Well for sand you tie bags on the corners and fill them with sand, and for concrete? Well you find somewhere without concrete. But actually I'm with you a free-standing tent is a great thing, I've used mine on a ferry to give me a bit of privacy from the drunken hen-parties, and it was great.

BUT, there's always a risk with free-standing tents as shown in the following story:

I spent a couple of nights camping a few weeks back, beautiful spot on a headland, only a few campers there. A car rolls up and out get a couple of mates, one clutching his nice new pop-up tent. He unzips the bag and pulls it out, then says to his mate,

"Watch this, no fiddling with anything."
aAnd throws it into the air like on the advert. Just at that point, big gust of wind and his now unfurled tent sails straight up into the air and out into the Channel.

Moral or the story, ALWAYS tie your tent to something.

Just got one this morning, and it's great, you can always tie it to your handlebars, or your tent, or a tree, or something. Best to experiment at home though so people don't laugh.

Hi all and thanks for all the great advice!

We're going to Ripley and that's one of our goals to see all types of tents to find out what might be working for us.
Believe it or not I was looking at the Exped range already :) I think that this is what we're going to go for.

Something like Venus II or Orion with a footprint of course and a nice tarp maybe from Decathlon if you guys recommend it :)

Great! We're a lot closer to the decision then we were a week ago!

Looking forward to seeing you all in Ripley!

Stay safe!
Gosia and Andy

I just bought a Nemo Morpho two man tent. It is single wall with air bladders instead of poles. It sets up very easy but has to be staked down.
Here is a picture of it set up in my yard. I have not used it yet but thought I needed the practice. I also set up my lightweight tarp. I think I will be ready for my next rain camping event!

http://bigdon55.smugmug.com/photos/5...31_jGrjc-L.jpg
http://bigdon55.smugmug.com/photos/5...31_jGrjc-L.jpg

macpac make the best tents I've used. Just wish I could afford one. Hemisphere seems to fit your bill

Needle Sports Macpac

We used a Mountain Hardwear tent for three years of travels in Europe and Morocco. It was the Atrium 4, which is no longer available. We set it up and took it down around 500 times. We used it in rain and sun, wind and freeze, hail and snow and it worked fine. We have two of their fleece jackets too. This is a recommendation for their products. We have been very happy with their stuff.

Bibler Tempest
 

I'm quite surprised no one has mentioned the Bibler Tempest. Black Diamond Tempest Tent 2-Person 4-Season from Backcountry.com
I've been using mine for the last five years, enough to wear out a set of poles! It's preformed flawlessly! Very waterproof and breathable single wall design, no fly to mess around with. It's kinda wierd setting up at first, but you get the hang of it in no time (the poles are inside, which is also great for hanging your laundry to dry.) It weighs just over 3 kg. and checks all the marks on your list. I have never read a bad review on this tent and highly recomend it!

mountain hardwear trango 2
 

i use the mountain hardware trango 2 tent and enjoy it very much. it is an excellent tent for high altitude mountain travel, yet can be used as a base camp on a biking trip.i do a fair bit of camping/hiking/trekking and over the years have always tried to put together functional durable gear that can be used for multi purpose requirements . the trango 2 has a seperate flysheet and also has a footprint.they can be used as a tarp,as a work area,as a bed platform on warm nights when all you need are your bed roll.horses for courses but you won`t go wrong if you decide to buy one

saw this recently and it made me laugh

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/P1000333.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/i.../DSCF0920a.jpg

Trango 2 a couple of weeks ago at -18`.

Absolutely bombproof!

Also look at the Eureka range - my second choice.