Luxe Minipeak XL

[Night goat]

So after many many months of debate and deliberation I finally decided to buy a new backpacking tent.

We did a mushroom picking trip a few weeks back and are gearing up for deer and on that trip we immediatlry saw the short commings of our current set up. Gone are the days of sleeping under a tarp from the hardware store.

My first choice in tents was the Seek Cimarron but budget said otherwise and while i had a little more to work with than the cost of the Luxe minipeak XL I went with that option because i felt it was the lowest risk for a China tent. I was and still am a little skeptical about how long this is going to hold up but figure for 237$ including shipping it was worth a shot.

I have to admit... I have not laid hands on my new tent yet however these guys already have scored points.

I use the UPS store for my mailbox and get text alerts when u get stuff....

I know this tent was only coming from Forks however less than 24 hours after i purchased it (bought it around 2 yesterday) my ringer just went off letting me know its here already.

+1 point in the price department
+1 point in the shipping department

I will keep this going throughout the day and do a better review on this once I get it home and set up in my yard

[Sundance]

Tagging, I almost bought one of these but ended up with a used Jimmy Tarp shelter off Rokslide. Talked with the Luxe guys several times and they have great videos on their products. The only draw backs I have heard so far is the return policy is pretty stiff (unused still in the bag) and the material rips into long tears (not a true ripstop fabric). Definitely still interested in this company, their larger tipis are less then half the price of SO/Kifaru/MLD/BPWD etc. Looking forward to your review.

[Night goat]

Thier return policy is stupid. Basically means if you get it and dont use it, like maybe you got busted by the wife for buying new gear, you have 15 days to return it unopened for your $$ back

Not to be confused with the warranty

They have a 1 year manufactures defects warranty which is kind of critical with Chinese gear. And again I went with the cheapest one that would work to keep the risk low

[Sundance]

I will be curious to hear if you think its a 2P shelter with a stove or a 1P shelter with a stove. That was my major hang up, wanting a shelter for 2P with a stove and room for gear. I could never get a straight answer if the Hexpeak XL and Minipeak XL would be big enough for 2P with gear and a stove.

[Night goat]

Ok guys... Just picked it up at the UPS store...

Box was heavier than I thought and I regretted my purchase








Untill.......!


I got it to a place i could unpack the box only to find I didnt get what I ordered...well....kinda.... I got MORE than I ordered!!!

I only ordered the floorless outter shelter which i thinl was supposed to weigh in around 2.9lbs however I also got the 1.5 person inner tent for 4 season use which if you are camping with your woman, is probanly plenty of room for 2.

You and your buddy on the other hand? Would probably get weird real quick..

Anyway... This is just a lunch break review, however initial impressions, i gotta give it 4 stars out of 5

The material feels like it will keep you dry no problems however I think carrying some repair tape or sail tape would be very very prudent. It feels strong enough but feels like if its gonna rip its gonna RIP.

DEFINITELY check for widdow makers before setthing2 this thing up

I'm gonna dig out my Alaknak for a material and stitching comparison

The seams and stitching are doubled up where it counts, there is some obvious engeneering that went into this tent. It is well above Walmart quality and id say is up there with Cabelas and REI grade. Its no mountaineering set up for sure but overall im impressed....initially.

The seams are not sealed but, comes with sealer

The stove jack is removable, it velcros on, but there is a rain flap on the tent itself so if you dork the jack getting a new one should be super easy and you can close the flap with the jack in place.

The liner/inner tent actually has sizewalls so you may in a tub of sorts so there will be some protection if water decides to get under the tent and its a thicker material

Bottom line? Now that ive looked it over and have it in my hands this tent feels like it should have cost alot more.

The real test is when its in the woods in some crappy weather

But as far as initial impressions?

SKOOKUM

[Fl0und3rz]

Congratulations.  Other people have spoken highly of them.

[Night goat]

Ok I love it already. Its small. Pretty small, but not too small. Doesnt come with a center pole... Looked around my yard and found a stick of pvc pipe... Was the perfect size. With the inner, there is a good 1.5-2.5 inch gap between the liner and outter shell so, technically 2 can fit in the inner but its gonna be up against the walls of the inner which is doable for a guy and a girl but two sweaty dudes...? No way. But if it were an emergency situation (say bad weather), 2 could totally cram in. And probably wouodnt be that bad if you slept opposite and nobody thrashed at night

Without the inner, the outter shell with say a bivy sack for 2 is totally doable but it might still be a little small for some With too much gear and the addition of a stove (size reccomendation 12 inch cylinder or small box ) will definitely take up floor space and with my experiance from my Alaknak you better have the guylines done right or you risk a red hot woodstove chimney burning you in your sleep, so, we will see once I get my stove how I'm gonna feel about 2 and a dog in there .
I do speculate that two foam or wide-ish air ultralight mattresses would make for a large padded area in relation to the tent.

 After all this not a portable cabin and it is an ultralight tipi with a woodstove so you dont freeze at night. For a solo hunter it might be a little heavy but would be pretty dang comfortable. This is a hands and knees on the ground tent. Its about 5 foot high, a little more or so, but not the tallest

Fortunatley there are two doors at either end and the inner liner also opens up to the interior so you can always make space if the weather is nice.

I would definitely buy extra stakes and carry some paracord or commercial fishing tarred net twine. I like net twine cuz it's incredibly strong for what it is, 850lbs breaking strength on some diameters and its like 15$ a roll and supprisingly small diameter line is pretty strong. And you can carry alot of it, like several hundred feet on a small spool.

Also definitely Dacron sail repair tape, very similar to sail fabric and sail tape is meant to fix holes on the fly to allow you to keep sailing, its incredibly tough and perhaps a large needle and quality thread and one of those leater hand things for sewing thick fabric, other than that


Id say for the $ you could probably go do some pretty *censored* stuff. I wouldnt run up to the alpine this time of year taking it out for the first time and expect to not have a steep learning curve... I think this is one you gotta dial in a little because that fire sure isnt going to burn all night and keep you warm til morning. By no means because you get one of these you can just instantly do hardcore stuff. You could probably do a cold snap in one of these if a) you had a sleeping bag or system that can handle super cold, and b) didnt mind getting 45 minutes of sleep at a time before you had to mess with the stove. I certainly wouldnt want to be caught in a coastal windstorm or 40 degrees and raining  but probably could survive if you had every stake possible in the ground and all the guylines tied and just had it battened down. I dont know if id want to do multiple prolonged hours in bad weather. In my Alaknak, that's one thing, big bed, big stove, and 99 ways to anchor that thing down, but this tent it is not. I imagine if you tuck thing into the trees a little and tied it off while having some extra cove2rin a weather event it would help too, so long as you were smart.

Speaking of trees it has a hanging loop, so you could hang it from a tree branch above you too which will add some room with removing the center pole.

 Overall i think it will be a tight squeeze for 2 but I know they've done it in smaller

I think this is a tent you grow into, and will probanly take some adjustments to get everything going smoothly but shouldnt take much

Setting it up was a corners game, gotta get it super square but it's easy for one. Id still probably pack a tarp of sorts for under the liners floor but think in the right hands this could make for some great stories

[Fl0und3rz]

For gear storage, you could go with a smallish tarp to keep stuff out of the elements.

For learning curve, with a stove and wet weather, check out MegaWoodsWalkker on youtube.

He also has some 4-man and paratipi setups as well.

[zwickeyman]

This morning I ordered the hexpeak 2 person. They have a special right now on the 2P Hexpeak and 2P Minipeak. They come with a free inner. It gets here tomorrow. Bought it for 1 person spike outs instead of carrying my 2 person Copper Spur. 183.00 with shipping and tax for a 2 person tipi and 1.5 inner