Wilderness Equipment Second Arrow 20D

[Bluegum Mic]

I've decided to start my report of this tent now as there is very limited info on usage of the new updated Wilderness Equipment Second Arrow (I will refer to it as 2nd arrow from here on). I have been eyeing this tent off for a while now as the weight has been dramatically decreased for what is a great sturdy tent. For me this tent will come as close to a 'jack of all trades' tent as I'll get for my intended usage. It is now light, packs down to an impressively small package (probably more important to me than weight), it can be used year round and can be ventillated well due to the front and rear tensioning coming off the poles ie the tent can be opened right up and still maintains strength and integrity (stock image below)

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When I realised my local store had it on sale for $170 off rrp I decided to go and check it out. The moment I held it in my hand...well its home here with me now

Preliminary thoughts-
I'll start by giving my first impressions then add to this thread the more use it gets. It unfortunately won't be used on snow until September so I doubt it won't see too much 'angry' weather before then but you never know.

As I said above when I first saw the 2nd arrow I was impressed with its packed size. It is nice and light and comes in a great stuff sac that fits the bill. On my little scales it came in at 1.79kg from the shop (ie plastic wrap still on poles and elastic around pegs). Whats intrigued me the most is this is a serious step away from what I've seen of Wilderness Equipment tents. I previously owned their I-Explore winter tent and found it to be heavy, very well made (perhaps a little too well??) and very bulky to carry. The new 2nd arrow has gone for a lighter 20D fabric plus the inner tent floor is not as heavy as the previous version plus the hardwear on the tent has been trimmed right down. It has DAC featherlite NSL poles and the pegs are pretty stock standard. Will this prove to be too light for it to maintain its bombproof reputation. That I'm unsure of. But for a gal who mostly bushwalks here n there with the occaisional need for a 4 season tent above the snow line it should (hopefully) do me quite nicely =D

[Bluegum Mic]

Here are some more photos. Let me know if I've resized them too small as I had to adjust them for tapatalk

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[Lizzy]

Very thorough Mic! Looking forward to hearing how it goes in the wild.

[Bluegum Mic]

I unfortunately forgot to take some photos of it when I had it out the other weekend but here is a few shots of it pitched in the yard



Conditions were exceptionally benign the other weekend (no wind, no rain, no condensation) so nothing to report however I'll have it out on the main range in January so I'll report back (and be sure to remember to take some pics)

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[Scottyk]

Great review
Should get this repotted to the reviews section, it needs some more topics

[Moondog55]

How does it stack up compared to the Macpac Minaret in your opinion

[sambar358]

I had the previous version on the WE Second Arrow for a couple of years and found it too short in the floor at just a tad over 2000mm. I understand that the current version is longer in the floor but not sure by how much......hopefully by 30-40cms at least. I also had issues with the door zip not staying fully closed with a taut pitch as where the base of the zip meets the main roof panel seemed to be a point that took a lot of the force of the vestibule pitch. My tent zips on both sides always seemed to creep open by 150mm or so no matter how I fiddled with the pitch. My Second Arrow just came with a bare-minimum peg set too....6 I think....which was just enough to peg-out the tent but not all the guy-outs. Annoying to have to buy another bunch of pegs to do a complete pitch, but not something confined to WE tents....insufficient pegs seems pretty standard these days.

My main go-to winter backpack tent is an older NZ-made Minaret in OD green......used this a lot in some pretty lousy weather at times and never had any issues at all. Pitches tight, very weatherproof, great floor, roomy for one and goes up fast. If I was to be seriously picky my only criticism of the build would be the door vent guy-out which is dead centre over the door and this can cramp the entry a bit.....current Minarets do this differently and there is no obstruction in the entry. A bit heavy by LW standards at about 2.6kg but the upside is that it's a bomber of a tent and I feel very secure in it when hunkered down in bad weather. Cheers

s358

[Franco]

"insufficient pegs seems pretty standard these days"
To be fair , manufacturers can't win.
Lets say that you would be happy with 10 pegs.
Some will object having to pay for 10 pegs (nothing is free...) because they already own 60.
(before I became part of TT I already had over 100...and I am not the only one like that)
Others would be OK with a bare minimum of 6 because they intend to take a mix anyway .
Others will simply ditch those pegs because they don't like them
Others still will want 12 to have a minimum 2 to spare....

BTW, this is not to say that you are wrong or alone in the way you think, it is about how hard it can be to please everyone or most.

Anyway Mic, great pitch...

[Moondog55]

Only 100 pegs?
Do the metre long lengths of star picket for the bigger tents count or are we only talking UL pegs and stakes?
Maybe tent makers should state that the tent as packaged only has "Minimum pegs included" and then offer a range of extra pegs?
Personally I never see the point in selling an expedition tent meant for snow and ice with those skinny 100mm aluminium skewers and almost always buy really long pegs anyway
I think the Minaret came with a dozen short pegs

[wildwalks]

I just moved this great thread moved to gear reviews forum, seems to fit better.
thanks

Matt

[johnrs]

Good tent this one!
Took it and the older model to the Arthurs over Xmas.
In terms of materials and weight the Minaret is now a generation behind.
And the new model Second Arrow is now longer at 220cm
with increased width and height.
Good for me and partner at 183cm and 100kg.
Good for ski touring too.

Its as Bombproof as you can go with a two hoop tunnel design with 20 Denier fabric for 2kg.
Needs a groundsheet.
A tripole design like a Una or Dome or Olympus will be stronger but heavier..........
John

[Gingerbread Man]

Hi there.

I'm looking at maybe buying this tent and wondered how your January trip went and if you have anymore thoughts on the tent, good or bad.

Thanks!

[Tortoise]

G'day GBM,

It's a bit hard, as people differ so much. I bought the current Second Arrow from an interstate shop I visit now and then, on the proviso that I could return it having sussed it out in the lounge room with the sleeping mats we use etc. I hummed and haa-ed for a few days before returning it. I really wanted it to work, but even though I'm short (153cm) and the friend who I'd share the tent with most often is not hugely taller than me, I decided that for a snow-worthy tent, I'd be happier with the First Arrow. So I bought that instead, and have been very happy with my choice.

But, I'm someone who's sleep is disturbed easily if somebody bumps me. I also like to avoid my down quilt touching the inner, as I usually walk in the mountains, and there's usually some condensation. I like having a bit more space if i'm tent-bound with a friend. So I'm prepared to share the weight and bulk of the bigger 500 gm heavier tent.

[Tortoise]

Same sized toggle goes through both these types of loops

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I also love the design, and have used various configurations of the vestibule closures depending on the weather.

However, I was really frustrated with the toggles. Some were too loose, which meant some fell out each time I re-pitched the tent using the integral pitch feature (leaving the inner and fly attached to each other). That usually meant an awkward crawl to reattach the ones that had fallen out (rather than undoing all of them and starting from scratch).

On the other hand, when I did want to take them apart (e.g. when the fly was drenched, or it was raining heavily when we were packing up), I wrestled with undoing another set of toggles, some of which were almost impossible when wet. These ones looked to me like they would be stretchy, but they aren't. it seems crazy that the same size toggle is meant to go through such differently-sized loops - no wonder some fall out and others I had to wrestle with! (Particularly hard with cold fingers.)

As another great design feature (you can enlarge the vestibule for cooking, and enlarge the inner area for sleeping) depends upon doing up and undoing these toggles, it was particularly frustrating.

My answer has been to partially sew up the loose ones, and unpick and oversew stitching on the too-tight ones. BUT, I really don't think I should have had to do that with a tent of this name/price/alleged quality. Am I the only one who had the problem? It is possible, but maybe not likely.

I also had the problem that one of the zip sliders was so hard to move that it was putting unnecessary strain on the tent (and on me as I tried to enter/exit the tent). That has happily been fixed under warranty - though I haven't yet tested it in the field, especially when it gets wet, which is when it used to jam completely.

iirc (which I may not), the toggles and loops were of similar design for both the First and Second Arrow.

Now I think the problems are fixed, I'm looking forward to this becoming a favourite tent of mine.

[johnrs]

A bit more on the Second Arrow
Have now used this in the snow and Western Arthurs,
at 183 cms its still a little short for me
so my bag touches the often damp tent inner
otherwise a very good 4 season tent!
John