ALPS Mountaineering Chaos 2 Tent 2-Person 3-Season

Used it once and it just so happened to rain on us. We woke up the next morning dry as can be. Love how easy it is to put up and down too!

You cannot beat this for the price! Yea it's not the lightest tent for it's size but it is light enough. There is plenty of room for my wife and I with our 21 inch wide inflatable sleeping pads. This tent has plenty of storage packets and a large gear loft up above. I haven't had any problems with the zipper. Most of the time I only use one hand to zip and unzip. The inside of the rain fly does collect a some condensation but I've never had it drip in the tent. I have spent some rainy nights in this tent and have always stayed dry. We never have a problem with not having enough room inside the tent or in the vestibules. I do wish they included the footprint with the tent. I'm satisfied with the purchase.

I was looking for a good tent to use while backpacking. I looked at many different tents and bought many too. But I was never happy with other tents. I wanted a tent that was light enough that I could carry for miles at a time and small enough that it wouldn't take up to much room in my pack. I also wanted a tent that had enough room if I was by myself or with another person. It is still a little snug but this is good tent even with two people with enough room to where you are not squished with the other person and you are not very far apart either.

Bought this in 2010.
I use it about a dozen times a year for backpacking in the White Mountains of NH as well as car camping and its taken its share of punishment. Probably a 40-60 nights total including some winter nights. The interior space of this is hard to beat and makes up for the extra weight of the product. I really want to "upgrade" to a lighter tent but can't bear to lose the roominess of this tent. Also the fabric is tough enough to not require a footprint. Over all solid, easy to set up, rain fly has never let me down. Tons of interior pockets also.

I put my gear through its paces and I take care of it but I don't want to baby it. I like having a durable roomy tent for backpacking even if it means being a little heavier. Also the price of this is very hard to beat.

Excellent value for what you get. Expect to get many more years from this before retiring. Cheers!

Perfect tent for 2 person backpacking. A compression sack is definitely necessary as the sack that it comes with is too big for my pack. This tent is very lightweight and super sturdy.

This is not the lightest tent by any means but for the price it gets the job done. Nice and roomy for 2 people. Only takes about 3 minutes to set up. Nothing bad to say about this tent at all.

Some people are complaining about the side door sagging. You need to make sure the middle pole rests on top of the hubbed pole set. Attached is a picture of a Chaos 3 tent, but you get the idea about the pole placement.

I've had this tent for almost a year now. I've taken it out in all conditions except snow.

Pros:
1. Two medium sized people, one medium sized dog, and all of our gear fit inside the tent. With larger people or dogs, gear will fit under the vestibules.
2. One big reason I selected this tent was for the double doors. If I stay at the campfire later than my partner, there's minimal disruption when I make it to bed.
3. Love the mesh. You get all of the stars without the bugs or other campsite visitors (this summer we had lots of skunks).
4. Durable! My first night out the camp kitten was feeling feisty and scaled the outside with his needle-like claws. While I wouldn't recommend this treatment for your tent, I couldn't find any rips or scratches the next morning. The dog gets in and out with no noticeable damage either.

Cons:
1. Weight. While this tent is heavier than some other ultra-light options, the price makes it worth it for me. I'm more interested in a tent that will last 5+ years than saving a few ounces.
2. Zippers? I didn't realize this was a con until I read other reviews. In fact, I don't consider it to be a con. It's not difficult to open the doors, and I hadn't even thought about it until other reviewers pointed it out.
3. It would be nice if it came with a footprint, but I've used it without one for the last year and it's been ok. A simple tarp under the tent will also solve the problem.

First of all, I want to say how much I LOVE the pole system. No longer will campers be required to awkwardly hold two separate poles upright with one hand while trying to clip the tent with the other hand like an obscure yoga pose. When the pole ends are secured in the corners of the tent with this system, they are freestanding and very easy to clip. I was a little nervous about the sturdiness of this pole design at first because I've never used anything like it, but it is bombproof. This design also allows for maximized head room while sitting up in the tent.

My wife and I got this tent about five months ago and we've already used it numerous times, most of which have been overnight backpacking trips. The Chaos 2 is lightweight and packs down really well. When it's set up it's very roomy for both of us (I'm 5'11" and still have lots of space to stretch out) and our gear. We keep our shoes and packs in the two large vestibules. Inside the tent there are LOTS of convenient mesh pockets (including a removable overhead mesh pouch) for easy-to-find-in-the-dark essentials: headlamp, glasses, machete, my wife's midnight chocolate craving, sawed-off shotgun for zombie attacks, etc.

The zippers on both the rain fly and the mesh doors are very durable and easy to use, I'm able to open the tent doors with one hand, and I haven't had any problems with them getting stuck.

The last trip we took this on we hiked to the summit of Mt. Juneau in Alaska (3,576 ft elevation) during a torrential rainstorm. After frantically setting it up we cozied up in our sleeping bags and attempted to sleep. While this tent kept us sheltered from the rain and hail, we didn't sleep much because of the wind that picked up during the night. *Note to self: I need to use the guy lines in bad weather.* After we got up in the morning we noticed that the inside of the rainfly had sweat during the night and let condensation into our tent. I think this is normal (I've never had the inside of the rainfly 100% dry after a rainstorm in any tent). However, this was minimal and not concerning. If I thought the wind was bad inside the tent, I was surprised at how much worse it was outside and was impressed by how well the Chaos 2 protected us from it.

The stakes are very lightweight and durable, they haven't bent on me when I've shoved them between the rocky ground.

The footprint is not included with the tent but I would definitely recommend getting it. It is essential to keeping the floor of your tent in good condition.

This is a great budget backpacking tent. Very roomy, plenty of gear storage and very easy to pitch. The design allows for dry pitch if you purchase the foot print, which I would highly recommend, it came in handy in a typical New England late summer downpour. It also stands up to a good hard NE storm, stayed very dry inside and stood up to 40+mph winds. The only reason to not give it a 5 rating is the footprint is not included and the stakes are a bit cheap in construction. I replaced the stakes with MSR Mini Groundhogs, which I highly recommend.

Goes up quick and easy. Plenty of room inside for two and a dog, or 1 + your gear. Seems to be built well and out of quality materials, lots of pockets inside to stow your stuff.

Like others the only complaint I have is the sidewall sag making you use two hands to operate the zipper most times, it doesn't bother me one bit. In fact I probably wouldn't have noticed that I was using two hands if others hadn't pointed it out.

UPDATE: I took this out into the mountains of Colorado and a high wind hit in the middle of the nights. I had it pinned down good and used the guy outs to nearby trees and soil. The winds were so loud and it seemed this tent didn't budge a bit. Inside the tent was nice and calm.



The walls will tend to sag the tighter you make the fly around the tent, but the trade off is a low profile wind fighting fortress. I would buy it again for sure.



First impression was great right out of the bag. The materials are great, seams are sealed. It has everything I want in a low profile tent. The tent can take some serious winds with design riding low. (with rainfly on) The tent has all the up-to-date mods on it like the easy to tighten/adjust anchor lines and thigns all the way down to ambi enterance and airflow.



The pros are long so I will only write the cons as that is what most people are interested in-



-No footprint issued with it. (Make your own)



-There is a slight slack in the sidewalls causing the zippers to be a two handed operation most often. (a 2 thumbs down out of 10 for a scale.. not that bad of complaint)



Low profile keeps you from standing. (This however, is a pro when it comes to the wind tough weather.



Thats it! Great Tent.

First time I set this up, I was done in under 10 minutes. I haven't found a better tent for the money and so far it's seemed pretty durable.

This tent is a decent performer if you pick it up at discount. But for the full price, it's not worth it.



Pros- sets up easily and quickly. Simple and light for its price. Fair space inside for two, and even 2+ dog. Fair vestibules for gear. I love the color. I never tested it with rain.



Cons - the sidewalls sag inward and take away from the interior volume. Without taught sidewalls, the door zippers can be frustrating since their's no tension to zip against. You have to grab the sidewall, then shift that grab-point as the zipper makes it's way around the door loop. There are very few useful interior pockets for typical gear (map, book, TP, toothbrush, all the crap in your hiking pockets you'd like to just toss in tent pocket overnight) and no good pocket up high for stowing a headlamp as overhead light. The stuff sack ripped on my first use from typical stuff sack pressure. The cross-piece pole is awkward to connect to the pole loops.



Overall, this is a functional, cheap, get-out-there tent that does the basic job. But if you're looking for a tent you really want to use (even back-yard adventure nights), skip it and get a better designed model.

I've had the similar Chaos 3 tent for two seasons and have used it for backpacking in many different settings: heat, cold, rain, even a brief but violent hailstorm. This tent is easy to set up, is very sturdy, has solid zippers, isn't too heavy, keeps moisture and bugs out, and has plenty of room for two people, and gear. Even played Scrabble in it once! I doubt if you could get a better tent for this kind of money.