Horizontal drizzle, soaked bog and 40 mph gusts on the Isle of Skye, and dry walls every morning. The Telos TR2 Plus is the tent for nasty shoulder seasons. It scores 85 out of 100 and ranks #4 in our best backpacking tents guide as our best backpacking tent for wind and rain.
Best Backpacking Tent for Wind and Rain
Sea to Summit Telos TR2 Plus
- Weight (our scale): 4 lb 0 oz packed
- Floor: tapers to 43 in
- Pad fit (our test): two 20 in pads
- Doors: 2
Bottom Line : Dry walls every morning on the Isle of Skye, in 40 mph gusts and pitched on soaked bog. The pole clips take strong thumbs.
Pros
- Driest walls of any tent here
- Bog never came through the floor, even kneeling on it
- Ridge stood up to 40 mph gusts
- Big headroom
Cons
- Pole clips need serious thumb strength
- Lots of small stuff sacks to lose
- Wide pads overlap at the foot
On the Isle of Skye
Emma pitched the Telos on the Isle of Skye in late May, in horizontal drizzle, wet bog and 40 mph gusts. The raised ridge angled into the wind and didn't cave.
She pitched it on saturated bog, and no groundwater pushed through the floor even when she knelt on it. Over 18 hours of Skye squalls, nothing came in.
The apex vent exhausted warm air like a chimney: the driest walls of any tent in our test. The vertical walls give big headroom for two. It weighed 4 lb 0 oz packed and pitched in 4 minutes, though the Tension Ridge takes practice.
Where It Asks Something of You
The Tension Ridge takes practice, and clipping the poles into it took serious thumb strength; Emma's thumbs ached when wet and cold. The floor tapers to 43 inches, so two 25 inch pads overlap in the bottom third.
Spec Sheet vs Our Test
A higher-specification waterproof floor. Sea to Summit says the Plus has a higher-specification waterproof floor for wetter ground, and Emma's notes put it at 8,000 mm. Kneeling on wet bog pushes water through thin floors; this one didn't let any in. That rating earned its keep on Skye.
A seam-taped, PU-coated fly. Sea to Summit lists a seam-taped, PU-coated rainfly, and Emma's notes put its rating at only 1,200 mm, low on paper. Because the ridge shape stops water pooling, it shrugged off 18 hours of squalls. The design did the work the number didn't.
FairShare stuff sacks. The tent packs into three stuff sacks so two people can split the load, and they turn into storage pockets. Useful in theory; in practice Emma found it too many small parts to lose.
Should You Buy the Sea to Summit Telos TR2 Plus?
Yes, if your trips are cold, wet and windy more often than not. No tent in our test kept its walls drier, and few matched its floor on wet ground.
In settled summer weather it's more tent than you need. The MSR Hubba Hubba LT 2 is lighter and quicker to pitch, and fits wide pads.
Compare With
- NEMO Dagger OSMO 2P: our best backpacking tent for rainy trips.
- MSR Hubba Hubba LT 2: our best overall backpacking tent.
- Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2: our best backpacking tent for couples.
- Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 2: our best backpacking tent for hiking with a dog.
- MSR Elixir 2: our best backpacking tent for scouts.
- Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2: our best ultralight backpacking tent.
- ALPS Mountaineering Lynx 2: our best budget backpacking tent for beginners.
- Kelty Late Start 2P: our best backpacking tent for summer storms.
- Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1: our best backpacking tent for solo hikers.
- Naturehike Cloud Up 2: our best cheap backpacking tent.
See all 11, and how we tested them, in our best backpacking tents guide. For family and car-camping tents, start at our camping tents hub.
Editor's Note, 20 October 2026: Renamed this pick's award to say what it is best for, to match our updated buying guide. Scores and rankings are unchanged.
Editor's Note, 17 October 2026: New review, from the field notes of Emma, who tested this tent for our backpacking tent guide and weighed it on her own scale.
Our Testers
This review was edited by Sean Williams and tested by Emma Williams.
- Sean Williams, Editor-in-Chief. Sean built the team of researchers and testers behind our reviews and sets the rule the site runs on: we buy what we test, and we say what we found.
- Ryan Williams, Lead Tester. Ryan reviewed the rankings against Emma's notes.
- Emma Williams, Editor and Tester. Emma leads our tent, camp kitchen and footwear testing, mostly in wet weather, and tested every tent in this guide.
