Gear Review: MSR Hubba Hubba NX 2-Person Tent

Disclosure: The following product was donated for the purposes of review.

I value my own space. Since my boyfriend and I met on the trail in 2014, we carried different gear and our own tents. I loved having my own private space to go to each night, and very few tents could make me give up that luxury. But I’m going to have to give it up on future backpacking trips, because the Hubba Hubba NX makes sharing a two-person tent a no-brainer.

The tent is only 3 pounds and 7 ounces, so splitting it means we both only carry about 1.8 pounds, which is hard to beat. It’s also super easy to set up (unlike my one-person tent, which took weeks to perfect). It’s symmetrical on both ends, so you lay the tent down, line the poles up with the seams and the color-coded ends, and snap it on. With two people, it takes just a minute or two.

It’s also very convenient for two people, which is another reason I can’t bring myself to go back to a single tent. It has a vestibule on both sides, which is lucky for my boyfriend considering I have the bladder of a 90-year old. There’s no climbing over him and waking him up in the middle of the night. It also means we both have our own space to stash our packs overnight.

Though minimal and lightweight, there’s plenty of space inside. Even with both of our sleeping pads and bags set up inside, we still had room to put some gear like headlamps and books on the floor. Also, my boyfriend is about 6 feet tall; he still had room above his head and below his feet and was able to sit up comfortably. There also are pockets about two feet long at each end of the interior to keep gear organized and out of the way.

After thru hiking with a tent that needed to be staked to the ground, having a free-standing tent was one of my number one concerns. I spent a lot of nights with booby traps around my tent trying to get it to stand up on platforms/ground I couldn’t get a stake in. The Hubba Hubba technically is freestanding, but really requires stakes to be set up well (and for the vestibule). If it’s a clear night with no chance of rain, I wouldn’t worry too much about staking it down. But if there’s any chance of rain, I wouldn’t trust it to be waterproof while free standing.

Overall, I would highly recommend the MSR Hubba Hubba NX tent. It’s a little pricey, but the price is worth knowing you’re sleeping in a good, lightweight tent that will keep you comfortable and dry. There’s nothing worse than not trusting your tent to withstand the elements. After all, if you’re thru-hiking, it’s going to be your home for five to six months.

SPECS

Weight: 3 pounds 7 ounces

Floor Area: 29 square feet

Vestibule Area: 17.5 square feet

Interior Peak Height: 39 inches

Rainfly Fabric:  20D ripstop nylon 1200mm Durashield™ polyurethane and silicone

Canopy Fabric: 20D ripstop nylon

Mesh Type: 15D nylon micromesh

Floor Fabric: 30D ripstop nylon 3000mm DuraShield polyurethane & DWR