We Took Marmot’s New Tents, Sleeping Bags, & Jackets Out Bush

Outdoor OG Marmot have a slew of new gear on the way and we jumped at the chance to use it as intended, out in the mountains. Sian and Ben got off-grid in the Blue Mountains and Tasmania to find out their favourite features.

 

Marmot’s new hike range is bright and bold, sporting spacious domes and sleeping sacks that’ll stand the test of time. With three season capabilities (lets face it, four seasons in all but the coldest parts of Aus), this Marmot gear will be with you through thick and thin and has been crafted with care to last.

Here’s what’s comin’.

Marmot’s New Women’s Range – Sian Brain

Limelight 2P Tent

Our favourite feature: Side wings for gear storage (or stretching your arms out to the sides!)

Weight: 2,239g
Packed Size: 62 x 14cm
Season: 3 Season 

The Limelight 2P tent is a jewel in the night. Coming in two bright colours, Solar/Red Sun or Foliage/Dark Azure, this freestanding dome tent sure is a show stopper with two doors, spacious vestibules on both sides, and the aforementioned side wings that make you feel like you’re rolling around on a California King bed. #Rihanna 

Now your tent can really have a west wing

It’s a touch larger and heavier than tents in the ultralight category, and you may want to swipe left based on first impressions, but oh what a mistake that would be. 

For a measly extra 500g you’ll actually have room for two people and all of your stuff, plus features like extra pockets, a clothes line, a lamp pocket, as well as a ground sheet already included which will extend the life of your tent. After spending a night atop a cold and windy ridge in the Blue Mountains and not having to listen to the tent flap around all night, or endure a single drop of moisture on the inside, I knew it was love. 

Read more: The Most Outlandish Outdoor Gear Colour Names

Women’s Angel Fire Sleeping Bag

Our favourite feature: Glow in the dark zipper tags that glow for a surprisingly long time

Weight: 1,270g
Packed Size: 19 x 41cm
Comfort Rating: -3°C
Seasons: 3 Season (Autumn, Winter, Spring)

One word to describe the Women’s Angel Fire sleeping bag is TOASTY. Marmot has rated this 650 fill duck down sleeping bag at -3°C comfort with a lower limit of -9°C. While placed as a shoulder season bag, this sleeping bag will be more than adequate for winter camping in Australia in most cases. Unless you’re a lizard, this bag will be too hot for summer. 

With no opening zip at the feet, the cold tootsie zone is kept extra warm. The hood is ultra deluxe with no stuffing spared around the face to stop cold air sneaking in as you toss and turn. 

My favourite part, the glowing zipper tags. These tiny glowing dots proved to be quite useful when navigating between turning off my lamp to zipping myself shut inside my bag.

Also good for Hungry Hungry Caterpillar cosplay

Superalloy Bio Rain Jacket

Our favourite feature: Incredibly lightweight and small
Weight: 155g

This rain jacket well and truly fits into the lightweight category. Weighing just 155g the Superalloy Bio Rain Jacket manages to retain features that elevate its performance such as a cord adjustable hood, hem drawstring, Marmot NanoPro™ waterproof and breathable fabric membrane, 100% seam-taped finishes and an easy access breast pocket. 

A women’s rain jacket that’s not pink, how good

Made with a bio-based ripstop fabric and an environmentally conscious PFC-Free DWR outer shell treatment, this rain jacket treads lightly on the earth so you can play in the rain worry free. We love to see it.

Women’s Leconte Fleece Jacket

Our favourite feature: The aesthetic, this jacket is too cute to be called a ‘fleece’ IMO

A hugging fit, the Women’s Leconte Fleece jacket feels chic rather than shit which is usually the word I would use to describe the visual aesthetics of a fleece. Sorry, not sorry. 

Great pockets for loitering

The Leconte has a high neck zip, extra long arms to keep you tucked in up to the fingers and sleek zippered pockets. Not only a looker, this midlayer is made with technical grid fleece keeping you warm when you need it and dry when on the move. The slim design also avoids that extra bulk when layering so you don’t look so much like Big Foot rolling out of hibernation. 

Coastal Tees

Our favourite feature: 100% organic cotton

An ode to the humble tee, these Coastal Tees are made with 100% organic cotton and eco-friendly water-based inks for the graphic prints. Super soft and comfy, these tees are a basic done right. 

Coastal tee tucked into Kodachrome pant = ready for anything

Women’s Kodachrome Pant

Our favourite feature: Zippered back pocket for a safe phone while rock hopping 

The slim fitting Kodachrome Pants had me feeling like Lara Croft with their cool utility belt design and stretchy butt-hugging fabric. Made from 94% nylon and 6% elastane, these pants are unbelievably lightweight and give you excellent range of motion. A zippered back pocket is a small detail that will save you a lot of worry while scrambling. 

Marmot’s New Men’s Range – Ben Wells

Tungsten UL2 Tent

Our favourite features: Lightweight yet super-roomy, and that oh-so-clever lampshade pocket.
Weight: 1546g
Packed size: 61 x 17cm
Season: 3 Season

The Tungsten UL2 is a spacious 2-person, semi-freestanding tent that accurately lives up to its ‘ultralight’ moniker, weighing in at just over 1.5kg. (My first hiking tent, 20 years ago, weighed over twice that – how things have changed!)

‘Where’s the rest of it?’

This light weight is achieved through a mix of quality lightweight DAC poles, a 20D silnylon seam-sealed bathtub floor and 20D silpoly fly. Silpoly is great as it doesn’t stretch and sag when wet.

Setup is a breeze. The instructions are permanently affixed to the stuff sack – nice – but I barrelled in and had the Tungsten UL2 set up within five minutes. The simple but proven cross-pole design and colour-coding on the fly tie-points made everything super straightforward.

Inside there’s plenty of space for two. Both our rectangular inflatable pads fit without issue with space left top and bottom for clothes and gear. We could both sit up comfortably too, thanks to the generous 107cm interior height. Big vestibules and pockets on either side made gear management a piece of cake, and I just love the lightshade pocket that makes it so easy to illuminate the tent at night.

It’s the little things, like this light pocket that disperses the beam of your headlamp

Over three days the Tungsten UL2 was subjected to weather from both ends of the spectrum. Our first evening was unseasonably warm and quite windy, so we were grateful for the large vestibule doors and mesh interior to keep the inside of the tent cool and comfortable. 

That was until the rain hit throughout the night. All zipped up, the Tungsten UL2 merrily kept the inclement conditions – and the mozzies – at bay throughout, and we slept dry and toasty.  

Men’s Never Winter Sleeping Bag

Our favourite features: Generous shape for broad-shouldered blokes, and cool retro colours!
Weight:  870g
Packed size: 19×41 cm
Comfort Rating: +5ºC
Season: 3 Season

The Never Winter is perfect for three-season hiking where overnight temps can still fall into the low single figures. Its nominal -1ºC rating is warm enough when the mercury drops, but not so warm you’re sweating the night away. 

The Never Winter Sleeping Bag tips the scales at a mere 870 grams, thanks to its super light recycled poly shell and 650 fill-power duck down insulation that’s been treated with Down Defender to repel moisture and maintain its loft.

My broad shoulders appreciated the generous mummy shape – restrictive sleeping bags really aren’t fun – and the expanding zip-vent for the footbox was great, especially on warmer nights. Zips each side and a cinchable hood made it easy to dial in the right amount of warmth, whatever the conditions.

Windridge Long Sleeve T-shirt

Our favourite feature: Fast drying – and made from recycled plastic bottles (how awesome!)
Fabric: Recycled polyester knit
Weight: 180g

The Windridge LS is a long sleeve tee made from fast-wicking polyester knit fabric that feels light and super-soft on the skin.

The Windridge LS’s fabric provides UPF50 sun protection, high breathability, and quick drying which is definitely appreciated on muggy days climbing up the mountains.

Men’s Arch Rock Convertible Pants

Our favourite feature: Roomy cut never restricts when you’re climbing and pushing through scrub.
Fabric: DWR treated abrasion-resistant stretch nylon.
Weight: 283g

I usually prefer walking in pants for added protection from the sun and Tasmania’s famously abrasive scrub. But when things are wet and muddy, shorts make so much more sense. 

That’s why the Arch Rock Convertible pants performed so well – it’s the best of both worlds – thanks to their water and abrasion-resistant stretch fabric, gusseted crotch, and low profile belt.

*Transformers theme song plays in the distance*

Minimalist Pro Men’s Gore-Tex Jacket

Our favourite features: Pit zips, bright colours!
Fabric: Gore-Tex Paclite Plus 100% recycled polyester
Weight: 380g

Pit zips are criminally underrated

The Minimalist Pro Gore-Tex jacket is made from Gore-Tex Paclite Plus fabric for high waterproofness and breathability that also packs up super small too. Sweet!

As well as being lightweight I appreciated the roomy fit (good when you’ve got several layers underneath) and pit zips which are a must for keeping cool when you’re pushing hard up the side of a mountain.

I love that bold orange too. Bright colours are safe colours out in the bush – it’s good to be seen!

Men’s Leconte Fleece Top

Our favourite feature: Zippered hand pockets
Fabric: Technical grid fleece
Weight: 347g

The Leconte Fleece is a mid-layer jacket, featuring a technical grid fleece for extra warmth while wicking away moisture and excess body heat. 

The fleece is lovely and plush to the touch and twin pockets add utility – and help keep your hands warm when the temperature drops

I reckon it looks pretty smart and sophisticated too!

Pretty snazzy

Environmental Report Card

Something that really impressed me about all the products shown here is that Marmot gives each an environmental sustainability report card. This covers aspects like recycled content in the materials, whether the waterproofing treatments are free of Perfluorinated (PFC) chemicals and if the fabrics have been third party verified.

There’s no getting around it: our clothing does have a serious impact on our environment. Outdoor clothing can be particularly resource intensive, due to the use of synthetic technical materials and water repellency coatings. 

So making smarter, better-informed choices about the products we buy (and looking after them properly) is a crucial step of limiting our impacts on the environment. It’s great to see a company being proactive here and helping us as consumers.