1. The Aura is downright spacious (35 square feet), with two doors and two big vestibules. It's plenty sturdy, easily withstanding 50-mph winds without guylines. And light: The Aura flirts with the four-pound barrier, the two-person freestanding tent's equivalent of the four-minute mile.

2. Talk about usable space: Four people can share a meal inside without hunching over. Angled knee joints do the trick down low, while the Aura's unique configuration—two offset poles terminating above the doorways instead of joining in an X—hoists the walls.

3. Setting up the unorthodoxly designed Aura the first time is far from intuitive. But don't worry. Once you figure it out, you can put it up in a flash. Bonus: The Aura's DAC NSL aluminum poles aren't finished with environmentally nasty phosphoric and nitric acid.

4. The 100 percent mesh canopy affords clear star-gazing in dry but buggy weather and eliminates condensation when the fly goes on. And when skies went gray, testers stayed dry (thanks to steep, drip-free walls)—and positive (thanks to a cheery orange hue).

5. Testers praised Marmot's trademark Stake Tape—strips of webbing with a line of pre-cut slots. They eliminate ounces and tangles when staking out the corners and vestibules. Easy, now: We carelessly tore a few slots trying to achieve a perfectly taut pitch.

4.4 lbs; $300 marmot.com