I have one like the picture in unclebob's post. It is somewhere in the attic and I do not remember what it was called. I used it all over Europe and the UK in all kinds of weather conditions. It has been long since retired as the outer skin has lost its coating and it is no longer even remotely waterproof. In its day it was an excellent tent but with one drawback: the flat roof which did not shed rain effectively.
About 30 years ago, I took my two sons walking in Derbyshire during the Easter holidays. We were caught in a freak snow storm that lasted two days and I decided to hunker down until the weather improved. My boys were in a Saunders Jetpacker and I was in in one like the one pictured. We survived snag and warm but very bored. Two drawbacks in the designs emerged.
The boys' Jetpacker shed snow well but it had to be cleared frequently as it began to build up where the flysheet met the ground and began to squeeze the tent's sides. My tent, with its flat roof did not shed snow and built up a layer that threatened to cave the tent in with its weight. I therefore had to get out in the night to clear it away. The conditions were truly awful- the worst I have encountered in the UK- and I doubt that any tent other than one specifically designs for alpine use would have fared any better.
When I bought the Saunders tents, they were innovatory and easily the best on the market at the time where weight/strength factors were concerned. I suspect that now many of the better manufacturers have caught up but that one has to pay far more for similar quality. My current tent is a Forclas T2 ultralite bought from Decathlon in France. It is similar in design except that the front end has a hooped pole instead of a two pole arrangement. It was very much cheaper than the Saunders, but it was mass produced for a mass market. It has been satisfactory in the Pyrenees, keeping out rain and cold, but it has never been tested by conditions such as the snow and wind I encountered thirty years ago in Derbyshire.
