Gear Review: MSR Hubba Hubba NX 2 Tent

The Hubba Hubba NX is one of the best backpacking two-person tents on the market. It's lightweight at 4 pounds with a footprint. I've had the Hubba Hubba NX for nearly three full seasons, and it's been a solid companion the whole way through. It also has to be one of the most reviewed tents on the market, so I will do my best to try and cover the basics, and some new ground too.

It's easy to set up this tent with just one person, though a second person is never unwelcome. Rarely does it take more than three minutes to set it up. The single pole design is simple, and there are color coded grommets so you know which grommet goes with which pole end. It's actually so easy to set up that it is normally my go-to car-camping tent.

For a lightweight tent, this is a supremely weatherproof tent. Seriously. On the Iceline Trail I experienced one of the most epic storms of my life, with three hours of thunder and lightning followed by torrential downpour. In the morning, dirt spray from the powerful rain was nearly a foot high along the sides of the tent. It looked as if cars had been splashing through the mud right beside it all night long. Inside we were dry as can be.

Even crazier: I was instructing a mountaineering course as a volunteer for the BCMC this past spring. We hunkered down on an alpine ridge, winds gusting past 40 mph. We had all hastily built snow walls, so there was added protection, but still the three Hubba Hubbas were fine. We did have a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2 that also survived, though it was strategically located behind four other tents and a deeper snow wall.

When it rains, having a footprint is great to keep everything dry. I'll throw the footprint down, chuck all my gear on top, then the fly over everything. Once under the fly I can set the tent up from inside thank to the grommets on the footprint, allowing me to keep myself and all my gear dry.

In heavy downpours, I found my pack filled up most of the vestibule and got wet on the sides, but my boots stayed dry closer to the tent body. I've never had any leakage issues within the tent itself, nor has condensation been a problem. The airflow is really good, which seems to keep condensation from being a problem, and it tends to be comfortable on hot and humid nights, or at least more so than other tents I've experienced.

The vestibules, when properly set up, offer some of the biggest doors in tents weighing less than 4 pounds. This is a huge benefit because getting into bed sideways is much easier. The vestibule is bigger than average, and you can get an even larger vestibule in the form of the Gear Shed, whether extra shelter is something you need or you want a place to stow your bike.

The tent is roomy and livable. I've found it has more practical headroom then most tents. The length is spacious with enough room for two 5-foot 10 inch athletic males such that they can sleep without bumping into each other at all. We easily had about half a foot of space between us, and nearly 2 square feet of space beyond our heads with our feet at the base. More than enough to store clothing, and gear.

Be warned, this is an lightweight tent, and like all lightweight gear, it should be treated mindfully. On the very first use, a dry piece of sharp dry grass at just the right angle pierced the floor. It is definitely on the fragile side. It was an easy patch, and I have since sat through a night where the rain created a 5-centimeter deep puddle around us, and had no problems. Since the incident I have had no other problems, but I am much more careful now. This is the tent's only real drawback.

The storage sack is really cool. It's built like a lightweight rope bag, so its super easy to cram the tent in and compress it. I normally keep the poles separate, making it easy to squeeze the tent down to the less than the size of a loaf of bread.

In terms of features, the pockets are good, but they are kinda awkwardly located at the ends of the tent rather then the sides. This makes finding exactly what you're looking for awkward when lying on your back. There are slots to hang a gear loft up high. I have found that by placing a headlamp on the body pointed up at the fly, the whole tent illuminates really well as the white fly makes it into a giant lantern. It's bright enough at 70 lumens to comfortably read, and the non-directed light makes finding things in the tent really easy.