent if in case you have the doorways rolled open. In addition they assist maintain rain off the zipper so that you’re not fully drenched when you open the vestibule doorways whereas it’s raining. However I don’t think about them terribly efficient for mitigating inner condensation though they do make an ideal place to catch insect life when you like to review moths and mosquitos up shut.
The inside of the Duplex Zip is kind of spacious for one, however extra cramped for 2, with an inside width of 45″. Then once more, when you purchase the Duplex Zip as a result of it’s so light-weight, you’re in all probability not going to be carrying heavier 25″ huge sleeping pads. There’s good headroom beneath the middle of the tent on the peaks. However the quantity of ceiling clearance diminishes as you get nearer to the top and foot ends, which is the character of an A-frame design. You’ll be able to create some extra quantity on the ends by staking out the guylines hooked up to the DCF aspect panels, but it surely’s not that nice although the inside is 90″ lengthy. Should you’re over 6′ in top, you’ll undoubtedly really feel cramped.
The Dyneema DCF ceiling of the Duplex Zip is pretty clear, which is usually a consideration when you favor extra opaque partitions for privateness. That transparency may also make the tent fairly sizzling inside if pitched in intense daylight.
The Duplex Zip comes absolutely outfitted with guylines and line locs tensioners, however it is advisable provide your personal tent stakes for the soil or floor circumstances you anticipate to come across. The road locs make it very straightforward and quick to tighten the pitch when you’ve obtained the tent staked out and arrange.
Comparable Dyneema DCF Tents
Key: SW=Single Wall, DW=Double Wall
There are comparatively few one and two-person DCF tents accessible, and whereas tent weight and value are essential dimensions, it’s value understanding what different variables are essential to you earlier than you make a purchase order determination. Listed here are some essential dimensions which are value contemplating when selecting between completely different tents and shelters. This might sound lengthy a protracted set of variables, however they may also help you keep away from shopping for the fallacious shelter, particularly a shelter from a cottage producer which you can’t return for a refund if it doesn’t meet your wants.
Modularity: Would you like the power to separate aside your shelter into parts and solely use a part of it in numerous climate or terrain? For instance, shopping for a pyramid tarp and an inside nest, or a double-wall tent, could be far more versatile than shopping for a single-wall tent with a completely sewn-in ground.
Inside condensation: Many individuals favor a double-wall tent as a result of they will’t stand the considered inner condensation inherent in single-wall tents that may make their gear damp.
Inside Area: Would you like to have the ability to retailer your gear contained in the tent with you? If that’s the case, you could be higher off shopping for a two-person tent and utilizing it by your self. Do you want a tent that may match two folks, although realistically you propose to principally use it for one particular person?
Dimensions: Do you like a tent with a excessive ceiling or one which’s lengthy if you’re very tall. Do you like a tent with vertical or high-angled finish partitions as a result of you will have massive toes that can contact a sloped ceiling?
Variety of Doorways: Should you plan on utilizing a two-person tent for 2 folks, it’s far more handy to have one with two doorways.
Ease of Entry: Tents which have huge aspect doorways are normally simpler to get out and in of than ones that solely have a entrance door. As well as, huge vestibules with two impartial doorways (break up within the center), make it doable to make use of one half for gear storage and the opposite half for entry.
Footprint: How a lot area is required to arrange the tent? For instance, when you prefer to camp at unprepared (wild) tent websites, it may be simpler to discover a degree, dry, or open area for a one-person tent as a substitute of a two-person tent.
Draftiness: Some tents are draftier than others. For instance, shelters with a rain fly and vestibules that go all the best way right down to the bottom are typically hotter than people who don’t as a result of they’ve much less airflow. Tarp tents, the place the fly and the ground are linked with mesh, are typically draftier than double-wall tents.
Pitching within the Rain: Are you able to arrange a tent within the rain and maintain the inside tent dry? You’ll be able to with most single-wall tents and a few double-wall tents, however not with ones that require that you just pitch the inside tent first.
Ease of Pitch: Some shelters are simpler to arrange than others. The only ones are tents which have an exoskeleton body, which is one motive why they’re so broadly used on mainstream tents. Relating to cottage-manufactured tents, ones which have an oblong footprint and symmetric sides are normally simpler to arrange than ones which have offset, uneven peaks, or uneven partitions.
Suggestion
The Zpacks Duplex Zip is a two-person, DCF tent that’s light-weight sufficient that it may be utilized by one particular person. It’s straightforward to get out and in of, with huge aspect doorways and vestibules which can be utilized to retailer gear or enter and exit on the identical time. As a single wall shelter, you possibly can pitch the Duplex Zip within the rain and stop the inside from turning into soaked, which is an actual benefit in a moist local weather. Whereas the interior dimensions could be comfortable for 2 folks, the vestibules present priceless gear storage to liberate the dwelling area space. Maybe better of all, the Duplex Zip is drop-dead easy to arrange, with a symmetric two-trekking-pole design that can get you out of the climate and excessive and dry very quickly in any respect.
Disclosure: Zpacks donated a tent for this evaluate.
SectionHiker is reader-supported. We solely earn cash if you buy a product by our affiliate hyperlinks. Assist us proceed to check and write unsponsored and impartial gear evaluations, newbie FAQs, and free mountain climbing guides.
