From camper trailers to swags – there are so many ways to camp. A quality tent, like the Snow Peak Tortue Light, will stow in any vehicle and store at home in a small space making it a great choice for many.
With dome tents when it comes to durability the first thing we look at is poles. Thin fibreglass or aluminium poles with a lot of flex will often indicate that the tent will move a lot in wind. These flexible poles are known to flex, then break in stronger winds.
The Snow Peak Tortue Light has oversized and stiff aluminium poles. The poles are shaped in the factory to follow the curves of the tent so they don’t have to be flexed so much.
The tent shape is designed to handle wind, the fabric is cut well (it doesn’t flap), and the guy ropes are well positioned – so together with the sturdy poles it seems to handle the wind superbly. For this trip we were camped near the coast in SW WA – it wasn’t a storm but it was really windy, and the tent wasn’t ruffled at all.
The living area of the Tortue Light is enormous. The big windows and front entrance can be zipped all closed, all open or into a giant bug fresh mesh room.
The sleeping area likewise has giant windows that can be closed, or all mesh for the warmer weather. The pictured mattress is equivalent to a queen size mattress, and there is still plenty of space for gear.
Setting up this tent is straight forward. The main poles are colour coded – red pole section goes to red rope, and black pole section goes to black rope – the rest is straight forward.
The Tortue Light is 18.5kg and stows to an impressively compact 73 x 30 x 30 cm.
