Solo Tent

Hello,

After twenty years of using an old, no-name brand tent that weighs a ton, I have finally decided to purchase (or at least look into) buying a solo tent. What I am really looking for is a lightweight, compact, weatherproof tent that is reliable, and preferably pretty cheap. My one major concern is that I will be doing alot of fall/early spring backpacking. Since I get chilly easily, would I be more susceptible to it in a single tent, as opposed to a tent with other people warming it with body heat.

So, anybody have a good solo tent that they could recommend?

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Among the relatively recent, affordable solo tents, I like Eureka Spitfire a little bit, and similar tents by Sierra Designs. I like OR Haven and similar GoLite series probably more, but arguably, these aren't full "tents."

Wenzel makes a nice tent for under $50, supposedly for two, but good for one, with complete floor and netting, but it's coated single wall, and only good for three seasons, given impermiable floor and related drainage problems.

Hillenberg and Montbell are other obvious possibilities. But given cost of some of these options, one must also consider Black Diamond First Light, a slightly larger tent, supposedly for two people at under three pounds and nearly $300, apparently offering good, full protection.

Most free-standing solo tents out there are not good weight/value/space propositions, in my view.

I own and use the long discontinued, 2.5 pound Sierra Designs solo Divine Light tent, single wall, advertised at 20 sq. feet.

Its angled front arch and resulting wide door remains a unique and slightly brilliant innovation for miniature tent design, unaccountably now not available.

Yet despite its advantages, this solo tent was simply too small for me to tolerate, I concluded after many years and nights.

Subsequently, I purchased several alternatives, none entirely satisfactory, including a slightly larger, heavier, taller and more bulky, Mountain Hardwear solo tent, now also discontinued, and similar to curent Spitfire.

I ditched the thing and my favorite tent is currently 3-pound, 50-sq. ft GoLite Hex, with 5 feet of headroom and no floor or bug net.

I continue to occasionally use SD tent in severe bug environments, but the Hex alone, without bug insert, has provided somewhat effective protection in moderately severe bug infestations.

I also own and use quite a bit, the Integral Designs SilShelter at 1 pound, and nearly large enough for two people. Though I have a few objections to this item, I do wish to acquire slightly heavier bug net for this rig, for total of slighly more than 2 pounds.

The SilShelter and bug insert rig I describe is much more fussy to erect than the BD First Light as well as many solo tents on the market. But it is probably as large as BD and a fair bit cheaper.

I continue to believe, or imagine, that OR Night Haven and similar Golite series are good compromises, considerably more space than a "solo" tent, with insect netting, low weight and slightly moderate cost.

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The BEST, Hilleberg Soulu, mine is the neatest LITTLE tent I have owned and I have had a few.

The other BEST, Integral Designs Mega Sola, sometimes hard to get and lacking heaadroom, but, this is a BOMB in harsh alpine conditions, erects in a flash and is my solo hunting tent in BC wilderness.

A GOOD choice at a lower price WOULD be the BD First Light OR a Big Agnes solo tent.

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I'll look into those. Thanks.

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So after a few hours of research, I came across the MSR Hubba, 1 person, three season tent. I looked at moosjaw, and found that there are now a few different versions of the Hubba. What is the differences between them??

Heres the links:

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/product.asp?pf_id=10030458

And then the:

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/product.asp?pf_id=10044782

And Finally, the:

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/product.asp?pf_id=10044779

And I'm sitting here thinking... What is the difference between them?

[Edited by Dave: fixed URLs]

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Forgot to say, if anybody see's another tent that they would recommend to me that is on moosejaw.com, please do so, my mind is not set in stone yet.

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Oh, I see. the first one is last years model. The next two are the new ones One with a screen body for good ventalation and stargazing and the other with a breatheable body for more wind and snow protection. I think you need to ask yourself "am I going to use this mostly in summer?" "Will I be using this in blowing snow or sand?" Me personaly I value stargazing on a clear night above all and would go with one of the mesh ones.

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Ok, thanks. Would it be worth it to go a few dollars up and get the hubba hubba???

And anything else to look at before I have made a final decision?

Cheers.

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I will recommend the solo tent I use-the ALPS Mountaineering Taurus 1.0.

This tent I took on my backpacking trip down in the Missouri Ozarks. Extremely lightweight. Tent body constructed entirely of mesh. Packs down very small.

Here are some photos of my tent in use: http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2317870960055403717NqqgHA
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1196394340055403717kuPjkE
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2441721990055403717ZJvYFJ

Hope it helps!

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There are many solo tents for three seasons. If you are looking for something light, check out Henry Shires' Tarptent Rainbow, an ultralight solo tent. He also has the Contrail, another UL tent. Sixmoondesigns also makes a very light solo tent, as does Black Diamond and a few others. Terra Nova has a really interesting one, but this is a British company and I'm not sure who carries them here. I've seen them online.

REI sells the Quarter Dome,a fairly light, small tent. They have a little video of it on their website, plus some owner reviews. It is reasonably priced as well-under $200.

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Tom, Terra-Nova makes some excellent tents.

I always wanted the Quasar. Great little mountaineering/four-season tent. Very similar to my (former :() Diamond Brand Mountain Home in design.

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The Terra Nova website has several solo tents-the Laser Photon and the Laser Competition look kind of like the Hilleberg Akto and weigh less than a kilo. Unfortunately, they cost 300 and 250 pounds (not Euros) which works out to $600 and $500, so they are incredibly expensive. The Photon is a few oz. lighter.

The Akto is about a pound heavier. The prices of the Lasers make it look like a real bargain and it's almost $400.

One of Henry Shires' Tarptents is less than half the cost of the Terra Nova tents.

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I've always wanted one of these, but they only come around on e-bay every now and then and I just got a new tent last month.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Wanderlust-Nomad-242-Ultralight-Backpacking-Tent_W0QQitemZ330223177356QQihZ014QQcategoryZ36118QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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Unfortunately, Wanderlust developed a reputation for taking orders and payments, then not delivering the tents customers had purchased. This happened in 2003-2004 or so and then the company just disappeared-phone disconnected, website gone, no mail answered and so on. There were several discussions about Wanderlust back in 2005 on another site I belong to, including posts by unhappy customers who never got their tents.

The SixMoonDesigns tents look somewhat similar to the Wanderlust based on the pictures I have seen.

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Yeah Tom, It's sad that such a great tent maker would disappear like that without explanation. Still, that tent is such a brilliant piece of design. I also like the Six Moons tent, and this new one from Gossamer is tops in my book too.

http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/The_One.html

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Not sure what happened to Kurt (Wanderlust), but he left a few buyers very unhappy. Too bad, as you say, because the few who had his tents really liked them.

One thing about Henry Shires (Tarptent)- he makes his tents here, rather than outsource them overseas; he also gets his fabric here, so his supply issues are closer to home for him. He also belongs to another forum I help moderate and he checks in every now and then with responses to posts about his tents. It isn't often you see that. He will also update older versions, if that is possible-do things like install a floor if you have a floorless model and want to change it.

I've only seen his Cloudburst in person-I bought a used one, but never used it, so I sold it, but all of his tents get good reviews from their owners.

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