MSR Access Lightweight 3-Person 4-Season Tent for Outdoor Adventures

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1. John P. Epperson Jr. Verified Buyer – 30 July 2024

   This is a great tent. Relatively lightweight. Very roomy. The tent material is sturdy like most MSR products. These carbon fiber poles, however, really don’t hold up to the stresses and abuse of normal camping use.
   

2. cramblda Verified Buyer – 3 December 2024

   I’m 6′ 4″ tall ( 76 in / 193 cm) and need some extra length in my tent. However, I wanted a tent that is very light weight, but could hold up to some “light-duty” 4-season use (mild winds). I already had a “bomber” 4-season tent designed to handle extreme winds, but it weighs 11 lbs ( 5 kg) and I did not want to carry that kind of weight for the back country ice climbing I had in mind. MSR designed the Access 3 for 4-season backcountry skiing where the tent would be in protected conditions near the tree line. This sounded like it was designed exactly for what I had in mind. The 84″ length was perfect for my taller than average height, giving me an extra 8″ of space so I would not compress the down in my long sized 0 F ( -18 C) sleeping bag against the tent walls. I liked having the 3-person space inside the tent for extra room, but still keeping the overall packed weight right at 5 lbs ( 2.25 kg). Having two doors and two vestibules makes it really easy to store gear out of the weather and allow occupants to get out of the tent without disturbing others. Further, the doors face opposite directions so if you need to get out in higher winds, you can pick the door that is down wind. Because this tent is so light, I think going with the 3-person version, for just two occupants is perfect. However, you could fit 3 people if you slept head to toe and were willing to be in much tighter space. With two occupants, there is a lot of space inside the tent and in the vestibules. I had read concerns about condensation and lack of air flow in the tent. I have slept in many different 4-season tents, and when temperatures are below freezing, your going to have some condensation in any tent. I found the condensation in the Access 3 was mild, and just on the tent wall above where I was breathing all night. The condensation froze on the wall, and I just wiped off the ice crystals in the morning above my head before moving around. The temperatures were as low as 15 F (-9.5 C) during the night and I felt the tent did a great job keeping me warm in concert with my properly selected 0 F ( -18 C) down sleeping bag. We had a bit of snow and some light 15-20 mph winds (24 – 32 kph) and the tent pole structure held up well. I just shook the tent by one of the poles in the morning, and the snow slid right off as expected. I read some reviews saying the carbon fiber poles had issues producing carbon slivers at the pole ends. My poles did NOT have this issue at all. The poles were smooth at the ends and there was no carbon material breaking off or causing any slivers. Because the tent is designed with very light weight fabrics to keep the tent light, I also purchased the separate foot print to protect the tent floor which adds 11 oz ( 311 g). I was also careful with the tent when setting it up and when going in and out of the tent. It seems very durable as you would expect from MSR and should hold up to some abuse. However, because it’s designed as an ultra light 4-season tent, I think special care is warranted and a fair trade off for this tents ultra light weight. I did need to add a few additional MSR ground hog stakes, as it does not come with enough stakes to stake every single guy out line. This is very common with tents, so I did not down rate them for this. I always bring enough stakes to guy out every single line just in case winds pick up unexpectedly. Overall I think this tent is designed very well for it’s intended purpose and performed flawlessly for my 3-days in the backcountry of Cody, WY. I’m glad after careful review of many tents, that I selected the Access 3.