German retailer that shipped it just seconds after our first contact. We really couldn't wait to try it out on the field: that's why yesterday we went in a close-by park and did the unboxing and a first set up of the tent.
We just received our Luxe Outdoor Habitat tent from theThe Luxe Outdoor Habitat is the best and lightest 2 person tent we owned so far, and has all of the characteristics we could wish for our backpacking trips: ultralight, roomy, double vestibule, high enough to comfortably sit inside, self-standing, double entrance.
It comes in two different colors, green and orange, and two models, standard or NX version. We chose the standard version, slightly lighter because the inner tent is completely in mesh, and green colour because more natural. It has a very similar setup to the MRS Hubba Hubba, but compared to it, the Luxe Outdoor Habitat is slightly lighter, cheaper, has 2 vents in the rain-fly, and it comes with the extra footprint for fly-only setup included.
Specifications
- 3 Seasons
- 2 Person
- 2 Entrances
- 2 Vestibules
- Dimensions: 205 cm L x 125 cm (6' 9" x 4' 1")
- 70 cm (2' 4")vestibule on each side
- 110 cm (3' 7") internal height
- 1.98 kg (4lb 5.8oz) packed weight including the extra footprint
- 1.68 kg (59oz) packed weight, tent only
- Single piece of frame with two 3 way connectors
- 2 vents in the outer fly
- 2 internal mesh pockets
- Yunan 7001-T6 aluminum pole
- 8 Y shaped aluminum pegs
- 68D polyester ristop outer fly with over 1500 mm water resistance
- 68D polyester taffeta floor with over 4000 mm water resistance
- Seam sealed
- Extra footprint for rain-fly setup only: 0.3 kg (10.6oz)
Unboxing and first assembly
Even if the design is not that usual, it was quite intuitive to understand how to setup the tent. The single pole is unfolding itself, and it's easy to insert the 4 ends in the eyelets of the inner tent . The cross pole on top, perpendicular to the main frame, has to be connected to two other eyelets, to give stability and increase the interior space. After that it's possible to easily attach all the plastics clips to the pole. The inner tent only set up, might be enough for a clear summer night, having the maximum ventilation and the possibility to stargaze through the mesh. In this set up I tried to push the frame, as visible in the video at the minute 6:33, and It was much more stable than I could expect.
These first steps to set up the tent were very easy, but I had some more problems to understand which way to lay the rain-fly on top, in relation to the entrances, since the rain-fly is basically symmetrical. Also for the rain-fly there are 4 eyelets in the corners plus 2 extra grommets on top to be connected to the cross pole. Now the tent is basically ready, and needs only to be staked down. I only used the pegs in the 4 midpoints, to see the rain-fly completely extended, but it's possible to stake it down also at the 4 corners. In particularly windy conditions, extra stability can be given by using the guy ropes provided.
Our first impression
We cannot say anything in relation to water tightness, durability, and wind behaviour, since we just unpacked it.
Even if we love so far this tent, we did find also some smalls imperfections. The two grommets on the top part of the rain-fly, are passing only through one layer of the fabric instead of two as it should be (look at the photo), but this was possibly only a problem of our item. Also in our package it is written for the packed weight 2.05 kg (4lb 8.3oz) instead of 1.98 kg (4lb 5.8oz): this small difference might be due to the different versions released
with improvements during time. In our precision scale it was showing 2.126 kg (without the extra fly) so slightly more than what declared in the package. The single aluminum pole can be folded easily, but because of the two 3 way hubs, it needs some trials and errors to pack it in a way that makes it use the minimum space possible. And as a last note, the tent bag is quite big: this makes it easy to pack the tent, but after it is inside, it is expanding and taking much more space than needed, if not compressed with the provided string.Our Conclusion
The Luxe Outdoor Habitat tent is a perfect match for a light backpacker, hiker or biker, that wants to invest in a quality tent. The Luxe Outdoor Habitat is light, roomy and stable, and is performing very well compared to the other options available in the market. We already owned in the past a Luxe Outdoor tent, so we have no doubts we'll be enjoying also our new portable home!