Big Agnes  Copper Spur HV UL3 Tent

My husband and I and our two large labs took this tent for a trial run on the North Country Trail in Minnesota over Labor Day weekend. We had a late start and ended up setting up the tent in the dark by headlamp - no problem. We had only set it up once before a couple months earlier in our living room. One of our labs was ready for bed early so we put him in the tent and later heard him rustling around trying to get comfortable. We were nervous he would tear the thin material but it held up great. Love the two doors and vestibule. Plenty of room for two average sized adults and two bigger labs. Lots of features on this tent make for a comfortable experience in all kinds of weather. We couldn't be happier with this tent.

Love this tent! So light, easy to setup, and the small features are very thoughtful. Good pockets, breathability, and more. The UL3 is really enough room for 2 people, 3 would be very tight.

I brought our copper spur to the Boundary Waters Wilderness for a 5 day deep backcountry paddle. It’s quick to set up and take down, chock full of convenient storage overhead and on the sides of the tent, and super light. Durability wasn’t an issue at all, though I did pick up the footprint. Our last night we had a major thunderstorm roll through and our tent pad flooded with 3 inches of water. I thought for sure I was in for soaked gear, but the waterproofing was so solid the tent FLOATED on top of the water. I was super impressed and we were able to quickly unstake and relocate with no fuss. Enthusiastic 5-stars.

I am aware that this is technically not a 4-Season tent by spec, but I recently assumed the risk and took it on a winter backpacking trip anyways to see how it would do. After the way it performed I wanted to write a review. The tent held up to an incredible amount of wet heavy snow mixed with rain on day one. An absolute deluge of sloppy wet snow and the rainfly held up and kept us bone dry inside. The real impressiveness came from the way it handled an overnight storm that rolled in and dumped approximately 8-10 inches of snow by morning. We banged the snow off our tent about 2-3 times throughout the night but it never once showed signed of collapsing under the weight and withstood a couple strong gusts. I'm impressed with how strong this tent was considering the conditions we put it through. Considering it's ultralight fabric and overall low weight I'm pleasantly surprised with it's durability under pressure and know it will perform exceptionally well under the relatively benign treatment of 3 season camping in the future. Pull the trigger on this one.

This tent can not handle typical mountain conditions including much wind over about 15mph before it starts to cave in. We snapped a pole, ripped the fly, and also broke two of the tip-lock pole connectors in windy conditions. The winds were not even that bad, many gusts to maybe 30mph with sustained around 20. The tent was guyed out very well. I've camped in these conditions dozens and dozens of days/nights. The single hub design and long legs allow way too much flex. The long legs buckled inward almost touching with modest winds. The little velcro tabs in the corners look like after thoughts. Even minor winds 15-20mph folded them in. I purchased Copper Spur 3 tent in 2010 when they first came out. It performed flawlessly through that time. That included about everything Alaska can throw at it including heavy winds, rain, snow. I was 100% confidant in shelter. I upgraded to the latest model because it had a few nice amendments, and I thought I could trust BA given my history with the same tent. Boy was I wrong. The upgrades to this tent made it a car camping type tent. bring a solid patch kit, you'll need it, and hope you can find shelter somewhere else. A friend of mine also bought this tent based on my recommendation from the previous model. He had the EXACT same failures in similar wind conditions. He ended up duct taping a willow branch to the poles to keep them from folding in.

This is my primary spring and summer tent. It’s comically easy to setup and strike. It’s so roomy inside, you’ll feel like you’re in a suite, not a tent. There are storage pockets all over the place to keep your stuff off the ground. Ventilation is great. Weight is light enough to be a great backpacking option. The materials are strong but not entirely invincible. Weather resistance is good. I’ve been rained on pretty hard and buffeted by winds and stayed dry and comfy in this tent. My only complaint is that one night I had a surprise ice storm in this tent, and the connector clips for the poles were too weak to deal with that without bending. Big Agnes promptly replaced them for free, however.

This tent is awesome! Well designed and thought out. Vent on top keeps moisture out, mesh hangers are perfect for lights and/or gear you want off the floor. Two of us slept great in the 3 person tent with a little room for larger pads. Vestibule worked really well for storing packs and boots overnight and keeping them dry. Great, lightweight tent that sleeps 2 comfortably.

We bought this tent to lighten our load when backcountry canoe camping. It is quick and simple to set up, roomy enough for my husband and I and all our gear to shelter from the rain. The pockets are great for stashing books, glasses, lighter weight clothing. We were already pleased with this tent but last weekend it withstood a severe weather event that toppled trees and had our canoe airborne. It was flexible enough to bend in the 100km/hr winds with no damage to the poles, but we simply had to pop out one corner of the frame to have it lat flat while we sheltered in a safer location. One tiny hole in the fly from a flying branch. Very impressed.

We've used this tent just once so far and main use will be Bikepacking. It is very light and was easy to set up. The featherlight aluminum is pretty amazing. The tent has plenty of small pockets to stash your goodies in, and as we got a three person tent for two of us there is lots of room. I did note that the tent floor material was very thin and feels like it would easily puncture with a sharp object in the grass, so we are thinking about getting the footprint. These footprint now come with a bike-packing shape which is great (glad Big Agnes is keeping up with the trends).

We've used this tent for the last couple of seasons and love it for it's light weight, easy packability, quick set up and tear down, protection from bugs, and space. So much space for the weight. Split between two people, it is as light as most 1P tents but has tons of space for the two of us and lots of gear. Being able to easily sit up and move around in the tent is a real luxury that doesn't have to be sacrificed due to weight. The vestibule style fly makes it really versatile in terms of getting the right amount of ventilation and coverage for the conditions at hand. Reconfiguring if it starts raining or to open up and see the stars is super easy.