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Info for the Royal Flush 3 Tent:
Manufacturer: Big Agnes
Year of Manufacture: 2009
Manufacturer's Website: www.bigagnes.com
MSRP: US $699.95
Tent Review: 
For almost a decade, I slept under tarps and tents for at least 350 nights a year in mountain locations around the world. During this time, I also tested tents under the auspices of the AAI Guide Testing Program, where I suffered too many days when a tent didn't live up to the hype of it's designers. I'm pretty picky when it comes to where I sleep, especially in the mountains where a good night's rest is key to perfomance athletics.
Single wall tents are lightweight, but not designed to keep the climber dry in a truly wet environment. With rainfall reaching higher and higher altitudes around the world (the earth is heating up, have you heard?) there are only a few places and times of year when I find that these lightest weight tents are a good choice for the mountains. So when single wall is not appropriate, a double wall tent such as the Big Agnes Royal Flush 3 is the ticket to a good night's sleep.
As with all of my mountain and climbing gear, I am a proponent of the 'light is right' philosophy and there are too many tents filled with gadgets (like windows) that I find to be too gimicky to be worth the weight. I mean come-on, have you ever thought of just cracking the door to see what the weather is doing? This tent comes in weight-wise at a very packable 7.5 pounds which for a 2-3 person tent is a very lightweight size for a 4-season mountain shelter.
The features that I most desire in a mountain tent are multiple doorways, interior storage space, large enough vestibules for cooking, strong fabrics and poles, easy to pitch designs, and most importantly: wind and water proofness when the weather is truly bad.
Soothing colors are also a plus; if a tent is too bright it can be a bit tough to sleep during the Alaska daytime when many alpinists up north get their sleep. A too dark tent, like the brown one I used once, was downright depressing to live in.
With all of these qualifiers on the table, I have to say that I was overall very happy with the performance of this Royal Flush 3 tent from Big Agnes and I look forward to using this tent on many future expeditions.
Big Agnes is a relatively new company, based in Steamboat Springs, CO and they are well worth supporting as they have won numerous awards for their innovative designs and especially for their 100% wind powered operations in Colorado along with their many products manufactured from recycled materials. This company is leading the way as a 'Green' corporation with strong ethics and standards in their entire manufacturing process.
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