KELTY Noah's Tarp

I've been using tents for as long as I've been backpacking, and for as long as I've been backpacking I've wished for something lighter, something more open and airy, something with a smaller footprint while at the same time providing more room and shelter for me and my gear. The Noah's tarp seems to be all that! With endless setup options, an experienced, prepared hiker can make him or herself a quite comfortable shelter. All of my experience with solo tents left me with the same problem:not enough room. You cant cook in them or even sit up in most of them. The Noah's tarp solves that problem at a third the weight and less than half the cost of a solo tent.
The few drawbacks I've found are spawned from the nature of the beast. This IS a TARP after all, and so it provides the user no protection from insects; though mosquito netting and DEET are cheap enough and easy to find. Also since it is an open shelter it provides inadequate protection from blown precipitation so some sort of bivvy sack would be needed. Mountain Hardwear makes a great bivvy for 90$ that would be perfect for tarp camping.