ALPS Mountaineering Lynx 2-Person Backpacking and Camping Tent

Great product, hate the carry bag or whatever it is you call it, package. What is it with companies, and this isn't the only one, that makes a pretty good product then ruins it, or at least makes a lot of negativity by providing a package that only the original manufacturer can fold the tent properly (they know how to do it and it's a trick.) so it fits back inside. Too dang snug when you get it, and guaranteed not to fit from then on without cramming and a lot of cuss words trying to get that 5 gallon hat filled with 10 pounds of..... Yah, it's irritating. Maybe provide a little instruction about the best way to fold their product - there are a lot of ways it can be done. When I hear of a company that actually provides a package that a real human can easily pack, I'll buy their product even if it's crap. That's how frustrating it is every time I gotta pack the dang thing. Doesn't make for a loyal customer if the company (any company) is reading this. Oh, about the tent, great tent! It's worth the money.

I purchased this tent because I wanted a cheap, good, backpacking tent. I'm not ready to spend over 300.00 for a tent, even over 150.00. I mostly just car camp, but I have taken the tent on a short backpacking trip. I have had it for almost a year, and it gets a good amount of use. It is rare that I go on a trip and am not camping. A few things:- The floor is, indeed, not one whole piece of fabric. There is a seam that runs across width wise. It is taped. So far it hasn't been an issue at all.- The floor is thin. It is the same thickness as the walls.- The tent does NOT come with a ground cloth. That is easily enough remedied. Make sure to check the floor dimensions.I was camping for about 6 months without a ground cloth. I would honestly probably still not have one at this point if I hadn't been given one. The tent is dry as a freaking desert. I spent a week in Florida, four days of all day, constant rain, and never got a drop inside. Downpours in the Blue Ridge Mountains; bone dry. The floor is completely waterproof, even with the seam and no ground cloth. With the floor being so thin, I was more worried about small rocks punching holes in the floor, but it never happened. I would definitely get a ground cloth.The tent poles are aluminium, which makes them light. Their ends have a little lip so they fit in the grommets on the corners of the tent and don't slip out. If you unscrew the tips, you can replace the bungee inside. The corners of the rain fly have the male end of a buckle and clips into the corners of the tent. You can loosen or tighten the rain fly with them. The size is nice. I am comfortable by myself. There's plenty of room for one person and their gear inside. Two people fit perfectly well with their gear in the vestibules. I find the tent incredibly cozy. For someone over 6'3" it might be a little small length wise. I've camped in this tent in all four seasons (in the south east), from 90s to 30s. Without the fly it breaths well. With the fly on heat get trapped inside, which is super nice in the winter. There is a very noticeable difference in temperature between outside and inside the tent. Some of the features this tent has can be found on higher quality tents, like the corners having webbing straps with grommets and the buckles for the fly. The tent is a little bit of a higher dome compared to higher quality backpacking tents, which means it does catch the wind more. There are loops on the tent where you can attach more tie downs. It comes with some extra line for tie downs at each side, but I don't ever use them. Unless you are in some serious weather you won't need them. It does weigh more then an ultralight backpacking tent, but it's pretty obvious by the price that it does. I don't have the budget for an ultra light, but this tent would work perfectly fine for backpacking if you don't mind an extra few oz. I can fit the tent and fly into a small Sea to Summit compression bag. I haven't tried to fit the ground cloth in there, but I know it'll fit too. It's not an easy stuff, but it can be done.Overall, I am really pleased with this purchase. For under 100.00 its a great little tent. Until you want to get an ultralight or a high quality tent, I don't see the point in spending the money on a tent more expensive than this.Update 7/10/18:Well, the floor of the tent let some moisture in. We were in the Appalachian mountains and moisture soaked through. I sprayed the floor down with silicon waterproofing spray, so well see how it does. Haven't used it in wet conditions yet.

I only used this tent for about 2 weeks, so I can't attest to it's actual longevity, however it proved to be astoundingly durable.As shown in one of the images, I had the tent setup in a deceptively peaceful storm drain tunnel for a few nights, packing it out each morning (or afternoon; again, peaceful tunnel). However, I had yet to realize that that tunnel happened to be no larger than it needed to.I wake up shortly after going to sleep in the tunnel one night, feeling a strange sensation. Is there some unusual earthquake? Someone quietly moving my tent around? Oh. No. I am semifloating down the tunnel, which terminates just after a 6ft drop onto concrete. I scramble to stop the tent and assess my situation, pushing my fingers as hard as I can against the tent floor and into the fairly smooth brick floor of that part if the tunnel. I finally seem to have stopped it, not knowing how close I had drifted toward the drop. I do my best to quickly consolidate the items in my tent into my pack, without anything getting overwhelmingly soaked. At some point during this, I thought the tent floor had finally ruptured, as water was now starting to flow into the tent. (It had not yet up to this point). I finish getting my things in my pack and step out of the tent, into the notably-less-shallow-than-before stream of rushing water. I see much to my relief that I had not drifted too far from where I had setup. Cautiously making my way to a safe part of the tunnel, I drag the now-collapsing tent (and its footprint I had been using) with me. I take inventory, account for all my things, and stuff the tent and another thing or two into a trash bag and head out the tunnel.I get to a motel at about 2 in the morning, and unpack my tent to let it dry out and inspect the damage.It was perfectly fine. There was genuinely zero perceivable damage whatsoever. You can see it setup in the motel room in one of the images. The leak I thought took place was simply the tent being in deep enough water that it ended up going over the tub floor of the tent and through the not-waterproof main fabric of it. Wiped things down, and it truly did look good as new.The remainder of my use of the tent took place under an overpass a ways upstream, and much less close to the water. Sadly it got stolen along with the bag I had it in, thanks in no small part to my own stupidity, but I firmly intend to purchase another one soon.10/10, would ride it down a storm drain tunnel again.