Mountain Hardwear

Trango 2 Tent 2-Person 4-Season

My favorite 4 season tent

Great, bomb-proof tent. This is our 3rd Trango 2 in the last 20 years. Heavy use for Artic research in multiple summers does take its toll with all the UV exposure but they stand up to the wind better than any other tent we have tried.. We haven't tried it winter camping, so no idea about snow load. This tent is on the slightly heavier side compared to some options but the extra room is nice for extended (6week) stays. Lots of storage space under the fly too for gear and at a pinch you can cram 3 in the tent. Its also roomier for taller folk. Never had issues with leaks and such until the fabric basically gives out from UV exposure. Then the tent is toast.

Built like a tank,, but...

Yes, it's an extremely well built tent, with great features like the mesh pockets all along the walls and in the ceiling, buckles to keep the fly doors secure in windy conditions, large front vestibule with flaps for spindrift. The clips for attaching the tent to the poles and the fly to the poles (instead of Velcro) are great. The 2 person is very roomy at 64 inches, compared to other 2 person tents at 50 to 55 inches. But, I have two complaints. 1) Why are there no vents in the fly? There's a YouTube video of a guy and his dog in the tent and the underside of the fly is swimming in condensation after a night's sleep. Where MH has a clear window in the fly, a vent would make more sense. In fact, two vents in the fly and a second vent added to the inner tent would make sense. The amount of condensation on the window makes it virtually useless for seeing out of. Other four season tents have them - Marmot Thor, MSR Remote and Access (in fact they redesigned the current Remote by adding vents in fly and tent body because of condensation complaints), North Face Mountain 25, Eddie Bauer Katabatic, Nemo Kunai and Chogori, Eureka K2-XT, they all have fly vents. I'm not sure why MH doesn't on the Trango. Worried about high winds getting under the fly, maybe? Wind is getting under there anyway, because of the gap between the fly and the ground. Regardless, a zipper closure for the vents would address that concern (zipper better than a Velcro closure to secure against wind). Do those other tents mentioned get condensation? Sure, but I owned a Thor 2 that had the little plastic window in the vestibule and tent and fly vents and I never had that window fog up. The amount of condensation has to be less with a fly vent. It just makes sense that having an opening at the top of the fly is going to let hot moist air escape. 2) The doors. Having two separate panels in the door, (one is mesh and the other is nylon) is a pain for entering and exiting if one chooses to keep both zipped closed. Also, the nylon is on the outside and the mesh is on the inside, which is the reverse of many other tent designs. So, if you need a bit of ventilation and want to unzip the nylon to get some air through the mesh, you have to unzip the mesh fist, then unzip the nylon,, then zip the mesh back up. Other tents with the mesh on the outside and the nylon on the inside, you just need to unzip the nylon from inside and the mesh is exposed for ventilation. I guess if it's winter, you would keep the mesh folded out of the way, and in summer you could keep the nylon folded out of the way, but what about shoulder seasons where you want mesh for bugs and nylon for warmth but still want some ventilation though the doors? Then you're looking at unzipping two sets of doors every time you enter / exit. I'm still throwing four stars at this tent because it's so well built and its famous for its bomb proofness. If it had better ventilation, and maybe a redesign of the doors (the doors are really just me nit picking - the venting is my biggest complaint) it would easily be a 5 star.

Killer tent!

I am still using my 1997 trango 2 and it is still bombproof! I look after it well and wash it too. It has hardly any shrinkage after 27yrs and hold back all weather. Takes nasty winds and good snow, my shelter ❤️

Set up/breakdown nightmare

This tent takes way too long to set up and even longer to breakdown. The rediculous amount of mini carabiners used to secure the tent to poles don't work easily. I can't imagine setting this up in cold weather with gloves on.

Great tent

I used this tent twice so far. The structure looks solid. Didn’t have the chance to try it during winter yet, but it looks that it will resist any kind of weather. The reasons I’m not giving it 5 stars is because it’s a little too bulky and heavy. It’s not like they didn’t tell me about it on the description, but I had to see it myself to know for sure. Also, it’s not a tent that I can build in two minutes in case of emergency. It takes quite some time to do it (it’s still easy to build, just too many clips and stuff to take care of). Other than that, I love it. It looks even bigger on the inside than it does from outside. And it also has great ventilation.

Bombproof

Took this tent for two weeks to the most northern region of the Westfjords of Iceland. We had a brief katabatic windstorm but the tent didnt budge. Rock solid, low profile, super air tight. The ten pound weight seemed intimidating but I hucked this thing up and over mountain passes without really noticing. This is the most bombproof tent Ive ever used. If you're going somewhere above the treeline where wind, snow or rain can make stuff dangerous, this is the tent you want.

Still solid

Bought this tent when it first came out in ‘95 at Babbitt’s in Flagstaff. It’s been from the Sierra’s, JT and the north cascades, almost 30yrs and still bombproof. Won’t tell you what I paid in ‘95

Loved it for years!

I bought this in 1998 and it’s still going strong! Fantastic tent! Did also buy a light wedge a few years ago for a lighter weight option but the Trango is a champ!

Beware of warrantee - not robust for large purchases

I have bought multiple Mountain Hardware products over the years and many have suffered minor failures that were annoying but not catastrophic. Surprisingly different from the so called « bombproof » reputation they had many years ago before they became part of a large mass marketed company. Unfortunately we recently unpacked an admittedly older model two man expedition tent (Airjet2) and the floor simply pulled off of the walls when we set it up. The glue had simply dried up and crumbled away to dust, though there wasn’t any stitching or anything else to hold it together. We researched online and found most of them failed in this way at about 10 years old. We attempted to have it addressed under the lifetime warrantee to be clearly told that it was a LIMITED LIFETIME warrantee for the « expected lifetime » of the product. This was somewhat laughable since nowhere is the expected lifetime of any of their products stated, leaving that as a solely subjective opinion of the company itself, which obviously is not interested in dealing with their products long term and if inconvenient to do so, can simply say, it’s too old. That might even be understandable if the product was worn out or damaged, but this is a clear design defect. This is also worrisome as you can already see in some of the reviews here for the Trango, that some of the tents have arrived with dried up and crumbling glue on some of the seams. Right out of the store! I get it, time to buy a new tent, what do you expect??? But seriously, we have two cheap Coleman tents that are 5-10 years older and have been completely abused and are still going strong. In fact, one of them was used to live in while tree planting! If that’s not abuse, I don’t know what is. So if cheap Coleman’s can out last, out work, and OUTLIVE Mountain Hardwear products which are clearly NOT designed to last, I would suggest you think twice before buying any of their products which you do not consider disposable or have a price tag that would suggest to you it should last YOUR lifetime. It will not, and they will not support it. I once held this company in high regard. They have let me down constantly, and I would recommend you think strongly about this sort of thing before buying their products.

My favourite expedition tent !

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

Height:

5' 10"

Weight:

155

My Name is Tim Emmett I?ve been using the Trango tents since 1999, all over the World. The last time was at Everest basecamp. It?s my go to expedition tent that is reliable and pretty much bomb proof! I haven?t broken one yet!