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Discontinued The REI Arete ASL 2 has been discontinued and is no longer sold. I’m keeping this review up as a record of my testing — every measurement below is still exactly what I found. Every measurement below is still exactly what I found.

See the 8 tests

1. In the Box
2. Set Up & Take Down
3. Spaciousness
4. Comfort & Features
5. Ventilation
6. Rain Protection
7. Quality
8. Portability
9. Pros, Cons, Recommendation
10. Bonus – MUST read!

In the Box

I bought my REI Arete ASL 2 during REI’s anniversary sale. Here’s what came in the bag.

• Tent body
• Rainfly
• Poles × 4
• Guylines × 6
• Stakes × 8
• Pole and stake bags
• Pole repair splint
• Carry bag

No footprint, which is the one thing most of REI’s other 2-person tents do include.

Set Up & Take Down

• Set-up time (1 person) 10 minthe longest of REI’s 2-person tents
• Take-down + pack-up 8.5 min

Four steps, but each one takes longer than on a simpler tent:

1. Slide the 2 green poles into the green pole sleeves.
2. Secure the 2 black poles horizontally across the tent.
3. Fix the rainfly with the pole wraps and buckles.
4. Stake everything down — 6 on the body, 2 vestibule loops, 6 guylines, 7 rainfly guy-out points.

• Poles 4 (2 green main, 2 black ridge)
• Stakes / guylines 8 / 67 short of a full guy-out

Pro Tip To stake and guy everything out you’re missing 7 guylines and 13 stakes, so buy extras before you go.

Spaciousness

• Peak height 46incarried along the length of the tent

The ridge poles are what make this tent feel bigger than its floor. One runs straight over the door and turns the front into a vertical wall.

• Front wall height 43ina completely vertical wall over the door
• Height at the back 40inwhere the green poles intersect

• Floor 88in long; 60in shoulder, 55in head, 42.5in foot
• Base area 32.6 sq ft

Pro Tip There’s 8in of space either side at the head but only 2in either side at the foot, so anything wider than the Exped won’t fit.

• Vestibule 1at the front, open or closed only
• Vestibule area 9.95 sq fttrapezium: 34in short side, 57in long side, 31.5in wide

Comfort & Features

• Window 1 (34.5 × 21in)micro mesh, 1 stow toggle

• Doors 1at the head of the tent, not the length
• Door size 36 × 33inunzips almost all the way around

Once it’s unzipped, the door fabric tucks into a pocket beside it rather than hanging off a toggle.

Pro Tip Unlike other single-door tents, the Arete’s door is on the width rather than the length — so you never have to climb over your tent mate to get out.

• Zippers YKK throughout2 per door, 2 per window, 2 per vestibule

• Pockets 6
  • Front × 4 18 × 7in, 12 × 9in
  • Back 33 × 8in
  • Top 12 × 9in
• Loops 9 loops

Ventilation

• Vents 32 at the top, 1 at the back, each on a Velcro kickstand

The top vents can’t be opened or closed from inside, and they don’t face downwards, so they’re a problem in horizontal rain. Only the back vent is angled safely.

• Adjustable mesh 0–15%every mesh panel zips shut for winter
• Mesh panels 3front window, top mesh, back triangle vent (10 × 10in)

Zip them all shut and you’re at 0% mesh, which is what makes this a winter tent:

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

Outside temperatures were near identical, yet the Arete ran the hottest inside by a wide margin — which is why I wouldn’t take it out in summer.

Rain Protection

• 1 hour No leaks
• 1.5 hours Slight rainfly leakage
• 2 hours Rainfly drenched
• 24 hours Flooring not covered by the rainfly drenched
• 48 hours Seam taping starts to leak

I ran the Arete through 48 hours of non-stop rain, and the rainfly is the part that gives first. The vents never leaked through any of it.

• Rainfly stake-outs 7 extra stake-out pointsevery side of the fly can be staked away
• Seam taping Everything the rainfly doesn’t coveruntaped above 8in, where the fly does the work

Those stake-outs are what keep the soaked fly off the tent body, and the taping is what keeps the floor dry under it.

Quality

• Flooring 70D nylon taffeta
• Rainfly 40D ripstop nylon
• Tent body 40D ripstop nylon

Ripstop nylon throughout and DAC hardware end to end is a genuine step up on REI’s cheaper 2-person tents. I owned this one for almost a year with no rainfly degradation at all.

• Poles DACPressfit on the green and short black poles, Featherlite NSL on the long black one
• Stakes DAC V-stakes
• Mesh Nylon micro mesh
• Guylines Shockcordwith a reflective strip

Portability

• Packed size 22 × 8 × 5.5in
• Pole length 22ingreen poles; the long black pole is 19.5in

• Total weight 6.0 lbs (96.0oz)
  • Tent body 36.3oz
  • Rainfly 28.4oz
  • Poles 26.46oz
  • Stakes (8) 3.32oz
  • Carry bag 1.51oz
• Minimum trail weight 5.7 lbs (91.1oz)

It’s the heaviest of the REI 2-person tents I’ve weighed, which is what four poles, a bigger fly and a bigger canopy cost you.

Pros, Cons, Recommendation

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

Lots of livable space

The 4-pole structure, the vertical front wall and a peak height that runs the length of the tent add up to the roomiest REI 2-person tent I’ve tested.

The amount of mesh is adjustable

Zip every panel shut and it holds heat better than any tent I’ve measured — 108.1°F inside at 85.8°F outside.

Well protected against rain

The rainfly design is perfect, with 7 guy-out points to pull it away from the tent body on every side.

High quality materials

Ripstop nylon plus DAC poles and stakes throughout.

Value for money

Bought in one of REI’s sales, it wasn’t expensive for a tent I could use in the off-season and in winter.

Feature-rich

A zippable window, zippable mesh panels, 6 pockets, 9 loops and more.

Longer setup

Feature-rich tents take longer to pitch. The Arete needs 10 min, where other 2-person tents can be up in 5.

Missing 7 guylines and 13 stakes

And 4 of the 6 guylines it does ship with are far too short to use.

No footprint

Unlike REI’s other tents, this one doesn’t come with one.

Bonus – MUST Read!

Every figure above is from my own testing — measured by hand, bought with my own money.