My Tent: Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2
Finding the Best Tent for YOU!
When it comes to buying a tent, there are a ton of different options with different features depending on the type of camping that you plan to do. With so many tents out there, determining your best option can become a pretty overwhelming process. Today we’re talking about my tent, the Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2. And why, after almost two years of use, I think it's the best choice for most people! Before we get into that I want to explain the scope of what’s out there, and how I narrowed it down, so that you can make an educated buying decision for yourself.
Narrowing down your options…
It's easy to get overwhelmed when you start to research tents online, especially if you don't have a solid understanding of what your options are. When it came time for me to start looking at tents for myself, I selected a few essential criteria that I would focus on in order narrow down the pool and eliminate any options that didn’t have what I was looking for.
Portability - How easy it is to carry around?
Capacity - How many people can it fit?
Weather Resistance - How many seasons is it rated for?
I’ll get into more specific features later on, but I’d argue that by focusing on these three things first, you’ll eliminate the majority of the available options before you even start to look at tents.
Portability
On one end of this spectrum you’ll see “rooftop tents” that can only be transported with a car, and on the other end there are “ultralight” backpacking tents, like the Duplex from Z-Packs. The options on either end of the portability spectrum are designed for people who need specific gear for very specific types of activities. Most people don’t need such specific gear. And due to the lower demand for these types of tents, they usually cost a lot more.
If you are reading this I’m going to assume that like most people you probably fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. In order to determine exactly what you need you’ll first have to think about why you are buying a tent, and what kind of camping you might want it for in the future.
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A couple years ago, before my wife and I were married, we planned a trip to Virginia, during which we hiked a short section of the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park. I didn’t own a tent at the time but since I knew that we planned to carry all of our gear on our backs, I could narrow down the pool by only looking at lightweight tents that packed down small enough to fit inside my camping backpack.
Capacity
This is pretty straight forward but important nonetheless. I knew that there were going to be two of us on the trip I knew we needed at least a two-person tent.
Tip:
The number in the product name (Copper Spur HV UL 2) indicates how many people the tent is designed for. Many tent designs, including the Copper Spur from Big Agnes, are produced in multiple sizes, so if for example, you really like what I have to say about my tent but you need a tent that can fit at least three people, you can look into the Copper Spur HV UL 3 or the HV UL 4. Just keep in mind that larger tents are heavier, more expensive and will take up more space in your pack simply because they are made with more material. Depending on your budged and how much you or the people you are with want to carry, you may want to look into the benefits of buying two smaller tents versus one large tent.
Weather Resistance
Most tents are rated by seasons.
1-Season Tent - Summer use only (very rare).
2-Season Tent - Summer and the warmer months of Spring and Fall.
3-Season Tent - Summer, Spring and Fall (most common).
4-Season Tent - Year round use.
This system can be misleading because it implies that tents rated for four seasons are more versatile than tents that fall into the other categories, which is not always the case. For example, 4-Season tents are often made of heavier material making them less practical for hikers who need everything to weigh as little as possible. Also, it is important to keep in mind that a tent’s ability to keep you warm often comes at the expense of its ability to ventilate. So even though you can use a 4-season tent in the summer, you may not want to. Most tents can be adapted for warmer weather by simply unzipping or removing the rain-fly but on those rainy summer days when you are forced to keep the fly zipped shut, especially the hot and humid ones, 4-season tents can definitely get a bit stuffy.
Our trip to Shenandoah was planned for late April. Depending on where you live or more importantly, where you plan to camp, April can push the limits of what a two-season tent is meant to handle . Knowing that April can be a pretty cold and rainy month, especially in the Appalachians, I ultimately concluded that a 3-season tent would be my best option. However if for example you live in a warmer, dryer climate, like Southern California, and you don’t plan to use your tent anywhere else, you may want to go for something a bit more breathable that doesn’t do quite as much to keep out the wind and rain.
Note: It is important to keep in mind that your tent’s seasonal rating does NOT contribute nearly as much to things like your ability to stay warm at night compared to the warmth provided by your sleeping bag and sleeping pad. Just because you get yourself a 4-season tent, doesn’t mean you can just go camping in the snow and expect to be comfortable (or even safe, for that matter) with any old sleeping bag. Sleep systems for camping are a whole topic on their own that I plan to cover in a separate article, so if you are interested in learning about those topics you can keep an eye out for future videos and articles by subscribing to FinerBub on YouTube or submitting your email address in the box below.
It’s likely that many of you are dealing with different circumstances. For example, you might prefer a more spacious tent compared to one that maximizes portability, especially if you only plan to camp next to a car or somewhere that doesn't require you to carry your tent very far on foot.
There are a lot of larger tents out there that are specifically designed for car-camping, but to me they seem a lot less versatile compared to the backpacker-style tents like mine, even if they do provide a bit more elbow room. Say for example, that I want to go car-camping and all I have is a backpacker tent. I can still just set up my tent next to my car, no harm done. On the other hand, if you buy a huge, car-camping tent with an awning and an indoor vestibule, and at some point down the road you decide that you want to do an overnight hike, you’ll most likely have to buy a second tent for that specific situation unless you want to schlepp that huge tent down the hiking trail. So portability becomes a key factor if you want your tent to be versatile.
Before I even looked at a single tent online, I knew I needed a 2-person, 3-season tent that was light enough and packed down small enough to fit in my backpack alongside my sleeping bag and all my other camping gear.
Bonus features:
It’s not uncommon for campers to try to find some middle ground between portability and elbow room. To achieve this you will often see people invest in a backpacking tent that is rated to fit one more person than they need. I knew that on this trip two of us would be sleeping in the tent at the same but I do a lot more camping than my wife does and I didn’t want to lug around a three-person-tent during the times I planed to be the only one using it.
Instead of investing in a larger tent, made for three or four people that would weigh more and take up more space in my pack, I realized that i could create a bit more wiggle room and narrow down my search even further by shopping for a two-person-tent that also had two doors so we wouldn’t have to clamber over each other to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. A second door means you also get a second vestibule, which gives you more space to keep everything organized, especially with two people.
Even though I had narrowed down the pool considerably I was still confronted with dozens of options. So I started reading reviews…
I was shocked by how many people recommended the Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 tent even though it was one of the most expensive on the market. After deliberating for a bit, I went down to REI and had them set up a few tents next to each other so that I could compare how I felt about each one.
Ultimately the HV (high volume) factor won me over.
Many backpacking tents sacrifice interior space in order to reduce the weight of the tent but this HV model offers more interior space than the original Copper Spur UL2 Tent without increasing the weight of the tent.
I found that the extra space was well worth the extra money. Just the ability to sit upright inside a tent makes tasks like changing clothes and putting on your shoes a whole lot easier.
On top of all that, my decision was solidified when I learned that all Big Agnes products come with a very well regarded “100% guarantee.” So even though I spent a lot of money, I felt secure knowing that my investment would go a long way even if the tent didn’t live up to the reviews. But don't get me wrong, it totally did! I use my tent all the time. It’s helped me weather multiple thunderstorms and it’s kept me dry in even the most torrential downpours.
After almost two years, I can confidently say that I have no regrets.
I want to highlight a few other features and provide you with some bonus tips I came up with to help you get the most out of your experience with the Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2, but the information I want to provide you with will come across more clearly if I show you rather than just explaining everything. So in addition to this article, I’ve made a corresponding video that highlights those features.
The only gripe I have with this tent is the matching groundsheet, or the “footprint” as they call it, which is sold separately for the utterly insane price of $70US. My tip is as follows.
DO NOT BUY THE FOOTPRINT!
Just pretend it doesn’t exist, walk over to the adjacent shelf, and pick up one of those six foot by eight foot blue tarps that only cost five dollars. That’s what I did, And believe me, it works just fine as long as you make sure to tuck the excess tarp material under your tent.
For those of you who don't know, a groundsheet is basically just a tarp that acts as an extra moisture barrier preventing any water that pools under your tent from seeping up through the bottom. There are a couple benefits to having a matching groundsheet. You can judge for yourself, but in my opinion they’re not worth the $70 price tag. The first benefit is that you can set it up with just the poles and the rain-fly without using the main tent. I guess this feature is for the more hardcore hikers, who want to keep everything “ultralight” and don't mind the bugs but I feel like the same thing can easily be accomplished with two tarps and some cordage as opposed to sinking over $500 into a tent that you only plan to use part of. The second benefit to owning a matching ground sheet that is the exact shape and size of your tent’s bottom, is that it's less likely to backfire and soak you in your sleep. However, I’d argue that this can be easily avoided with a regular tarp if, like I said, you simply take a minute to tuck the tarp’s excess material underneath the tent so that any rain that drips off the rain fly is guaranteed to hit the ground directly and has no chance of landing on the ground sheet and pooling between the tent and the tarp underneath it.
This tent is still pretty pricey even if you don't shell out the cash for the ground sheet. Even though the money you invest in this tent will go a long way, it’s still a lot to spend all at once. This brings me to my final BONUS TIP, which is to look for deals.
This may seem obvious but it amazes me how many people don’t take advantage of opportunities to save money on this kind of stuff.
For example, it costs $20 for a lifetime membership with the REI Co-op. As a member I get access to all sorts of promotions and discounts. After deciding that I wanted this tent, I didn’t buy it right away, I intentionally waited a few weeks, maybe even a month, until I got an email about an upcoming member deal.
I saved like ninety bucks! Just like that.
That’s more than quadruple the money it cost me to become a member in the first place. So the membership is definitely worth it.
Another member benefit is the annual dividend. Every year REI members get a gift card for 10% of the amount that they spent the previous year. That’s not insignificant! I mean 10% is way more than I get back on any of my cash-back credit cards. Every time I need something, before I buy it, I’ll first check to see if REI sells it. If they do, I usually end up buying whatever it is from them. The only time I choose to NOT buy something from REI, is if another place is offering a better discount or something that equates to more than 10% I would have saved at REI.
DISCLAIMER: This content is not sponsored! No one has paid me to say any of this. Other than my co-op membership, I have no affiliation with REI (or Big Agnes for that matter).
It takes an extra minute, but a little research goes a long way. I think I got like twenty five bucks back that year, so I put THAT into the tent as well.
And those are just a couple examples but the point is to do your due diligence so you don’t give away extra money unnecessarily.
I know that this tent is still pretty pricey, even with the discount, so while we’re on the subject of saving money, I want to recommend a couple other tents that have most of the same features for a slightly lower price.
The first is the REI Co-op Quarter Dome 2 Tent. This is probably the tent that is most often compared to the Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2. The reason being that it’s basically the same thing. The main differences are the weight and the price. The Quarter Dome is eleven ounces heavier, and $100 cheaper than the Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2.
My second recommendation is the REI Half Dome 2 Plus Tent. I've personally never used this tent, but a couple months ago I went camping in Vermont with some friends who had one and they only had good things to say about it.
This tent is a lot more spacious, a lot heavier and a lot more affordable than the other two. If you plan on backpacking, I would try to avoid carrying something this heavy, but for the price and the positive feedback it's the closest thing to a jack-of-all-trades tent that I feel comfortable recommending.
So there you have it folks!
I want to wish a very warm welcome to those of you who are new to the site. If this is the first article of mine that you’ve read, I just want to let you know that I also make travel guides in addition to product reviews like this one. The reason I bring this up is because I just wrapped up a video series and corresponding article on a ten-day car-camping road-trip that I took with three friends around the Ring Road in Iceland, during which two of us used my Big Agnes tent and the other two used the REI Quarter Dome, borrowed from my dear old friend, Bumba. Who, as some of you may recall, was featured prominently in my Thailand video series on YouTube. So if you’d like more examples of situations that those two tents have had to endure or you just wanna learn about exciting new places, via your’s truly, that Iceland playlist should suit you nicely.
Alrighty, that’s all I’ve got for you today. If you’re looking for new gear, don’t let the small details stress you out. Remember, life is an adventure. So relax, breathe in the outdoors, and don’t forget to appreciate the finer things in life.
See you out there.
Peace.