The Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle is a lightweight (34 oz), two-person, double-wall, tent that includes the company’s Haven Tarp and Haven NetTent. It checks a lot of the same boxes as comparable tents, and the price point comes in below many of them. The Haven Bundle is exceptionally easy to use, with effortless modularity and effective toggles for rolling back doors. These features paired with high-quality materials make the Haven Bundle a great choice for people who like the ease-of-use of traditional dome-style tents but want something lighter and more durable.
Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle
Comfort
Ease of Setup
Weather Resistance
Durabilty
Weight
Packed Size
Specs at a Glance
- Capacity: 2 person
- Type: Double-wall, two trekking pole tent
- Trail weight: (no stakes): 34 oz
- Haven Tarp Weight: 18 oz
- Haven Net Tent Weight: 16 oz
- Minimum number of stakes to pitch: 6 (8 recommended)
- Doors: 2
- Interior peak height: 45″(114 cm)
- Tarp Length 114” (290c m)
- Tarp Width (door to door) 86” (218 cm)
- Net Tent Length 88” (224 cm)
- Net Tent Width 44” (112 cm)
- Materials: 30d silnylon
- Guy lines and tensioners: Included
- For complete specs, see sixmoondesigns.com
Design Details
The Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle is a two-person tent weighing 34 oz with guylines attached. It is constructed from 30d silicone-coated nylon and requires two trekking poles and six stakes to set up. With two more guylines (included) you can guy-out the head and foot panels. The tarp alone weighs 18 oz and can be pitched by itself. The net tent weighs 16 oz and can also be pitched by itself.
There are pockets for the trekking pole tips inside the peaks of both the tarp and net tent. A simple hook-and-ring system makes it easy to clip and unclip the inner from the outer depending on the weather. The tent is asymmetrical, with the peak nearer the head than the foot so there is more room around one’s head and while sitting up.
Both net tent and tarp use #3 zippers. There are small vents above each door to help with condensation. Both tarp and net tent doors can be tied back with easy-to-use toggles. The size of the tent is pretty average for two-person tents, which is to say, a bit small. The tarp lacks a catenary cut, which results in some floppiness, but probably helps reduce the overall cost. At $335 ($30 more for seam sealing), this is a reasonably priced tent system especially considering that it is constructed of premium materials.
Materials and Construction
Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle tarp and floor are constructed with gray, 30d silnylon. This seems to be pretty much a cottage industry standard for light but strong shelters. I am pleased that they didn’t try and cut cost by going with a lighter material.
Six Moon uses #3 zippers throughout which are better suited to net tents than tarps. I will go into this in-depth later. The peak and net tent guylines are ~2mm cord, while the tarp corner guylines are made with light webbing. Both seem fine, but I think I’d prefer the ~2mm cord on the tarp corners as well so that I could cut them longer if need be.
Packability
The tarp and net tent come in their own 12″ X 4.5″ stuff sacks, but both can easily fit in just one of these along with the stakes. As with other small, silnylon shelters, packability is excellent.
Pitching
The Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle is very easy to set up. Just stake out the four corners, set your trekking pole to about 115 cm, and insert the tip into the pole pocket sewn into the peak. Stake out the peak guyline on that side. The door guyline will also attach to this same stake. Go to the other side and repeat the process.
I do wish the peak guylines and door guylines were a bit longer. I worry about having to set this tent up on slickrock or rocky ground where it’s hard to find a place where a stake will hold. Longer guylines allow some flexibility in this regard.
Livability, Modularity
The size of the Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle is pretty typical (a bit small) for two-person tents. The interior length is 88” and the width is 44”. This is 4” shorter in length and 6” shorter in width than the Nest of the Seek Outside Eolus which I recently reviewed. The Haven Bundle is also 4” shorter in length and 1” shorter in width than the Zpacks Duplex.
After using both the Haven and Eolus, I can say I don’t mind the smallness of the Haven net tent. I do, however, mind the small size of the vestibules. For example, I can’t safely make tea, even with a canister stove, without unzipping and tying back the doors. This isn’t a problem for me as it was a clear morning, but what if it was dumping rain? There also isn’t much room for my backpack and shoes let alone a stove and pot. I know it would make the whole thing heavier, but I’d really like a more usable vestibule on the Haven Bundle.
The Haven Bundle gets very high marks for versatility. The vestibule guylines are attached with a small side-release buckle, one on each side of the zipper. This feature allows you to decide which half of the door you want open and which side you want to be closed depending on wind or rain direction.
Switching from double-wall mode to net tent only is almost as easy as it is with a traditional dome-style tent. There is a guyline attached to the peak of the net tent, making it extremely easy to set it up alone on clear starry nights. And because of a simple hook-and-ring system, all you have to do is unclip the guylines at each corner and the toggles on each peak. Loop the net tent’s corner guylines over the stakes and then move the pole tip from the pocket inside the tarp to the pocket inside the net tent. This more traditional feature set may appeal to folks who like the ease of use that traditional dome tents offer but are looking to also save some weight.
Lastly, the small L-shaped net tent door is fairly small. Both my partner and I agreed that a big upside-down U-shaped door (like those on the Zpacks Duplex) makes a tent more livable because it’s easier to get in and out.
Storm-worthiness, Durability
This tent is constructed of premium materials so the storm-worthiness and durability are quite good. The 30d silnylon is great, but there are a few other things that would improve this aspect of the tent.
The guylines could be longer. This would give you some flexibility and the ability to stack rocks on stakes or deadman them if need be.
The tarp does not have a catenary cut. This means it’s a bit difficult to get a really tight pitch. The fabric remains a bit wrinkly no matter what you do, and flaps more in the wind than would a tarp with cat cut. This doesn’t matter at all if you’re going to be using the tent in protected campsites or below treeline, but it could be an issue in more exposed places.
My partner and I spent a night out in one of the Great Basin’s many mountain ranges the other night and were blasted by the wind all night. It was our own fault for setting up in such an exposed place, but I do think a tent with a tauter pitch would have flapped less.
If I was manufacturing this tent I could see struggling with the decision to pay a bit more for a catenary cut or save money by not doing it. What I find harder to understand is the decision to prioritize weight over durability when it comes to the zippers. Let me be clear, I think #3 zippers are absolutely the right choice for the net tent, but they are the wrong choice for the tarp. Because the tarp lacks a catenary cut, there isn’t a lot of tension on the tarp, reducing the likelihood that the zippers will fail, but they will still eventually fail.
I haven’t had the sliders wear out yet on my Haven Bundle, but I have ample experience replacing #5 sliders over and over again on other tents, so I’m sure these will wear out even faster. If you use this tent in forested (not sandy) places you could go years without a zipper failure. But if you plan to use this tent on beaches or in the desert, you could start to have some issues within a few nights of use. One solution would be to carry some extra sliders and stops, which I always do. But a better solution would be for Six Moon Designs to switch to a more durable zipper on the tarp. Mountain Laurel Designs and Seek Outside now use #8 zippers on all their zippered shelters. The weight penalty is negligible, especially considering the reliability that is gained.
Comparable 2-Person, 2 Door Trekking Pole Tents
Make / Model | Type | Weight |
---|---|---|
Seek Outside Eolus + Nest | Double Wall | 36.9 oz |
Seek Outside Eolus Ultralight + Nest | Double Wall | 30.9 oz |
Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle | Double Wall | 34 oz |
Six Moon Designs Lunar Duo | Double Wall | 45 oz |
Dan Durston X-Mid 2 | Double Wall | 39 oz |
Tarptent Stratospire 2 | Double Wall | 41.5 oz |
Tarptent Stratospire Li | Double Wall | 26 oz |
Lanshan 2 | Double Wall | 40 oz |
REI Flash Air 2 | Single Wall | 31 oz |
Zpacks Duplex | Single Wall | 19 oz |
Gossamer Gear The Two | Single Wall | 23.5 oz |
Recommendation
The Six Moon Designs Haven Bundle strikes a good balance between quality, weight, and cost. I would be fine with carrying a few more ounces if it meant I could have #8 zippers on the doors and larger vestibules. I’d also be willing to pay a bit more money for a catenary cut. Ease-of-use may be the most compelling feature of the Haven Bundle. If it’s dumping when you get to camp but clears up after dinner, you can easily unclip the tarp so you can sleep in the net tent and gaze at the stars while falling asleep. If it starts raining again during the night, you can reattach the tarp in minutes. If you like being able to adapt in this way, you’ll be very pleased with this tent’s effortless modularity.
Disclosure: Six Moon Designs provided a Haven Bundle for this review.
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I bought the Haven Bundle in 2022. It came with LineLocs on grosgrain at the corners which has been a huge plus. The Haven is annoyingly flappy and the tarp zippers, I agree, are too small. After 1.5 seasons use I am starting to cringe every time I zip the doors, given the tension I need to apply to keep the thing from flapping in any ol’ breeze. I’m happy with the weight. My Haven is not seam sealed and, somehow, I have had no water enter the shelter during all-night downpours. Great ventilation for the most part. Durable fabrics. I wish the net tent had some tabs inside for running clothes lines and/or a bigger mesh pocket.
Would I buy this shelter again? Probably not. I would buy the Durston X-Mid for the catenary cut; the Haven is just just too poorly suited to camping in exposed spots.