Most tents that have enough headroom to let you stand inside are designed for car camping, since they’re usually too big to roll and strap down to your pack. That’s not the case with the Crua XTENT, an innovative tent that’s packable enough to carry on a hike up to the campsite while pitching tall enough to let you walk around under its roof.
That’s right, they made a carry-anywhere tent that stands at a whopping 79 inches tall, giving you enough headroom, so you can stand up and stretch upright as soon as you wake up in the morning. What’s the catch? Well, you can only use it during warm weather, since it achieves that collapsed size by using minimal materials, so there’s not enough reinforcements in there to protect you from the chill of colder temperatures.
The Crua XTENT uses nylon mesh for the entire upper half of the tent, including the roof, so air can circulate freely while keeping bugs, leaves, and all sorts of debris out of your outdoor shelter, while the lower half, including the floor, is cut in 150D polyester, so you have a more reinforced lower section that you can safely put your weight on. In case that single-layer mesh lets too much cold air in for your convenience during a chilly summer night, you can lower the tent by simply adjusting the poles, which folds in one panel of the mesh material under the other and lowers the roof to just 60 inches.
If it’s still too chilly or if it’s raining, there’s an included 185T polyester flysheet that will sufficiently cover all mesh sections of the tent at full height and cover the whole tent at lowered height to keep the elements away. Do note, there are no windows on the tent walls (because mesh walls are, practically, windows on their own), so you’re, pretty much, confined to indoor views when you put the flysheet on and zip the door shut.
Want to use the Crua XTENT for camping during winter and other colder periods of the year? Pair it with Crua’s Cocoon V2, a sound-dampening, light-blocking, and temperature-controlled inner tent that’s sized to fit snugly inside the XTENT when it’s lowered. According to the outfit, this inner tent takes just two minutes to set up (it’s inflatable), all while allowing you to use your summer tent for camping even in winter time. Other features include a zippered door that you can roll up to move out of the way or pitch with poles to serve as a porch, dry storage on the interior, all-aluminum poles, and an included carrying pack.
The tent comes in two sizes: two-person and three-person. The former has a floor area of 8 x 5 feet (depth x width) and packs down to 21.6 x 6.7 inches (length x diameter), while the latter has a floor area of 8 x 7 feet and packs down to 22.8 x 6.7 inches. They weigh 6.3 pounds and 6.9 pounds, respectively.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Crua XTENT. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $279.