{"id":4144,"date":"2015-04-11T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-04-11T19:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=4144"},"modified":"2018-11-11T21:43:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T05:43:35","slug":"big-agness-new-mtnglo-tent-series-lights-up-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/big-agness-new-mtnglo-tent-series-lights-up-2015","title":{"rendered":"Big Agnes\u2019s New mtnGLO Tent Series Lights Up 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture a serene meadow a few miles off the trailhead. The sun has just set, the stars are winking, and, while you\u2019re out scouring for firewood, your tent is aglow in the distance.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not a lantern, headlamp or flashlight illuminating the interior of your tent; it\u2019s the new Big Agnes mtnGLO\u2122 Tent Lighting Technology<\/a>\u2014a thin, ribbon-like strand of tiny LED lights sewn into the top seam of your tent to give you better visibility. They eliminate the inevitable scramble to find your headlamp minutes after it gets too dark to see it. And, the LEDs are just dim enough that if you turn them on in the middle of the night as you head out to use the john, your tentmate won\u2019t wake up.<\/p>\n

Big Agnes has always been known for innovation. Launched on an out-of-the-box sleep system in 2001, in which an inflatable sleeping pad was attached to the bottom of a sleeping bag via a sleeve, Big Agnes, based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is also known for its spacious and lightweight tents. Over the years the brand has designed all sorts of creative solutions for camping, from backpacking tents with car-camping-style headroom to two<\/em> zipperless tents\u2014one with magnetic closures and another with hooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dumb enough to throw something out there if we think it\u2019s a cool idea,\u201d says Bill Gamber, co-owner and co-founder of Big Agnes. \u201cWe don\u2019t worry about what the consumer is going to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sitting in his office on the second floor of Steamboat Spring\u2019s BAP! Store\u2014a cute little red house that serves as the brick-and-mortar location for Gamber\u2019s original company, Bwear Action Products (BAP), a collection of locally hand-sewn outdoor base layers. He started BAP with a pair of handmade bike shorts that he sold out of his college dorm room.<\/p>\n

Gamber\u2019s dog, Lola, a sweet-faced black lab, periodically pops up from where she lies to demand a head scratch. The office is unassuming\u2014there are 1990s posters taped to the walls, piles of paperwork\/catalogs\/doodles\/scratch paper cover Gamber\u2019s desk, a pair of alpine-touring skis hold court in the corner, and the carpeting, with images of the solar system, is hard to miss. It\u2019s obvious that Gamber, whose mind obviously never shuts off, spends a lot of time outside, which is exactly where the president of an outdoor gear company should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make gear that we want,\u201d says Gamber, after talking about endless days of testing gear in the millions of wilderness acres surrounding Steamboat. \u201cWhen we started with tents, we made them for backpacking. Then we started having kids, so we had to make them bigger for car-camping. That\u2019s our research\u2014using it, not market research. We take the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, the mtnGLO tent\u2019s risk in terms of response seems narrow. Released in February, 2015, the mtnGLO integrated lighting system graces 14 tents, including 13 brand new designs. That\u2019s one-third of Big Agnes\u2019s entire tent line. Upon showcasing the technology for the first time at the Outdoor Retailer summer 2014 trade show in Salt Lake City\u2014the biggest biannual gathering of the outdoor industry\u2014Outside <\/em>magazine awarded the Rattlesnake SL2 mtnGLO<\/a> a Gear-of-the-Show award, a prize reserved for products that the magazine, an authority on outdoor gear, can\u2019t wait to test.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actual idea of putting lights in a tent isn\u2019t our unique idea. Every tent designer has thought of that,\u201d says Gamber, explaining how their design process works. \u201cIt\u2019s been my obsession for the past five years. Then, one day we had a string of LEDs so we set up a tent and that was it. With LEDs, you can bring a lot of light for not much expense, weight or need for power.\u201d The idea gelled well with Big Agnes\u2019s overarching vibe: the creature comforts of home in the backcountry.<\/p>\n

Also sold as an accessory kit for any tent that has loops along the seam lines, mtnGLO has caused a bit of a controversy in the outdoor media. On one hand, the technology is winning awards from notable publications. On the other, purists are arguing that bringing lights into the backcountry is polluting an otherwise pristine environment. \u00a0Gamber, who has lived off the grid for 25 years and is exceptionally aware of and efficient with his power use, tells me the bloggers are saying Big Agnes is creating a laser light show out there.<\/p>\n

So, how bright are they really? After the interview with Gamber, I head over to one of Big Agnes\u2019s shipping warehouses\u2014there are a handful sprinkled throughout Steamboat Springs\u2014where the marketing team has one set up. They turn the lights off in the warehouse and click on the lights in the tent. You\u2019d have to strain to read a book under these rice grain-size lights, but sorting gear or playing cards would be doable. Laser light show? Nah. A headlamp, with its spot beam shooting around the woods, is probably more on par with a light show.<\/p>\n

Conveniently, the LED strand\u2019s on\/off switch sits on a matchbox-size controller in a pocket near the top of the tent door. With two settings\u2014on and 50% brightness\u2014the LEDs are powered by three AAA batteries. Or, you can hook up the strand to a USB source like a solar panel. The lights can run for more than 90 hours and only add a slim 2\u20136 ounces, depending on whether you buy a tent with one or two strands.<\/p>\n

The Gilpin Falls Powerhouse 4 mtnGLO tent, with two strands of lights, features a Joey T55 portable power source instead of the battery-operated controller\u2014similar to what you find in, say, Timbuk2\u2019s power-equipped laptop bags. You can bypass batteries as well as charge your phone, tablet or any other USB-powered device.<\/p>\n

Through May, all 14 mtnGLO tents are available exclusively at REI<\/a>\u2014from a $250 backpacking tent to the $600 car-camp-friendly Gilpin Falls 4 mtnGLO. The collection has a size and price for just about everyone. Two styles\u2014the Rattlesnake and Chimney Creek\u2014will continue to be exclusively sold at REI<\/a> through June 1 and August 1, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture a serene meadow a few miles off the trailhead. The sun has just set, the stars are winking, and, while you\u2019re out scouring for firewood, your tent is aglow in the distance. There\u2019s not a lantern, headlamp or flashlight illuminating the interior of your tent; it\u2019s the new Big Agnes mtnGLO\u2122 Tent Lighting Technology\u2014a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[368,437,87,277,138],"internal-tag":[502,1672],"class_list":["post-4144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camp","tag-big-agnes","tag-camping-tents","tag-colorado","tag-gear-review","tag-united-states","internal-tag-ali-carr-troxell","internal-tag-pre-redirect-camp"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/camp\/big-agness-new-mtnglo-tent-series-lights-up-2015","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Big Agnes\u2019s New mtnGLO Tent Series Lights Up 2015","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/big-agness-new-mtnglo-tent-series-lights-up-2015","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/big-agness-new-mtnglo-tent-series-lights-up-2015"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/04\/DSC04702-crop.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/04\/DSC04702-crop.jpg?fit=1500%2C997"},"articleSection":"Camp","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Angela Crampton"}],"creator":["Angela Crampton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["big agnes","camping tents","colorado","gear reviews","united states"],"dateCreated":"2015-04-11T19:00:19Z","datePublished":"2015-04-11T19:00:19Z","dateModified":"2018-11-12T05:43:35Z"},"rendered":"