{"id":3260,"date":"2015-02-07T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=3260"},"modified":"2018-11-11T21:44:15","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T05:44:15","slug":"gear-review-big-agnes-rattlesnake-sl-2-mtnglo-tent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/gear-review-big-agnes-rattlesnake-sl-2-mtnglo-tent","title":{"rendered":"Gear Review: Big Agnes Rattlesnake SL 2 mtnGLO Tent"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re choosing a tent, you usually run through a list of questions while shopping.<\/p>\n

Is the tent three or four season? How many people can it hold? What\u2019s the packed weight? Do I really need to buy a footprint, too? Now you can add, \u201cDoes the tent have built-in lighting?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

The Rattlesnake and the Pacific Ocean.<\/em><\/p>\n

New for 2015, the Big Agnes Rattlesnake SL2<\/a> is a relatively lightweight three-season tent that features an easy, two-piece hub-pole setup and plenty of headroom for one person\u2014or two people who don\u2019t mind getting cozy. More interestingly, it also has a series of LED lights woven into the tent\u2019s interior fabric\u2014a feature Big Agnes calls mtnGLO.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

LEDs inside the tent fabric.<\/em><\/p>\n

The mntGLO lights in the Rattlesnake are positioned on the ceiling and walls near the tent\u2019s headspace and are operated via a small switch box with three AAA batteries. Big Agnes estimates fresh batteries will give you around 96 hours of light. The switch box also has a USB hookup if you want to split your power.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Light controller.<\/em><\/p>\n

On a recent beach camping trip, the tent was very quick to set up\u2014even after the sun had set. Although I was hoping to enjoy the very generous amount of visibility on the main tent itself, I set up the rainfly to prevent waking up soaked from the marine-layer fog. Once anchored, the rainfly snaps to the tent body and protected us quite nicely against some surprisingly strong overnight gusts.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Rainfly up.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Snapped to the main tent.<\/em><\/p>\n

The lights themselves are the main draw here, and when activated they cast a cool, moderate glow near the interior of the tent where your head would most likely be. The light isn\u2019t necessarily strong enough to read a book by, but for getting ready for bed and general winding-down-in-camp it\u2019s perfect\u2014not to mention that you won\u2019t ever have to worry about getting blinded by your tentmate\u2019s headlamp.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

The LEDs at night.<\/em><\/p>\n

The LED lights are waterproof and can handle a routine washing of the tent by hand, although Big Agnes recommends removing the USB adapter before you start scrubbing. The construction is very solid and durable, but for me at least it seemed like the zipper on the rainfly kept getting caught in the tent fabric when I was opening or closing the tent doors.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Simple two-pole construction<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

The zipper on the rainfly of the sample tent I used had a tendency to get caught.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

The visibility from inside the main tent is phenomenal.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re breaking camp, the tent packs up nicely into its original neon storage bag\u2014and you never have to worry about whether or not you\u2019ve forgotten to pack your tent lights.<\/p>\n

For numbers-minded campers, specifications are below:<\/p>\n