REI Co-Op Arete ASL 2 Tent Review (Bought & Tested!)

The REI Arete ASL 2 is REI’s most expensive 2-person tent. So, I bought it and tested it for weeks, to see whether it’s truly worth the price.

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Quick Summary

If you’re looking for an inexpensive winter camping tent, the REI Arete ASL 2 is easily the best pick out there. You can use it in the off season (spring/fall) as well, but it is too hot for summer use.

The author beside her REI Arete ASL 2. — *Me beside my Arete.*

RELATED: Best REI Tents

Pros Great livable space, adjustable mesh, high quality materials, incredible value for money as a budget winter tent

Cons: No footprint provided, needs 7 more guylines and 13 more stakes

I’ll link to my YouTube review here when it’s done (TBA):

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Check out the REI Arete ASL 2:

Check price on REI Co-Op

1. In the Box

I bought the REI Arete ASL 2 during REI’s anniversary sale, and out of the box, this is what I got:

Carry bag
Rainfly
Tent body
Pole & stake bags
Guylines x 6
Stakes x 8
Poles x 4
Pole repair splint

What you get in the box when you purchase the REI Arete ASL 2. — *Everything out of the box (except the pole repair splint, which I forgot to take out).*

2. Set Up & Pack Away

This is the gist of the entire setup process:

Slide the 2 green poles into the green pole sleeves.
Secure the 2 black poles horizontally across tent.
Secure rainfly with pole wraps and buckles.
Stake down the entire tent (tent body x 6, vestibule loops x 2, guylines x 6, guy-out points on rainfly x 7).

Pro-Tip: If you want to fully stake and guy everything out, we are missing 7 guylines and 13 stakes, so remember to buy extra ones if you need to.

Altogether, the entire setup takes about 10 minutes, while the pack away took about 8.5 minutes.

For more details, I have an instructional video with tips to help you set up your tent more easily:

3. Peak Height

The peak height in the Arete comes in at about 46 inches.

The author sitting under the peak height of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *My height is 5’3/160cm, so even with a 4-inch thick sleeping pad in the tent, there was still plenty of headroom left under the peak height for me.*

4. Pole Structure

The Arete comes with 4 poles:

2 main tent poles (green) criss-cross diagonally across the tent.
2 ridge poles (black) go horizontal over the green poles.

The 4-pole structure of the REI Arete ASL 2. — The green poles (in the green pole sleeves) give you the typical dome shape, while the ridge poles (black in color) pick the rest of the tent body up, giving you more livable space inside than a regular dome tent.

5. Livable Space

The author setting up the ridge poles of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *One of the ridge poles (#1) goes directly over the door at the front of the tent, and this actually gives you a completely vertical wall.*

When I measured the height at the front wall, that came in at a whopping 43 inches. And nearer the back, where the green poles intersect, the height is about 40 inches.

The height inside the REI Arete ASL 2. — *All the stated heights that we’ve gone through. Basically, you get the peak height along the length of the tent.*

6. Base Area

For the inner base area, here are all the dimensions:

Length: 88 inches
Foot width: 42.5 inches
Shoulder width: 60 inches
Head width: 55 inches
Total base area: 32.6 sq. ft.

7. Pad Sizing

Here’s what my Exped MegaMat Duo looks like in the middle of the Arete:

Two regular pads inside the REI Arete ASL 2. — *My Exped MegaMat is the size of 2 regular pads put together (74 x 43in).*

Pro-Tip: There’s 8 inches of space on either side near the head, but only 2 inches on either side near the foot, so anything even remotely bigger than the Exped won’t be able to fit.

8. Vestibule

The Arete comes with only 1 vestibule at the front of the tent though, and here are the dimensions that you need to know:

Shape: Trapezium
Short length: 34 inches
Longer length: 57 inches
Width: 31.5 inches
Base area of vestibule: 9.95 sq. ft.

The vestibule of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *Area of the vestibule.*

This vestibule comes with 2 webbing loops (these have buckles for easy tension adjustment), and the vestibule has only 2 configurations – opened and closed.

The closed vestibule of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *The vestibule closed. You can also see the 2 light blue webbing loops near the bottom of this picture.*

The author opening the vestibule of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *To keep the vestibule open, you can use the 1 toggle by the right to bunch up all the fabric. The entrance to the vestibule isn’t super big, tapered at the top.*

The zippers of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *There are also 2 zippers for this vestibule, they’re YKK, and not snaggy at all.*

9. Window

The Arete has 1 window at the front of the tent, and here are all its details:

Size: 34.5 x 21 inches
Stowing: Toggle x 1
Mesh: Micro
Zippers: YKK x 2

The author measuring the size of the REI Arete ASL 2's window. — *Me measuring the dimensions of the window.*

10. Door

The window is actually part of the tent door, located at the head of the tent.

The door of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *I really love how the door unzips almost all the way around, giving you a wide-mouth opening. Dimensions of the door are 36 by 33 inches.*

After unzipping it, you can easily tuck the door fabric away into a pocket beside the door:

The door and corresponding door pocket of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *Red arrow pointing to the door pocket you can use.*

The door comes with 2 zippers, both are YKK, and very snag-free (same as the window and vestibules).

Pro-Tip: Unlike other single-door tents that have doors located on the length, the Arete has its door located at the width, and this reduces the annoyance of having to climb over someone else to get out of the tent.

11. Storage

For storage, the Arete has 6 pockets altogether – 4 pockets at the front, 1 super huge pocket at the back, and a small one at the top, with these dimensions:

Front pockets x 4: 18 x 7in (x2), 12 x9in (x2)
Back pocket x 1: 33 x 8in
Top pocket x 1: 12 x 9in

Some of the pockets inside the REI Arete ASL 2. — *These are the front pockets. The back and top pockets are not pictured.*

For loops to hang stuff from, there’s a total of 9 loops.

12. Seam Taping

For seam taping, all the seams covered by the rainfly (8 inches off the ground, and above) were not taped.

Those not covered by the rainfly were taped perfectly (corners, webbing loops, across-the-flooring seams).

Seam taping inside the REI Arete ASL 2. — *One of the corners of the Arete; you can see that every single seam here has been perfectly taped.*

13. Vents

The Arete has 3 vents – 1 at the back, 2 at the top – and each can be held open with a Velcro kickstand.

One of the top vents of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *This is one of the top vents. Notice an extra Velcro patch beside each kickstand; you can use this to make the vent smaller/bigger.*

However, these top vents cannot be opened or closed from the inside. This can pose a problem in horizontal rain, especially since the angle isn’t facing downwards.

Only the back vent faces downwards and can survive horizontal rain:

The back vent of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *The back vent in the rain (didn’t leak for me).*

14. Rainfly

The Arete also has a full-coverage rainfly, which extends almost all the way down to the ground, leaving just a small gap at the bottom.

I really loved that this tent has 7 extra stake-out points at the bottom of the rainfly, so you can literally get every single side of the rainfly staked down.

The rainfly of the REI Arete ASL 2. — *You can see 4 rainfly stake-out points here; the other 3 are on the other side.*

15. Rain Tests

I put the Arete through many rain tests (including a 48-hour heavy rain test), and here were my results:

1 hour: No leaks
1.5 hours: Slight rainfly leakage
2 hours: Rainfly drenched
24 hours: Flooring (not covered by rainfly) drenched
48 hours: Seam taping starts to leak
Vents: No leakage

For more rain test details, you can check out my YouTube video here:

16. Adjustable Mesh

The Arete has these mesh panels:

Front window
Top mesh
Back triangle vent

You can unzip all these mesh panels for off-season camping (giving you about 15% mesh), or zip them all up for winter camping (or 0% mesh, to keep the heat in effectively).

The REI Arete ASL 2 with all its mesh panels opened. — *You can see the top mesh and front window here. The back triangle vent is not pictured, but it’s small (10 x 10in) and that’s all the exposed mesh in the Arete.*

17. Materials

Here are all the materials of the REI Arete ASL 2:

Flooring: 70D nylon taffeta
Rainfly: 40D ripstop nylon
Tent body/canopy: 40D ripstop nylon
Poles: DAC Pressfit (green tent body poles + shorter black pole), DAC Featherlite NSL (longer black pole)
Mesh: Nylon micro mesh
Guylines: Shockcord (with reflective strip)
Stakes: DAC V-stakes

18. Portability

Here are the packed dimensions of the Arete ASL 2:

Packed size: 22 x 8 x 5.5 inches
Pole length: 22 inches (green poles), 19.5 inches (longer black pole)

As for weight, here’s a breakdown of all the components:

Poles: 26.46oz
Stakes: 3.32oz (for 8)
Rainfly: 28.4oz
Tent body: 36.3oz
Carry bag: 1.51oz
Total: 6.0lbs/96.0oz/2.72kg
Minimum trail weight: 5.7lbs/91.1oz/2.59kg

19. Pros, Cons, Recommendations

Now, what are the pros and cons, and do I recommend the REI Arete ASL 2?

Pro #1: Lots of livable space

The first pro is easily the incredible livable space in the tent thanks to the:

4-pole structure
Completely vertical front wall
Peak height extending across the length of the tent

Pro #2: Amount of mesh is adjustable

Now, if you want to use this tent in winter, you can zip up all the mesh, and this will help keep all the heat inside the tent. Here’s how well the Arete does that:

Tent	Seasons Rating	Outside Temp (°F)	Inside Temp (°F)
REI Arete ASL 2	3+ to 4	85.8	108.1
Gazelle T4	3+	86.4	100.2
Others	3	86.0	95-98

^{Notice that the outside temperatures are similar, but the inside temperature in the Arete is the highest.}

Pro-Tip: So, the REI Arete ASL 2 definitely keeps the heat in better than other tents, and I would definitely not recommend it for summer use.

Pro #3: Well protected against rain

The rainfly design is perfect, complete with 7 guy-out points to pull the rainfly away from the tent body at all sides.

Pro #4: High quality materials

The materials on this tent are also really high quality, complete with nylon ripstop and all-across DAC poles and stakes.

Pro #5: Value for money

And especially if you get this tent during one of REI’s sales, it’s really not too expensive for a tent that you can use not only in the off-season, but also in the winter.

Pro #6: Feature-rich

It also comes complete with a zippable window, loads of zippable mesh, loads of pockets, and huge ones at that, loads of loops, and more.

Con #1: Longer setup

However, more feature-rich tents tend to take longer to setup. The Arete takes 10 minutes, while other 2-person tents can take as little as 5 minutes.

Con #2: Missing 7 guylines and 13 stakes

Not only are you missing 7 guylines and 13 stakes, 4 of 6 of the provided guylines are ridiculously short.

Con #3: No footprint

And unlike other REI tents that come with footprints, the Arete doesn’t.

Overall Recommendation

But overall, the cons aren’t really super big issues, I’ve had this tent for almost a year now, and had no rainfly degradation issues.

So, bottom line, I thought the REI Arete ASL 2 was a fantastic and very impressive pick for a lightweight and inexpensive winter tent.

20. Bonus – MUST Read!

If you want to check more tents, I bought all the best REI tents out there.

Otherwise, check out the REI Arete ASL 2: