MEC VOLT 2 - First Look
For the first time in many years, this May 2-4 long weekend didn’t mark the start of camping season in Ontario. While provincial parks have reopened for day use, COVID-19 is going to keep our local campsites closed for at least another few weeks (and we won’t be doing any expeditions in the near future!)
Still, the weekend wasn’t a complete loss. Since we’re locked down at my in-laws , I took the opportunity to set up my father-in-law’s tent in the yard. Although I helped him pick out this tent, I hadn’t really spent much time checking it out. I still haven’t spent the night in it, but I did have some fun setting it up to take a closer took!
First impressions
I’m not into ultra-light tent set-ups, so I think this is a pretty reasonable backpacking weight for the price. It’s cute too! The tent is nice and bright - I like this cheerful green colour scheme that MEC has been using recently. (I haven’t tested this out, but I think the colour should make it easy to spot any ticks that hitch a ride into the tent?)
As with all light-weight backpacking tents, I’m not sure the waterproof floor material would hold up very long against dog toenails.
Set up is a fast, easy, 1- person job, thanks in large part to the spider joint holding together the tent poles.
This is a pretty average sized 2 Person tent (2.73sq. m). Technically it is a bit smaller than our Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight 2, but with the double doors give you extra vestibule space and a bit easier access, which is nice.
Inside the tent has loops for a gear rack and 4 small pockets, each about big enough for a cell phone.
Although the size is good, as with most backpacking tents its a tad smaller than I wish it were. Two mattresses will definitely fit, but you won’t be bringing in much gear in to the tent with you. It would be a great size tent for 1 person + border collie, but it wouldn’t fit 2 people + border collie (which our MEC Wanderer 2 does).
I’m not totally sure about the durability of the clips they’ve used to hold the tent to the poles. I haven’t seen this type of clip on our other tents, and it seems simultaneously like a lot of plastic and a bit flimsy.
As an average height person, I don’t have any trouble with the height of this tent, but grumpy husband (6’3) would probably find it difficult to sit up straight in the tent if we were trapped inside in poor weather. This is a pretty common complaint for him.
Overall thoughts
I see this as a summer-time tent. I would have been happy to carry this on the La Cloche Silhouette Trail in August but it would not be my first choice when heading to Iceland or anywhere in Scandinavia, even in the summer.
A common complaint on the MEC site is that the tent fly doesn’t go low enough to the ground. I would definitely echo this sentiment. In bad weather I would expect that rain would bounce up under the fly and soak everything in the vestibule. Serious wind (like we had on the King’s trail in northern Sweden) would probably whip up under the fly and make this tent very cold in bad conditions.
I would recommend a tent compression bag - it comes pretty small to start with, but I think you could get it packed down even more to fit in a smaller bag.
