"Have only recently acquired this tent, so review is based on intial experience and backyard use in summer. Other reviews of this and previous incarnations of the tent have admirably covered it's in field use.
My other tent is a 3 season Eureka Rising Sun 3-pole tent and I compared the two by setting them up side by side. While the Rising Sun is no longer available, there are tents by other manufacturers that are nearly identical.
My primary problem with the Rising Sun has always been the lack of footroom - the ceiling slopes directly up from the ground. This is not an issue with the Alpenlite 2XT - there is plenty of foot and headroom for my 6' 2" body. Headroom is also nicely distributed in the Alpenlite as the highest point is somewhat back from the door and offers plenty of height for changing, etc.
On newer models of the Alpenlite, there is no rear door (previous editions did). The back wall is zippered and can be opened for venting. Nearly the entire tent body can be opened up for ventilation, with pin and loop "ties" provided for each vent door. The openings are covered with no-see-um mesh to keep out bugs. An oddity of the tent's heritage is that the fly vestible remaining at the rear is no longer accessible from inside the tent. I'm not quite sure what I would store in there now, but it is a decent space that is now mostly unused.
The front vestible is about the same size as the Rising Sun and fairly generous. It has a zippered flap at the bottom, to be opened up to allow air passage in warmer weather and it works well. The flap can be staked out to provide slight air movement or fully unzipped and rolled into pin and loop ties to open completely. There is also a clear "window" in the vestibule which I find rather ridiculous. It is supposed to be resistant to UV degradation (though I have my doubts) and in fairness is quite flexible and doesn't hinder packing. My issue is that I can't imagine a time when I needed to look out a window to see what the weather was (it's hard not to know what's going on outside a tent anyway) and by morning the window is covered with condensation so that you can't really see out of it anyway. I would much prefer it to have been left out.
As for inside light, the fly is a bright golden yellow and the entire tent is bathed in a pleasant yellow light (pleasant, that is, unless you wanted to sleep in). Intended for winter use, the interior light should aide in keeping nasty conditions outside at bay.
Venting is good - I noticed no internal condensation in hot, humid weather and the fly is seperated from the tent by a fair bit so that there shouldn't be any transfer back into the tent. I had the tent about half vented and noticed no problems.
The primary poles are heavier than those found on the Rising Sun. As a result, the clips seem more substantial than those found in the lighter 3 season tent. There is a lighter weight center pole that pulls the center of the tent walls outward - without it the tent would sag and I wouldn't use the tent without the center pole (if anyone was wondering - I was). The pole ends pierce into grommeted straps on the tent floor and the upper body is secured via pole clips or the elastic loops at the end peaks. The main pole structure uses a plastic connector similar to that used on the Timberline series. The plastic used seems quite flexible such that I am not concerned about breakage. Also, the poles themselves are all straight (unlike the Rising Sun) except for a short 3" section of angled pole that goes over the central peak. This makes the unassembled pole package fairly compact. While the poles are stressed in actual use, I don't expect to see alot of deformation over time.
The tent is sized as a 2-man tent, and the floorprint is nearly identical to the Rising Sun. Unlike the Rising Sun, the floor is nearly rectangular which provides a little more space at the foot end of the tent. Both tents are what I would call a "couple's" tent - perfectly fine for a couple without their gear, or used solo with gear. I also doubt that a couple could get all their gear into the vestibule (I never take my gear into the tent anyway, so it's a non-issue for me). The additional footroom (over the Rising Sun) does allow some additional gear storage at the foot of the tent.
Loft loops are provided inside (two have rings, the rest are simple cloth loops) and mesh pockets are sewn into the tent walls - large enough to hold a paperback or glasses, wallet, socks, underwear, etc. There are also two "flapping" mesh pockets sewn into the walls below the side vents - their usefulness is questionable since most of the pocket lies on the tent floor - I may end up cutting mine out so that it doesn't end up underneath my sleeping bag and stress the tent wall.
The tent body, floor, etc. are made of typical Eureka fabrics and keep the tent lightweight. The fly and stuff sacks are made of a lightweight ripstop that appears quite stout. While not heavy, it does seem to make it more difficult to pack the fly into a small bundle.
The fly is literally covered with fastening points for guy lines, a nice feature, and the tent includes nylon cord and tensioners for the guy lines. The fly is secured via velcro straps on the poles at front and rear (which are needed on this tent - I never used them on the Rising Sun) and nylon straps and buckles at the corners and side anchors. The fly is more difficult to center on the tent than the Rising Sun and you need to make sure that all the buckle straps are fully extended and that you have fastened the velcro strips to the poles in order to aide in centering the fly over the tent. Once centered, it fits well and provides full coverage.
Once set up, the tent is quite stable. It didn't even shutter at the 20mph winds I experienced and I fully suspect that it will take on more severe weather with aplomb. 4 additional stakes are provided for use with guy lines, you would need to buy 8 more to use every anchor point provided (which would be overkill, of course).
Assembly took just a couple minutes, except for adjusting and centering the fly. The tent is "nearly" free-standing in that you need to stake it down to fully stretch out the floor (again, unlike the Rising Sun style which is fully extended by the pole structure).
Here are the issues that a potential purchaser should consider:
1) Weight - this is a very light 4 season tent, but a heavy tent for milder weather.
2) Size - again, this is a couple's tent. It is very roomy for solo use, but alot of weight for one person. Still, there aren't many lightweight winter options.
3) Heat - while it vented well for me in mid-summer, it was clearly alot warmer inside the Alpenlite than the Rising Sun during the day. Plus milder weather use would require opning vents anyway, so you are only carrying excess fabric that isn't used.
4) Complexity - this tent is wonderfully engineered and full of wonderful features well considered. However, this complexity simply isn't needed most of the time. For example, before you can take down the tent, you need to go inside and close up all the vents you had open all night. Do you really want this hassle in mild weather conditions?
5) Packed size: granted, my tent hasn't been packed and unpacked alot yet, so the fabric is still crisp. I also haven't had alot of experience finding the ideal folding method for it. It took me a few tries to find a way to fold the tent compactly and even then it is a fairly big package (it seems as if it would nearly fill my pack, but I didn't try). It's a big package in any event, and I would guess the packed size is 3 times that of my Rising Sun.
Summary: This is a great bargain for a winter tent and from my initial inspection looks quite up to the task. It is also fairly light for a winter tent and yet is a two-walled tent with great ventilation (that I could sleep in it at all in summer is testimony to that). I would not recommend this tent for year-round use or as a persons primary tent. Nor would I consider this a good tent for most car camping - it's too complex for that. It looks to be great at what it was intended for, late fall to early spring camping and I've based my rating on that."
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