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Post by FarOutFarley on Sept 12, 2023 12:29:38 GMT -8
To my way of thinking, a tent’s color should be pleasant to look at and pleasant to spend time in when necessary. It should not mar the landscape. It should not reveal your presence when you don’t want to be noticed (which is always in my case). It should not make your tent and the gear in it stand out to thieves when you’re hiking away from your site during the day.
Colors that don’t meet those criteria: neon orange, lime green, bright red and blue, white, gray, black. That leaves basically forest green, tan, and rust.
I used to buy a new tent practically every year. I no longer do that because the colors nowadays are so abominable.
What’s that you say? You want to be spotted in a snow field by a helicopter when things go wrong for you on Annapurna? Fine. But I don’t.
Alps Mountaineering used to make tents in a nice mossy green:
Then they switched to orange:
Then last year I guess they went out on the street and took a poll of favorite tent colors and 75% of people said, “I really want a white tent”:
Whaaat? White??? Why???
My Kelty Trail Ridge takes the cake: It's white with lime green and orange accents. I've been scowling at it for 7 years. No more tents for me until green and tan come back.
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zeke
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Peekaboo slot 2023
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Post by zeke on Sept 12, 2023 14:46:10 GMT -8
Bright colored tents are more pleasant to spend a gloomy, rainy day inside all day. Easier for SAR also. I like a brightly colored tent, and have a nice grey tarp to cover it if I wish to be less visible.
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jazzmom
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Post by jazzmom on Sept 12, 2023 17:29:38 GMT -8
First and foremost, I choose tents for their functionality. I like some colors more than others but, overall, not fussed about it. I doubt that I would ever buy or not buy a tent just because of its color.
That said, I think gray is a good inobtrusive color. Why doesn't it meet your "criteria"?
ETA: Btw, give it a few months, your forest/hunter green is getting really trendy right now. I'm thinking you'll see green tents soon.
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Post by swmtnbackpacker on Sept 12, 2023 18:08:39 GMT -8
Customer preferences are important but also the manufacturers need to look at how tough a batch of fabric is for their designs, reading some other more gear centric websites (for a given thickness, some batches are stronger than others, which throws shopping by denier out the window for especially polyesters). Six Moons Designs has some forest green but more grays. Like jazzmom I like gray for its blending in out west, but also like it as it transmits the light better at sunrise (20d silpolyester anyways).
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 12, 2023 19:05:49 GMT -8
I'm looking at getting a brand new Durston X-mid-2. Does this meet the color requirement?
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driftwoody
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Post by driftwoody on Sept 12, 2023 19:16:14 GMT -8
I bought the Durston X-Mid 1 Solid, which comes in green.
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Post by georgeofthej on Sept 12, 2023 19:16:50 GMT -8
My newest tent, which I bought 2 years ago, is a light beige and, if I remember right, the manufacturer called the color "dirt." It blends in well in the wilderness.
But I'm kind of torn between blending in and standing out, now that I'm older and I backpack mostly alone. I think having some stand-out color could help people find and save me in an emergency. For now, I carry a couple small pieces of gear made from brightly colored material, such as a dayglow green beanie and an orange bandana. I recently bought a new pack that is a goldish/mustard color that is moderately conspicuous.
Although I'd hate to mess up the wilderness by putting up a tent that clashes with the scenery, I think I would probably go with such a tent if I were ever buy another one, just for my safety.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 13, 2023 5:40:37 GMT -8
We have a lot of gray rocks here in the NE. Once I went to take a morning constitutional and wandered a little looking for a good spot. When I came back to where I thought the tent was I didn't see it at first. Mild panic that I was going to be stupidly lost in the woods with only my clothes on my back and a trowel. I was only about a 100 feet off but my small gray tent looked like most of the others rocks in the area.
Here are some rocks that look sort of like tents. My hammock set up is in this pic.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Sept 13, 2023 5:59:03 GMT -8
A new tent every year?
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Post by trinity on Sept 13, 2023 6:28:07 GMT -8
I will confess to having a pretty strong aversion to bright and loud colors when it comes to outdoor gear and clothing. I will buy green and gray whenever possible.
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Post by marmotstew on Sept 13, 2023 6:59:18 GMT -8
My current tent is orange. Blazing orange. I’m very needy. I like attention.
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Post by downriver on Sept 13, 2023 11:54:25 GMT -8
I’m not a fan of green or orange tents. But colors won’t stop me from buying a tent. That said, if all things are comparable when buying a tent, I will opt for a pleasing color.
Regards,
DR
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Sept 13, 2023 12:08:57 GMT -8
My current tent is orange. Blazing orange. I’m very needy. I like attention.
Is it O.R.A.N.G.E. ?
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Post by hikerjer on Sept 13, 2023 16:36:06 GMT -8
I agree that a red, yellow or orange tent is more cheerful when stuck inside but I prefer earth tones for a tent. I know there are a lot of factors involved in manufacturing but a bright colored campy with an earth tone colored fly always made sense to me. At least for double walled tents.
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rangewalker
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Post by rangewalker on Sept 14, 2023 12:53:25 GMT -8
Tent makers are too often at the whim of fabric makers, or like Dynema, sheeting fabricators for the colors. It is what the see is the only thing you get. And the tent makers are in an extremely competitive fight to get the best and newest fabrics that can meet their supply demands and fight gram bloat.
Some years ago, I set a new Gregory bold blue pack next to a large wind-blown pink, fluorescent claim marker flag. When heading back, with the naked eye seven miles away, the pack was visible as a smear on the horizon. The bright pink flag not. The pink color was absorbed in the distance, the blue not so much. I brought up my 10x32 binos and could make out the whipping flag. The physics of light is interesting.
What is really fun is to explain to some me-boy that the perception of solitude, an element of LNT, is shaped visually as well as by sound and other disturbance.
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