Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

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Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby zacharycbruce » Mon 21 Jun, 2021 8:04 pm

Hi all,

I see plenty of reviews for the WE First/Second arrow tents, but struggling to find any information at all about the TR-Trek tent. I don't think it's even on the WE website?
Anyone have any experience with this tent? Seems quite comparible to other trekking pole tents. Looking at using it 3 season in tassie anywhere from the coast to the plateau.

Cheers

Zac
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Fri 09 Jul, 2021 7:47 pm

I think maybe this tent is very new... it is available at some retailers though. Specs are very enticing! We're planning another tassie trip so I'm also very keen to hear any details if anyone has some inside info :)
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby Bam » Tue 13 Jul, 2021 12:28 pm

Last week I contacted Henry at Wilderness Equipment via email for further information on the TR-Trek whilst doing so I also mentioned that other members on this forum were also interested in finding out a few more details.

Below is the response that I received from Henry.

We haven’t managed to get the TR-Trek tent up on the website yet, but the spec sheet is attached (share with any and all). Paddy Pallin and Independently Owned WE retailers have this tent in stock Australia-wide, if anyone is trying to track one down: https://www.paddypallin.com.au/we-tr-tr ... le-ns.html

The TR-Trek tent is incredibly versatile, I’ve been using mine over the re-testing period (the last 3 years now) and it’s been superb. In Winter I use it fly only (not so many mozzies/snakes at that time), and in summer I’ve been using it with both inner and outer. The use of trekking poles makes it incredibly sturdy, and happy to stand up to very serious conditions. I can happily recommend it for use anywhere that wind blown snow isn’t an issue. Certainly Tassie high country would be fine.

I’m not a member of bushwalking.com, but please feel free to pass on this information.

I’m happy to answer any questions about the tent.

Warm regards,

Henry

Henry Kelsey: Director

Mobile Australia: +61 415 877 322
henry@wildernessequipment.com.au<mailto:henry@wildernessequipment.com.au>


TR-Trek Specs 2021.pdf
TR-Trek Specs
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby zacharycbruce » Sat 17 Jul, 2021 2:20 pm

Thanks Bam, handy information.

I've had a chance to take a pretty good look at the tent and I quite like it, but haven't seen similar tents in person to directly compare.

Would make a reasonably spacious 1p tent, a nemo tensor long/wide fits with a bit of room but anyone 6 foot+ is likely to have feet touching the inner. The mesh doors should keep condensation at bay. I do wonder how well you could lower the pitch to get the fly closer to the ground in heavy rain.

Seriously considering picking one for 3 season use and winter away from any serious snow. If I do I'll come back with my thoughts.
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Sun 18 Jul, 2021 11:30 am

Yes, thanks Bam.

I'm going to get in touch with Henry to see if they have a floorplan available and to check the inside height/headroom. Will report back here.

Zachary, it sounds like you've seen it in person? Did the walking poles get in the way of the doors? The single photo online looks like they might. And did the vestibules seem reasonably sized to fit 2x packs?

I'm trying to decide between the TR trek and Dan Durston Xmid 2P. The Xmid seems a bit hard to get your hands on, but is probably the frontrunner for me based on similar size and lower weight (~1kg). I think it may also have more headroom inside. Does anyone have experience with the Xmid in Tassie winter/alpine conditions? Any thoughts how the TR may compare?
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby zacharycbruce » Tue 20 Jul, 2021 9:05 pm

Hi Doppler,

I will be interested to hear Henry's response r.e. headroom. I'm not sure what height the tent is designed to be setup as. The setup in the two stores I visited definitely wasn't ideal. I think that it would pitch at very close to the same height at the xmid though (120cm-ish pole length).

I didn't feel the poles got in the way of the doors, I'm a fairly big guy (185cm+ and 100kg) and didn't feel I had to contort myself to get in the doors. The Xmid setup does seem better though.

Yes the vestibules seem fine for two packs. I'd be more concerned about the width for fitting two average sized people in the tent. I think, as with almost any two person tent, you would want to be well accquainted with your tent mate.

r.e. tassie alpine/winter conditions; I'm not sure- I doubt either would hold up in the most extreme conditions tassie has to offer. In sheltered spots without serious snow I imagine it would be fine. To satisfy my own curiosity I'll have a bit of a google of peoples experience using the xmid in rough weather.

I think the most important differences between the two tents are in the materials used. It's not clear to me what material is used for the floor on the xmid, but looks like the outer/inner are both made of 20d, whereas the TR-Trek uses a 50d floor, 30d outer and 20d innter. This must account for the majority of the difference in weight. It's also not clear to me what waterproofing the xmid has, the spec sheet only says 2500mm. TR Trek says 5000 for the floor and 3000 for the outer. How much practical difference this makes maybe someone more knowledgable could say.

Another difference I noted was the end guy lines on the TR-Trek, I think the Xmid doesn't seen to have these because of the irregular shape? I think these would help give a little more head/foot room in the tent and seems likely more tension in high winds.

Overall they both look like nice tents. I was certainly considering the Xmid too. The other thought was something like a lanshan for 2-3 seaons and a hilleberg for tassie winters.

Cheers,

Zac
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Tue 20 Jul, 2021 11:29 pm

Hi Zachary,

Thanks for the extra comments. Agreed that neither of these would be my pick for a winter trip, but I thought someone on here would probably have tested it out! We have an Olympus for winter, but it's just so damn heavy! I was considering one of the WE Arrows as a (somewhat) lighter replacement at some point.

Henry replied to my queries, full text below and drawing attached:

Thank you for your interest!

Dimension drawings for the TR-Trek tent are attached. The tent has two entrances / two vestibules, either side. Each vestibule is approximately 1.18m2 , more than big enough to store a pack/boots tucked out of the way, so you don’t have to climb over them entering or exiting the tent.

Maximum internal headroom is 1100mm.

Minimum number of pegs to pitch is 6.

The TR-Trek uses a tip-down pole orientation. The pole heads are secured in a shallow bucket, and then a touch tape (Velcro) strap is secured around the handle. This allows for secure installation of many different pole types, and even the use of a two piece kayak paddle (on sea kayaking trips) or a wooden bush pole. This method is preferable to the inverted pole method (which we have previously used to provide additional support to floating traverse ridge poles in our Space tents) as it keeps your handle clean, and also means no modification of the pole tips is required before pitching the tent (for example, removal of large rubber tips, or snow bails if using ski poles). I feel our system should be fine with the Pacer poles.


The last bit about the poles is because my wife and I use Pacer Poles, which have an unusual handle shape and I asked if Henry thought it would work with the pole attachment method on the TR.

So headroom for the TR at 1100mm seems very similar to the Xmid specs at 1140, as you mentioned.

I think these lighter tents are all pretty narrow considering 50cm wide mats and space for sleeping bags or quilts to loft without collecting too much condensation from the walls. But less material is party how they get the weight down! The TR is slightly shorter internally than the Xmid, so not sure about your comment re head/foot room. Agree about the tie-out points at the ends... I thought Dan had commented somewhere about being able to use 2x tie-downs at each end of the Xmid for better strength in high winds, but I can't see that at the moment.

Agree on your comments about material specs for the Xmid - I think it's all the same material for fly and floor. And the Xmid's bathtub floor is very low. I'm also wondering for the TR how much of the inner is solid vs mesh? It's hard to tell from the single photo online... I'll get back to Henry and ask about this.

One note from Henry's comments and the drawing provided - these both put the vestibule volume for the TR at approx 2x 1.1m^2, which is not what the previously linked spec sheet shows. I think this is a typo on the spec sheet.

Thanks again for your comments Zachary. I'll update when I hear back from Henry again.
Attachments
TR-TREK UL WEB DIMENSIONS.pdf
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby zacharycbruce » Wed 21 Jul, 2021 2:07 pm

I think it's difficult to compare the lengths given the odd shape of the xmid. The roof on the xmid does seem steeper so I think this would afford some extra head/foot room when laying down. And the design seems better for headroom overall.

That being sad I think for most people the TR would work. As a 1p almost definitely as the mat could sit diagonally.

I've seen the same comments about end timeouts for the xmid but can't clearly see them in photos.

On the TR, from memory the upper halves of the doors are mesh.

I'm 99% sold on picking one up, although it might be quite a while before I can give it a real field test.

Cheers,

Zac
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Sat 24 Jul, 2021 11:45 am

So I asked Henry for some more photos, since there's only one online. He provided some un-edited shots that haven't made it to the website yet:

TR-Trek-Both-Doors-Open-Low-Res.jpg
TR-Trek-Both-Doors-Open-Low-Res.jpg (22.86 KiB) Viewed 19477 times
TR-Trek-Door-Closed-Lo-Res.jpg
TR-Trek-Door-Closed-Lo-Res.jpg (21.39 KiB) Viewed 19477 times
TR-Trek-Inner-Door-Open-Low-Res.jpg
TR-Trek-Inner-Door-Open-Low-Res.jpg (22.09 KiB) Viewed 19477 times
TR-Trek-Outer-1-Low-Res.jpg
TR-Trek-Outer-1-Low-Res.jpg (20.01 KiB) Viewed 19477 times
TR-Trek-Outer-2-Low-Res.jpg
TR-Trek-Outer-2-Low-Res.jpg (21.46 KiB) Viewed 19477 times


And he confirmed that the inner is solid fabric (air permeable nylon) except for a mesh panel on each door. This has probably tipped me over the line in regards to TR vs Xmid... the Xmid inner is too meshy for my liking and the solid floor part is very low - doesn't inspire confidence in it's ability to prevent splashback under the fly in heavy rain.

For anyone interested in the Xmid, I did find Dan's comments about extra tie-outs:
you could add more peak guyouts to the X-Mid. You could deploy the current peak guyline off the short end, and then also tie a second line inside the peak near the grommet (there is beefy webbing in here to tie to - you could even tie directly to the pole). This line could run out the vent to anchor the long side. If you did those on both peaks so you had 4 lines in total, I bet you'd have a seriously bomber shelter. Especially if you also made use of the extra stake out points around the base (there is one near the center of the short sides and two on the long sides).

Full discussion here: https://drop.com/buy/drop-dan-durston-x-mid-1p-tent/talk/2290194

Like Zachary, I'll post back if/when we test out the TR.
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby Mark F » Sat 24 Jul, 2021 12:30 pm

Very similar to the Six Moons Designs Haven. Better vent, solid inner vs mesh, symmetrical vs slight offset of ridge line. I do like my Haven (in dcf). I wouldn't be touting it as suitable for snow - roof too shallow.
"Perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove".
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Sun 25 Jul, 2021 10:42 am

Thanks Mark, agreed with your comments.

I did a quick look around this morning and found the TR Trek for $500 at Offtrack.com.au! This is $130 cheaper than I'd seen elsewhere (Paddy Pallin, with membership discount). I couldn't resist! Will post again when it arrives!
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby ang » Sun 03 Oct, 2021 8:39 am

Hi dopplershift,

Wondering how you and your TR Trek are getting on? Initial thoughts and experiences?

I've been tossing up between the the TR Trek, DD X-mid, zpacks duplx, gossamer etc and struggling to pull the trigger on one. I think one of my biggest reservations is that my current tent has a poly fly rather than nylon and i love the way it doesn't absorb water (no sagging, dries quickly during the day etc).

Does anyone have any thoughts regarding nylon vs poly. I know the DD Xmid using a poly fly, the rest are nylon (ignoring the Dyneema ones).


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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby Andy99 » Sat 16 Oct, 2021 3:24 pm

Hi there,
I've owned one of these tents for the last 6 months or so.
Spent a week walking the Cape to Cape with it.
Very pleased generally. Lightweight considering the quality and durable materials.
A few minor niggles, i wish WE had added a few more guyline points, especially at the top of the trekking poles, door and inner tent toggles are painful.
I have experimented with pole length, 120cm is the sweet spot I feel although I have pitched it at 115cm in high winds and also lower at one side than the other (lower side into the wind) it seems to be very stable and not too draughty inside despite the air space around the fly.
Overall a good reliable companion and absolute luxury for a solo walker.
I'm happy to answer any questions.
Cheers
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Sun 17 Oct, 2021 10:44 am

Hi Ang,

Sorry for my slow reply. We haven't used ours on the track yet, just set up on the lawn.

Initial thoughts were that to keep the weight down, it's been made very compact. I guess as expected for this style of tent. The vestibules are quite small and given the pole placement, they're essentially split in half so that one half may be used for storing a pack (if it fits), but the other half needs to be kept clear to get in and out of the tent.

However, I find it hard to believe that the floor length matches its 2.1m specification. I'm 181cm tall and when lying on a mat both my head and feet were touching the inner lining. If you add a nice lofty sleeping bag and a small pillow then there will be heaps of contact with the tent walls... I'm pretty concerned about the amount of condensation I'll be collecting! Using the tie out points at the head/feet ends helped a little, but not much.

I agree with Andy99 that 120cm was about right for the pole height, but this felt like a bit of a stretch. It put a lot of tension into the fly, which may be beneficial for stability. But also this pole height resulted in the floor being pulled up in a ridge across the tent, between the poles. 115cm seemed a bit better in this regard. Also agree about extra tie-out points being beneficial. There were not pitching instructions with ours, which I thought a little odd but it wasn't too hard to get it worked out - just worth a bit of practice to get the poles setup how you like them,

As a summary, I agree that this seems like a great tent for solo use (not if you're especially tall though). It will be a bit tight for prolonged 2-person use and I certainly wouldn't want to be tent-bound for multiple days!
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby Franco » Sun 17 Oct, 2021 6:08 pm

"However, I find it hard to believe that the floor length matches its 2.1m specification."
1.jpg

You will probably find that if set up nice and taut the floor will be 2.1m long, HOWEVER that is not the usable space. It would be if the walls of the inner were vertical but at the angle they are ,you probably lose 15cm or so at each end making the usable space somewhere at around 180cm and that probably on a thin mat.
Just a guess...
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby dopplershift » Mon 18 Oct, 2021 9:28 am

Hi Franco, yes I think that's the issue. Using the guylines to pull the head/foot outwards definitely helped. I think I'm just surprised how little room I had given that I'm not particularly tall.
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby Franco » Tue 19 Oct, 2021 9:19 am

Same problem with mids. Many way underestimate how much room is lost with walls at a 45 degree slope.
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby JoePablo » Sun 27 Feb, 2022 1:32 pm

Hi. Belated input into discussion of WE TR Trek. I have used mine in dry but very windy conditions for a few nights so cannot speak about use in rain and snow. However, I do have some comments about internal space which seems main topic of discussion. For reference I am 5'10" and my partner is shorter. For us there was no issue with headspace when seated or lying. Trekking pole set up to 125cm as suggested.
With guys end walls are about 70 degrees. Also the floor of the tent is angled outwards at the ends so this adds to the headroom and footroom. My head was not close to the inner and also did not feel right above my head as with some trekking pole tents which do angle down at 45 degrees. For comparison the Trek is not like the Lanshan 1p in this respect which I have and used under snow loading.
There are a few niggles with the design. The corners of the inner floor are connected to the fly (as with other trekking pole tents) which is catenary cut. Due to these two features with strong winds the corners lift off and flap. I haven't yet looked into a work around or if one is possible. Despite the strong winds the tent didn't move anyway but adds to the noise inside tent. When lying with gear placed in the corners it was not such an issue.
The trekking pokes are in the middle of the fly rather than offset but I did not find this much of an issue for ingress/egress. I also liked that the doors were the same orientation on both sides unlike other tents.
One con I would say is the lack of pockets on the inner. For me it is not deal breaker but more or larger pockets would add to the tents' livability.
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Re: Wilderness Equipment TR-Trek Tent

Postby Camperfan » Mon 02 May, 2022 12:19 pm

Hi guys,
Just joined this great group with lots of info.

Like some advice between the TR-Trek vs Lanshan 1P if camping off main track in Tassie down in Walls or Mt Anne which I've never done before.

I went to store to check out the TR-Trek and love how easy it is to setup as compare to X-mid 2p and Lanshan 1 (which is also due to my lack of practice).

I am wondering if TR-Trek is worth the investment over Lanshan 1 which I bought but yet to test for slightly larger footprint and better resistant to windy and wet conditions?

Thanks in advance.

Dan
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