Easton Rimrock 2P Tent Review

By Rick Shandley

Easton’s Rimrock two-person (2P) backpacking tent is a sturdy three-season shelter, and possibly worthy of your consideration. Our test time with the Rimrock had us into late season Fall conditions where the rain, freezing overnight temperatures, and windy afternoons prevailed.

We liked the Rimrock 2P for many reasons. Overall, the Rimrock is a solid, free-standing backpacking tent. It’s stable, with plenty of anchor and guy-line stake out points when the winds are a factor. Aside from being a sturdy tent using high quality materials and components, is the ease of setting this two-person tent up and taking it down in the morning.

Often, on a backpacking trip with a destination of more than 20 miles out on the trail, it’s getting late in the afternoon by the time you reach your campsite. Not a lot of time to get settled in for the night. With the Rimrock 2P, it took less than 15 minutes to stake out and set up the shelter on the first night. Set-up of the Rimrock 2P is straight forward, and literally intuitive. Take down time in the morning took less than 10 minutes.

Simplicity of design is what makes the Rimrock 2P a quick set-up/take-down trail tent. Two lightweight and tough Easton aluminum poles form an X across the apex of the tent to provide the primary structural strength. And two shorter aluminum poles cross the X-structure at both ends of the tent to increase lateral rigidity. That’s it, two sets of equal length tent poles and obvious anchor and clip points visually tell you how to set up the Rimrock 2P. From this writers’ viewpoint, the Easton Rimrock 2P is a good value for an MSRP of $249.00 on the merits of quality materials and quick set-up. Ah but there’s more.

This intuitive nature of quick set-up and take-down of the Rimrock 2P is facilitated by composite clips that secure the X-poles in place and contribute to tent stability. An S-hook at the top of the tent fabric clips to the intersection of the X-poles at the apex of the tent pole X-frame to center and secure the tent body to the frame skeleton. There’s enough flexibility in the frame clips and top hook to allow the frame to shift with wind gusts and interior occupant movement without giving up tent support or breaking.

Composite C-clips fasten the rain fly to the tent body. The fly clips are located at each corner at the points where the pole grommets are stationed. The rain fly attachment points are adjustable and allow you to get even coverage at the bottom of the four sides to allow rain and moisture to slide off without exposing the tent wall to the soaking affects of moisture.  Air space between tent support and rain fly provide excellent ventilation, and keeps the fly well away from the inner tent walls even in gusty wind conditions. With the rain fly attached, ventilation continues through the air space between the tent frame and mesh screening of the upper tent body as well as each of the doorways.

Inside the tent you’ll enjoy plenty of head room and shoulder room. The side tent walls are vertical and the slope of both ends is gradual and not confining. As a two person tent, the double doors and vestibules are valuable features we liked a ton. The C-shape of the doors make it less likely you’ll get hung up on the tent entrance as you hunch down to get in or out. The doors are easy to get in and out of for a tall person; you don’t have to crawl in.

And the entry ways are positioned at opposite ends of the tent, so you sleep head to feet. Furthermore, having a exit/entrance for each occupant eliminates having to crawl over a tent mate during the night. This arrangement is nice to provide both occupants maximum space to arrange their gear and adjust ventilation.

We definitely recommend the use of the tent footprint available for the Rimrock 2P. With the rain fly attached and the two vestibules staked out, there’s valuable room inside the vestibules to store your boots and pack overnight while keeping them off the ground. In bad weather, you can create enough ventilation to cook inside the vestibules if necessary.

Trail weight of the tent certainly can be reduced when you leave a couple tent stakes and stuff sacks at home, but basically this tent weighed about six pounds on a certified scale with all components in the stuff sack. With two people sharing the tent, that’s only three pounds apiece of load weight for the security offered by a high-quality shelter. Relatively speaking, Rimrock 2P is a lightweight tent, but a heavyweight when it comes to providing a strong shelter in unrelenting winds and wet weather. Rimrock 2P is a strong tent, and we’ll take that over a featherweight shelter any time.

Where we did see a nice advantage is that the Rimrock 2P tent pack size can be significantly reduced. There is more than enough room in the main tent stuff sack to simply roll up the tent body and rain fly, along with the tent poles and stake bundles, and pack the Rimrock 2P as one unit. But you can tightly compress the tent body and tie it up with 550 parachute cord, same with the tent fly, and come away with much more compact system that will fit inside the pack and make it easy to pack. Even if you plan to carry the entire tent in one pack, the Rimrock 2P does break down and compress into separate bundles that fit in the pack and allow for weight distribution.

Easton Mountain Products has been designing outdoor equipment since 1922. So it makes sense the Rimrock 2P is well designed and roomy. The Rimrock 2P tent uses best-practices design elements found in all the high-quality alpine/backpacking tents on the market. We consider the Easton Rimrock 2P tent a high-quality shelter and a good value for the money. If your needs require a one-person tent, you can get the Rimrock one person version. You need a three person tent? Look at the Rimrock 3P. Regardless, the design is strong and user friendly enough to consider Rimrock for your next backpacking tent.

Rimrock 2P Tent Product Features

• Maximum livability—vertical walls and open headroom.
• Dual entry and vestibules—easy access and added space for gear storage.
• Convenient storage—pockets and tie loops keep essential gear close.
• Excellent stability—proven geometry and freestanding frame design.
• Easton premium 7075 T9 aluminum poles. (made in USA)
• Opposing directional doors for ventilation control.
• Easy-open one-hand door zippers.
• Tension-band over doorway increases stability and structural integrity.
• Waterproof construction with reinforced, taped seams.
• Quick Clip fly-attachment hooks for easy setup.
• Velcro tabs and grommets secure the fly to the frame for stability.
• Multiple guy-out points to increase strength. Guy lines included.
• Premium aluminum stakes included for all anchor points.
• Fast pitch capable. (uses fly, poles and footprint)

Rimrock 2P Tent Specs

Trail Weight (ASTM Min. Std. Weight)	5lb 3oz / 2.4kg
Packaged Weight	5lb 11oz / 2.6kg
Capacity	Two Person
Stuffed Size	23 x 7in / 58.4 x 17.8cm
Canopy Fabric	40D No-See-Um Mesh
Fly Fabric	68D Poly, 1500 PU
Floor Fabric	70D Nylon, 3000PU
Head Height	45in / 114.3cm
Poles	7075 Alloy Pole System
Doors	Two
Floor Area	35sq ft / 3.25sq m
Vestibule Area	18sq ft / 1.67sq m
Footprint (Sold Separately)