1. Eureka! Aurora I ($195) 800-572-8822; www.eurekatent.com. Unlike some one-person backpacking shelters, which resemble pup tents or coffins, the four-pound, 12-ounce Aurora is a real tent, with 28 square feet of floor space and
two doors. The fly, reinforced with its own pole, forms a nine-square-foot vestibule over one door and a sunshade over the other. Large screen panels keep the interior fresh. Other big-tent features include a fly vent and foul-weather tie-downs—even a clear skylight. The three-season Aurora could use two more inches of sitting headroom, but
that's a quibble in a neat design. Like the concept but need more space? The model also comes in two-, three-, four-, and six-person sizes.
2. Moss Starlet GT ($380) 800-550-8368; www.mosstents.com. Many "convertible" tents fall short of year-round versatility—they're too heavy for summer or too flimsy for winter. But not the Starlet GT. In its basic two-pole
configuration with the screen ceiling open, it's a breezy, six-pound, nine-ounce shelter for two. But zip up the roof and clip in the third pole, and the Starlet is like a Humvee stuck in the mud: Nothing moves it (and at eight pounds, four ounces, it's still light enough to take climbing). Shoulder room is tight, but the 35-square-foot floor offers
parking space for two horizontal humans, and the ten-square-foot vestibule adds weatherproof storage. There's even a clever mud mat for your boots that unfolds from a pocket near the door.
3. Kelty Jetstream 2 ($330) 800-423-2320; www.kelty.com. This year you're climbing Aconcagua, next year you're cycling the Maine coast. Surprise, you don't need two tents: The convertible Jetstream (see photo on previous page) can
handle it all. The basic structure is a two-pole, 37-square-foot dome for two campers, with a choice of two flies to cover it all. The "softtop" fly forms two vestibules and gives you a six-pound, ten-ounce three-season backpacking tent. The "hardtop" fly utilizes two extra poles to form a rigid, wind-shedding igloo (total weight nine pounds, one
ounce). Unfortunately, the hardtop is frustrating to pitch, and ventilation is poor—deficiencies not shared with the softtop—but you're still getting two tents for the price of one.
4. The North Face Roadrunner ($250) 800-447-2333; www.thenorthface.com. The five-pound, eight-ounce Roadrunner pitches so fast you can practically put the thing up between raindrops. Slide two poles through sleeves into the
end-pockets, snap the near ends into grommets, and the canopy is up. Install the fly (its webbing is color-coded for efficiency), slide in its short tensioning pole, and stake out the large vestibule to finish the job. My time after two tries: less than three minutes. Inside, there's 33 square feet for two people under a half-screen canopy, and each
camper gets his or her own door. The ultralight construction restricts winter use, but for three-season backpacking or bicycle touring, the Roadrunner is an excellent bet.
5. Noall Mountaineer III ($530) 909-659-4219; www.noalltents.com. Like a bespoke suit from a London tailor, the Mountaineer III (the "III" stands for three people; there's also a II) is made to your specs: a lightweight or a
heavy-duty floor; feathery .380-inch diameter poles or stout .490-inch versions; a standard fly or one with a UV-proof titanium dioxide coating. However you choose to customize, the standard nine-pound, 15-ounce Mountaineer III is loaded with thoughtful details like flow-through ventilation even with the fly zipped tight, two doors with screen and
ripstop panels that zip open separately or together, 46 square feet of floor space, and two big vestibules. Three poles help ensure that the Mountaineer III lives up to its name—next to the Moss, this was the most robust four-season tent we tested.
6. Mountain Hardwear Skyview 3 ($450) 510-559-6700; www.mountainhardwear.com. If designing a quality tent requires some degree of genius, the creators of the three-season Skyview deserve a MacArthur Award. The Skyview
encloses 60 square feet—plenty of room for three—and its 21-square-foot vestibule can hold a St. Bernard. But it's still light enough (ten-pounds, one-ounce) to pack in a sea kayak. You can stake it out before setting it up, so it pitches quickly even in a breeze. Tug on the fly tensioners and it barely hums in the wind. The doors are
tall enough to walk through in a crouch. But the nicest feature of all is a skylight for stargazing, built with a zip-up ceiling screen for mosquito country, and a transparent panel for when wet weather moves in.
7. Sierra Designs Mondo 5 CD ($450) 800-635-0461; www.sierradesigns.com. Family expansion forced you to trade the beachfront condo for a house in the 'burbs? No worries. With the three-season Sierra Designs Mondo 5 CD you won't
have to give up your front-row view of the outdoors—call it your mondo condo. Its vast 82 square feet of floor sleeps two adults and three kids without any "his elbow is touching me!" screams, and the 20-square-foot vestibule holds everyone's boots. The Mondo's dome construction offers five feet, nine inches of standing headroom, while its
.380-inch poles still make for admirable wind resistance. Weighing 12 pounds, you can let one of the kids lug it without guilt—or just toss it in the back of the family truckster when you need to get away.
Jonathan Hanson wrote "The New Classic Walking Safari" in the May issue of Outside.
