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In its October 2009 issue, the German magazine Outdoor conducted a review of six tents designed for winter and/or wilderness trekking. All the tents had an outstanding pedigree. The Lightwave g2 ultriX was the lightest of the tents selected for testing and one of just two using a 3-pole configuration, with the remaining four employing a 4-pole geodesic design.

Tents in the Outdoor test by weight:

Lightwave g2 ultra X (ultriX)	(a 3-pole semi geodesic with 4th porch pole, weight 2.49 kg)
Crux X2 Storm	(a 4-pole geodesic, weight 2.98 kg)
Black Diamond Stormtrack	(a 4-pole geodesic, weight 3.47 kg)
Hilleberg Staika	(a 3-pole dome, weight 3.68 kg)
Mountain Equipment Hielo 2	(a 4-pole geodesic, weight 3.79 kg)
Mountain Hardwear Taurine 2	(a 4-pole geodesic, weight 4.07 kg)

As part of Outdoor’s test, the six tents were placed in front of a wind machine and their performance monitored. The wind speeds given below are those at which the Outdoor testers considered the tents were stable, and those at which failure occurred.

Wind tunnel performance

Mountain Equipment Hielo 2	80 km/h stable / 80 km/h pole failure
Mountain Hardwear Taurine 2	100 km/h stable / 110 km/h pole failure
Black Diamond Stormtrack	100 km/h stable / 120 km/h pole failure
Hilleberg Staika	100 km/h stable / 120 km/h tent compressed
Lightwave g2 ultra X (ultriX)	120 km/h stable / 130 km/h guylines ripped
Crux X2 Storm	130 km/h stable / 135 km/h tent compressed

The 4-pole crux X2 Storm was the stand-out winner, with the Lightwave g2 ultriX a close second and still well ahead of the rest of the field. Given that the g2 ultriX is only a 3-pole semi-geodesic structure, and thus not as rigid as 4-pole full geodesics, and that it is substantially lighter than the other tents in the test, this is a remarkable result.

You can read the full Outdoor magazine article in German here.