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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. Half Dome 2 vs 2+ vs 3
10. Pros, Cons, Recommendation
11. Bonus – MUST read!

In the Box

Everything below came out of the carry bag when I unpacked my REI Half Dome 2 Plus.

• Tent body, footprint already attached
• Rainfly
• Hubbed pole × 1
• Guylines × 4
• Stakes × 8
• Pole repair splint
• Stake bag and pole bag
• Carry bag

Set Up & Take Down

• Set-up time (1 person) 7.25 min
• Take-down + pack-up 7 min

Five steps get it standing:

1. Lay the tent body (footprint attached) down and stake the 4 corners lightly.
2. Put the hubbed pole together and slot the 4 long ends into the corner grommets.
3. Clip on all 13 pole clips, which are color-coded to the poles.
4. Pull the 2 grommets above the doors onto the ends of the short brow pole.
5. Drape the rainfly, secure it at the brow pole and the 4 corner buckles, then stake the vestibules, both widths and the guylines.

• Footprint Pre-attachedthread the toggle out if you want it off
• Footprint-only pitch Nothe footprint has toggles, not grommets
• Poles 1 hubbed polean X of long poles plus a short brow pole
• Pole clips 13 pole clipsno pole sleeves at all
• Stakes / guylines 8 / 48 ship, but a full stake-out needs 14

Pro-Tip Pack 6 extra stakes. Mine came with 8 and I needed 14 to peg out the corners, both vestibules, both widths and the guylines.

Spaciousness

• Peak height 42inacross the entire width of the tent
• Height at the front 38.5in
• Height at the back 39in

The short brow pole at the top picks the tent body up, which gives you vertical walls down both lengths.

• Floor 90 × 51in
• Base area 31.9 sq ft

• Regular 20in pads fit well.
• Wide 25in pads fill the tent from wall to wall.
• An 80 × 56in near-queen bed doesn’t fit. There’s more than enough space for the length, but the width is too short, so it bulges the fabric out at the front and back.

• Vestibules 2one down each length, both the same size
• Vestibule width 28in
• Area per vestibule 8.75 sq ft
• Both vestibules 17.5 sq ft
• Total area 49.4 sq ftinner tent plus both vestibules

Each vestibule opens three ways: bunched up on the side toggle, pulled all the way back on the far toggle, or zipped shut.

Once it’s staked back down, each webbing loop has a buckle on it, so you can pull the vestibule taut.

Note I bought the older Half Dome back in 2024. The refreshed 2025 version uses a standard zip-down-the-middle vestibule with only 1 loop each, so do check which one you’re looking at.

Comfort & Features

• Doors 2one under each vestibule
• Door size 38 × 29in
• Zippers 2 YKK per door, 2 per vestibuletwo-way, top and bottom

The door zips need two hands to get past the bend in the door shape, though zipping back up is one-handed and completely snag-free.

The vestibule zips very occasionally catch on the rainfly where the door curves, but only from the outside.

• Pockets 62 at the foot, 2 at the head, 2 up top
• Bottom pockets 11 × 10intriangle-shaped, which I don’t love
• Top pockets 13 × 15inthe bigger, more useful pair
• Loops 5felt loops for hanging a lantern
• Gear loft None

Ventilation

• Vents 2one above each door
• Closable from inside Yesunzip the door and reach up

• Mesh 60%of the tent body
• Fabric 40%
• Seasons rating 3summer

You don’t have to take the fly off to get that view. Undo half of it, roll it up and tie the fabric to the toggle at the top of the tent, and the brow-pole grommets hold it in place. Either half works, depending on which way you want to look.

Pro-Tip If it starts raining, you can get out, roll the fly back down and re-secure the buckles and guylines in under 1 minute if you’re quick.

Rain Protection

• Light rain test 1 hourno leaks at all
• Heavy rain test 1 hourhose test

The inside came out almost completely dry. The only water I found was a few drops in the middle, and that came through the mesh from the vent I’d left open facing the rain. Here’s how each waterproof feature held up:

• Vents Passedthe windward one dripped until I closed it from inside
• Seam taping Passednot one corner or floor seam let water in
• Tub floor Passeddry inside and out
• Rainfly Dampthe underside soaked through slightly around the vestibule doors

• Tub floor at the lengths 7.5in
• Tub floor at the widths 12inhigher, because the fly can’t pull as far away here

• Rainfly seams All taped
• Flooring seams All tapedup to the top of the tub floor; untaped above it

This is a full-coverage rainfly that extends almost all the way down to the ground. Multiple stake-out points matter more on a nylon fly, so I liked being able to pull it away at the lengths and at both widths.

Nylon absorbs water, so the fly did get saggier and more creased over the hour. Even so, I didn’t have to re-adjust it to keep it off the tent body.

Quality

• Flooring 75D polyester taffeta
• Footprint 75D polyester taffeta
• Tent body 75D polyester taffeta
• Rainfly 40D ripstop nylon

Those are the 2025 model’s fabrics. Mine is the version before it, and REI changed a fair bit between the two:

Differences	Previous (2023/4)	Current (2025)
Trail weight	4.1lbs	5.0lbs
Tent body	40D ripstop nylon	75D polyester taffeta
Flooring	40D ripstop nylon	75D polyester taffeta
Rainfly	30D nylon	40D ripstop nylon

Fans preferred the heavier model with the more durable, thicker fabrics. So just in case you’re wondering if it’s a downgrade, it’s not – they’re just bringing back what people love.

• Poles 7,000-series aluminum
• Mesh 20D nylon micro-meshkept out every mosquito, and smaller bugs too
• Zippers YKKtwo-way, on the doors and the vestibules
• Guylines Shockcordwith an easy tensioner, and reflective guy-out points
• Warranty 1 year

Portability

• Packed size 22.5 × 9 × 6.5in
• Pole length 19inif you pack the poles separately
• Carry bag Oversizedwith a handle at the bottom

• Total weight 5.0 lbs (80.2oz, footprint included)
  • Tent body 26.5oz
  • Rainfly 21.8oz
  • Poles 18.1oz
  • Footprint 8.8oz
  • Stakes (8) 3.4oz
  • Carry bag 1.6oz
• Minimum trail weight 4.11 lbs (65.8oz)bags, stakes and footprint left behind

Half Dome 2 vs 2+ vs 3

If you’re deciding between the three sizes, here’s everything worth knowing, all based on the 2025 model:

Differences	Half Dome 2	Half Dome 2+	Half Dome 3
Price	$299	$359	$399
Trail weight	4.8lbs	5.0lbs	5.6lbs
Floor area	31.8 sq. ft.	35.8 sq. ft.	43.7 sq. ft.
Vestibule area	18.3 sq. ft.	19.2 sq. ft.	18.8 sq. ft.
Peak height	40in	42in	44in

I went for the 2 Plus myself, because for about 3oz more than the 2 I got 10% more base area and 5% more peak height.

Pros, Cons, Recommendation

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the REI Half Dome 2 Plus?

Comes with a footprint

It’s pre-attached, so it adds no set-up time at all. Threading it on yourself would cost you 30 to 60 seconds on both the pitch and the pack-away.

Great livable space

The 42in peak height runs across the whole width instead of peaking at one point, so there’s real room to sit up in.

Feature-rich

It’s much better equipped than I expected for a 2-person tent:

• 2 vestibules
• 2 doors, for proper cross-ventilation
• 6 pockets, where most tents this size give you 2
• 5 lantern loops

The half rainfly

Rolling half the fly back for the view wasn’t a feature I thought I needed, but it was more useful than I expected, especially if you’re camping in rainy weather.

Good quality materials

Polyester taffeta for the inner tent is a grade up from plain polyester, the fly is nylon, and the zippers are YKK throughout.

Good waterproofing

A tub floor, perfect seam taping and a well-designed fly got it through 1 hour of heavy rain with a dry interior, and I never had to re-adjust the fly to keep it off the tent body.

No footprint-only setup

The footprint attaches with toggles rather than grommets, so you can’t pitch it with just the groundsheet and the fly.

Stake-out points aren’t adjustable

If they were, it would have helped with the sagginess of the nylon rainfly.

Heavier than the model it replaced

The 2025 version is almost a pound heavier than the 2024 one I bought, at 5.0lbs of trail weight against 4.1lbs. Mine also weighed in a little over REI’s marketed minimum trail weight of 3 lb 15 oz.

Bonus – MUST Read!

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