Bought the fancy ultralight tent, ended up carrying a tarp anyway

I dropped $380 on a Dyneema shelter before a 6 day loop in Glacier and it leaked at every seam in the rain. Ended up sleeping under a $12 blue tarp I picked up at a gas station in Kalispell, which worked fine. Has anyone else had high end gear just fail when it actually mattered, or am I the only one who should've tested it at home first?

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iris_jones8928d ago

Used to think spending more meant better gear, plain and simple. But my $300 down jacket soaked through on a wet traverse while my buddy's cheap fleece kept him warm enough. Same with my fancy backpack pump, gave out on day two, patched it with duct tape and blew it up with my mouth after that. So yeah, the $380 tent leaking on you doesn't surprise me at all now. High end gear is mostly about saving ounces and bragging rights, not about working better when it actually counts. I test everything in my yard with a sprinkler now before it ever sees a trailhead.