Cuben Fiber Gear, Is It Worth It?

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[NJHeartHeart]

I think my favorite part was your encouragement to buy cottage vendor! I shop the cottage vendors, but I forget, and it just makes me feel great when I'm reminded that I'm supporting USA local and the backpacking/hammocking communities!

[dougturner]

Hey Darwin, I just watched this again after, wow, three years. So being that my wife and I are in our 60s now and our joints let us know, I just pulled the trigger on a Zpacks Free Duo. At our age comfort way out does price, and by dropping our old tents for the Duo we also drop 4 lbs. Huge, as you say. Take care.

[Walter]

Hello Darwin, just getting to know you and your videos. At 63 I am a late comer to UL hiking. Just completed an 11 day trek of Peru's Cordillera Huayhuash using the Duplex and the Arc Blast. Two great pieces of gear, these and my EE Rev. Quilt came in at under 5 pounds. This all made for a pleasant trek. I carried 11 days of food with me and was still under 35 pounds at the start.

[mikefranks]

Just to be clear: If cuben fiber has sewn spots then you must tap the seams to keep it from leaking... All the zpacks tents and backpacks have taped seams to keep water out...

[steveducell]

UL non cuben fiber companies that are cottage size;

ULA equipment very nice backpacks

Tarptent very nice tents

Small but bigger then cottage size:

Granite Gear very nice backpacks

( I use a tarptent notch ( 4 stakes min ), Granite Gear Blaze, enlightened equioment quilt ) about 6 lbs for the big three 26oz, 44 oz, 22 oz = 5.75

Cuben Fiber is good, its very good. But you can come pretty close with alternatives

just some Food for thought

the main thing is to get out there.

[jordonfoster]

You do a good job going over the pro's and con's of cuben fiber but when you make the compairson of your last pack and tent to the cuben fiber pack and tent you are not really compairing apples to apples. Lots of companies make ultralight gear with nylon. If you were to compair the Granite Gear Vigra 2 and the MSR Fly Lite shelter you will see that you can achieve a combo that comes in at just over 63 ounces. Yes you are still 20 or so ounces more that the cuben fiber but you just saved $500 that you can spend on your camera equipment or other items that can lighten your load. If money is no object then you are correct, cuben fiber will save you some ounces. The gripe I have is when you compare a sports car (Arc Blast) to a SUV (Atmos 65 AG). Also cuben fiber has a low abrasion and puncture resistance but good tentsile strength compaired to nylon material.

[Ureyeuh]

Long time cuben fiber denier here!
I just purchased my first Dyneema (formally cuben fiber) pack from Hyperlite Mountain Gear, and it was the best gear purchase decision I have made so far. If you're hesitant to go the Dyneema route because you're questioning it's durability (like I did), look into the black colored packs from Hyperlite Mountain Gear, as they're made to be a little more durable while still retaining the lightweight properties of Dyneema. I purchased the "Southwest 3400" in black, and could not be happier. Doing this allowed me to shave off SEVEN POUNDS of weight, and I feel it on every mountain climb. Cheers!

[TrinityBays]

My biggest gripe with cuben fiber is crinkle and transparency of the fabric. i find it to be useless for tarps when hammock camping in hot climates because it does not offer much shade from the sun. The noise it makes when things rub on it or its flexed will drive you mad.

Just wait till you get out in the desert with a cuben fiber tent and all that light streams into your tent first thing in the morning turning it into an oven. I just hope you have good ventilation. Its bad enough with an opaque tent but its 100 times worse with one that is semi transparent. Also note that water proof also means humidity proof. Prepare for some massive condensation.


anyways this is m opinion and is based on my experiences with gear that uses the fabric

[jamesstein]

Thanks well done. Some of us getting older need this type of gear so we can keep going.

[DonP_is_lostagain]

Hi Darwin! nice overview of cuben fabric. I think you got the pros and cons just right with three exceptions, but that relates more to shelters than packs or clothing. Both of these can be more of an annoyance than con, but I'm throwing them out anyway. Noise. In wind or rain, a cuben tent or tarp can be really noisy. I had a cuben tarp for use with my hammock, and although it only weighed 6 ounces, whenever it was subjected to wind, it would rattle like nobody's news. I was hearing it even with earplugs in. The second is heat. Although a lot of tents can get hot in the sun, cuben is even more so. Especially if it's a single wall like the Duplex is. Also, unless you get a dark colored fabric, it's quite opaque. So, you don't get that much privacy when changing clothes. The third thing is really more of an annoyance than anything, but once it gets wrinkled/crinkled, it stays that way. And looks like it. This is more apparent on a tarp than a tent, but if you look close once you deploy the tent, you'll see what I mean.

All in all, I say the pro's greatly outweigh the con's. Thanks again for the review! Cheers! DonP

[aarongmoney]

I would love to Thru hike the AT or the PCT, but due to a J O B and family, it's not possible at least for another 8-14 years (retirement) . My issue is that I know that my life expectancy ( family genetics) probably I won't be around in that time. So I'm starting to plan/ buy gear to start section hiking the AT
soon. Thru hiking is a dream, but not a reality for me. So better start living now.

[CoolCforlife]

Wow! 4.4 pounds lighter is incredible! Great video man! Every time I had a question watching the video, you answered it. Lightweight, Durable, & waterproof = a win!

[otway]

I have owned and use two cuben fiber tarps for several years. Super light weight. Cuben Fiber will leak at any sewn seams so depending on where they are you many need to seal those. It is noisy compared to silnylon. Does bother some but not me. While it is strong is easy to puncture but easy to fix with some southern chrome (duct tape). I have made many stuff sacks with cuben and it is easy to do. A couple of other companies that have been in business making cuben gear are Hammock Gear ( tarps ) and Yama Mt Gear ( tarps, tents, stuff sacks and DIY kits )

[wolf]

Awesome video and awesome pros and cons noted in the comments - thanks to the community!

Cuben Fibre is something I've thought about and now I have a lot more information to weigh up before deciding whether or not to use it.

Many thanks all!

[robm]

I have been a fan of Cuben for some time, and have a goodly number of Cuben packs, tarps, bags etc., especially Locus Gear and HMG. it really is a miracle fabric. Two further advantages: 1. It is pleasant to touch, so direct contact with the body is not a problem (e.g. under a tarp on a hot night), or sleeping on a Cuben ground sheet (for which a heavier weight is better, e.g. 1.0, though .51 will work if you look after it), or floor of a mesh inner. 2. Black Cuben (it is more of a grey) is far better for privacy than the standard white, and offers some advantages of not allowing quite as much heat thru. It also looks great, almost like a tweed, definitely an appealing aesthetic. (Check out Locus Gear Khufu in black Cuben with red zip). And the fabric really is as waterproof as described, I have often had my Khufu in sustained monsoon downpours, and it has never leaked.

[mgp]

Love your posting. I get a lot out of your reviews and thoughts. Although i have never done a walk through on the AT i hiked most of it in sections in 70 s and 80s. I now have done a few 50 mile hikes with scouts and alone, what i noticed is how crowded the trail has become. In the 70's i could walk for two days and see less than 2 hikers. The gear has become so much better and lighter. Now that i am old (with a few joint replacments) i am very please with the newer equipment. I find your review honest and informative. Keep it up.

[chefcocoasadventures]

I own a Hammock Gear Cuben fiber tarp. 11 or 12 foot long. Weighing in at 7 oz with all my lines on it. Love, love, love it.

[jchristianstocks]

hay Darwin... I just purchased a starter Bigfoot air mattress from Amazon... 15oz and $30.00 dollars... I have yet to test it on the trail, but it passed the weight in test... It has all the outward appearances of your frugal replacement for the Therma-rest neo air at 150.00 + -- ( $oon)?? Alpine Summit trekking poles just arrived with all the some basic idea$ as your Black Diamond$, but at $37.00... Yours were $63.13 and jumped to $106, I jumped on the Alpine Summit poles, so I am ready to stroll...

I was around in the 60's when there was a revolution in the gear of the day. Ivon was making new generations of hardware in his garage... Sierra Design and North Face were new start ups... Now we have Zpacks and a better chance to run through the jungle ( no! that's for you kids?)... Please let them know frugal is never cheap... For me it's down to a nice Sierra stroll... visiting all those vista's of my youth...

So let's all just..."Keep on Truckin"...

[rdh]

I've seen videos and heard of a lot of people cooking inside their tents after a hard day on the trail. From what I can tell, Cuben fiber is extremely sensitive to flame. sparks burn holes in it, and when the fiber is close to flame, it shrivels up quickly. That means, it is pretty important that you keep cuben fiber away from any flame. Even a tossed burning cigarette will melt holes in it... You might want to mention that as a concern...

[anthonyjohnston]

My cuben fiber hammock tarp with doors is over 5 years old with no problems. It came from hammock gear. The big difference in them and z packs is they don't stitch the ridgeline. so yes, no need to seam seal and never leaks. Easy to patch. just clean area and put a strip of cuben tape on inside and outside like a bandaid and it will be stronger than new. ( I put a hole in mine on a windy day with a stake. was simple to fix.) Big advantage to me is weight after rain. A wet tarp is very heavy. I just wipe my cuben with a small shamwow and there is no water to carry. A little more bulky and the price are the only disadvantages to me. I never hear noise with mine.