Silnylon vs. Silpoly Field Test- We left these tents outside in the sun for 5 months!!!

[@jeffmcgilvrey2497]

Back in the day the best double wall backpacking tents had a nylon body with a greater denier fabric for the floor and a polyester fly which was coated with polyurethane With stronger although a little heavier ripstop fabric sometimes available Silconized nylon flys slowly replaced PU coated polyester and siliconized polyester followed

[@anonymousbeing]

This is very useful information for many outdoor enthusiasts. Thank you for putting this video documenting these tests!

[@seekoutsidegear]

Of course! It was a fun test to do!

[@9mil848]

I have a Tipik (french company) Pioulou XL ultra light shelter.10 D silnylon.i did 1500 kms in winter,wind,snow,rain...amazing fabric.not one problem.crossed the Pyrenees with it.

[@evilnine5307]

That was really interesting. If you ever decide to do something similar again would love to see an abrasion & puncture resistance comparison . Anyways thanks for putting this together for people to watch 👍

[@seekoutsidegear]

Glad you enjoyed it, there will be more tests in the future! Thanks for watching

[@wolfmen]

Thank you for your efforts 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼. Love these types of test and your company’s products 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@seekoutsidegear]

Of course. Thats why we test things. If there is ever another fabric that comes about that is better than we use, we will change it in a second.

[@daumisss54]

enjoyed the watch, good job boss

[@seekoutsidegear]

Glad you enjoyed! Hope it was insightful

[@nickbnash]

This was very helpful. Thank you.

[@seekoutsidegear]

Glad it was helpful!

[@somsakwongkam8253]

good job. i learn something from this video . Thank

[@seekoutsidegear]

Glad to hear that!

[@durstongear]

Are you comparing a Sil/PU coated poly to Sil/Sil coated nylon? Maybe I missed exactly what silpoly you were using, but I think it was one from RSTBR that is Sil/PU coated. If it is, the PU is having a big negative effect on strength, so it would fairer to the poly to also choose a high strength version like the nylon is.

[@seekoutsidegear]

The grey poly was a sil/sil and you’d be correct on the RSTBR it was a sil/pu, surprisingly the sil/pu faired better at the end of the 30 days. And through out testing. Since filming the video we’ve also tested other sil/sil polys and had fairly simmiliar results

[@durstongear]

@@seekoutsidegear Nice. Thanks for clarifying.

[@seekoutsidegear]

Anytime🙌

[@jerrypowell875]

I have a brown cimarron, what material would that be?

[@seekoutsidegear]

That would be our 30D sil Nylon

[@heldenkreuz]

Excellent!!

[@seekoutsidegear]

Thank you!

[@quackquackcolorado]

pretty much my field experience too in harsh conditions (i mostly backpack in the arctic). i wont buy silpoly tents anymore, which sucks because a lot of companies have switched

[@swim1-who-isnt-me]

I've had a popular silnylon tent that ripped as easy as toilet paper when I went to unzip it, and this was in mild weather conditions. I was ignorant about nylon and UV rays and left it out in the sun for waaay too long and the UV damage completely took away its elasticity and durability. I've had a cheapo walmart poly tent last a lot longer in the same exact pitch location that eventually ripped because a tarp shelter located over top of it collapsed during a storm and tore it, and I had pretty much lived in that tent daily for a long time unlike the silnylon tent. I was hoping silpoly was better, I don't really like dcf because I've actually read a lot of times it doesn't last as long, is usually almost translucent and ugly, and looks/feels like plastic. I think silnylon feels awesome in comparison. I'm going to try canvas/polycotton despite its heaviness because it seems so much better in almost every other way, and I need something I can use more like a long-term permanent structure. I wish they made more polycotton versions of popular backpacking tents like the lanshan 1, I'm going to try using a TC tarp and pitching it like a tent instead. If anybody knows of good TC/polycotton/canvas tents that are small and 1-2 person I'd greatly appreciate you sharing your knowledge. EDIT: Also, my nylon tent always sagged sooo much more than the ones in this video did, and like I said it was from a company that is supposed to have high quality tents.

[@Stickinit]

That's a great test. Are you going to offer tents in brighter colors? We love our Cimarron but have had issues with folks set up close to us not seeing our tent. Another benefit of bright colors is emergency issues. Ungulates don't see color. When you're headed back to camp after dark, it makes it nice to have a beacon. Keep up the great work. That red cimarron looks very appealing.

[@seekoutsidegear]

The bright colors typically degrade more in sun and the red. If we find something that can perform well, we may do it!

[@Stickinit]

Thanks for the explanation. If you get something bright that works I'm in.

[@KTMTNS]

Bright colors have a tendency to attract more bugs as well. I had a tent that was yellow and brown , before we ever were an official business (it was a prototype) . I was ion a buggy part of the weminuche and the yellow was covered with flies the brown not really. Now, I wouldn't say we would never offer one. However the quick fix is to simply tie something bright to it .. Ive done that before .

[@obchristo]

Intersting test. Looking for some clarification on what I think I heard. Besides fabric composition (Poly vs Nylon)- you were comparing a 20D to a 30D- correct? How much of a strength difference could be attributed to a simply beefier fabric (One might think 50%, but I am no expert in Materials Science).

[@seekoutsidegear]

20 denier silpoly is the most common variety of silpoly that you see out there amongst shelters ( Rip stop by the roll does not even sell 1.1 oz sil poly). Like wise 30d sil nylon is the popular variety of sil nylon amongst light weight shelters. Denier and having larger fibers doesn't always mean stronger. There are a lot of variables that go into making a good fabric such as how the coatings are applied, where it is sewn etc. but amongst popular tent manufacturers the conversation is usually 30 D nylon vs 15 or 20 d sil poly.

[@KTMTNS]

A 30D Poly will be stronger than the 20D Poly but it won't be as strong as the 30D Nylon. Not shown , is a test we did with a 10D Nylon we worked to develop , and it outdid some of the Poly shelters we tested. The 10D had the added benefit of being a fair amount lighter

[@jerrypowell875]

Great video. Great products.

[@seekoutsidegear]

Glad you enjoyed! Thank you

[@davids9549]

Very interesting thank you - not many test are this exhaustive. It confirms my uninformed and unscientific view that a good quality silnylon is tried, tested, and takes a lot of beating. I'm not yet convinced that the latest new fabrics will perform as well for as long. The downsides of silnylon are that it's not as light as DCF, and it absorbs the most moisture meaning it sags more and is heavier to carry when wet - but hey, in real use we periodically adjust our pitch to take up any sag, and we give them a good shake before packing, and take advantage of a dry spell to dry them further. Hardly onerous, and not rocket science.

[@wobblysauce]

Indeed it has never been a real noticable difference.. only to the scale of uppity ultra light do'rs.

[@eristicfreethinker2098]

30d is 50% thicker than 20d

[@seekoutsidegear]

We used what is popular on the tent market, I currently have 10 and 20 denier nylons being tested currently. 30D sil poly is not very common compared to 20D poly

[@eristicfreethinker2098]

@@seekoutsidegear No argument, just pointing out that there is a significant percentage difference between the yarn thicknesses and that should be recognized when comparing wear characteristics.

[@greasemonkey4god]

Hey- I’ll take that 8p you stabbed holes in…

[@seekoutsidegear]

Haha it’s my personal one! Just patched it up and plan on using it during elk season🙌

[@greasemonkey4god]

@@seekoutsidegear you deserve a new one. Talk to your boss about that would you… lol. Hey- what happened to the “roast my gear” series? I only saw a couple episodes.

[@seekoutsidegear]

That series needs to make a comeback thats for sure! Maybe have a new one when we get all packed up for hunting season!

[@greasemonkey4god]

@@seekoutsidegear maybe you could just find random hunters/people and roast their stuff. I bet local people would sign up for that! If you make it to Montana you are more than welcome to roast what I’ve got! lol.