there is no ONE tent. An ideal tent will vary depending on where you are. Hilleberg will keep you dry in rainy locales and windy places but bake you alive in desert environments
( Big Agnes.) tents with ultralight mindset do better in tree (wind protected) environment but break in icelandic winds
some places are better with a hammock
so if you will do only tours into a specific type of environment then buy the best tent for that
if you plan to go tours to different locales and enjoy being fully funded (as you said) then you either should enjoy purchasing multiple shelters or feel comfortable to break a tent sooner and just buy another one
Originally Posted by
abdon
The beautiful truth is that I have zero debt and a fully funded retirement account because of the accumulation of decisions like this over decades. I could buy a $1k tent without breaking a sweat, I chose to have a more sensible budget.
I'm not gonna lie, the Big Agnes Cooper Spur does shake my frugal resolve but I'm a veteran at this, I know that there has to be a tent half the price almost as good. Maybe a big almost but half is also big.