ALPS Mountaineering  Mystique 1.5 Tent

I have the older comet version (different color rain fly) and I've used it several times for short hiking trips, motorcycle camping, and just got back from a longer solo hike. For Motorcycle camping this tent is great, the small packed size means it fits in my side cases with ease. With the additional space I'm to store gear in the tent with me over night. For hiking this has been a good tent; its easy to set up, fairly light, I'm able to keep the backpack in the tent with me, and it has (3) storage pockets. The downside is it really lacks head room to sit up and read, this coming from a guy that's 5'6".

I bought this last summer for an archaeological field school throughout Wyoming for 3 10-day sessions. Rained pretty hard each one, and the tent held up really nicely - so no complaints there! My only complaints are the height of the tent and the guylines. I am 5'3" and it was a bit tight with my 70 liter pack and sack. If you're not comfortable getting dressed laying down or outside of your tent, the peak height (3 ft) will be too small for you. The guylines were a bit hard to attach to the stakes but I made it work with some help. Overall, super easy set-up and can't complain all too much for my first backpacking tent! ALPS has definitely become my favorite brand for tents - very reliable! Thank you!!

I bought this tent for a 2 month camping trip in British Columbia. I was very nervous about whether this tent would really prove to be waterproof, but it certainly was! Nothing inside my tent ever got wet - and this is in BC, where it's always damp. The tent is very small. I'm a 5'5'' ~115lbs female and this tent was great for me, lying down. This isn't a tent you want to be spending a lot of time in, it's really just for sleeping. If I wanted to change in the tent I had to do so lying down. I also didn't need to store my big camping pack in the tent with me - if I had, things may have been too snug for my liking. But, for my situation this tent was perfect. I never review things but the fact that this tent kept me dry for two month in BC made me feel like I needed to say something!

I've camped in this tent on numerous trips on the East Coast over the past 2 years. This tent is cozy but durable. The rainfly survived a massive storm during a beach trip. After 36 hours of rain it was mostly dry inside. With how much rain and wind was thrown at us, I was delightfully surprised at its performance. I was concerned the tent would fall apart since we were staked in sand, but it was no problem for this tent. The rainfly creates extra covered room for shoes and packs. Inside the tent is just enough room for 2 small people or 1 large person. If you're tall, I'd buy a bigger tent. This tent is only good for sleeping and star gazing; you can't stand-up inside. The tent packs down small and is lightweight.

I reviewed this tent last year, then they didn't have them for a while. Now they got more in and my review no longer shows. Anyway I'm 6' 2", when I tried out the tent in my yard both my head and feet were touching the walls when I laid on my back on a standard therma-rest type pad and sleeping bag. I imagine if you were about 5' 6" or less it would be fine, seems well made and plenty of storage when going solo, but I never camped in it because it was not long enough for me.

Great backpacking tent. Would be the perfect tent with three little fixes. 1) The rain fly doors should have a double zipper like the mesh doors, this way you can control venting much better by adding a small opening at the top or middle, the current zipper when closed is at the bottom near you feet. This would also allow you to poke your head outside to see around more easier. 2) There needs to be a zipper on the mesh to access the vent in the rain fly from the inside. 3) the floor saver should match the foot print of the rain fly as well, no just the sleeping area. With this said I give this tent 4 out of 5 stars

I bought this to replace an old $30 2-person tent I got from Target years ago, as I wanted to downsize/lighten my pack while going for a better quality tent for my backcountry trips. This was not that. Granted, it is compact and lightweight which is good, but the build quality felt so weak and wobbly I didn't even feel like it would hold up in my front yard if a stiff breeze came through. Also, the material (although I'm sure it is) didn't seem waterproof at all...again, it just felt like a really cheap and flimsy tent. Not to mention the lack of a built-in footprint (which some people like; I prefer it to be built in) was kind of a turn-off for me. All in all, I'd definitely suggest extending your search to a different brand. REI brand usually seems good for the price (probably what I will go with for my next purchase)

I bought this tent a few years ago and was finally able to use it last weekend (I had thought I would be going on many solo trips, however when the wife went for her first trip, she was hooked - no solo trips for me!). Weight - The tent packs up small. With all of the bags that come with it (tent poles, stakes, and footprint), there is a lot of weight (relative) you can shed just by removing their individual bags. I kept the stakes in their own bag, but removed the others and it worked for me. Setup - The tent went up with no problems. There are just two poles (this isn't a free standing tent), each slips through one of the shown roof peaks. The larger set of poles also have 1 set of clips to pull the sides of the tent out once it is lifted. The poles form the general shape of the interior space and rise as you pull the ends outward. The footprint (not included) is the perfect size (fits just under the tent, nothing hanging out to catch rain) and seemed to be made of good material. The rainfly went on easily, snapping into the tent base and easily tightened. If needed, there are two guy lines and associated stakes included. They attach to any of the guy outs located on the rainfly. However, for this trip, they were not needed. Design - There are mesh walls all around. When the rainfly doors were open, I received plenty of air. The vent at the top is large and easy to manipulate and helps with condensation. There are two doors and two vestibules, which made life easy when there was a short rain. I was able to put my camp chair and kitchen items in one vestibule while my shoes and rain gear were in another. I had plenty of room under the rainfly but out side of my, dry, sleeping area. My only contention is the location of the doors. Don't get me wrong, they are large, well ventilated, and run the length of the side of the tent, from the large pole to the small pole. Personally, I'd prefer the doors to be on the other side of the large pole, allowing for me to enter through the tallest part of the tent. Of course, the door would be thinner. I'm sure there is a design reason the other side was chosen - I could think of two - 1. perhaps if the door was moved, another pole would be needed at the top as the tent gains its structure from the poles and walls, I'd assume bad things would happen if you were to pull the zipper against nothing - 2. with the door running the length of the tent, more airflow is available when the rainfly is open. Size - I'm 6'2", 220 lbs. and I sleep on a REI 3.5" sleeping pad (just fits me, maybe an inch shorter than I'd like). I was able to fit me, this pad, and my pack in the tent, top to bottom (pack was at my head, lying horizontal and on it's back). I was able to use the pack as an extension of my pillow. I also had more than enough room on either side of the pad, near the doors, for my other items (book, water bottle, etc.). Rain - On my trip I experienced a little bit of rain. Nothing major and it was certainly not driving rain. The rainfly doors have a little extra flap and a bit of Velcro on the tips, near the foot of the tent. This flap hangs down allowing you to unzip the door half way, attach the Velcro, and keep the door open when the rain isn't bad. This allowed for much needed air. When it started to rain harder, I zipped up and was completely dry.