SlingFin 2Lite Review
A lightweight, semi-freestanding tunnel tent with massive vestibules and good wind resistance
SlingFin 2Lite is a modern take on the classic semi-freestanding tunnel tent design. It comes complete with massive vestibules, enhanced spaciousness at the headend, and sturdiness in wind thanks to signature SlingFin engineering. And it makes for an exceptional solo shelter!
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- Price: $505
- Weight: 2 lbs, 10 oz
- Material: Sil/Sil Nylon Fly, Sil/PE Nylon Floor
- Interior: 28.5 ft² | Vestibule: 21 ft² | Area/Pound: 18.6 ft²
- Length: 89″ Width: 42″/50″/40″ Peak Height: 41″
- Available Accessories: Trekking pole conversion kit saves 4 oz
- Pros: Lightweight. Deep double-wall buffer and good airflow easily handles condensation. Massive vestibules. Sturdy in wind when properly staked. Interior pockets. Vents. Sil/Sil Fly.
- Cons: Semi-freestanding. Not Ultralight. Low ceiling over foot end. Expensive.
Construction & Features
The Slingfin 2Lite is a lightweight, semi-freestanding tunnel tent that sets up with a pair of arched DAC Featherlite NSL poles. The head end is wider and much taller than the foot end, so make sure to factor in the asymmetry when placing onto a tent pad.
2Lite widens to 50″ at the shoulders, which is much wider than average for a 2P tent. The ceiling exactly above where you sit up is 41″ high, roughly as wide as average. But spanning the entire transition all of the way to the foot end, the 2Lite narrows and shortens, such that there is really only enough volume for the end of a sleeping pad, feet, and sleeping bag footbox. There is also room for a pack when the tent is used solo, but for two campers, all you can fit are some spare clothes.
The good news is that SlingFin 2Lite has exceptionally massive vestibules, 10.5 sq ft. each. These are large enough to fit your pack on one side, while leaving the area under the door clear for an easy entry/exit.
We love how the SlingFin 2Lite Fly is made with double silicone treated nylon fabric (sil/sil). This is more waterproof, more UV-resistant, longer lasting, and stronger than Sil/PE, the industry standard.
When properly staked, pitched, and oriented perpendicular to the wind, 2Lite is very sturdy, even against strong gusts. What’s more, it has SlingFin’s signature internal guylines which provide additional stabilization points in high wind. Speaking of, there are lots of bonus external guy-out points, which we recommend adding lines to (Shop Guylines & Stakes). Bottom line, it’s very sturdy and good in windy conditions so long as it’s well-staked and well-pitched.
A few other features we like include mesh pockets adorning the interior, the existence of replacement zippers, Fly and mesh door roll-ups, and fly bumper vents.
SlingFin Portal vs 2Lite
From within its own brand family, SlingFin 2Lite has stiff competition. We’ll be upfront that for a majority of backpackers, we recommend the Portal 2 (shop now) over the 2Lite, primarily because you get a fully freestanding tent for only four additional ounces. Freestanding vs semi-freestanding is always an exchange of versatility-plus-ease-of-setup for weight, and most people would agree four ounces is a very favorable exchange to upgrade to freestanding.
However, if you don’t care about the versatility benefits of a freestanding setup, and also prioritize large vestibules, value, and weight savings, 2Lite is a great option for you. But we still recommend reading our full length SlingFin Portal 2 review to compare these models in depth. What follows is a breakdown of relative benefits for each over the other.
- Portal 2 is fully freestanding; 2Lite is semi-freestanding
- Portal 2 has a higher ceiling and significantly more headroom volume over the foot-end half
- Portal 2 performs slightly better in wind when optimally pitched
- Portal 2 performs much better in snow loading
- 2Lite is 4 oz lighter
- 2Lite is $55 less expensive
- 2Lite has 1 additional sq. ft. of interior area
- 2Lite has 4.4 additional sq. ft. of vestibule area
What Could Be Better?
In this section, we give our feedback for what would improve the SlingFin 2Lite. We argue that this is a very good tent to begin with, and if improved upon, has potential to be excellent
- Make it lighter. As-is, an upsell to the freestanding Portal 2 is almost too tempting for only four oz of additional weight and $55. On the other end of the spectrum, ultralight trekking poles shelters are a full pound lighter. As such, light-not-ultralight semi-freestanding tents like 2Lite frequently get edged out from both sides, and occupy a narrow segment of user preferences.
- What if it were a dedicated trekking pole shelter instead of a arched pole tunnel tent? Adventure Alan & Co would kill for a SlingFin spin on the Zpacks Duplex or Durston Xmid archetypes. SlingFin designers, please consider this for 2Lite 2.0. The trekking pole attachment kit which replaces the larger pole is a step in the right direction and saves 4 oz, but a dedicated trekking pole shelter is much more weight efficient than a mod.
- Replace door roll-up toggles with magnets, the current gold standard
- Each corner stake currently holds both tent body and fly tensioner lines, which increases likelihood of slippage. Create a dedicated connection point between fly and body instead of having them share a stake
- Don’t give people the choice to not seam seal
- Add reflective pull loops on the stakes by default
- Revisit the use of clam cleat style tensioning hardware. We would believe it if some stats say they give a stronger hold. But they always wind up confusing first time users and are generally less user-friendly than traditional LineLoc style.
- The fly tensioners on the corners always gravitate towards max tension settings. Realign the tensioner so default isn’t also max.
SlingFin 2Lite Review Verdict
The SlingFin 2Lite Tent is an upper tier lightweight backpacking shelter that delivers a reliably great-but-not-exceptional performance with the stats to back it up. Choose 2Lite if you already have a good freestanding tent like the SlingFin Portal 2, don’t want an ultralight trekking pole-supported shelter, and value the combination of low weight, good wind stability, and large vestibules.
