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Warbonnet Outdoors Minifly Tarp Review

The Warbonnet Minifly has short doors at the end for added rain protection
The Warbonnet Minifly has short doors at the end for added rain protection.

Warbonnet Outdoors has quite a large selection of hammock tarps, enough to suit anyone’s preferences. The Minifly is a 132″ x 91″ hex-style tarp with “short” doors that weighs 11.75 oz (2000mm, 20D silpoly). It’s basically a stripped down and lighter weight version of their full size 132″ x 120″ Superfly tarp, the tarp I’ve been using with my Warbonnet Blackbird hammock for the past 2 years. Here’s a picture of the Superfly below, for comparison.

Warbonnet Superfly for comparison purposes
Warbonnet Superfly for comparison purposes

As you can see, the Minifly’s end doors are a good bit shorter than on the Superfly’s, which are full length.The Minifly also doesn’t come with any side panel loops, so you can’t tie the doors of the Minifly back in nice weather, although that option is available on the larger and heavier Warbonnet Thunderfly tarp. Instead, Warbonnet includes a pair of mini-biners with the Minifly, so you can connect the doors and stake them out with a single guyline. The mini-biners loop through the plastic triangles that Warbonnet adds to all their tarp guy-out points. The alternative is to stake out each door separately; just keep in mind that these will be extra long guylines because the doors are shorter than the tarp’s side walls.

The door ends are clipped together with a mini-biner, so you can stake them out with one guyline
The door ends are clipped together with a mini-biner, so you can stake them out with one guyline.

Why’d I switch to the Minifly from the Superfly? For me, it was primarily about weight savings. My Superfly Tarp is large and heavy when tricked out with cordage, Dutchware stingerz (2), tarp worms (8), and mesh sleeves, weighing just over 21 ounces. I’ve also never really needed the Superfly’s full length doors to block horizontal blowing rain and have found that a winter sock is far more effective for insulating against cold wind than a tarp.  The only reason I’ve been using a Superfly is because I bought my hammock system used and this is the tarp it came with. Not a great reason, but I haven’t been that motivated to change it.

The MiniFly has two metal rings at the ends of its ridgeline. I use a split line suspension with two Dutchware Spiderz and Zing it to hang my tarp
The MiniFly has two metal rings at the ends of its ridgeline. I use a split line suspension with two Dutchware Stingerz and Zing-it cord to hang my tarp. It’s fast and I don’t have to tie any knots. I prefer it over using a continuous suspension.

Switching to a Minifly was a no-brainer (a 7.25 ounce savings for $110 – which is dirt cheap for weight reduction) because it’s the same length as the Superfly. It has identical metal rings at the ends of the ridgeline and plastic triangles on the guy-out points (the same as the Superfly), so I was able to transfer my entire suspension and accessories to the Minifly without changing anything or my tarp setup routine. Super convenient, that. I still plan to keep the Superfly for the time being, but the Minifly has proven completely sufficient for my three season backpacking needs in New England.

Warbonnet uses plastic triangle on their guyout points. I gurth hitch a elastic loop around them to keep the tarp tensioned at night and then tie the cord to reflective cord which is staked
Warbonnet uses plastic triangle on their guyout points. I girth hitch a elastic loop around them to keep the tarp tensioned at night and stake it out with a tarp worm system. That’s kind of complicated to explain, so I’ll let Dutch do it (click for video.)

Here are a few more details about Warbonnet Tarps, if you don’t own one yet or want to compare them to other hammocks tarps. The sewing is excellent and neat, and the guy out points are all reinforced with grosgrain webbing to prevent tearing the tarp fabric. The ridgeline does not need to be sealed because it’s sewn with thread that expands when it gets wet and blocks the needle holes from leaking. The side panel pull outs should however be seam sealed if you’re worried about interior drips (although this is irrelevant on the Minifly which doesn’t have any.)

The Warbonnet Minifly provides plenty of rain coverage despite having shorter doors than the Superfly
The Warbonnet Minifly provides plenty of rain coverage despite having shorter doors than the Superfly.

While I do wish I could tie back the Minifly doors for more ventilation, it’s not a make or break requirement for me. Having used the Superfly for the past 2 years, I am quite happy with the weight savings from switching to the Minifly and the fact that I could transfer my entire suspension system over without any changes. So far this has shaped up to be an excellent upgrade.

Disclosure: The author purchased this product with his own funds.

Written 2017.

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23 comments

  1. Dutchware sells clip-on tarp pullouts. Perhaps a pair of these could be rigged to provide door tiebacks.

    • Before switching to the Cloudburst from the SuperFly, I would just tie my doors to each other across the outside of the panels. With the mini biners and extra long guys for the minifly, that seems to be an easy solution without the added weight of the clumsy tarp pullouts.

    • I almost prefer Josh’s method. It’s not a big deal for me and I’ve already sent Dutch enough money. :-)

  2. Josh’s method is how I’ve always done it as well. Another option is to just not stake out the doors and let the breeze waft them around.

  3. In the 4th photo, I think you meant Dutch Stingerz, not Spiderz? I use the same setup and it works great!

  4. Never used a tarp with doors–can you prop up a side for a porch like with a doorless tarp (if you don’t mind the doors flapping free)? Or do the edge cuts make that impossible?

  5. I have never used a tarp or hammock system but am interested because of the weight savings. In this kind of set up where do you store your gear so it stays dry and how do you keep the bugs out?

    • Under the tarp. It’s a mosquito hammock (warbonnet blackbird) with a built in bug net.
      There’s no appreciable weight saving over a UL tent+quilt+pad, but pitching is a lot easier and you sleep much much better.

  6. Nice review. What’s the total weight of your new system, tarp, hammock, suspension, etc.?

  7. So you would recommend Minifly over Thunderfly? Mostly because of weight? Was considering the Edge until these two came out, but the Minifly has less coverage than the Edge (width)… The website says you can clip the doors back out of the way when not in use…probably what Josh is referring to?

  8. Have you tried it over the ridgerunner?

  9. Thanks for the review… This Tarp looks like something I can use when my Silnylon Tarp from Campmor kicks the Bucket… I really locked in the reinforced stitching on all the parts.. Like that…..and I like the dull color as well…. .. Though I could use just the Top of the Shires Tarp Tent I have… I would also suggest it would not be to useful in the Desert unless you use your Sticks to hold the ends up like a Shires Tarp Tent….. Next item to check is the price.. are they going to Rob me like every one else has been trying to this year… The Need for Greed is out there from Seattle to New Jersey….Disgusting… I just checked the Warbonnet Website and they show pictures of the item pitched using Sticks… But the price left me wanting to go look someone else….. Campmor still sells my 10×8, 13 oz. Silnylon Tarp for $99.00 when I bought it I paid about $20 less for it…. It is a thought though……

  10. I’ve had the Superfly for almost 2 years now. I love it and Warbonnet’s quality is superb. I have used it twice in heavy, windy rain and it has kept me dry all night. I have been looking at smaller tarps but haven’t been keen on sacrificing too much rain coverage because I live in South Florida. Looks like the minifly will be perfect.

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