Big Agnes Tiger Wall 3 Platinum
The Big Agnes Tiger Wall Platinum is a really great 2-door, semi-freestanding lightweight tent that comfortably sleeps two people + 1 dog + gear.
Need to know more? Keep reading.
Big Agnes Tiger Wall 3 Platinum Specs
| Capacity | 3-person |
| Packaged Weight (no footprint) | 2 lbs 11 oz |
| My Trail Weight (Factory Body, Fly, Poles, Stuff Sacks; MSR stakes & Polycro footprint) | 2 lbs 11 oz |
| Structure | Semi-freestanding |
| Poles | DAC Featherlite; Single-pole Hubbed design |
| Wall Type | Double-walled |
| Seasons | 3 |
| Number of Doors | 2 |
| Number of Vestibules | 2 |
| Number of Vents | 0 |
| Number of Gear Pockets | 3 |
| Floor Area | 38 sq ft |
| Materials | 7D Ripstop Nylon, silicone treated, 1200mm waterproof polyurethane coating on Floor and Fly.
Body mesh is polyester, noseeum mesh. |
| In The Package | Full tent body, fly & poles, 8 DAC J-stakes, all guylines pre-attached, 1 pole splint. |
| Price | $599.95 |
My Usage
I purchased this tent back in 2019, and since then have put at least 50 nights on it so far. The Tiger Wall was my tent of choice for the High Sierra Trail, Wonderland Trail, John Muir Trail, Havasu Falls, and local Bay Area car camping. I feel like I’ve finally put enough mileage on it that I can gather my thoughts and share what I think about this tent!
What I Like
The Tiger Wall has been my go-to tent when I am splitting the weight with another person. Usually, I end up carrying the tent body and fly, while my partner carries the poles, stakes, and footprint. When split in this fashion, both people end up carrying ~21 oz of tent. This weight ends up rivaling my ZPacks Duplex, all while offering a larger space to spread out. And both people are still able to have their own doors and vestibules, making middle-of-the-night potty jaunts less disruptive. With two people in the tent with 20” wide sleeping pads, there is ample space to spread out and not be right on top of your partner. Even if you both used the standard wide 25” pads, you would still be comfortable. There is space at the feet and perimeter of the tent to keep excess gear. I can even fit my 60 lb Labrador in the middle of the tent with two people.
The Tiger Wall is very simple to set up, even having color-coded poles and webbing. If you are new to backpacking, or wanting an ultralight tent without the hassle of using trekking poles to get the perfect pitch, the Tiger Wall will be perfect for you.
Surprisingly, this tent can hold up really well in wind and rain, and if it is vented properly (by unzipping the top of the vestibule fly zip a few inches), handles condensation well. I’ve had this tent through a few downpours and some minor puddle-flooding, and the tent floor held strong with no water leakage into the tent.
What I Don’t Like
I have two main gripes about this tent, both of which have some relatively easy fixes so you don’t have to deal with the issues. First, the tent floor and fly are fragile. I did put a small hole in the tent floor by attempting to push out a small granite rock stuck underneath the tent. Don’t be stupid like me: clear your tent pad first, or get out of the tent and gently swipe away protruding pebbles from under the tent. But, the tear still happened, so just be careful with tent placement, and definitely use a groundsheet to protect the bottom.
Second, the lack of adjustability on the factory guylines for the footbox of the tent just plain annoyed me. I like to be able to make the fly taut and not have it touch the tent body mesh. This helps with air circulation and preventing condensation, reduces noise in windy conditions, and helps with tent sag if it is raining. And if you are camping in variable terrain, like the rocky Sierra, only being able to move the guyline a couple of inches side to side does not help with trying to get a great tent pitch. You either can’t move the stake enough to find a soft spot in the ground, or, you move it enough, but then compromise the integrity of the footbox by causing it to collapse or protrude from the rainfly. To remedy this, I did this mod on the tent, to make it more like my ZPacks Duplex or other single-wall tent guylines. By changing the guylines, my experience with the tent improved greatly.
There are some other small things that bother me, like needing to use two different zipper pulls to unzip the tent door, and things that are just because its a double-walled tent and overall, I do prefer single-walled, trekking pole tents, but those are highly subjective complaints.
Summary
Overall, if you regularly backpack in mild-moderate weather conditions, and you go with a partner where you like to have a little more breathing room, or room for a small child or pet(s) or gear inside, and you want it all in a more traditional, ultralight package, this tent is for you. It also doesn’t hurt that Big Agnes is a great company who stands behind their gear, and is known for doing repairs on tents if something breaks. If all of this sounds great, but you want a tent that is fully freestanding, check out the Copper Spur 3 Platinum. You’ll also gain 6 sq ft of floor space at a 9 oz weight penalty.
