Tents

Sea to Summit Telos TR2 Tent | Review

This award-winning tent from Sea to Summit ticks a lot of boxes – and we love some of the nifty little details

I’ve tested a lot of tents in my career as an outdoor gear reviewer and I’ve come to realise that there are a lot of generic options out there that are all a bit samey. This is why I really like this offering from Sea to Summit. It’s a bit different and gives you a sense that the designers genuinely tried to think outside the box with every aspect of it.

Details

It’s an inner pitched first tent designed for three-season use for two people. It has all the usual things you’d want from a backpacking tent, including two doors with large porch areas, space to sit up, plenty of guying in points and ventilation, but then there are its smart touches too.

OM editor Will Renwick using the Sea to Summit Telos TR2 in Pembrokeshire. Photos: Dave Macfarlane

It is stored in a modular way, for instance, so you can split the tent neatly into three different parts between you and your hiking buddy, the stuff sacks all can be clipped onto the inside of the tent to serve as little organiser pouches, and one pouch also can be clipped to the roof of the tent to create a lamp by diffusing light from a head torch stowed inside it.

There’s also the fact that it can be pitched in a number of different ways. The standard way is inner first with fly hung over the top but you can also pitch it without the inner to use as a tarp and you can even convert it to ‘hangout mode’ by propping an end up with trekking poles to use it as a shelter to sit under. If the skies are clear enough you can also roll back the flysheet fully but still have it ready to be redeployed in an instant should rain arrive.

Gamechangers or gimmicks? I’m in the former camp. I really like all these extra touches that Sea to Summit have gone for. The only one I haven’t found useful (so far) is the ‘hangout mode’, but I’m sure there’ll be some people out there who’ll love it, particularly people fishing or trail running race marshals who have to sit on mountainsides for hours on end.

Sea to Summit Telos TR2 Performance

Pitching this for the first time was very simple and intuitive. It took me around five minutes to have everything set up perfectly with the freestanding design, the colour coding and clever clips all making everything a breeze.

The quality of the materials feels very high; that’s everything from the fabrics to the tent poles, pegs and even the corner grommets. The flysheet, granted, is on the thin side, but not to the point that I’d doubt its durability in rough conditions. Some people might want to purchase the extra ground sheet to protect the base of the tent from pinprick punctures, which wouldn’t be a bad idea. I haven’t had any issues so far though I have been quite careful to check what I’m pitching over the top of.

The Sea to Summit Telos TR2 all packed up in its modular system.

At 1657g and with a large, very liveable interior, the Sea to Summit Telos TR2’s space-to-weight ratio is excellent. I’ve slept in this alongside my partner and lively Border Terrier on a number of occasions now and have never felt cramped in it. That’s largely thanks to the pole design which creates a high ceiling and steep walls that don’t cause the inner mesh to sag down onto your sleeping bag.

That pole structure also makes this tent quite hardy. I’ve felt confident using it in relatively strong winds. I’d be wary of exposing it to very stormy weather, but I’d say the same about most backpacking tents within this weight category.

Credit to Sea to Summit for thinking about ventilation too. I do most of my camping in the UK where condensation can sometimes make for some very damp nights so, for me, the top vent and the options for airflow at the base are a welcome feature – and from what I’ve seen they seem to do what they’re supposed to.

How the Sea to Summit Telos TR2 Ranks Alongside Its Competition

This is an excellent tent. In fact it’s one of the best backpacking tents I’ve tried. From my point of view, it’s quite similar to the MSR Hubba Hubba NX, though that tent is a simpler design that doesn’t quite have the feature-set that this one offers. Another tent that is similar would be the Nemo Dagger OSMO. That design is about the same weight, it’s slightly more durable but, again, doesn’t match the feature-set offered by the Telos.

At £460, the Telos TR2 is a fairly expensive tent. Looking for something lower in price? The Decathlon Forclaz Trekking Dome tent would be a good shout. It’s a similar-ish design that weighs a bit more but costs considerably less at £200.

Verdict

So far, Sea to Summit have only released two tent models. That’s this and the Alto, which is similar but semi-freestanding. Both have been impressive offerings with all the typical aspects of two-person tents covered well and then some super nice bonus additions too. It’s expensive and will be an investment for many, but it’s a tent that very liveable and very likeable.

What we liked: space to weight ratio, venting options, excellent design touches

What we didn’t like: price is quite high, groundsheet is a little thin