MSR Fury Review First Thoughts

Specifications from MSR

RRP £439.99

We’ve spent a few nights out in the MSR Fury tent recently and wanted to give you some of our first thoughts on this model.

First of all this is designed as a high altitude 4 season mountain tent, but despite its strength and toughness it weights in at 2.84kg.  Not bad for a 4 season two person expedition tent of this quality. At that weight is makes it a viable tent for UK winter camping or any UK hiking use when comfort and protection are of paramount importance to you.  We’ve only had around 5 or 6 nights in this tent so far so it is impossible to give you a long term view at this stage, but so far here are a few of the good points:

• Plenty of additional guy points to make this tent almost bomb proof in winds and storms
• Lightweight for the level of protection offered
• Easy to erect
• Well made with a solid inner tent that could be used without the fly in summer if you wished
• Internal pockets offer plenty of storage options
• Feels spacious despite having a small footprint
• Plenty of internal height for taller people
• Gear loft for drying kit and a split pocket for hanging a headlamp for lighting

And a few of the things we dislike …

• Entrance is too small and low for taller people.  Cooking in the porch is made harder/uncomfortable because of this
• Storage bag is poorly designed
• Used without guys the sides of the tent can get pushed in by strong winds hitting you in the face
• Not enough pegs/guy lines supplied for all the points available
• Floor could potentially benefit from being beefed up

First Summary

Despite a few failings we really like this tent.   We’ve had it out in some pretty poor weather and it’s always performed pretty well.  You do have to fully stake it out of course to get maximum protection but the option is there if required.  Despite reading a few comments from other reviewers about this being hard to erect we certainly didn’t find that to be the case.  It is both easy and quick to put up and despite a slightly unusual construction it’s straightforward from start to finish.  The vestibule/porch area is a little on the small side and because of the design it is difficult to accomodate two bigger packs if they are sat on their bases.  As such they have to be laid down and this takes up valuable floor space.  The main problem is the door, which is low, and makes entry and exit difficult.  On top of this if you are tall then it also creates problems leaning out and cooking in the porch area.  That said a couple of us who are in the 6’3″ category managed it and it was a trade off worth having for bad weather.

The other major benefit with this tent is the price.  At £439.99 it represents excellent value for money but you can find this model for less than the RRP from a number of retailers making it even better value.  We will be back to give you more information on this model shortly but if you are in the market for a sensibly priced 2 man 4 season tent then this is one of the better options.