Capacity
Sleeps 3
End Use
Hiking
Trail Weight
5 - 6 lbs.
| End Use | Backpacking, Camping |
|---|---|
| Season | 3 season |
| Capacity (people) | 3 Person |
| Minimum Trail Weight | 5 lbs. 14.9 oz. |
| Packaged Weight | 7 lbs. 1.9 oz. |
| Peak Height | 45.3 in. |
| # of Doors | 2 doors |
| Design Type | Freestanding |
| Packed Size | 24.4 x 6.3 in. |
| Floor Area | 45.2 sq. ft. |
| Vestibule Area | 10.76 sq. ft. |
| Footprint Included | Yes |
| Number of Poles | 2 |
| Pole Material | Yunan Pressfit Aluminum |
| Floor Fabric | 100% Polyester, Taffeta |
| Rainfly Fabric | 100% Polyester, Ripstop |
| Canopy Fabric | 100% polyester riptstop |
REVIEWS
28 Reviews
Durbs
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought a Limelight 2 Person about 15 years ago and decided to upgrade for a little more room. The 3 person is great. Love the little side stash areas to store more gear inside the tent.
robin2222
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This is a tough tent! Lasted 15 years so far, and once was pulled by the wind and NOTHING BROKE but the window on the fly.
Robirawsome
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This tent is truly waterproof. I bought it for a 2 day music festival and it rained both days but I stayed dry. Set up was smooth and I love the bright yellow and orange color.
Eliza7
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] So disappointed with this tent. the grommets on the foot print don't click in nor stay in like my old North Face tent. And the fly door is plum opposite from the way the door opens on actually tent, really come on Marmot, serious flaw in design. I am returning this. Wish you would make a Halo tent in 3 person as that is the best tent out there right now but the 4 person is just too big. So disappointed at the serious design flaws. One would get soaked in rain fumbling with the doors as you can not dash into rain quickly with doors that don't line up. I just expected more from Marmot. Had my old North Face tent for 30 years and they just don't make things as well any more. Could cry a river over not being able to find the right tent.
MC Moritz
Love it - the little bump outs make for perfect "night stands" for storing glasses, water, phone, flashlight.
LL3P_disap
I will prefix by saying that I had the previous version for over 7 years, with 4 years of extensive usage across Patagonia (70+ mph winds), Hawaii, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Colorado, and California. It performed impeccably, remaining in perfect condition the entire time. The tent was reliable in rain, winds, snow, and light and packable enough to go backpacking. Unfortunately, I was quite upset when it was caught in a car hitch and got a huge tear across the mesh, so I decided to purchase the new version, hoping it would be just as good. Fast forward to last weekend, when we took out the tent for the first time on a warmup backpacking trip in Colorado. Initially, it felt similar enough in quality, though I wasn't sure how much I liked the asymmetrical sides, with the addition of the wings. The first night went quite smoothly, but by the second night, we noticed issues we never encountered with the older version. First, there were already stress marks on the tent mesh. While this wasn't a major issue, it was concerning. More significantly, we noticed that this tent version is not as sturdy as the previous version, when mear 20-30mph winds flattened our tent (no damage to the poles, though the creaking sounds were not reassuring), and created a tear in the rain cover. The last thing I wanted to mention, is the downgrade on the zipper quality. The previous version had smooth, easy-gliding zippers. In contrary, the zippers on the new version tended to get stuck more frequently. Despite these issues, I am still giving it a 2/5 since it might provide enough value to be an OK car camping tent, but it certainly disappointed us coming from the previous version.
higgs
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Just what I was looking for. First two times it was used got decent rain and it stayed perfectly dry. Had very strong winds that collapsed one side (while nobody was in it and I don’t have it tied down, just staked) and it popped right back up when the wind stopped. No damage. The “wings” make it a little more difficult to set up with a good tight stretch on all sides, but I do love that extra space inside.
tvu01
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Has handled 4 trips to the BWCA and is still in new condition.
Pauly75
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Let me first state that I have purchased nothing but Marmot tents for the past ten years. I had both the 2 and 3 man versions of the previous limelight design. Both tents were great, 5-star tents in durability, waterproofness, easy to set up, etc. My 3 man limelight even provided shelter for my dog in I during a small, confirmed EF-1 tornado (true story) and came out the backend with only a small crack in one section of a tent pole. Granted I was set up between 2 RV's, which certainly helped protect us, and it only lasted about 10 seconds, but the tornado ripped the entire roof off of the adjacent barn (dropping it 75 feet away from my tent) and moved one of the 2 RV's a few feet to the side. After that, I swore that I would never purchase anything other than a Marmot tent. Fast forward a few years and that same tent ended up being run-over by another RV while the guy was backing up (luckily nobody inside) so it was time to purchase a new one. I noticed they had changed the design in order to incorporate part of the vestibule inside the body, which seemed like a good idea. However, the door opens from the wrong side in order to exit the tent. If you want to exit, you have to open the door all the way in order to reach the zipper on the rain fly, and if you don't roll it up, it can dangle onto the wet and muddy ground inside the vestibule area. This, in turn, leads to other problems including filty white mesh in the door (any white on camping gear is just a bad idea) that's impossible to get as clean as you would like, and dirty doorway zipper, which has already broken after only around 10 days since new. Who honestly rolls up their door and secures it every single time they enter and exit the tent? Well, if you don't, you pay for it quickly. Out of the box, the rain fly also wetted out, causing it to cling to the body of the tent, which then caused water to enter the tent in the seam between the floor and side wall. I have since remedied this problem with seam sealant and using a lot of waterproofing spray on the rain fly, but I would have thought it would have repelled rain right out of the box. My previous Marmot tents did. But when the rain rolls down the rain fly and hits the ground, it bounces back up under the rain fly, and even after spraying it twice, the fabric in the tent body still has a tendency to wet out and allow that moisture inside. Hopefully Marmot can address these issues (I saw someone else bring up the door problem) and get this model back up to snuff with its predecessors. Until then, and it pains me to say this after my previous high-quality Marmot purchases. I can't recommend this tent as it stands currently.
keg34
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] To provide context for this review, I routinely live out of a tent for weeks at a time in remote sites at high latitudes in North America and Asia. Weather extremes, especially gale-force wind and rain, occur often enough that any tent I use needs to be able to handle such conditions without risk of collapse or allowing water inside. Biting insects are also a common concern, so tents need to allow exit/entry to take place through the smallest possible opening in the door, in as brief a time as possible, ideally with the fly only partially unzipped. I am not climbing mountains, so an expedition-grade mountaineering tent is not necessary, nor am I backpacking, so I am not concerned about going with an ultra-light option (though lighter is generally better, of course). Recently my two go-to field tents gave up the ghost in rapid succession, which sent me on the hunt for a new one. I’ve not been especially happy with the “standard model” that has become the norm for 2 and 3 person camping/backpacking tents – a “spider” made of 4 legs and a single ridge pole, and a separate short pole that holds the sides of the tent as well as the full coverage fly out from the ridge pole. That design is great for providing vestibule space, a roomy interior, and decent protection from rain. It is not so great, in my experience, in high wind situations. The single ridge pole simply doesn’t have much to brace against, so the spider flexes and flattens. With that in mind, I went on the hunt for something new. I liked the look of the Limelight for several reasons. Rather than the above-mentioned spider, it has a pair of poles that crisscross over the tent and are attached to one another via a swiveling linkage. I especially liked that the separate cross pole that holds out the sides of the tent didn’t cross the other poles exactly where they meet each other, but rather they cross on the opposite side of the tent’s peak. This creates a triangular arrangement between the poles in the roof that I believe gives the entire structure a bit more rigidity. I expect that each pole can brace against the other two when the tent is hit by a gust, though I admittedly have not had the tent in a big windstorm yet, so I can’t confirm that this is the case. In addition, I thought that the unique “wings” were creative, and they really do add a considerable amount of extra room inside the tent. Though it is not absolutely necessary to stake them out, the fact that they can be staked provides additional points to help hold the tent down in high winds. There are also several tabs for attaching guy lines, which for me are critical. The full coverage fly is adequate to prevent rain from being blown into the tent. The orientation and position of the vent close to the peak had me a bit worried about wind carrying rain in through it and I haven’t been in conditions to test for that possibility, but it has seemed to do fine keeping rain out under non-windy conditions. One might grumble that the vent is too small to be of much value at preventing condensation inside the fly. In my experience, there is no venting system that will guarantee a condensation-free tent under all conditions, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the vent, as long as it doesn’t let rain in. The construction is solid and consistent with my experience with Marmot gear (which I am, in general, a fan of). The tent was intuitive to set up. The gear hammock is clever, though I’m not sure about its long-term utility. Unfortunately, despite all of its good qualities, the tent suffers from a fatal flaw, which can only really be understood by crawling in and out of the tent itself, but I will do my best to explain. The issue is the arrangement of the doors and rain fly, and the position of the zipper on the fly. We’ll tackle this from the perspective of exiting the tent after a rainy night in northern Minnesota, but the same issues would be at play when entering. In our scenario it was raining last night, so you had the fly zipped down to the ground. Happily, you and your gear are currently dry (way to go Limelight!), but there is plenty of condensation lurking on the inside of the fly (because of course there is). To leave the tent, you have a couple options. You can either fully open the big inner door, or you can try to just open the curved edge enough of a gap to squeeze through. If you fully open the door, you will be able to easily access the zipper on the rainfly, unzip it, and crawl out. On your way out, you will definitely get condensation smeared down your back as you brush against the fly. After you escape, you will turn around to close things up, and discover that the unzipped rainfly is now hanging directly into the open tent door, and it is funneling rainwater and condensation straight into the tent (no tent design should allow this to happen, but in the Limelight it does). This problem could be somewhat mitigated by tying up the fly before you leave, but 1) that’s a pain when you are trying to be as speedy as possible (see mosquitoes, below; also, you probably really need to find the latrine) and 2) if it is still raining, you will now have rain entering the tent. Further, in addition to all that wetness, the inside of the fly was lined with several hundred hungry mosquitoes, because mosquitoes love to hang out under rainflies. As soon as you opened that big door and disturbed the rainfly, they all began swarming into the tent. This did not make you popular with your tent mate. What about the second option for exiting, in which you only partially open the door? This is the preferred method for avoiding providing entry to all those mosquitoes. However, if you only partially open the curved end of the door, which is at the corner of the tent rather than the center of the sidewall, you will be faced with the rainfly a couple inches from your nose rather than the rainfly zipper. To reach the zipper, you will have to squeeze your body through the gap between the door and the rainfly until you can reach the fly’s zipper to open it. This might limit the number of mosquitoes that get into the tent, but it is slow, it will absolutely soak you from the condensation, and it is awkward and uncomfortable. It will also inevitably result in damage to the door, zipper, and mosquito netting as buttons, Velcro, and buckles on your clothes catch on the tent while you are squeezing past. The bottom line is that the unfortunate arrangement between the door and the fly make this tent unsuitable for camping in any situation where you expect rain and/or mosquitoes (or other flying nocturnal blood-suckers). It is possible that simply reversing the direction of the door, so that the curved end lies directly across from the fly’s zipper (rather than in the corner of the tent), would go a long way toward resolving this issue. However, I still think that the rainfly would tend to channel water (rain or dew) into the tent when both are open. As a recreational tent for families who are camping in the American southwest or other places where rain and insects are not a major concern, I think it would do great. For anyone who needs to ensure that their tent will stay dry and bug-free in less-than-ideal conditions, I recommend looking elsewhere.
ABR Paddler
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This is just a preliminary review, since I have yet to have the opportunity to use it yet. However, it set it up in my home. So far, it’s pretty impressive, especially for value. Set up was easy, although a small hiccup with the fly. I was centering the vestibule zipper and things weren’t wuite lining up. I went back to the photo of the tent and once I realized that the zipper aligns with the wing , it was easy peasy. The tent is plenty roomy, and just love the wings. Whichever Marmot engineer thought of that is a genius!!! I thought it might just be a gimmick , but it’s utilitarian and thoughtful. I also love the extra large doors which make getting your gear in a breeze. All the stitching looked great. Time will tell once I get this tent out in the outdoors, but so far, Im delighted with my Limelight 3P
Peacekprs
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Pirchased as a backpacking tent for two where we can split into two packs and manage the weight a little better. Will also use a a mobile and compact car camping tent with just my wife and I as we plan on doing more nationall parks and pacific coast driving adventures in our smaller, better gas mileage vehicle. Super happy with our purchase!
SJK Team
Very nice tent and light weight for backpacking the JMT
Tamriko
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I’m happy receiving this tent. I was concerned regarding size, every review I had read said that it is no roomy tent. I needed tent for 2 person, so after all comment I had read before I decided to bought limerick 3, to feel more comfortable. BUT. When I opened the tent I saw that it’s enough space for 3 person- to feel comfortable. Anyway. It’s nice tent
absgeller
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This tent is really super cool. I love the "cubbies" on either side, like little night stands. My partner and I bought it for the two of us despite it being a 3P, and that was our mistake, not Marmot's. We recognize now that its pack-down size is too bulky for our backpacking excursions, so we should have gotten the 2P one. The only catch for us that is likely not applicable to other people is the fact that the cubbies require stakes to function properly. Our backpacking locations cannot rely on stakes, and for this reason only are we going with another tent, which makes me so sad, because I'm obsessed with the tent layout and space.
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