Search Outdoors Redcliff Sizzling Tent, Range Assessment: The Excellent Winter Tent

The air temperature exterior had dropped to round 15 levels and it might get colder. Snow pitter-pattered in opposition to the Search Outdoors Redcliff tent’s exterior. Sometimes, a forlorn gust of wind howled by way of the pines round me.

I used to be toasty heat inside, although, bundled up in my zero-degree sleeping bag, studying a guide and sipping some sizzling tea, a wooden hearth crackling gently by my facet. This hardly felt like winter tenting. I took an extended, sluggish inhale and exhaled intentionally by way of my open mouth — I couldn’t see my breath. That meant it needed to be not less than 45 levels contained in the Redcliff, a cushty temperature given the situations exterior.

My accomplice and I had been deep within the Gore Vary on an in a single day backcountry snowboarding mission. We’d posted up at a campground that was coated in almost 4 toes of snow in an space that was bountiful with ski runs and touring tracks. The plan was to hunker down for just a few nights and spend the times attempting to find powder and in search of out secure slopes — all whereas testing Search Outdoors’s pyramid/tipi crossover sizzling tent, the Redcliff, as our base camp.

And to date, it was serving as an ideal après lodge.

In brief: With the the Search Outdoors Redcliff sizzling tent, winter tenting can really feel like glamping. This floorless shelter has detachable liners that forestall condensation, and a light-weight wood-burning range heats the within up extraordinarily quick. It’s simple to arrange, it’s very light-weight, packable, spacious, and hand-crafted to order. And whereas it’s good for in a single day backcountry ski journeys in winter, I additionally used it by way of the spring, summer season, and fall.

Search Outdoors Redcliff Assessment

Primarily based in Grand Junction, Colo., Search Outdoors is a kind of small, family-owned manufacturers that the out of doors trade was constructed on. It was first began in 2009 out of a need to make household tenting tents that would additionally work for shoulder season elk looking within the Rockies.

The model has come a great distance since these humble beginnings. However it nonetheless makes all of its tents by hand, to order. While you purchase a Search Outdoors tent, you have got direct entry to the individuals who constructed, designed, and supported it. The labels on the tents even inform you who sewed the product and who inspected it. You received’t get that with virtually another model.

Search Outdoors can be large on conservation. Yearly, the model helps grassroots conservation organizations that educate and mentor individuals about defending pure areas. In 2017, Search Outdoors received the the Larry Fisher Award for its dedication to the trigger.

Right now, the model presents a sturdy lineup of tents, packs, tent stoves, and equipment. The model’s most loyal demographic is actually hunters. However after I noticed Search Outdoors’s sizzling tents, my thoughts instantly went to a unique form of looking — powder looking.

The Search Outdoors Redcliff sizzling tent specifically seemed like the right backcountry snowboarding strike mission sanctuary. So I bought my palms on one, and promptly began planning an epic winter tenting journey (not removed from Purple Cliff, Colo., in actual fact).

The Redcliff Range, Liner Bundle: First Impressions

The bundle I bought from Search Outdoors included the tent itself, two half-liners, the six-section carbon fiber pole, fluorescent orange man strains, six common tent stakes, six heavy-duty twisted stakes, and the range. It additionally comes with sufficient seam sealer to “seal the complete shelter and have some left over” in keeping with the model.

The total Redcliff liner/range bundle is $1,404. Search Outdoors additionally presents simply the tent (no liner, and no range) for $819. The tent wouldn’t work almost as successfully within the winter with out the range and liners. However should you already personal a sizzling tent range with a range pipe, you might conceivably use that as an alternative.

The Redcliff half-liners are $139 individually. It additionally sells a “full nest” for the Redcliff ($389) that provides a ground and bug internet for warm-weather endeavors.

The Tent

The tent cover by itself weighs 3 kilos, 7 ounces. Add the pole and the stakes, and it’s a grand whole of 5 kilos, 3 ounces. That doesn’t embrace the 2-pound, 3-ounce range (we’ll get to that little titanium furnace in a second) or the liners, that are 9.5 ounces every.

In comparison with GearJunkie’s Greatest Backpacking Tents of 2023, the Redcliff undoubtedly lands on the heavier finish of the spectrum of tents you’d carry into the backcountry. In comparison with GearJunkie’s Greatest 4-Season Tents of 2023, nonetheless, the complete Redcliff bundle lands fairly squarely in the midst of the lineup. And in comparison with our Greatest Tenting Tents of 2023, it’s lighter than virtually all of them.

The apex of the tent is 6.5 toes tall. It sleeps six individuals with out the range, and three individuals with it. Throughout our testing, we had two pretty giant cots and nonetheless had simply sufficient room for the range, a canine mattress, and all of our gear. You may request a dimension bigger or a dimension smaller from Search Outdoors should you’re searching for a unique capability.

On the prime of the tent is a fire-retardant range jack with a rain flap. There may be additionally a peak vent that permits recent air to cycle in even when all the doorways are closed.

Inside you’ll discover hanging loops for gear or clothes strains. I used these between ski classes to hold and dry my damp socks and lengthy johns over the warmth of the hearth.

The underside hem of the construction has a 6-inch sod skirt that seals out drafts and helps shed water away from the tent if it’s raining. There are additionally guy-out loops positioned across the exterior of the cover that make it simple to steepen the partitions and create more room on the within, or to pitch the tent down in tight spots.

The Half-Liners

The Redcliff half-liners are light-weight, stuff down simply, and fasten to the within shortly through plastic toggles. I used to be in a position to determine them out with out glancing on the instructions. They’re constructed from 20d uncoated ripstop nylon with a sturdy water-repellent (DWR) end.

I can’t suggest getting not less than one in all these liners with the tent sufficient. I had two of them throughout my testing, which successfully turned many of the construction right into a double-wall tent.

Not solely did that notably scale back condensation inside, but it surely additionally added an additional layer of insulation that probably helped preserve this four-season tent hotter — even when the distinction was marginal.

You may actually winter camp within the Redcliff with out the liners. Many individuals do. However the liner actually helps with condensation, which is an actual annoyance with out them.

The Range

Tents by no means really feel as homey as they do when there’s a fireplace roaring inside. I had a heat sufficient sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and a superb cot throughout testing — so I might have survived within the Redcliff with out the Search Outdoors range. However it wouldn’t have been almost as snug of an evening. What might need been a chilly night in a nylon dungeon felt extra like an evening at house beside the fireside.

Search Outdoors’s titanium range comes disassembled and laid flat for transportation. Packaged, its dimensions are 8.25 x 14 x 3 inches. The 7.5-foot range pipe rolls up and secures with a Velcro strap. All the items match collectively in a single bag barely larger than a three-ring binder.

Assembling the range was harking back to the steel erector units I used to play with as a child. The burn field isn’t monumental — assembled, it’s 8.25 x 8.25 x 14 inches. It has a sliding door, legs that increase it up off the bottom as much as 12 inches, an consumption management slide, and a damper with an integral spark arrestor. It’s a legit little system. And it places out warmth quick.

My largest gripe with this range? Its gasoline capability. The big range solely match a handful of 2-inch diameter items of wooden. You might match extra gasoline in it than that. However after I tried, the range pipe would begin throwing sparks and belching flames overhead. I solely needed to see a few sizable embers decide on the cover exterior earlier than I dialed it down.

Sadly, that additionally meant that each half-hour I used to be getting up so as to add extra wooden. In any other case, the hearth would exit utterly. It wasn’t ideally suited. Ultimately, I deserted the duty and relied solely on my sleeping bag and the Redcliff itself to maintain me heat by way of dawn. The temperature contained in the tent dropped in a short time with out the range hearth. Once I wakened within the morning, you possibly can guess I noticed my breath.

Room for Enchancment

Look, I’ve a tough time poking holes on this tent. My largest gripe with the range was its dimension, however Search Outdoors sells an XL range that may have solved my drawback. A range pipe display or range stack cap would have additionally helped mitigate sparking. Search Outdoors doesn’t promote these, however they’re simply accessible elsewhere on-line.

I might additionally level out that the integral spark arrestor constructed into the range’s damper didn’t utterly cease sparks from ejecting from the highest. However I additionally didn’t check the range with out that arrestor — so I don’t know how a lot heavy lifting it was doing. With out it, the issue might need been a lot worse.

In comparison with ultralight pyramid tents (just like the Hyperlite UltaMid 2) and backpacking tents like these discovered on GearJunkie’s Greatest Backpacking Tents of 2023, the Redcliff is a hefty shelter — particularly with the range. However in comparison with most tenting tents and different four-season tents, it’s a really affordable weight for a six-person sizzling tent.

I might level on the worth, and say it’s “too costly.” However most sizzling tents with stoves are equally priced. And Search Outdoors’s are handcrafted, and so they include a lifetime assure for manufacture defects and fairly priced restore choices for put on and tear damages.

I actually can’t level to a single characteristic or side of this tent that actually fell brief or didn’t carry out because it ought to have. Perhaps one thing will bounce out at me this winter, or as I exploit it subsequent spring, summer season, and fall. If it does, I’ll replace this text. However till then, I’ll simply say this four-season tent exceeded my expectations and carried out beautifully, and go away it at that.

Search Outdoors Redcliff Sizzling Tent: Who Is It For?

I’m already planning just a few backcountry strike missions this winter, and I can’t wait to bust out the Redcliff when the time comes. It’s a stable tent it doesn’t matter what season you’re utilizing it in. However as a cold-weather sanctuary, it excels. I might not count on a home made four-season tent of this high quality to be so competitively priced.

Hunters, backcountry skiers, and anybody who usually enjoys winter tenting will acknowledge the utility and high quality of the Search Outdoors’s Redcliff sizzling tent. It checks all of the containers. Search Outdoors has a number of different types of sizzling tents accessible on its web site. Judging by the caliber of this mannequin, you most likely couldn’t go mistaken with any of them.