Big Agnes

Jack Rabbit SL Tent: 3-Person 3-Season

One of the most critical questions to ask yourself as you packed for a backpacking trip used to be "Should I carry the food or the tent?" It was the backpacker's version of Sophie's Choice—if you got separated, would you rather die of starvation or exposure? Thankfully, those choices are rapidly becoming irrelevant, thanks to superlight tents like the Big Agnes Jack Rabbit SL 3-Person 3-Season, which weighs in, fully kitted out, at only 4.5 pounds, so you can act like the tough guy and take the tent AND all the food, leaving your partners in the lurch while you camp in luxury.

If you're really looking to cut weight, you can use the Jack Rabbit in Fast Fly mode with the available footprint, trimming the weight down a full pound. It's easy to set up no matter how you choose to operate, with a two-pole hub design that gives you plenty of head room, and DAC Pressfit poles that are designed to eliminate pole failure in high winds. The fly has a vestibule for each door so you can stash your boots outside, and the walls are primarily polyester mesh, letting the Jack Rabbit air out so you're not sleeping in a fog of stinky, sock-smelling air (you can look at the stars, too, which is pretty nice). 

All the Jack Rabbit's seams are taped, and the vestibule zippers are covered with storm flaps to ward off insidious water droplets. Reflective guylines and webbing reduce the risk of tripping and bringing down the whole tent like a rampaging Godzilla in Tokyo, and a Quick Sash tie makes it easy to leave the door open in bug-free environments. Big Agnes even hooked the Jack Rabbit up with four mesh pockets and two media-friendly stash pockets above the sleeping area, so you can turn up your jams and grab some alone time after spending many hours in the company of your insufferable partners.