Forest Green fabric vs. Grizzly Brown fabric for 6 Man Tipi?

[alpendrms]

Hi,

I will be placing an order for a 6 Man Tipi tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, and I just noticed that there is a waterproof rating difference between green and brown versions. I see that the Forest green fabric is imported, and I usually try to keep my dollars headed toward American businesses, but it has a higher waterproof rating than the Grizzly brown, which is sourced here in the USA. Color not withstanding, does the green do that much better than the brown in something like a full-on downpour? If not, I'll stay with my original choice of Grizzly brown when I place my order. Thanks for any info!

[soadmin]

You are correct the green we are currently using has a higher rating and is imported. We are slowly moving the Grizzly over to the same or very similar and it will be imported as well. All fabrics loose some of their water proofing over time and usage. If you start with a higher rating, you have more room to play with over time. The 1500 mm spec, is a pretty good base line for keeping you dry in the worse rains. Some pretty popular tents are made of fabrics that are maybe 800 mm when new to put it in perspective. However, we feel if we can get closer to 3000 mm then why not, it should extend usable the life of the tent or minimize any maintaining.
Now, a word on importing, we insist the base threads be made of the same material, which is all sourced from the U.S. While it is, technically imported, the basis of it is actually a U.S export. Not as bad as it sounds. There are reasons it is difficult to near impossible to get that same rating sourced here.

[alpendrms]

Thanks!

[zuma]

A decent watercolumn for outers should be at least 2000mm. I've been under fairly new UL tarps with less watercolumn and in a large downpour they start misting. So i totally agree with Kevin that he wants to aim for 3000mm.

[sreekers]

I have used the old green in some heavy downpours. It did just fine, although it required seam sealing.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[alpendrms]

Thanks to all for the insight. I also got info from Evan over at Hill People Gear. He's had the 1500mm Grizzly brown version out in some pretty hard mountain storms with absolutely no issues. That's good to go in my book. I still plan to go with the Grizzly brown for mine. Thanks again!

[Nathan C]

I've got a full LBO setup in the new forest green, and it is a very nice fabric. I had a BCS in the grizzly and it was nice as well. Overall I guess I like the specs of the green but I like the grizzly color a little better.

[zuma]

Well there is ofcourse a differnce with the impact of water between an almost horizontal canopy and a steep canopy. I expiernced sometimes misting under a tarp with 2000mm but in the SO 6 man the only thing what is needed there is some seam and tie-out sealing