Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL 2 Tent vs. REI Co-op Trailmade 2 Tent: Is ultra light worth it?

As a die-hard backpacker and thru-hiker who’s overnight trekked on five continents, I’ll level with you for a moment: I’m a huge fan of REI Co-op’s and Big Agnes’ backpacking tent offerings. My first-ever backpacking tent was a trusty REI Quarter Dome 2 that survived six years of heavy use. My second tent was a splurge-worthy Big Agnes Fly Creek 2, which I purchased to solo trek the famed John Muir Trail in central California and then took with me when I moved to Boulder, Colorado. I’ve had many great experiences with both brands, which made me want to pit two of their bestsellers against each other to finally settle the question, “Is ultra light worth the ultra price?”

To find out, I took two of the brands’ best tents, the REI Co-op Trailmade 2 and the Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL 2, out on backpacking trips with my partner and my dog in the rugged Rocky Mountains near Boulder and tested the limits of their pocket design, the grip of their included stakes and the ease of setting each one up solo. Read on for the pros and cons of these two popular backpacking tents; the results may surprise you.

REI Co-op Trailmade 2 Tent vs. Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL 2 Tent at a glance

Quick comparison

Ease of setup

If you want to see how easy it is to set up a tent, you’ve got to do the darn thing alone. In late June, I drove both these babies to a car campground near Lyons, Colorado, to see how it felt to set them both up in a controlled environment, hopefully without uneven ground or errant boulders.

Because of its symmetrical, rectangular floor shape, the Trailmade tent is the same forward and backward, meaning you don’t have to be as particular about where the head and foot of your tent are facing during setup. I made a mental note that this would be particularly useful if I knew I’d be hiking in an area with notoriously uneven ground, as flipping your tent when your head feels too low just before bedtime can be a royal headache.

I also loved the tent’s X-pole configuration, which meant that I merely had to do the same thing with two identical poles, and then hammer down the corners with the included stakes to have a fully functional shelter. When it got hot outside, I simply rolled up the side doors and used the attached toggles to create a cross breeze. The only thing I didn’t love? When I was taking the tent down, the end fell off one of my poles, rendering the elastic inside loose and a bit tricky to grab and reposition for future use. This feels like a quality-control oversight on the part of REI (and one that other reviewers have mentioned online), and I’d recommend securing your poles’ ends with Gorilla Glue or tape before heading out, just to be safe.

The Tiger Wall UL 2, on the other hand, was a breeze to set up, even though its fabric is significantly thinner than the Trailmade. I’ll admit, I was a smidge more careful not to scuff or rip the ultra-light Big Agnes fabric when I was staking out this tent in the car campground, but throughout testing it in the Rocky Mountains for the last year, I’ve noticed no noteworthy abrasions on the tent’s exterior or floor, even after a camping trip with my pup, Marla. Because the Tiger Wall has designated head and foot sections of the tent, users will have to be more mindful of how and where they set this tent up.

That said, I found it incredibly easy to pitch the Tiger Wall by myself, due to its intuitive pole system, which is connected by elastic and snaps into place along the tent’s mesh lining. The ultralight stakes, though thin, were easy enough to smash into the ground with a nearby rock, too. I loved that I could customize my views and ventilation by rolling up the various mesh and rain fly doors, depending on the outside temperature. However, it should be noted that this tent does not come with a footprint. Many online reviewers haven’t seen their tent’s floor snag without one but if I was making a $450 investment, I’d certainly want to cough up the extra $70 for a lightweight and durable piece of nylon to protect the longevity of my shelter.

Interior space and storage

With its 31.7 square feet of floor space, you’d think that this category was an open and shut case, with the Trailmade 2 winning outright, but design matters too. I found the pockets provided inside the Trailmade to be sorely lacking, especially when compared to the Tiger Wall UL 2.

Though the Big Agnes Tiger Wall has a smidge less interior capacity and sported smaller vestibules (8 feet of storage each versus the Trailmade’s 9.5), the functional space and storage of each felt similar, thanks to the 39 inches of headroom and superior pockets offered by the Tiger Wall. When I first pitched the Trailmade, I found myself scouring every nook and cranny to locate more pockets because I thought surely there must be more than two. Sadly, I was not mistaken.

The Tiger Wall, in contrast, offers five glorious pockets (one on each of the long sides, two on the ceiling and a large, catchall gear pocket in the foot area). I’m the kind of camper who likes to stash my Kindle, eye mask and nighttime goodies next to me, then put a headlamp up top for easy grabbing in the evening. Necessary larger items get stored in the foot area. For me, the Tiger Wall’s five interior pockets provided the perfect organizational solution. What’s even more impressive is the fact that it manages to pack all that space and storage into an ultra-light 2-pound 8-ounce package.

But the REI Co-op Trailmade 2 might be a better option if you’re tall and those extra few square feet of floor space matter. It also boasts an additional 0.9 inches of headroom at its peak height, which is great for the over-6-foot crowd. I’m 5 foot 3 inches and my partner is 5 foot 9 inches, and we found the Tiger Wall to be big enough for our collective needs when we took it for a spin in Rocky Mountain National Park. Do you have a kid or a dog you’re itching to bring with you (or just like to spread out)? Size up to a Half Dome SL 3 ($399) or a Tiger Wall UL 3 ($500).

Brand sustainability

I rarely get to sing the praises of two different competing brands in an article like this, but I think it’s important to talk about the new eco-friendly technology of solution dyeing and why it’s so awesome that both these tent manufacturers have chosen to incorporate it. First of all, solution dyeing refers to the process of pigment being added to the molten plastic before creating the fibers that eventually become tent fabric. This results in an up to 90% reduction in water usage when dyeing because the product’s material doesn’t need to be created and then dyed; the dyeing is intrinsic in the process of creating the fabric itself. This process also creates stronger fibers because traditional batch dyeing damages the fabric’s integrity.

What does this mean for your outdoor gear? Lighter-weight products that are more durable and more Earth-friendly. Not only does the Trailmade 2 use this solution-dyeing process but its manufacturer, REI Co-op, is a certified climate-neutral company, meaning that its annual carbon emissions are offset with the requisite amount of carbon credits. Big Agnes, on the other hand, isn’t a carbon-neutral company, but it does purchase 100% renewable energy in all three of its US facilities. Both brands are actively working to become PFAs-free in the next few years.

Bottom line

If you’re new to backpacking and looking to save money, the Trailmade 2 is a fantastic starter tent. Plus, at just 5 pounds 7 ounces, it’s light enough to last you through your first several backpacking trips until you decide if it’s worth spending more on an ultra-light tent. And if you’re brand-new to the game and looking to fully gear up, nab REI’s Trailmade Backpacking Bundle ($379) and get this tent, a pad and a sleeping bag at a steal of a price.

REI Co-op and Big Agnes make some of my all-time favorite backpacking tents. After testing both side by side, I strongly feel it’s worth investing in the Tiger Wall UL 2, especially if you know you’ll take this tent out in the wilderness year after year. The savings in for a weight of nearly 3 pounds and far superior pockets are significant enough to fork over the extra cash and spare yourself the knee pain of hauling a heavier tent up and down your favorite mountains.