Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 long-term review
Small, lightweight and surprisingly roomy, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is an easy-to-use and comfortable tent for 2-3-season use.
Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2
Ideal for: Backpacking, thru-hiking, fastpacking, bikepacking
Not suitable for: 4-season camping, summit camps, camping in exposed locations
Coming with a tiny pack size and weighing barely a kilogram, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is a favourite amongst lightweight backpackers, thru-hikers and fastpackers all over the world. And even though it probably shouldn’t be your first choice in the winter, it pretty much excels at everything else.
The Good
Lightweight
Very easy to pitch
Excellent performance in the rain
Roomy
Comfortable vestibule
The Bad
Not the strongest in the wind
One door
Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 long-term review
The Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is one of the US brand’s best-known and most beloved lines, being a loyal part of Big Agnes’ product line for years. And it’s popular for a reason: It weighs barely a kilogram, packs down to the size of a bottle of wine and offers a ton of living space — if you use this on your own, at least. What’s more, it’s incredibly easy to pitch and pack away, comes with a reasonably large vestibule that lends itself well to cooking and storing kit, and is fully free-standing.
Like most 2-person tents, with the exception of perhaps the Nortent Vern 2 and the MSR Tindheim 2, however, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL isn’t really designed for 2 people and kit. Granted, if you were super close friends with your bedmate, you would be able to share this shelter in a pinch. It’s just not going to be very comfortable. At 107 cm wide at the tightest end (and 132 cm wide at the top), you can just about fit 2 regular width pads in the Fly Creek 2, which means you have to dump all of your gear in the vestibule. That being said, the Fly Creek HV UL 2 does only weigh in at 1.02 kg, so you’re still getting a ton of room for this weight, with both the MSR Hubba Hubba NX and the Nemo Hornet OSMO weighing slightly more than the Big Agnes Fly Creek.
As Big Agnes only sells their products directly in the US and Canada, you’ll need to shop around to find the best deal in the UK. As of the time of writing, one could be picked up at Valley and Peak for £407.99, which actually makes them the cheapest out of the other popular lines the Big Agnes is often compared against, such as the aforementioned Nemo Hornet OSMO 2 and the MSR Hubba Hubba NX. In this sense, then, we actually think the Big Agnes is reasonably priced for the quality and versatility you get with the Fly Creek.
Our experience using the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2
We’ve had a Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 tucked away in our gear room for the best part of 4 years at the time of writing. We first got our hands on one in September 2020, and it’s joined us on an untold number of adventures over the years. In fact, it’s up there as the backpacking tent we’ve used the most since the pandemic, alongside the likes of the Robens Elk River 1 and the Robens Starlight 1. Over the years, we’ve had this tent out on fastpacking trips, bikepacking adventures, numerous multi-day hikes in various parts of the UK, and we even spent a week in it on a campsite in Tuscany in temperatures of around 30 °C. Therefore, we think it’s fair to say that we know the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 by now: It’s been used by 8 different GBAC members having racked up well over 300 miles in the bottom of a pack — and we’d guess that we’ve spent at least 50 nights in it over the last 4 years. So, what do we think?
Pack size and weight
The primary selling point to the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is, of course, it’s packed size and weight. Seriously, this thing is tiny for the room you get when it’s up (even if it’s still not big enough for two fully grown-adults). Packing down to something that resembles a wine bottle, the tent can be thrown into the bottom of any pack, and we’ve comfortably had this in the bottom of numerous 20-litre, 30-litre and 40-litre packs over the years. What’s more, if you pack the poles separately, you can squash the Fly Creek HV UL 2 down to something resembling a grapefruit, which is astonishing for a free-standing dome tent this big.
As the tent also only weighs 1 kg, you also barely notice it in the bottom of your bag. In fact, we’ve used it for that reason on a handful of spring and summer fastpacking trips where we wanted to enjoy a more chilled-out camping experience (versus sleeping in a tiny bivy bag), as well on a few bikepacking trips where we were easily able to strap the tent to the top tube of the bike.
Pitching and packing away
In standard free-standing dome tent style, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is an inner-pitch first tent. This means that you need to first peg out the inner and erect the poles before lashing the flysheet over the top of the structure. For this reason, then, the tent is best suited to 3-season weather when you know it’s probably not going to rain, as putting this tent up in a deluge will result in the inner soaking out long before you’re able to drape the waterproof flysheet overhead.
Thankfully, as is increasingly becoming the case with more freestanding dome tents, however, Big Agnes gives you the option to pitch this in their so-called ‘fast fly’ set-up. This allows you to mount the poles to the groundsheet, over which you can then directly lash the fly. If you want, you can then either mount the inner to the inside, or you can leave it out entirely and sleep without a bug net under only the fly. If you choose to do this, you’ll also reduce the weight of the Fly Creek by another 300 grams, with the total weight of the groundsheet, pole, pegs and outer coming in at only 700 grams.
Livability
As already mentioned, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is not a true 2-person tent, if the definition of a 2-person tent is that 2 people can comfortably sleep inside, at least. Could it safely shelter 2 people in a pinch? Sure. But you wouldn’t want to do a thru-hike with your partner in this — no matter how much you love them. For 1 person and kit, however, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 offers oodles of space. It comes with a large vestibule, perfect for storing wet kit and cooking. Inside, you’ve almost 2 square metres to move around, and the tent gives you 107 cm of headroom at the highest point. For us, this means that most GBAC members (aside from one specific tester coming in at a lofty 6 ft 7”) could comfortably sit up in the Fly Creek HV UL 2 without touching the inner, which is a welcome addition in a tent this light and packable.
Performance and build quality
To keep weight and pack size to a minimum, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 has been made with some of the lightest materials on the market. Naturally, then, it’d be foolish to expect Nortent Gamme-like performance out of a tent this lightweight, so a certain degree of consideration is required in regards to where you pitch this thing. All in, however, if you’re sensible in where and how you pitch it, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 performs really, really well.
The flysheet on the Fly Creek 2 is made out of siliconised nylon with a 1,200 mm waterproof polyurethane coating. And while this might not seem like a lot (at least when compared to the 30,000 mm HH rating you see on many waterproof jackets), we promise that it’s suitably waterproof. We’ve used this in many a deluge and water has never gotten in once. What’s more, despite being super thin, the silnylon fly is also reasonably durable. Seriously, when you first put this up, the almost-see-through cling film-like flysheet doesn’t induce confidence off the bat. But having gotten as much use out of it as we have over the years, we’ve learned to trust it, as ours has never ripped, stretched or shown any signs of wear whatsoever.
If we had to raise one criticism when it comes to the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 it would be in regards to its performance in the wind. However you pitch it, this tent simply isn’t adept at withstanding much at all, and ours has been flattened numerous times over the years by gusts of up to 25 mph. Thankfully, however, it’s always sprung immediately back to action every time this has happened with no signs of damage noted anywhere on the tent — you just shouldn’t expect to have a peaceful night’s sleep should the wind pick up.
The reason the tent is so fragile in the wind is the same reason it’s so light: The pole only has 3 attachments, with two in the front and one that forms the spine of the tent out to the back. This singular DAC Featherlite pole provides the full structural integrity of the tent, so it’s no surprise that it buckles when you put even the slightest amount of pressure on it. To mitigate this, we’d recommend pitching the tent sideways into the wind and tying out all guy lines. Unfortunately, however, the only way to get a truly restful night’s sleep in this thing is to pitch it well out of the way of any wind which, if you’re sensible, is a small price to pay for such a lightweight, packable and comfortable shelter.
Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 FAQs
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The Big Agnes Fly Creek performs amazingly in the summer. It’s the season the tent was arguably made for. It comes with a full mesh inner that makes for a comfortable place to spend long summer nights.
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The Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 doesn’t perform particularly well in the winter. Having a full mesh inner and not being very stable in high winds, we wouldn’t recommend you use this tent outside of spring, summer and autumn. Due to the flexibility of the construction, however, you’ll still need to be considerate where you pitch it even then.
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The Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 isn’t very strong in the wind. Especially if coming from behind, the tent can easily be flattened, so you should always try and pitch it side-on to maximise its strength.
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It’s super easy to pitch the Big Agnes Fly Creek. Being inner-pitch first, all you need to do is peg out the corners, add the poles, and then mount the fly over the top. If you want to put this tent up in the rain, you can also pitch it in ‘fast fly’ mode, wherein you add the poles directly to the groundsheet. You can then drape your flysheet over this before hanging up the inner inside (and out of the rain).
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Costing around £400 in the UK, the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is definitely at the top end of the market for tents of this style. And while that might seem like a criticism, there aren’t many shelters out there that offer the space, the pack size and the weight the Big Agnes Fly Creek delivers, so this tent could be worth the money to you if those are the things you’re looking for in your next tent.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a lightweight, packable and comfortable tent for 3-season trips where you don’t expect to be camping in exposed locations, we think the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 is a phenomenal choice. Granted, it’s not as strong in the wind as other lines, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a lighter, more packable and roomier tent — especially at this £400 price point. If you’re looking to save money, you could consider something like the Forclaz MT900 Tarp Tent from Decathlon, or even look into Naturehike’s ever-impressive Cloud Up series. But if you want a tent that will lend itself to a host of lightweight adventures, be they fastpacking, hiking or bikepacking trips, as well as being sure to last multiple seasons outdoors (as ours has), we think the Fly Creek HV UL 2 is one of the best options out there right now.
