Big Agnes Titan 4 mtnGLO Tent Review

The Big Agnes Titan 4 mtnGLO is a spacious 3-season 4-person car camping tent that features an external pole design which can be set up in two different configurations – as a standalone fly that provides shelter and shade, or as a standard double-walled tent with two doors.

The rainfly connects and hangs underneath the exoskeleton pole system and provides an open-air shelter to protect you from the sun, wind, snow, and rain, and it’s perfect for camping, festivals, picnics, and the beach. When needed the main tent body then snaps into the fly via quick connect buckles.

For additional information, refer to bigagnes.com.

Features

It features the DAC DA17 exoskeleton pole system that maximizes structural strength and creates a vast livable space. Dongah Aluminum Corporation (DAC) of South Korea supplies their custom TH72M aluminum alloy tent poles which are strong and flexible. The main structure consists of four legs, an overhead beam, and two end pieces, all of which intersect into two large plastic hubs. Consider the main structure as one big interconnected pole system that utilizes multiple individual 14.5mm thick alloy pole sections that are shock-corded together and interlaced into the plastic hubs; the legs have four poles each, the middle has four poles, and the end has one pole each. The middle portion of the upper beam features pre-bent pole sections to facilitate the prominent arc at the top of the tent. Additionally, two other crossover poles help flatten out the top of the tent, that consist of 4 poles each; the end portions are 11.5 mm thick and two middle ones are 13mm.

The external pole structure means that the poles and fly can be set up before clipping in the inner main tent body to minimize adverse weather impact, plus this shelter configuration leaves two open sides for easy access and ventilation. The fly is made from a polyester rip-stop nylon, and the floor is polyester taffeta fabric, with a 1500mm waterproof polyurethane coating and seams taped with waterproof polyurethane tape. Each side of the fly feature attached pre-cut guy lines and tensioners, with reflective cording and webbing for night time safety.

Oversized plastic S-Clips and ball caps attach the fly to the external pole system.

The inner main tent body clips into the inside of the fly with color-coded buckles to create a double-wall shelter that features two waterproof zippered doors with storm flaps. The interior has eight mesh pockets, gear/loft loops, easy-grip zipper pulls, a quick Stash door-keeper to stow an unzipped door quickly and easily (shown above), and lastly, two oversized fly vent windows for increased airflow and reduced condensation. The tent body is made from a polyester rip-stop nylon and polyester mesh, with a 1500mm waterproof polyurethane coating and seams taped with waterproof polyurethane tape.

The tents claim to fame is their mtnGLO light, which features a durable LED light string that illuminates the interior of the tent with a subtle amount of light that’s just enough to sort out gear, play cards, and hang out with tents mates without blinding them with a headlamp.

It utilizes a battery operated push button controller with three settings; on, off and 50% brightness. The mtnGLO To-Go system is removable and can be used outside the tent for camp lighting or moved around inside the tent via multiple attachment points for optimal viewing. If needed the LED string has a USB connector so you can run it off a separate power supply, though you’ll lose the controllers capabilities.

Specs and  Sizing

Packed Weight (Tent/Fly/Poles/Stakes)	11lb 13oz / 5.36kg
Fast Fly Weight (Fly/Poles/Stakes)	8lb 2oz / 3.68 kg
Packed Size	12″ x 25″ / 30 x 63cm
Floor Area	56 sq ft / 5.2m²
Head Height	60″ / 152cm

The 56 square feet of floor area offers plenty of generous living space, making for a roomy shelter, especially when you’re hanging out with less than four people. As long as you’re not too tall, you can stand up; albeit with a scrunched neck; to change clothes and stretch.

Set Up

Grab the stuff sack with all the tents contents and lay everything out; the contents include the fly, the main tent body, a pole bag, and a stake bag. The pole bag contains one sizeable primary structure pole system (22 shock-corded poles and two hubs), two smaller pole sections (4 shock-corded poles each), and a 6″ emergency pole segment, while the stake bag has 8 round wire alloy pegs. Connect all the pole sections to create the primary and two crossover pole segments, and lay the primary over the top of the fly, and the crossovers to the side for now.

Stake out the four corners of the fly if you want, and match the color-coded pole end sections with the matching colors of the corner stake out loops. Insert each of the four pole tips into their corresponding colored grommets to erect the primary exoskeleton system.

Snap all of the flys S-Clips onto the main pole and secure the ridge end tips into the Ball Caps.

Place each of the two cross-member pole segments on top of the central pole, and attach their end tips into the flys Ball-Caps and snap on the S-Clips. For a safety precaution, I would stake out the four side guylines, since the tent can act as a giant kite in a light wind.

In this scenario, you can either set up the fly as standalone or already have the main tent body attached to the fly and lift them both into place, though that is a bit more effort and it’s far easier to do them separately.

After setting up the fly standalone, you can use it as a shelter or attach the main tent body for the full-on double-walled tent. Lay the tents main body inside the bottom of the fly’s structure and rotate it to match the outer color-coded corner buckles to each other.

Starting at the back, locate the color-coded buckles along the outer edge of the interior and attach the matching buckles of the exterior of the main. You’ll be snapping together the QR buckles while reaching into the double wall cavity. Attach all the remaining exterior buckles throughout the tent to the fly, moving from one door to the opposing door. Readjust the guy lines and corner stakes as needed.

You can get some optional items for the tent, including a protective Footprint for $55, an accessory Vestibule (one or two) for $129.95, and Large Trapezoid gear loft for $22. I did not test any of these items, though I think the Vestibule would be highly functional for additional room and storm coverage.

Impressions

During my testing, I usually used a large heavy-duty plastic tarp to protect the bottom of the tent, though I think that their custom footprint that matches the floor plan would be a good investment. To keep dirt and sand from getting in the tent, I used a CGEAR Sand-Free Original Mat as a doormat or sometimes as a central flooring when I was hanging out in the standalone fly.

I found setting up the tent fairly effortless, though, like any tent that stands up pretty tall, you’ll need to stake it down to prevent it from flying away in gusty winds. Snapping the 22-piece primary section pole system together along with the two 4-piece poles was a breeze, as was standing up the exoskeleton in the fly’s stakeout loops and then clipping the S-Clips and Ball Caps, finished off by adding the cross-members. The S-Clips seem pretty beefy, but since much of the weight and strength of the tent depends on their attachment, I wonder at the longevity? If you had to put the standalone fly up in inclement weather, you would only briefly be out in the crud before you could hide out from the elements under the fly coverage. I would highly suggest staking out the four side guylines to hold the tent securely down once it was erected. You can now enjoy the protection offered by the standalone fly, or you can add on the main tent body to have a full blown double walled tent, and I truly enjoyed having the duality and advantage of this system. You can erect the entire double walled tent if you want in one step (main and fly connected together), but it’s a bit heavier to accomplish that, and I found it required minimal effort first to do the fly and then snap in the main tent body.

The main tent body hangs down from the inside of the fly via multiple quick-connect buckles oriented along five parallel lines aligned along with the doors. The Big Agnes installation instructions have you start from the center and work your way outward, but I found it easier to start at one door and work your way back to the other door. Clip the floor buckles and then start with the ceiling ones until you finish at the opposing door. I did find that the large floor buckles were hard to clip since they tended to get all the dirt/sand and they were sometimes annoying awful to get a crisp connection, especially with fumbling fingers.

Once the main body was up you could unzip the door and set up inside the tent, meaning make yourself at home. The 56 square feet of floor space offers tons of room, especially with 1-3 people, so you could spread out your gear wherever you wanted. With four people, it was a bit tighter of a fit, but there was still enough space to sleep comfortably.  Although I didn’t get to test the optional vestibule out, I think it would be an optimal addition to the tent, providing more space for shoes, boots, gear, and chairs, a place to cook, and improved rain and wind protection from the elements. The tall ceiling was ideal for standing up and changing clothes, and the steep walls made the tent feel much roomier and more comfortable.

The interior ceiling of the main tent is all mesh, and when the windows on the doors are opened on either side, the entire system provides plenty of ventilation. I never found the tent overly warm during hot weather, though I wish the tent had all screen doors for the hottest nights. Since I live in the Rocky Mountain, I didn’t use the tent in high humidity days, though it did fine in the few rain and snow storms I got stuck in, though an ideal protective setup for inclement weather would likely be having vestibules on both doors. The mtnGlo LED system was pretty nifty, and I used it all the time, and if offered just enough light for most activities, and it tended to keep the bug count down. There were plenty of mesh side pockets located throughout the tent, so it was easy for anyone to stash their gear. The two doors were quite convenient and easy to get in and out once they were lashed to their Stash door-keeper, but the zippers would catch on the storm flap Velcro patches, which I found to be a bit annoying.

Bottom Line

The tent was very spacious due to the tall center and near vertical walls and was especially sweet for 1-3 people. I liked that I could stand up in the tent and change clothes with the 60-inch height, albeit at 5’9″ I had to bend my neck slightly. The thick and burly DA17 exoskeleton pole system was strong, and once the guy wires were stacked down the tent offered plenty of stability in most of the wind and weather that I camped in. The coated nylon which was seam sealed provided plenty of protection from rain and snow storms, though I think the ultimate coverage would be provided by utilizing the optional vestibules at both doors.

I enjoyed the versatility of the tents dual setup system; run it as a standalone fly or as a double-walled tent. The standalone fly offers shelter from the elements and sun while just hanging out while camping, picnicking, doing festivals, etc. When you need to sleep or get out of nastier weather, attach the main tent body for a double-walled tent. Some people might miss having the functionality of a tent with a removable fly for viewing the night sky and improved ventilation, but I honestly went to bed and didn’t find the tent to get overly warm. With the open mesh ceiling and large mesh windows, I found the tent to be pleasantly well ventilated, though I’d like to see full-screen doors for maximum air throughput on hot nights.

The mtnGlo system was pretty cool, and though the removable strand of LED lights wasn’t overly bright for reading or doing something detailed, it was enough when setting things up and when sitting in the tent while hanging out without blinding your tentmates or drawing too many bugs. I wish the controller were rechargeable, but at least the LED string has a USB connector so you can run it off a separate battery storage supply if needed.

The Titan 4 mtnGLO is an extremely versatile, roomy, strong and durable 4-person and 3-season car camping tent. The burly dual mode exoskeleton pole design can be configured as a standalone fly or a double walled tent, offering a innovate and functional entity, and the mtnGLO LED system is a nice feature.