Shoulder Room
On paper this is an average looking tent, with 30-square feet of floor space. Even set up it looks good, with vertical sidewalls and two doors and vestibules. There’s plenty of space for two to lie down without spooning and to store gear. But sitting up most will find the headroom lacking. At only 34 inches, a 5’9” tester was pushing the roof. Sit up headroom matters, particularly when the weather’s not good.
Packability
In redesigning the Microlight series, LL Bean managed to ditch 30 percent of the weight, cutting down the theoretical weight to 2.8 lbs, though we found it closer to 3.2 lbs. Regardless, it’s very light and very packable, stuffing down to a football thick tube.
Set Up
The simple double pole and asymmetric design makes set up simple. A cross pole over the doors pushes the walls out to add more room.
Weatherproof
To the ground fly coverage and a relatively steep roof angle kept rain running away from the tent. The fly and floor are on the lightweight side, so care should be taken. In testing during rain the tent never leaked and it’s narrow profile helped deflect the wind. Without vents, breathability is left to the all mesh walls. It worked okay, but condensation was an issue.
Features
In an effort to cut weight LL Bean kept the features to a minimum. We did appreciate the big doors and vestibules—one on each side. They were easy to open, climb through and pin out of the way.