I wanted to LOVE the REI Half Dome 2 PLUS.
With four openings in the roof, the tent has great ventilation.
The offset zipper of the Rain Fly ROCKS!!! No more leaning way outside the tent to reach bottom of the zipper of the rain fly.
Where the typical 2P Big Agnes tent is 88x52/42 with 29sqft, the REI Half Dome 2 PLUS is 92x56 with 36sqft.
Where the typical Big Agnes SL2 tent is about 4+lbs, the REI Half Dome 2 PLUS is 5+ lbs (but worth the extra space).
Unfortunately, I currently do not own an REI Half Dome 2 PLUS. I returned it under their 1-year warrantee.
I had a minor issue with the tent that rain would collect on the roof of the fly just above the seems of the side panels. The weight of the water would cause the rainfly to sag a little bit and create a bowl just before the seem for water to collect. REI "claims" if you setup the tent "correctly", this won't be an issue.
But the major issue that caused me to return it was the durability of the no-see-um mesh.
The tent came with imperfections in the no-see-um mess... places where the rows has a little more or a little less spacing.
And with only 12 nights of "regular" use without any "accident" that would have caused damage to the tent, the no-see-um mesh developed a tear.
Now I've had tents for 20+ years and never once developed a tear in the no-see-um mesh... and that includes 20+ nights using a Copper Spur UL2 (gosh this tent is so thin that if I ever damaged a tent it would be this one).
This is the first REI brand tent I've owned. So I can't say if their mesh is simply inferior quality, or if I just got a bad batch.
Oh wow, I just say the latest reviews on REI... seems like there have been several reviews complaining about the poles and shock cord.
I didn't have any issues there with mine.