Heh ! Noted. Somehow I wound up with a few SMD shelters over years. The original Lunar Duo is an awesome two-person shelter that I love.

His AMA on Reddit was interesting:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/6jtivh/i_am_henry_shires_coowner_of_tarptent_and/

The pertinent info:
https://www.tarptent.com/faq.html
Why don’t you make Tarptents in Cuben fiber?
We don’t make cuben fiber products due to the extreme fabric expense, problems with seam taping and poor abrasion resistance. Not only is cuben fiber nearly 5x the price of the fabric we use now, but cuben fiber seams behave poorly under stress and must be seam taped. That’s not too hard for simple shelters with straight seams but very labor intensive for more complex shelters with curved seams such as the Double Rainbow (and many more). Our prices would likely triple for curved shelters, an outcome which would violate everything we strive for in making affordable shelters. Finally, weight wise, using cuben fiber would mean a typical weight reduction of 4-6 ounces ( ~150g, a gulp of water or perhaps 3 candy bars) and we would argue that no one can notice that kind of weight difference in a loaded pack.

[–]Henry_S_Tarptent[S] 45 points 16 days ago
Yes, our opinion hasn’t changed. Cuben, now Dyneema, is stupid expensive and we will continue to offer affordable and high performance shelters.

Like you I later switched to a flat tarp, an 8′ x 10′ cuben tarp that weighed 1/2 of the Wild Oasis. Then even later dug out the Wild Oasis and started using it again. The Wild Oasis is easy to set up, and provides very good coverage. I am 5’11” and that is about the limit for the Wild Oasis, which Six Moon Designs has replaced with the somewhat larger Deschutes.

The SMD Deschutes is the same design, only it is a bit larger (that’s a good thing), and does not have the perimeter bug netting, which I didn’t really need. SMD used make the Deschutes in silnylon AND Cuben, but apparently has discontinued the Cuben version after CubenTech was purchased by Dyneema and Cuben cloth became more expensive and more difficult to source.

Two years ago I bought a Cuben Deschutes and it has been my go-to shelter for most trips ever since. Part of this decision was due to giving my Wild Oasis to a young man who is just starting to backpack and could not afford a shelter.

And, as you mention, Six Moons Designs has pretty good customer service.

Somewhere on my blog is a detailed review of the Deschutes with comparisons to the Wild Oasis and the zPacks Hexamid, which is very, very similar to the SMD shelter. The appeal of the Deschutes (or Wild Oasis if one can buy a used version) is they are light, inexpensive, easy to pitch, and will last longer than most crazy expensive cuben pyramid shelters.

As usual, good post.

It is a bit different: You need buy separate bug netting, has a floor, different shape. It is not as simple or light. “Constructed from tough but light Silicone Nylon, the Deschutes Tarp weights 13 ounces and is quite affordable. When mated with the Ser2enity NetTent you have a double wall solo tent, that weighs a mere 24 ounces.”

EDIT: I see the plus actually has bug netting if a tad heavier. Mea culpa.

I will say that this shelter is NOT for larger people. I’m 5’7″ so it’s fine for me, but if I were five inches taller I’d think about getting a larger shelter.

And no, SMD is not paying me to say this 🙂