Portal 1

I have been doing some alpine hiking during 3 season weather for awhile and been on the search for wind worthy tent. A quick review fo the design, mfg. flaws, setup and performance. Design wise, it is easier to see why this can be nearly called a 4 season tent. The mesh inner and not able to bring the fly sides to the floor would be my sticking points. But for wind protection, it is there in spades based on seeing how the fly and inner attach at same point on the poles, and the inner tensioning system that crosses to bottom stake-out points. The multitude of guy lines gives it better capability. The Portal 1 only has a single vent which would wish to see an additional for better cross ventilation, but have more info on that below.

The available pockets on this tent is impressive. I used the 2 top and 2 corner by my head. I wish some tents offered more pockets but it is added weight. The sitting head room space is really nice, some tents all I do is rub my head/hat on the inner. Had 2 nights stayed in my tent for more than 12 hours and never felt claustrophobic. The vertical walls and ample inner room was nice to be inside. Bed and morning had no problems getting changed.

Mfg. defects - none, zero, zippo which has been the same as all other top level tents and glad to see this one is not lacking. We are fortunate to have great gear available.

Setup - to obtain a better wind performance than all other 3 season tents have seen, requires more attachment points between fly/inner and pole system. It is straight forward, but will take another minute or two. I always setup the tent with their footprint. First time, did not stake out the corners thus only then requiring staking out front door for ease of use (1 stake min). The rear of the tent would flap however so a second stake would be my min. I would suggest though trying to stake out the footprint at exactly where sleeping arrangement, then setting up the tent, with 6 stakes. By doing this, the tension on the fly was impressive, more than I've seen on my previous tents. Regardless of poor terrain (roots, stones) never caused the fly to loose tension. Would not be hearing any flapping on this tent.

Performance (Use) - all zippers and tensioners worked as expected. Could open outer fly and inner with one hand. Rolling the doors open and pinning used a cord lock and loop. It always required me to use 2 hands to pin and undo. The myriad of pockets were all usable, due to the tight tensioning of the fly and inner system. The pockets did not hang or droop as others. Found the pockets on this tent to best I've seen and useable. Accessing the tent with the vent open in place either required to duck lower or zip upper closed, or remove the vent. I encountered this only when doing the midnight dance after cocoa. If the fly was wet, I undid the vent and closed the upper zipper.

Performance (Rain) - Had 3 nights of rain with one solid downpour all night. I had 0 water intrusion from the rain. For the hard rain though, wish the fly could be lowered to ground all around. I could do it for the door (front) and rear, but near the sides, the rain cause mud splash back, but never reaching the mesh. Given this is a silnylon tent, I thought would be seeing loose panels by morning on the wet and rainy nights. The fly was still nice and tight. Did not witness any sagging.

Performance (Condensation) - With lows below 50 F every night, 3 with rain, 1 with fog/mist, I experienced condensation. But this is no different than seen in any other tent. The solid top section to add strength of the net inner did get wet and soaked, but not drop any water down below.Only had 1 night with no rain or high humidity, but temps dropped to 41 that night. I had no condensation, no moisture anywhere showing the single vent was capable, though still wish to see 2. Only time I was concerned with water getting on my quilt is during the hard downpours nocking off the condensation. By being very cognisant, I could feel it on my face every once in awhile. Again no different than other tents. That is only way I seen condensation touching the inner or causing wetness. Removing the fly though, did cause the inner to get wet due to the many attachments, it could not simply lifted off.

I never encountered any high winds to give a direct witness account, but based on my experience I see no reason why it would not stand up better than others I have tried. This is by accounts a 3.5 season tent as some have called, it meets my wind capabilities. I finally found my tent to have confidence to camp above treeline for days.