Thank you, everyone. As always, your wisdom and guidance is likely more appreciated than you know. After reading through everything, I've decided to drop either of these two tent options - or, at least, put them on the back burner - and wait to find a lighter tent. Besides the great reviews, the reason these two tents were my main choice was because they allowed the fly to be set up before the main body - a definite advantage when you're caught in the rain. Plus a great price (around the $150 mark). At that price, though, I definitely knew there'd be a trade-off and that trade-off seemed to be weight. In a moment of clarity (which happens less often these days), it occurred to me that my shelter - the one item I need to rely on to keep me safe from the elements while I sleep - should not be decided upon strictly by budget. So I'll continue to look. But now a follow-up question - freestanding tents all seem to be around the 4-5lb (and above) mark unless I want to spend $400 or more (and I don't). My reasoning for the freestanding is that, regardless of where I am, I could pitch the tent. So here's the follow-up - for those of you who have trekking pole tents or semi-freestanding tents, how often have you found yourself in a situation where you couldn't use stakes? I should add that the only trip I am planning where this could be an issue would be the GC rim-to-rim trail. Again, thanks!
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