Ultralight~$749Zpacks
Zpacks Duplex
No citable rating — see why we hide some.
The Duplex is the tent the Pacific Crest Trail standardised on, and its numbers explain why: 17.8 ounces, 28.1 square feet, a 90-inch floor, two side entries with overlapping storm doors, and a pitch that takes six stakes and two 48-inch poles. It is single-wall, which is the whole compromise — there is no inner to catch condensation, so on a still, humid night the walls are wet and you wipe them. Zpacks sells the 3-person as the Triplex, which at 38.4 square feet and 21.7 ounces is the most floor per ounce of any tent in this catalog.
Floor area per person
14.1 sq ft
Standard — 14 to 17 sq ft each — the normal two-pads-and-no-spare-room fit
Weight per person
8.9 oz
from the trail weight of 17.8 oz
Peak height
48 in
Approx. price
~$749
Pads: 22.5 in of floor width each — 2 × 20 in pads fit, 25 in pads do not.
Length: a 90 in floor leaves room for a sleeper up to about 7ft once you allow six inches for a foot box and a pillow.
Best for
Long-trail hikers who will pitch it two hundred nights and want the weight gone.
The size run
One design, 2 capacities. The numbers at the top of this page describe the Duplex Classic; every size has its own figures below.
| Size | Sleeps | Floor area | Sq ft each | Vestibule | Trail weight | Packed weight | Floor L × W | Approx. price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplex Classic | 2 | 28.1 sq ft | 14.1 | — | 17.8 oz | — | 90 × 45 in | ~$749 |
| Triplex Pro | 3 | 38.4 sq ft | 12.8 | — | 21.7 oz | — | 84 × 65 in | ~$899 |
Specifications
- Type
- Ultralight
- Rated capacity
- 2-person
- Floor area per person(estimated)
- 14.1 sq ft (standard)
- Floor area
- 28.1 sq ft
- Peak height
- 48 in
- Minimum trail weight
- 17.8 oz
- Weight per person(estimated)
- 8.9 oz (trail weight)
- Packed size
- 4.75 x 12 in
- Interior floor width
- 45 in
- Pad fit(estimated)
- 2 × 20 in pads fit, 25 in pads do not
- Fits sleepers up to(estimated)
- 7ft tall
- Doors
- 2
- Vestibules
- 2
- Freestanding
- non-freestanding
- Poles
- trekking poles
- Wall type
- single wall
- Season rating
- 3-season
- Fly fabric
- Dyneema Composite Fabric 0.55 or 0.75 oz/sq yd
- Floor fabric
- Dyneema Composite Fabric 1.0 oz/sq yd
- Approx. price
- ~$749
Features
- 17.8 oz including guylines, LineLocs and taped seams
- Four overlapping storm doors plus two screen doors
- Dyneema canopy with a 1.0 oz/sq yd DCF floor
- Packs to 4.75 x 12 in rolled
- Optional Flex Kit converts it to semi-freestanding
In its favour
- 17.8 oz for a two-person shelter with a bathtub floor and two doors
- 90 in floor length fits a tall sleeper, which many lighter shelters do not
- Dyneema is fully waterproof out of the bag — no seam sealing, no wet-out
- The Triplex at 38.4 sq ft for 21.7 oz is the roomiest-per-ounce tent here
- Packs to a 4.75 in diameter roll, smaller than a one-litre bottle
Against it
- Single wall: condensation forms on the inside surface and has to be wiped
- $749 before stakes, which are not included
- Zpacks does not publish a vestibule area figure — only the 24 in vestibule depth
- Non-freestanding and needs six to eight stakes in ground that will hold them
- The current 3-person is only sold in the more expensive Pro fabric
Written from the published specification sheet, not from owner reports.
What owners report
Drawn from archived owner discussions, not from a test of our own.
What owners like
- It outperforms expectations in bad weather — one owner describes a flimsy-looking Duplex holding up better than anything they have owned
- Simplicity and ease of use are the qualities owners name most often when explaining why they kept it for a whole season
- It is the reference point every other ultralight two-person shelter gets compared against, which says something about its record
- The doors pin back fully in good weather and zip shut in bad, and owners rate that flexibility
- The Triplex works as a family shelter — owners with children report using it until the kids outgrew it
Common complaints
- It is beaten in wind by tents with better geometry, and owners say so directly while still recommending it for sheltered trails
- Rain gets in through the door on the two-person, because there is less separation between vestibule and inner than on the Triplex
- The Triplex's 60-inch width is described as a behemoth that needs a large flat pitch
- The Triplex is more awkward to pitch than a smaller tent and owners report frustration with site selection because of it
- Landed cost outside the US is brutal — around €900 delivered to Europe with duty and tax
The Duplex is the tent that made single-wall Dyneema mainstream, and its record in owner discussion is better than its appearance suggests. The most striking report is from somebody describing it as flimsy-looking and then saying it held up better than anything they had ever owned. What owners like most, though, is not toughness — it is simplicity. It goes up fast, it goes up anywhere flat, and there is nothing to think about.
Its weaknesses are geometric. In wind it is beaten by shelters with more panels and better tension, and owners say so plainly while still recommending it for trails where sheltered pitches are easy to find. On the two-person specifically, rain reaches the inner through the door because there is less separation between the vestibule and the sleeping area than the Triplex has — an owner who moved between the two noticed immediately.
The Triplex has its own character: genuinely roomy, genuinely awkward. Sixty inches of width is described as a behemoth, harder to site and harder to pitch, and families who used one eventually outgrew it. The other consistent practical note is price outside the US, where duty and tax push it near €900.
Questions people ask about it
Is the Duplex strong enough for bad weather?
Better than it looks. Owners report it outlasting far heavier tents in storms. It is still beaten in sustained wind by shelters with more panels and better tension, which is why long-trail hikers who use one also learn to pick sheltered pitches.
Does rain get in when you open the door?
On the two-person, yes — owners who have also used the Triplex describe the Duplex's smaller gap between vestibule and inner as the reason. Opening the vestibule door in rain lets some in. The Triplex's extra depth solves it.
Duplex or Triplex for two people?
The Duplex at 28.1 square feet is a comfortable two; the Triplex at 38.4 is a spacious two or a tight family. The trade is the Triplex's 60-inch width, which owners describe as hard to site and fiddlier to pitch.
Why is it so expensive outside the US?
Import duty and VAT. Owners in Europe report a Duplex landing at around €900 all-in, which changes the calculation against European-made alternatives considerably.