Tarptent Moment DW Review (2019 Version)

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Introduction

The Tarptent Moment DW is a one-person, single-hoop tunnel, silnylon double-walled backpacking tent. It has a fly-and-inner modular design that enables configuration for different use case scenarios in all four seasons. Depending on the options chosen, it weighs between 24 and 44 oz (680 – 1247 g) and costs $325 – $506.

Moment in desert sunset — The Tarptent Moment DW in fly-only mode, a roomy shelter for desert camping.

About this Review

This Performance Review is based on our direct experience using the Tarptent Moment DW in three use-case extremes:

as a minimalist, fly-only shelter for desert travel,
as a double-wall winter tent in blizzard conditions, and
as a double-wall three-season tent in heavy rainstorms.

We used the Tarptent Moment DW in desert and winter environments (Drew), and in heavy rain and high wind scenarios (Ryan). In addition, Ryan has extensive experience with similar single-hoop tents (the Hilleberg Akto and Enan, and Terra Nova Laser series), and we provide appropriate comparisons when assessing the performance of the Moment DW in the context of this market category.

Features

double-wall, dual entry, dual vestibules
full-coverage fly to block wind, rain splash, and spindrift
removable inner tent stays dry during setup
single arch pole, 2 stake design for simple set up and small footprint
carbon fiber struts raise ends for increased useable space and end ventilation
fly overhangs entrance to block precipitation when entering and exiting
fly door can be opened at the top or raised at the bottom to improve ventilation
optional end-to-end crossing pole improves wind and snow strength, makes tent freestanding
choice of mesh or solid inner tent
inner tent width can be decreased to increase vestibule space for storage or cooking

Specifications

Numbers in [brackets] indicate our measurements.

sleeps: 1
seasons: 3-4
interior peak height: 39 in (99 cm) [39 in]
inner tent floor width: 20/42/20 inches (51/107/51 cm) end/middle/end [19/42/19 inches]
inner tent floor length: 84 in (213 cm) [86 in]
inner tent area: 18.6 sq ft (1.7 sq m) [18.1 sq ft]
vestibule area (combined): 11.1 sq ft (1.0 sq m) [13.2 sq ft]
packaged weight (includes fly, mesh inner, struts, hybrid carbon arch pole, stakes, guylines, and stuff sacks): 34 oz (970 g) [35 oz / 992 g after seam sealing]

component	weight, measured
fly, struts, and hoop pole	24.1 oz (683 g)
mesh inner tent	11.0 oz (312 g)
solid inner tent	13.3 oz (377 g)
optional crossing pole	6.9 oz (196 g)

Product Category Overview

The Moment was first introduced as a hybrid (single/double) wall shelter in 2009. Chris Murphy reviewed the original design at Backpacking Light in 2010. A double-walled version was introduced in 2013 and it was updated in 2019. The latest update incorporated the following changes:

re-engineered arch and fly geometry, for a tighter pitch
9 mm arch pole standard, for increased stability
3,000 mm hydrostatic head pressure rating for fly and floor, for additional waterproofness
2-way #5 waterproof separating vestibule zippers, for better ventilation and more durability
smaller footprint, for pitching in tighter places

The Tarptent Moment DW is primarily a single hoop, double-wall non-freestanding tent, and we compare it to other tents in this category, including perhaps its best-known competitors, the Hilleberg Akto and Hilleberg Enan.

However, the Moment DW’s modularity and component options make it somewhat of a category-spanner that reaches in two different directions. Without its inner tent, it becomes a stable, full-perimeter, floorless shelter. With a solid fabric inner and optional end-to-end crossing pole, it becomes a four-season tent capable of handling blizzard conditions and snow loading. Therefore, much of this review focuses on its versatility.

In this review we thus aim to address these questions:

Could the Tarptent Moment DW be the only shelter system a backpacker needs, from desert sands to mountain snows?
What compromises does it make in attempting to be a do-everything tent?
How does it stack up against other lightweight double-wall 4-season tents?

Design/Technology Overview

The Moment DW seems to feature no outstanding innovations in overall design or materials over previous versions or its obvious competitors. Its strengths lie instead in execution and attention to details, and the integration of its design elements to enable performance in a variety of configurations.

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This topic has 18 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 4 months ago by dirtbag.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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Apr 10, 2020 at 6:26 pm #3640843
Backpacking Light
Admin

@backpackinglight
Locale: Rocky Mountains
Drew Smith and Ryan Jordan published their long-term review of the latest version of the Tarptent Moment DW today.
- Tarptent Moment DW Review (2019 Version)
Apr 11, 2020 at 12:15 am #3640895

Eric Blumensaadt
BPL Member

@danepacker
Locale: Mojave Desert

Thanks for this review of my favorite solo tent. Wow, talk about “detailed”! This is absolutely the most thorough review extant.

I owned the first MOMENT, the single wall version. I bought a partial liner (from a guy in England, no less) but eventually sold it to a BPLer when the DW version came out. This Moment was the 1st to have an under-the-fly Crossing Pole. It exited through Velcro closure flaps in the mosquito net at the end Pitch Lock triangles. And it worked well in high winds.

Now I have a Moment DW “gen. 1.5” version. You see my fly and pole blew away from my backyard in a big gust of wind so I bought another fly and pole from TT, this one the Gen 2 fly. So I now have 2 pole guy points on each side instead of one and a 2-way zipper for better venting, thus a “gen. 1.5” with the original ripstop interior.

And as many here know, I’ve put a shortened Crossing Pole under my fly for better snow load strength. It does work well. no more getting up at night to tighten the end Pitch Lock lines when I get a heavy, wet snow. (Photo in “The Tarptent Thread”.) But digging out snow from the sidewalls in the AM is mandatory.

So yeah, my DW is a true 4 season tent. One of the best solo tent designs ever. I’ve even spend a rainy night and day in it – until it began to snow at 4 PM. Talk about “stir crazy”.

Apr 11, 2020 at 6:04 pm #3640983

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

It will be interesting to see if/when a DCF version becomes available, but I’m not yet convinced if that will add anything meaningful. There’s a distinct advantage of having a tunnel tent made out of silnylon, which has some stretch, because you can really crank down the tent’s tension between the two end stakes and have an extraordinarily wind-resistant structure. I can do the same with my Enan, and I’m not sure you could get that with DCF to the same extent. The DCF versions of the Terra Nova Laser tents can’t be tensioned as tight.

Apr 11, 2020 at 8:53 pm #3641003

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

One BPL member has made a tunnel tent out of DCF, roughly to my design, and tested it in the snow. As a result of the testing, he has made a similar tent out of silnylon.

Cheers

Apr 12, 2020 at 12:04 am #3641016

AK Granola
BPL Member

@granolagirlak

Nice review. I really like my Moment DW, purchased off gear swap a few years ago. I like everything about it – the double doors and vestibules, the good air flow, the easy pitch, everything except the weight. Dang it’s just so heavy; mine with guylines, stakes, and semi solid inner weighs 46 ounces. I thought about the Notch Li, but I hate, hate the transparency of dyneema for camping solo. I know a nylon tent is not a fortress, but it really does make a difference to me psychologically that no one knows who is in the tent or what they’re doing. I’m also not super excited about a trekking pole shelter, mostly because I haven’t tried one; they just look like they’d topple in a wind. My Moment has taken some pretty big wind gusts with no issues.

I spent 3 nights in rain and hailstorms on the JMT last summer, in my Moment. I spent the last two sick as can be with altitude sickness. While a tent is not a fun place to be sick, I never felt cramped in it, even though it “looks like a coffin” as my husband puts it (he’d rather have a huge tent and no amount of weight deters him). I had room to read, sleep, boil water for tea in the vestibule, etc. It does take quite a while to dry off, something that also might be improved with DCF. But I was never wet on the inside except the foot of my sleeping bag; that was my mistake for not covering it or tightening my pitch when the wind and rain kicked in. Once I adjusted the tent it was fine inside.

I think my dream tent might be a DCF Moment in camo. For now I’ll keep using the Moment I have, or – sorry I just have to do this – “live in the Moment.”

Apr 12, 2020 at 8:42 am #3641028

Henry Shires / Tarptent
BPL Member

@07100
Locale: Upper Sierra Foothills - Gold Rush Country

> Dang it’s just so heavy; mine with guylines, stakes, and semi solid inner weighs 46 ounces.

Yes, with the ~ 7-oz optional crossing pole. You just don’t need the crossing pole for JMT trips or really anything other than for snow loading or if you simply must have “free standing” for pitching on granite shelves. Moving a few feet solves almost any initial staking problem.

Apr 12, 2020 at 9:20 am #3641033

Steven T
BPL Member

@daddy-longlegs

Many thanks for the very thorough write up. I have had one of these on order since before the inception of covid-19 in the US, on hold because the solid inner was not available. I look forward to making the purchase after the Seattle economy restarts!

Apr 12, 2020 at 10:49 pm #3641137

Sam Farrington
BPL Member

@scfhome
Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

Bought the original Moment and modded it just a little to make it easy to slip the end struts in and out. By the time the DW Moment came out, had spent lot of work modding another tent, which serves well until it wears out.

Nevertheless, the analysis, issues and comparisons in this article are super in terms of identifying issues to be addressed with any tent, Market or MYOG. So thank you much.

Apropos desert use without the inner: Ain’t there no scorpions in them thar deserts? Maybe not, and being a north country woodchuck would have no way of knowing. Liked the chickens in the back yard though. We have plenty of them running about.

Apr 13, 2020 at 8:46 am #3641161

Monte Masterson
BPL Member

@septimius
Locale: Southern Indiana

This is the tent I’m going to buy when I grow up.

Karen says: “I think my dream tent might be a DCF Moment in camo.” Yea, I hear you, but something that I think would boost Tarptent’s bottom line even more is if they offered a green silnylon option. I realize TT is already very popular in Europe, but the market there has more of an affinity for earth tone shelters than in the US. This can be easily proven by browsing European outdoor gear sites. You see SMD, Big Sky, Terra Nova, Nordisk, and many others offer a green fly option on their tents. MSR even offers a green that IS NOT available in the US. I’ve asked European backpackers why stealthy earth tones are more popular over there and most say it’s not for stealth camping reasons so much as it is a desire to blend into the natural surroundings. A difference in cultural tastes and values I suppose. Some people just don’t fancy loud, obnoxious colors in the backcountry (not that grey is too bad).

748 million Europeans is a big market. Earth tone tents might boost TT sales even more, I don’t know. I called MSR a couple of years ago to see if I could get a tent with a green fly and they said that all of the green ones that leave their Asian factory go straight to Europe and none to North America.

Apr 13, 2020 at 10:55 am #3641185

d k
BPL Member

@dkramalc

Well, here in California (where Henry lives), gray IS the most prominent earth tone in our most popular backpacking areas (granite). But I can see the desire to have green in the more verdant parts of the country.

Apr 13, 2020 at 12:11 pm #3641195

Brad Rogers
BPL Member

@mocs123
Locale: Southeast Tennessee

It’s sort of a greenish gray. I think it blends pretty well in most environments (except for the yellow) and we have a lot of green where I live.

Apr 13, 2020 at 4:36 pm #3641227

Franco Darioli
Spectator

@franco
Locale: Gauche, CU.

Greenish grey…
Take a look at the set up video of the 2020 Scarp 1, it’s even greener than before.
(scroll down the page to see that button)
https://www.tarptent.com/product/scarp-1/

Apr 13, 2020 at 9:23 pm #3641284

Drew Smith
BPL Member

@drewsmith
Locale: Colorado Rockies

@scfhome

Glad you found the review useful.

I grew up in Tucson and have slept tentless many nights in the desert. Scorpions have never bothered me nor have any rattlesnakes attempted to share my sleeping bag with me. I can’t swear that those things have never happened but it seems that those stories are always second hand or lack corroboration.

“A snake crawled into my bag and bit me” is perhaps a less embarrassing explanation than “I was being a dumbass and poked a snake with a stick”

Apr 13, 2020 at 10:54 pm #3641293

AK Granola
BPL Member

@granolagirlak

I don’t use the crossing pole but my setup is still 46 ounces, including stakes, guylines, solid inner, regular hoop pole, and fly. I will weigh it again this weekend (i am one of the lucky ones still working) and make sure. But that is the weight in my spreadsheet. Maybe because of different guylines? I changed them out for the visible in the dark so I don’t trip ones. I will probably make peace with the weight and lighten something else if I can, and stick with this tent.

Apr 14, 2020 at 1:37 am #3641297

Nick Gatel
BPL Member

@ngatel
Locale: Southern California

Glad you found the review useful.

@drewsmith

I’m not in the market for a new tent. I clicked the link to your section hike of the DT, which is my backyard and frequent stomping ground. Enjoyed your trip report.

Aug 20, 2020 at 10:16 pm #3672030

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

So I have a question. If you have the mesh inner set up.. Can you then put the outter part over it? It does not seem like that is possible.

Dec 14, 2020 at 4:28 pm #3689015

Steven T
BPL Member

@daddy-longlegs

I think you’d have to repitch completely, or close to it, if you wanted to put the fly up after pitching the inner only.

Dec 14, 2020 at 4:57 pm #3689019

Steven T
BPL Member

@daddy-longlegs

Bump. Now that it’s getting cold again, I’ve taken my Moment out a few times. I’ve learned a few things that I think makes it a more versatile shelter. The first is that it’s best to tighten the line at the top of the pitchlocs first, which flattens the pitchlocs and tensions the flat felled seams at the “ridgelines”. The second thing is that it’s quick and easy to drop the inner from the inside. A lot of room is gained by doing so, making chores such as cooking easier and safer. I also discovered that I could retention the pitchlocs from the inside if the inner was down, which could be useful in ugly weather. I put line tighteners on the goop’s guylines, so the whole tent could be snugged down with minimal exposure in bad weather, provided that the stakes held.

Dec 14, 2020 at 5:34 pm #3689029

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Thanks..
I picked one up not too long ago. Pitched it in my yard a few times, have not taken it out yet.. Eventually, one of my trips, it will find its way out. It is a keeper for me!!
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