Asolo Astro 2 Tent - 2012 Overstock

Comments about Asolo Astro 2 Tent - 2012 Overstock:

I just used this tent for a two week solo motorcycle trip (car camping). I really enjoyed this tent over my old single walled (Eureka) tent. I never got any moisture on the inside of the tent. The inside of the rain fly was the only place moisture collected. I learned to tear down the tent while leaving the rain fly up. Once the tent was down I was able to wipe the rain fly down (inside and out) and get it dried off pretty well before packing it up for the day.

I searched the web for many many hours and struggled with the price of some of the tents that provided the features I wanted. The Asolo Astro 2 touched on everything I wanted at a price that was much more aggressive then competitors. There wasn't many reviews on this tent so I took a chance and am very happy with it. This tent provides: two doors, two vestibules, minimalist setup option, lots of mesh-screen to keep you cool on the hot nights and the bus out, venting in the rain fly on both sides, gear loft, gear pockets on all 4 corners, a bath tub floor that's not too high allowing for good airflow while your trying to sleep. The setup is quick and easy as is the tear down. I couldn't find a foot print for this tent so I bought the REI Campdome 2 and it works fairly well. I had never had a foot print before, but will never setup a tent without one again if possible.

Also this is a free standing tent. The weather was pretty good (except for some rain) while I was out so after the first couple days I didn't stake down the tent other than the rain fly.

My biggest negative is the stakes that were included. I accidentally stepped on one and bent it easily and also they only included 6, if you want to use your guy-lines you'll need a couple more. Also I don't know if I'm not setting the tent up correctly or if condensation is just going to happen, but I thought with the ventilation this tent provided I didn't expect any on the rain fly, but it was pretty wet every morning, but like I said I figured out a way to handle that.

**Notice** If your over 6' this tent might be to small for you, but the walls are pretty vertical so 6' to 6'2" might be ok. I'm 5'10, 225 and fit just fine even with all my gear.

Comments about Asolo Astro 2 Tent - 2012 Overstock:

Asolo makes great boots, not tents. For the price, I was really hoping this would be a decent lightweight tent. Unfortunately, there are a number of design flaws. I'll try to be detailed below, because there are no other reviews for this tent yet.

Out-of-the-box comments:

Pros = large floor area, 4 mesh pockets inside + large canopy.

Cons = (see below)

1. REI provides a fly/footprint weight, but Asolo does not make a footprint for this tent. I called Asolo's customer service to verify this.

2. The doors are difficult to unzip with one hand. Given the design of the tent, there's not much tension at the base (i.e., along the floor, from corner to corner). So when you pull on the zipper the floor/walls of the tent move with you. If you spend a lot of time in the mountains, you know how irritating this can be. That said, with some weight in the tent this may not be a huge issue.

3. There are no loops to roll up the doors of the tent. When the doors are unzipped, they just lay on the ground, making them susceptible to being stepped on, yanking on the seams where they attach to the tent, or having dirt ground into them.

4. The point in the door where the zipper starts/stops is tucked behind the flap of the rain fly that gets staked into the ground (rather than the side you roll back/leave free), making it that much more difficult to bend down and reach the zipper when you're outside of the tent. This wouldn't be an issue if the doors had two zippers, because you could effectively make the start/stop point anywhere you want, right? But one of the doors only has ONE zipper (while the other has two).

5. The 'ridge' pole is awkward to set up. It attaches to the the fly itself, not the tent (via two grommets and one velcro loop on the inside of the fly). In order to get the pole into those grommets, you either need 1) two people, or 2) to place the fly/one end of the pole on the ground so you can put weight on the pole to bend it. Not a huge deal, unless you're in dry and dusty climate and don't want to grind dirt into the seams of your fly (and there are several seams right where the grommets are). Even if you place one end of the pole on the toe of your boot (rather than on the ground), you'll end up having to lay most of the fly on the ground. Personally, I try to take the fly right from the bag to the top of the tent (again, to avoid dirt in the seams).