OneTigris Dipper Table Review: A Backpacking Table With Real Trade-Offs

Introduction

OneTigris has replaced its discontinued Worktop table with a new model called the Dipper table. The pitch is familiar: a compact folding table for backpacking trips, light enough to carry and stable enough to cook and eat on. The Dipper keeps the general idea of its predecessor but changes how the table is built, and not every change is an improvement.

The Dipper uses a 7075 aluminium frame and 600D polyester fabric, comes in a coyote colorway, and sells for around $50 on the OneTigris website and roughly $43 on Amazon at the time of writing. It weighs close to 3 lb and can be set up at two different heights.

That combination of numbers is where the story gets complicated. If you are shopping for a small camp table, here is what the Dipper does well, what it asks of you in return, and who should think twice before ordering.

Who This Product Is For

The Dipper is built for backpacking, not car camping. Set up in high mode it measures 14.6 inches tall, 15.7 inches wide and 23.6 inches long. In low mode it stands 8.6 inches tall on the same footprint. A tabletop that size works well next to a folding backpacking chair and gives you enough room for a stove, a pot and a mug, with space for a second person to eat.

It is not a car camping table. Typical car camping chairs sit higher than this table, and a 23.6-inch tabletop feels small once you are not carrying your furniture on your back. The low mode is unlikely to see much use for most people, since an 8.6-inch working height means crouching to cook or eat.

If your trips are short overnights where a table is a comfort rather than a necessity, that footprint is about right. If you want a table for a drive-in campsite with full-size chairs, this one will feel undersized.

Main Strengths

As a tabletop, the Dipper does the job. Once assembled it is stable and does not tip or wobble when you are cooking on it or resting a mug and a plate on it. The surface is generous enough for two people to eat at the same time, which is more than many tables in this size class offer.

It also looks good. The coyote fabric and dark frame give it a considered, outdoorsy appearance, and the color scheme stays consistent across the table and its components. If you already like the look of OneTigris gear, the Dipper fits that family visually.

The catch is that these strengths only apply while the table is standing still. Moving it is a different experience, covered in the next section.

Things to Consider Before Buying

Setup and breakdown are the biggest departure from the previous design. Where the Worktop table used four main components, the Dipper uses nine, and every one of them is separate in the bag. The frame arrives in two pieces that have to be joined and locked, then the feet go on, then the support bars for the tabletop, then the tabletop itself, and optionally a mesh caddy that hangs underneath. It is a slow, fiddly sequence, and it is easy to misalign the frame if you are not paying close attention.

The storage bag is a second problem. It measures about 16.5 inches long and 5 inches wide, which is tight for the components it has to hold, and the single zipper has been known to split open under the load. The zipper hardware is not branded, and it feels inexpensive next to the YKK zippers used on earlier OneTigris products, including the Worktop table and the brand’s tents.

Durability is the third concern. Owners have reported tabletops that would not stay clipped to the frame, tabletops coming apart at the stitching, and support beams that detach from the frame when the table is lifted. That last point matters in daily use: grab the table to slide it out of the way and the top can come away from the frame. OneTigris maintains that the table is fine and that it performs as intended when set up correctly, while other accounts suggest the reported problems are being looked at for a future revision.

Weight capacity is another gap. OneTigris does not publish a load rating for the Dipper, while the discontinued Worktop table was rated to 88 lb. At close to 3 lb, the Dipper is also roughly double the weight of a comparable backpacking table with a one-piece frame that comes in around 1.5 lb. For an item that is a luxury in a pack, that is a lot of grams for the function it delivers.

Buying Advice

If you want a small table for backpacking, the Dipper asks you to accept a longer setup, a tight storage bag, a heavier carry and a load rating the manufacturer does not state. Those trade-offs are hard to justify when lighter tables with simpler, one-piece frames are available for less money.

That said, the Dipper is not without appeal. If the two-height design, the coyote colorway and the stable tabletop are what you are after, and you are comfortable with a slower assembly routine, it will do the job. Buy it with clear expectations rather than as a like-for-like replacement for the Worktop table, and check the return policy before ordering.

Conclusion

The Dipper table is a step sideways at best from the table it replaced. It is stable and good looking, but the nine-component build, the undersized bag, the unstated weight limit and the near 3 lb carry weight all work against it as backpacking gear. Owners of the Worktop table have no compelling reason to switch, and buyers who want a light, quick-to-pitch camp table should look at simpler designs first.