The Snugpak Scorpion 2 is a 2 man semi-geodesic tent. Its sturdy build and robust fabric means that this tent should last a lifetime. The Scorpion 2 is a 3-4 season tent which sleeps two people (under 6ft) in comfort. Weighing in at 2.65kg the Scorpion 2 is a lightweight tent which is ideal for splitting between backpackers due to its fly first pitching.
Pitching the Scorpion 2
The Scorpion 2 is can be pitched either fly first or as an all in tent. When you have overcome any pitching teething problems It’s pretty easy to set up, thanks to its colour coded poles (2 green and 1 grey) and robust hard wearing pole sleeves. However we found the Scorpion 2’s instructions to be quite unhelpful when it came to erecting the tent. The poles, as stated, are colour coded at one end only, but the 2 green poles which create the dome both have a slight bend at one end and it was not clear which way round they went as both ways seem to work. It was only after close examination of a photograph that we saw that the coloured end of the pole went towards the front of the tent. This was a little confusing we thought, hopefully you will now not have the same confusion!
Once the poles are in and the fly is set up it’s just a matter of attaching the toggles to the inner, this adds a great amount of stability as the inner helps to tension the poles. In all probability most people will use the all in one pitching method which makes pitching and striking camp that little bit quicker.
Build Quality
Snugpak is a brand is synonymous with supplying the military, therefore you would expect quality and that is what you get! Like it’s big brother, the Scorpion 3, the Snugpak Scorpion 2 is well built using solid materials.
The flysheet is a lightweight 210t Polyester Rip Stop with a 5000mm waterproof polyurethane coating. The inner tent is constructed of 190t Nylon with 50D Polyester “No-See-Um-Mesh” vents. Finally, the groundsheet is made of 190t Nylon PU 5000mm. Overall this means a great deal of weather protection as well as durability.
The pole sleeves are made of a thick durable fabric and they are well integrated into the fly. All the seams both on the fly and inner (including the bathtub style ground sheet) are well sealed.
One question we do have is whether the top of the tent would deal well with snow. It’s fairly flat and due to the ridges caused by the poles snow would build up rather than be displaced to the ground. We couldn’t test this fully, but similar tent designs have been known to have problems with snow. It’s for this reason we classify the Scorpion 2 as a 3 – 4 season tent rather than a full 4 season tent.
Should you come unstuck and accidentally tear the fabric of your tent, it’s not an issue! The tent, as with last week’s review of the Jack Wolfskin Time Tunnel, comes with a complete “worst case scenario” repair kit, including fabric, seam sealer and a pole doctor.
The tent comes with 16 Y-shaped pegs, which are 13g each (208g total). It may be quite a lot of pegs but its worth it to add more stability. You can erect the Scorpion 2 as a free standing tent because of its geodesic design which is great if it begins pouring down and need a quick shelter. But for best results, as always, peg out and use your guy lines.
A Useful Vestibule
The Scorpion 2 is one of very few tents we can think of with a truly versatile vestibule. There is plenty of room when the vestibule closed up, with enough for 2 rucksacks stacked on top of each other. What we found really useful was the flexibility of the vestibule, there are 3 basic configurations which makes the vestibule really quite useful.
- You can have the central door open (either strapped at the top or held with poles to create a porch) – the normal configuration.
- Either side open with the other side and central door closed – great for cooking when the rain is coming down.
- All sides open – great for maximum ventilation in the summer.
On the down side of the vestibule is that it can only be unzipped from the bottom of the door. This is a bit of a reach and struggle in the middle of the night. That said, it’s a small down side to pay for a useful vestibule.
A Good Size – if your under 6ft!
The Scorpion 2 is not a tent for people over 6ft! If your under 6ft then you will find that there is quite a nice amount of room for 2 people, at it’s longest length it is just over 2m and its just under 2m at it’s widest. It’s not a square and it does taper though, as the footprint diagram shows.
At the door end (which is a door & mesh door) there is plenty of room to sit up with a height of 122cm, however, the height at the rear of the tent for us was a slight issue, our over 6ft tester couldn’t stretch out with out his feet touching the inner fabric. With two people this maybe even worse and could potentially cause the inner to touch the outer. The shape also means you would require mummy shaped sleeping mattress.
The inner is made of a black fabric which is great for those lazy days when the sun tries to wake you up. On the down side it does mean that Scorpion is a lot darker than many other tents. Inside there are 8 interior pockets and 2 hooks for your washing line.
The inner door, similar to the Mirage 200, has a door which opens to the side. This can sometimes make it awkward at night for the person on opposite side of the door to get out of the tent. A nice feature of the Scorpion 2 though is that there is a “quick stash” pocket so although you could tie the door back you can just stuff it into a side pocket, handy!
A Nice Tent
Overall the Snugpak Scorpion 2 tent is a really nice tent. It’s easy enough to pitch in a few minutes and is quite a versatile.
The shape of the tent makes it quite stable it does make good use of the space it has with amble storage pockets. The groundsheet and fly are durable and should last a lifetime. The tent overall is well thought out and has some nice features such as the black interior and versatile vestibule. We think this tent is well and truly worthy of it’s 4 stars today.
CheapTents Outdoor Gear Blog 
Hey! Really handy review. Thanks alot! Does the inside have a gear loft or loops to accommodate one? (Or hang a flashlight/lantern/etc)
Thanks in advance!
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Hi and thanks for your comment. The Snugpak scorpion 2 doesn’t have a gear loft but it does have two loops for hanging up items.
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Okay, thanks! There really are no reviews of this on the internet, so I apologize if the questions are a little annoying. I’m 5″11 and I have a 100L rucksack. Do you think the size would work out for me? I basically want to keep gear inside, and use the vestibule for cooking and small camp tasks. I like a roomy tent.
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The Scorpion 2 is large enough to sleep 2 people, so there will be plenty of room for just you and your large rucksack inside the tent. The vestibule is big enough for cooking and very versatile in terms of the options for opening the doors. Let us know if you have any more questions.
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Awesome. Last question: How much mesh is on the tent? I’m looking for something with minimal mesh to keep heat in (as I live in Canada). Do you have any pictures of the interior?
Thanks for everything!
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Below is a photo of the inside, looking from the door towards the rear. There is some mesh to help with ventilation, but the majority of the inner is material.
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I had an issue with an item from Snugpak. They were very dismissive. Now I have a product that I cannot use unless I am prepared to spend a third of the RRP of the product to buy a set of new poles, because a 1 cm part of one of the poles split when first using the tent. I had hoped because it was new, they would replace that one section. But no, I will now have to spend £90.00 on buying a complete new set. Which I am loathed to do, if the quality of the product, has shown how poor it is.
I contacted Snugpak and advised them that the item was a gift and that I did not have proof of purchase. Sadly my Father In Law is no longer alive. I did send a photo clearly showing that the damaged pole was clearly new and showed a 5mm fracture/crack in one section of the grey to grey pole. And the fact that because of the issue, that I have to purchase 27 new sections. Which seems disproportionate to the extreme for £90.00 a third of the RRP of the tent is extortionate.
Sent them all the information I had. Snugpak could not replace part. AS THEY DO NOT CARRY ANY SPARES. Beware if you purchase from them, because if it breaks, you may find the warranty is worthless, because of the no spares policy.
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Sorry to read about your issue with Snugpak Gary.
You could try a simple repair: if you can get hold of a short length of metal tubing that is just a bit wider than your tent pole, you can slide the tubing over the fracture and tape it into place with heavy duty waterproof tape. Put up the tent in the garden or park first to test it before using it on a trip! You can get the tubing online – search for “tent pole repair kits”.
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Hey! Really handy review. Thanks alot! Does the inside have a gear loft or loops to accommodate one? (Or hang a flashlight/lantern/etc)
Thanks in advance!
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Hi and thanks for your comment. The Snugpak scorpion 2 doesn’t have a gear loft but it does have two loops for hanging up items.
LikeLike
Okay, thanks! There really are no reviews of this on the internet, so I apologize if the questions are a little annoying. I’m 5″11 and I have a 100L rucksack. Do you think the size would work out for me? I basically want to keep gear inside, and use the vestibule for cooking and small camp tasks. I like a roomy tent.
LikeLike
The Scorpion 2 is large enough to sleep 2 people, so there will be plenty of room for just you and your large rucksack inside the tent. The vestibule is big enough for cooking and very versatile in terms of the options for opening the doors. Let us know if you have any more questions.
LikeLike
Awesome. Last question: How much mesh is on the tent? I’m looking for something with minimal mesh to keep heat in (as I live in Canada). Do you have any pictures of the interior?
Thanks for everything!
LikeLike
Below is a photo of the inside, looking from the door towards the rear. There is some mesh to help with ventilation, but the majority of the inner is material.
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I’m kind of late to the party here, but was wondering if you could tell me how long the poles are when broken down? I’m looking for a 1-2 person tent where the poles are under 15″ when folded.
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As far as we are aware no tent manufacturer produces a tent with pole sections as short as 38cm (15″). The main reason being that the strength of the pole is only as good as the points where the sections connect, and the more connections the greater the chance of the pole failing under tension. Most tent poles have individual sections that are around the 50cm (20″) in length.
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Thanks for the reply Daniel. My Eureka Backcountry 1 has 15″ poles, but it has no vestibule space and is rather heavy, so I was looking to upgrade to something that was either lighter or at least has more space to show for the amount it weighed. The Backcountry 1 w/poles fits in a Kifaru long pocket that I have clipped to my pack and it works out great that way, so I was hoping to find a replacement that would fit in the same pouch. Oh well! Maybe I’ll start looking for a longer pocket instead of shorter poles, lol.
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I’m kind of late to the party here, but was wondering if you could tell me how long the poles are when broken down? I’m looking for a 1-2 person tent where the poles are under 15″ when folded.
LikeLike
As far as we are aware no tent manufacturer produces a tent with pole sections as short as 38cm (15″). The main reason being that the strength of the pole is only as good as the points where the sections connect, and the more connections the greater the chance of the pole failing under tension. Most tent poles have individual sections that are around the 50cm (20″) in length.
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Thanks for the reply Daniel. My Eureka Backcountry 1 has 15″ poles, but it has no vestibule space and is rather heavy, so I was looking to upgrade to something that was either lighter or at least has more space to show for the amount it weighed. The Backcountry 1 w/poles fits in a Kifaru long pocket that I have clipped to my pack and it works out great that way, so I was hoping to find a replacement that would fit in the same pouch. Oh well! Maybe I’ll start looking for a longer pocket instead of shorter poles, lol.
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