We purchased this tent in pursuit of the lightest two-person, double-walled, packs-away-into-the-smallest-space tent available. The Fly Creek had a top rating from Backpacker Magazine, and the specifications were the best for our criteria. So, we forked over the almost-$400 it cost to get one of these things.
The specifications for the tent are a packed weight of 2 pounds and 10 ounces, and a stuff sack dimension of 6″ x 19″. We also bought a footprint for the tent, which adds 5 ounces to the overall weight.
We carted the tent around for several months in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia; before finally using it on Western Australia’s Bibbulman Track. During twelve days of use, two of which were rainy, it performed well. On very cold nights, condensation was not a problem, thanks to the double wall construction. During fairly heavy rain, there were no leaks. Australia is the land of ticks and mosquitoes and biting flies, but we had no visitors. There were no tears or breakages. The interior is small, but not unmanageable for folks of our size (5’6″” and 5’4″, with both of us at the lower end of the weight scale for our heights).
Sure, twelve days ain’t much of a test, but we are satisfied so far, particularly given the light weight and small packing size. So far, the Fly Creek UL2 is a winner.
Update to this review, written on September 18, 2015:
This tent continues to impress us. We just used it on a backpacking trip in the Emigrant Wilderness, high in California’s Sierras. The high temperatures were in the 70’s, and the lows were in the upper 30s. It rained like hell on us an entire night, with lots of wind driving it. We even had hail at one point. The tent let not one drop through; and, as always, we loved the tent’s light weight and small packed size.
One note about getting sleeping mats for this tent: Make sure you check the width of two side-by-side mats against the tent’s width at its narrow (foot) end. We are using wide mats that we purchased before the tent, and they overlap toward the foot of the tent. It works, but narrower mats would be a better idea.
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