Camping overnight in the backcountry calls for a tent that is light to carry and quick and easy to put up. Kauri Walker recently sent us through this review of the Torpedo7 Mamaku 2 person Adventure Tent that he used while camping overnight on the Tararua ranges. Read on to hear his thoughts…

Did 3 nights in the Tararua Ranges a few weeks ago and took the Mamaku 2 Person tent along as my accommodation as I’m not a big fan of hut sleeping. The reason the Mamaku is ideal for me is I like to use a 32 Litre pack for my short tramping excursions and at around 2kg in weight and 20cm x 20cm packed it’s easy to attach to the outside of the pack. I also like having a bit of room in the tent as a torch and a good book are pre-requisites for a few nights in the bush, so a single is just a bit too coffin like for me. With almost 3 sq metres inside and around 1m height there’s plenty of room to spread out.

I really like the single pole concept, when you pull the poles out of the bag they almost jump together on their own. This makes it really simple to assemble and it literally takes under 5 minutes to put up. Also I advise you get the extra ground sheet as it provides a little more damp protection and gives a little more protection for the floor (as I’ve had to pitch it on river stones, bracken, branches and all sorts as you may or may not know, sometimes you’re pitching at close to dark and you’ve found an alcove off-track which is not ideal). The poles have this middle span which rotates around and forces the tent to be a little wider which gives you a nice amount of headspace inside the tent. There are 2 entry/exit points which is sort of standard but still good as you can store essential stuff out the back so your entry/exit point is clear.

It handles the rain well and the seals are sweet, the water proofing done to the substrate is adequate and the design is good as there is plenty of distance between the core and the fly. It only has a few pegs and the fly connects using clips, so again super easy in the assembly (if you’re doing it in the semi dark like I sometimes do) and locks the two separate parts together, so it handles ok with a decent wind. If you’re in high wind conditions I’d probably upgrade the pegs though.

So overall 8/10.

Onto the negatives, not many but there are a few things I’d modify if I could. I like having more fly covered area outside of the core and I’d like the secondary floor sheet to wrap into this area. So if it’s raining you have a place to cook and store stuff. As I mostly tramp on my own I can store my boots/pack/etc inside. But ultimately I like to store my stuff outside under the fly and keep inside for me, just a personal OCD camping thing. Also if you had two people using it there is no room to store your packs under the fly outside of the internal area, so I’d say it is ultimately a good tent for a single person who likes space as you’re going to have to store your gear inside with you. 

The middle connection point is an eyelet tie thing that connects the membrane to the poles, I’d prefer a catch that connects to the poles, that’s just a personal OCD thing as it catches your hair if you scrape past it. Luckily I don’t have much hair so that’s cool. So overall, not much wrong here, just can’t really cook inside when it’s raining with this one.

Kaweka Food Co. ready meal (gluten free Thai Curry) on the boil outside the tent when I left it a bit late to find a campsite, had to take the upper recesses of one of the rivers and pitch on riverstones. Don’t forget your ear-plugs and self inflating mattress (I only had a rubber foam one, ow) when you pitch this close to a river … sounds like a crazy circus playing next door. Not much sleep that night …

Why have they moved the trig? Has the mountain moved or the trig GPS changed? You can see the tent (maroon bag) attached to my pack. Gotta love that range …