Tarptent RainbowRoost Gear Loft Review

Overview

The RainbowRoost is Tarptent’s purpose-built gear loft for its popular Rainbow family of shelters — the Rainbow, Rainbow Li, Double Rainbow, Double Rainbow DW, Double Rainbow DW Ultra, Double Rainbow Li, and Triple Rainbow DW. At 20 grams and $17, it’s a low-commitment add-on for anyone tired of digging through their pack for a headlamp or phone at 2 a.m. This isn’t a universal loft — it’s cut and corded specifically to clip into the geometry of the Rainbow line, so it won’t fit a random trekking-pole tent from another brand.

Key Specs

Spec	Detail
Weight	20.0 g (0.7 oz)
Price	$17.00
SKU	229
Compatible tents	Rainbow, Rainbow Li, Double Rainbow, Double Rainbow DW, Double Rainbow DW Ultra, Double Rainbow Li, Triple Rainbow DW
Storage	3 separate pockets + upper shelf platform
Extras	Oversized loop for hanging a headlamp or other gear
Installation	Clip-in with adjustable tension cording
Construction	Sewn in Seattle, WA
Note	Triple Rainbow DW requires a longer cording piece — must be specified at order time

Performance

This is about as simple a piece of gear as you’ll find, but “simple” doesn’t mean “pointless” — a good gear loft solves a real annoyance in single-wall, trekking-pole-supported tents like the Rainbow series: there’s nowhere obvious to stash small items you want within arm’s reach overnight.

Tarptent built the RainbowRoost with a clip-in design for fast installation and removal, with adjustable tension. In practice, that means you can pitch the tent, clip the loft to the interior attachment points, snug the cording, and be done in under a minute — and just as quickly pull it if you decide you don’t need it for a given trip (handy if you’re trying to shave every gram for a long resupply stretch).

Storage-wise, you get 3 separate pockets with additional platform storage on the upper shelf, and an oversized loop for hanging headlamps or other gear. That’s a sensible layout: the pockets are good for phone, headlamp batteries, earplugs, or a small first-aid kit, while the flat upper shelf can hold something bulkier like a stuff sack of extra layers or your glasses case. The hanging loop is a nice touch for a headlamp you want to grab without fumbling in the dark — small detail, but it’s the kind of thing that makes a $17 accessory feel considered rather than an afterthought.

One wrinkle worth flagging before you order: the Triple Rainbow DW requires one longer piece of cording for a proper fit, and if you’re ordering for that tent you need to note it at checkout. Easy to miss, and if you skip it you’ll end up with a loft that doesn’t tension properly in the larger tent.

I couldn’t find much independent field-testing or forum chatter specifically on the RainbowRoost itself — it’s a low-profile accessory that doesn’t generate the same review volume as the tents it’s designed for. Reviews of the Rainbow and Double Rainbow tents themselves are plentiful and generally positive: CleverHiker’s testers noted the Double Rainbow’s large side pockets, which can easily hold a headlamp, phone, or even the complete contents of a ditty bag, and praised the tent’s overall stitching quality and feel, noting that Tarptent has been making tents for a while, and it shows, giving the Double Rainbow a solidity that inspires confidence compared to budget competitors. That same build quality reputation extends to Tarptent’s accessories generally, though I’d treat the RainbowRoost’s real-world durability as an open question rather than a confirmed strength, since concrete long-term reports are thin on the ground.

At 20 grams, the weight penalty is negligible — less than the weight of a couple of AAA batteries — so the calculus here isn’t really about pack weight. It’s about whether you value the organization enough to spend $17 and give up a small amount of headroom inside the tent. Some ultralight users skip gear lofts entirely in favor of just tossing items in a stuff sack near their head; others find the dedicated pockets genuinely reduce nightly fumbling. It’s a preference call, not a performance one.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Extremely light at 20g — a rounding error in your base weight
• Clip-in installation with adjustable tension means quick setup and removal
• Three pockets plus a shelf platform gives more organization than a single mesh pouch
• Dedicated headlamp loop is a small but genuinely useful touch
• Affordable at $17, especially relative to the cost of the tents it’s paired with
• Sewn in the USA (Seattle), consistent with Tarptent’s typical build quality

Cons:

• Only fits Tarptent’s Rainbow-series tents — not a universal gear loft
• Triple Rainbow DW owners need to remember to request longer cording, an easy detail to overlook
• Adds a bit of clutter/headroom reduction inside an already-compact single-wall tent
• Very little independent long-term testing or user feedback exists specifically on this accessory
• Not sold with the tent by default — it’s a $17 add-on you have to know to look for

Who Should Buy This

This makes sense for existing or prospective owners of any Rainbow-series tent who want a designated, no-fuss spot for a headlamp, phone, and other small items rather than digging through a stuff sack in the dark. It’s not going to change your experience dramatically, but for $17 and 20 grams, it’s a low-risk way to add a bit of nightly convenience. If you’re the type who hangs everything from a single interior loop and calls it good, you can safely skip it.

Verdict

The RainbowRoost is a small, sensible accessory that does exactly what it says: gives you organized, easy-access interior storage for a negligible weight cost. It won’t wow anyone, but it’s a reasonable $17 upgrade for Rainbow-series owners who want a bit more order inside the tent — just remember the longer cording note if you’re outfitting a Triple Rainbow DW.