www.snugpak.com | £199.95 | 2.65kg
Snugpak has been making good quality outdoor gear for over 30 years now, and it still manufactures some of its products in the UK. The Scorpion 2 was launched in October 2010. It’s a three-poled tent which packs down to a small size, weighs in at 2.6kg and pitches outer first.
Putting up the Scorpion 2 was a fairly simple affair with colour-coordinated poles to help you get it right first time. I found the poles to be slightly fiddly to get through the sleeves – they got caught a few times – but this isn’t enough to put me off the tent.
Once the free-standing outer is up, the inner is joined on by a large number of attachment points. While it got a bit tedious hooking them all in, they do a great job of keeping the inner taut and away from the outer.
Like the Sprayway SX2 and the Robens Voyager 2, the Scorpion 2’s been designed for minimal weight and pack size rather than living space, and I was disappointed with the lack of porch area to store gear. In fact, we couldn’t fit our two bags in there without them poking under the flysheet.
Inside, you’re going to be very close to your trek mate if you’re sharing, and the tent’s slightly too short for someone who’s six foot. But on the plus side, there’s enough room to comfortably sit up and there are a lot of inner pockets lining each side of the tent – eight in total.
There is a hanging loop near the door of the inner tent, but unfortunately this ripped off when I was inspecting it. I’d also have to question the effectiveness of the storm-flaps on the outer zips: they’re held in place by one piece of Velcro and were blown open even in light winds.
Snugpak Scorpion 2 Verdict
The Snugpak Scorpion 2 is a lightweight tent with a great pack size, but we’d say it’s a bit small for comfortable camping.