Lightweight Backpacking Tents
Lightweight Backpacking Tents - Additional Information and Reviews
There are of course all manner of camping tents to suit all manner of camping and all manner of individual requirements, from enormous family tents to tiny, solo backpacking tents. And even within any specific tent category you will find a truly vast range of prices. For example, two person tents can range from cheap throwaway £15 festival tents to similar size tents costing around the £1000 mark!
Here, at Station13, our interest is only in the small, three season, one man and two man camping tents for lightweight camping and backpacking. Please do also see our website pages on the new, true, two person tents that we now have in stock here: Lightweight 2 Person Tents.
Even in this category of camping tents there is a vast array of options, and what suits one person may not suit another. And then of course there is your budget to consider. Not everyone can afford to fork out for the most expensive, lightest, highest spec tent available. And indeed, you will find that even with the most expensive, lightest tents, from big name brands, there are always trade-offs. That is to say, there is no such thing as a universally perfect lightweight tent.
What I mean by this, is that to reduce overall weight, something has to give somewhere else. Fair enough, ditching relatively heavy, weaker fibreglass tent poles for lighter and stronger aluminium alloy poles makes perfect sense, but there comes a point whereby, even using the best, lightest, most costly, cutting edge materials, the only way to further reduce weight is by compromising on some other aspect of the tent. Thinner tent poles, one tent pole as opposed to two tent poles, thinner materials, six tent pegs as opposed to eight, smaller sleeping area, no vestibule, etc - all things that can possibly decrease the robustness and reliability of the tent and also reduce overall functionality.
Like I said, there are always trade-offs, which in essence means that when looking for your ideal tent, you will need to prioritise.
The weight of your tent
No backpacker wants to carry any more weight than necessary, however there does come a point whereby reducing the weight of the tent to an extreme can result in far less practical tent, with less comfort and greater hardship – two things you probably won’t enjoy after a long day hiking. Now you can get ultra-lightweight tents that only weigh a kilogram or less, provide enough space for you and your pack, and allow you a very good nights sleep. Of course the very latest, cutting edge, ultra-lightweight fabrics come at a price, and you could by a decent second hand car for the price of some tents in this category.
If these high-end, high performance, ultralight tents are out of your price range, but you still only want to carry around a kilogram, then small one man ‘coffin’ tents or bivvy tents are an option. However, you will likely have to leave your rucksack and other gear outside, be comfortable sleeping in such a confined space, and certainly not suffer from claustrophobia. Some people get on great with these tiny one man bivvy tents, but I must admit I do prefer at little comfort at the end of a hard day - a tent roomy enough for me to get changed in, store my gear inside with me, and have at least a little head room. Sometimes, particularly if budget is a major issue, then the comfort, convenience and sheer practicality afforded by slogging an extra ½ kg or so around, is well justifiable. But that’s just my opinion. If that extra ½ kg is going to cripple you or make your life a total misery, then unless you have an unlimited budget, you obviously have less options.
Of course it is quite easy to find a tent that meets my requirements, and for a very decent price, if I'm willing to accept that I will have to carry around 2.5 – 2.7kgs. However, if I want to shave a kilogram or so off the weight, then finding a tent that meets my specific requirements at a half-decent price is a whole different matter. As the grams come off, the tent prices tend to start soaring.
The key thing when looking for a suitable tent, is to know exactly what you want in the first place. Once you have determined what you are looking for in a tent, and what your budget is, then you have a good basis to start your research. Given the vast array of tents available, until you know exactly what your personal requirements are, then finding the most suitable tent for your specific needs will, to say the least, be very difficult.
You get what you pay for
As with many things, the old adage ‘You get what you pay for.’ is often banded about when it comes to lightweight tents, and while there is always a certain truth to this saying, you can also, very easily, ‘Overpay for what you get’! Many people tend to shy way from anything made in China, however, the reality is that many of the bigger brand names, though based in the UK, USA or wherever, all have their products manufactured in China. So, if the tent is of quality material, quality construction and performs, I would not be overly concerned by this. In fact, when we were researching tents to source from China, looking for a reputable and reliable supplier, we found that you can find various versions of almost identical looking tents, some seemingly at substantial cost-savings. However, although outwardly they may appear identical, this is not the case, and indeed is far from true. When we looked a little deeper we saw that the differing versions are made to different standards and very different specifications, to suit different markets and indeed different pockets. Cost-saving and corner-cutting is evident on the cheaper versions: less waterproof flysheet; fibreglass poles, different inner tent materials and construction, and often more subtle hard-to-notice labour-saving construction differences that can impact performance in the field. Here, the old adage 'You get what you pay for.' really does apply.
The biggest selling point for most one person and two person tents, and often the number one priority for any budding lightweight (or ultralight) backpacker, is weight. If you are travelling on a motorbike, or even cycling, lower weight and smaller pack size is important, but never as much so as when you are lugging your tent around all day, on your back, in a rucksack.
Cyclists can get away with a few more pounds, a small two man tent weighing 3 – 3.5kgs is not going to be crippling, but reducing this weight by 1 – 1.5kgs can make a hell of a difference when it’s on your back for hours on end.
I have walked the Coast to Coast Path, Offa’s Dyke Path and cycled Land’s End to John O’Groats twice. On all of these adventures (and they were adventures) I camped and used a Coleman Avior X2. This tent is no longer made, (why, is beyond me, as it was a cracking little tent) and while it would not suit everyone, I loved it. This tent never once failed me, handling everything mother nature chucked at it – I still have it and still use it. However, it is classed as a two man tent and it does weigh in at 2.45kgs. A few years ago I did not consider this to be any great issue, and I was one of those people that took with me everything I thought I may need, rather than just everything I would need. I was somewhat younger and fitter then, so lugging around a 21kg rucksack was manageable – but still bloody hard!
Nowadays, with dodgy knees, dodgy back and the odd twinge from my hips, my outlook has changed. Less is more!
So less tent weight is important for me now, but I still want certain features, so I’m still willing to sacrifice a little weight-saving for functionality and convenience. Now I do tend to compare everything to my much-loved Coleman Avior X2, as it provided me with all the features I required, and so it does give me a solid foundation on which to make comparisons, so please bear with me.
Tent season ratings
Before I go on, just a quick word about the season ratings of a tent. Any half-decent tent is rated as a three season tent or a four season tent, the difference being that a true four season tent is designed to cope with torrential rain, very high winds and snow. The four season tent will usually have a snow skirt, it will feature thicker, stronger tent poles (usually more of), more guylines and generally be of a semi-geodesic or geodesic design for strength and stability. Four season tents are designed to be more robust, but all this will come at a cost in terms of weight. In the UK, a good three season tent will usually be adequate for most of the year round unless you plan on camping atop Ben Nevis in the heart of winter. Note also, that a four season tent will generally be overkill for any other time of the year but winter. The particular tents that we are interested in at present are good, value for money, three season tents.
Tent design
Tent design itself is critical. There’s no point in having a ultralight tent that is so unstable or with fabric so weak that it won’t handle a bit of wind without collapsing or shredding, or ridiculously thin, weak tent poles that break the first time you use the tent. But the tent design itself will also lend itself to features that are or aren’t particularly desirable, or will or won’t suit your individual requirements. For example, it’s no use buying a tent that is not free-standing when you will be mainly camping on rocky terrain where it may be impossible to properly secure tent pegs into the ground. My Coleman Avior X2, has realistically, comfortably, only enough room for myself and my gear, but it was roomy enough to sit up in and indeed get changed in. It pitched fast, with the inner left attached to the outer, and stood up to wind and heavy rain with no issues whatsoever. I never cook in my tent, always preferring a local pub, so a cooking area is never an issue for me, but for some folk this may be a key requirement. That said, no manufacturer of small one/two person tents would ever recommend that you cook inside a small tent - there is so much potential for complete disaster, and it only takes one minor mishap for it all to end in tears!
Two-man tent... Err, no, I don't think so!
As most backpackers, and lightweight campers in general know, the term 'two man' or 'two person' tent has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Many so-called ‘lightweight two man tents’ are, in reality, one-and-a-half man, one man and a young child, one man and his dog, one man with gear, or two (well acquainted) small men with just their sunglasses. And this pretty well applies to what ever the ‘man’ rating of the tent, i.e. a lightweight three man tent is generally only practical for two people and their gear.
The times I see tent reviews where the purchaser obviously has not done their homework and has slagged a good tent because they had expected to be able to get him, her, the dog, all their gear and still have space to cook, in a tiny, lightweight two man tent!
Tent reviews
And, while we are on tent reviews, it is generally accepted that a greater proportion of people only leave reviews when they are not happy bunnies, when they have an axe to grind, which can lead to a great distortion and general disservice to the tent in question. You may see a tent with thirty '5 star' reviews and ten lowly '1 star' reviews, leading you to think that one in four people thought the tent was bad, but the reality may be that a much greater percentage of disgruntled folk have left a bad review. That said, there are often some suspiciously good reviews for blatantly poor tents too - and indeed a highly suspicious number of good reviews. Even ultra-cheap and cheerful so-called ‘festival’ tents can have mind-bogglingly good reviews, but then they are often only used for a few days at summer festivals by inexperienced campers, and at throw-away prices they adequately serve their purpose and folks are happy. But no serious backpacker would ever look twice at such a tent.
You will also find good reviews for tents that have only been erected in the back garden (or even a living room!) and so are effectively untested in the real world. And you always get the illiterate halfwit of a reviewer who scores the tent on something totally unrelated to the tent itself, like a good or bad delivery service. Fair enough, there are some badly designed, poorly manufactured tents that deserve what they get, but often people leaving bad reviews have simply invested in an unsuitable tent - no fault but their own. Others simply do not understand tents or camping and seem to expect 5 star accommodation from something that weighs a couple of kilograms!
You also see similar tent reviews on Youtube, whereby somebody gives a glowing recommendation to a tent, saying how wonderful it is, after basically just erecting it in a field on a nice sunny day. These so-called reviews provide absolutely no insight as to how the tent performs in the field, how it copes with the weather, how it sleeps, or the reliability of its components, nor do they usually provide any in useful in depth detail. Just erecting a tent and saying, 'Look, it's a great tent', is not a review! This is where you have to be careful, because not until you actually put the tent to proper use, out in the field on a genuine camping trip or a trek, along with your rucksack and all your kit, will you really be able to evaluate how well the tent stands up to less than ideal weather conditions, and indeed how well it performs overall.
Do your research
The key is, do your research. Don’t buy a tent with an inner that is only 5 foot 10 inches in length and then rate it lowly because it is too small, when you are 6 foot 3 inches tall! After a while you will learn to separate the genuinely useful reviews from the, let’s just say, less than useful reviews. A pet hate of mine is when a reviewer marks a tent down because of their own failure to understand what they are buying. For example, the person who gave a tiny bivvy tent a low rating because there was no cooking area… what?! Yes, you know who you are. Research, research, research! It’s not hard nowadays with the internet.
All the information is out there, so don't buy on a whim and don't rush into buying a tent without doing your homework first. Remember, it's horses for courses, and a tent that suits one person may be totally inadequate and unsuitable for another person. There is no point whatsoever purchasing an ultralight 1.2kg tent if it’s simply not big enough for your needs, and you have to sleep with your feet sticking out of the door!
But I digress...
So, I’m looking for a lightweight two man or one man tent to suit my particular needs.
I don’t want to have to leave my rucksack and boots outside the tent at night, so I want enough internal space, preferably a large enough vestibule (porch area), to store my kit. So bivvy tents or tiny one man coffin tents are not for me. I definitely want a tent with quality aluminium alloy poles, they are lighter than fibreglass poles and more likely just to bend in extremes rather than snap – you hear about so many trips ruined by broken, cheap fibreglass tent poles.
Which reminds me. Before my first long distance walk (Offa’s Dyke Path), and before I knew much about what I wanted from a tent, I hastily purchased a Gelert Solo (now I believe also re-branded as the Blackthorn Highlander 1). On delivery I immediately set it up in the back garden and realised that this tiny fabric coffin-like tent was not for me, at 16.5 stones and 5’11, I found just getting in and out very tricky - it looked much bigger in the photos on the website! There was hardly any room to move and turn, and at 5'11" my head was pushing into the inner tent material one end and my feet were pushing well into the inner tent material the other end - this was a very short tent! In fact, at the time I seriously wondered if I had been sent the childs version. I could not sit up and it was apparent that I would not be able to easily get changed in this tiny tent, and that even just getting in and out of my sleeping bag could be an issue. And if you don't particularly like enclosed, small spaces, then forget it! It was a bargain at £17 (or it seemed like a bargain at the time) and only weighed just over 1.6kg, which were the real attractions, but this is when I recognised that weight-saving is not the be-all and end-all. The floor of the Gelert Solo only had a hydrostatic head rating of 1500mm and the poles were truly, truly awful - mine were a sloppy fit into the poorly made aluminium ferrules and the fibreglass poles themselves looked more like lengths of black charcoal. Anyway, as I took it down, one of the cheap and nasty fibreglass poles split and it became a non-issue - it’s been in a cupboard ever since.
There are some seriously bad reviews for the Gelert Solo, which do tend to highlight some glaring quality issues with this tent. However, and rather mind-bogglingly, I’ve seen reviews of the Gelert Solo, whereby people have been very happy, some people can’t recommend it high enough – even when having to constantly repair or replace broken poles... very strange indeed! There appears to be somewhat of a cult following for the Gelert Solo, and I do struggle to get my head round this, though I guess it all comes down to expectations, and if you don't expect too much then a cheap, budget tent may suffice. Personally I would not want to put my faith in a tent whilst on a two week adventure trip, knowing that the tent poles could give up at anytime and I could be left shelterless, at night, in the pouring rain, miles from anywhere... But, if your tent budget only extends to £20, and you are only camping a couple of nights, then I guess you take the gamble and learn to live with your decision.
I would like to get the tent weight down to under 2kgs, but still have somewhere to put my 65 litre rucksack and boots. My old Avior X2 with both a side and end entrance excelled here as, at the end opening, there is a vestibule area large enough for all my gear. I could then either access my gear from the inner tent or from the outside. I only ever used the end entrance for storage, always preferring to enter and exit the tent from the long side entrance. It really was an ideal arrangement for me.
One of my LEJOG travelling companions had a Vango Banshee 200, which by all accounts is also a good little tent, and he was very happy with it. The build quality and the fabrics were right up there. His Banshee was an older version with just the one side entrance and weighed in at around 2kgs (I believe the latest Banshees have two side entrances and perhaps slightly upgraded materials, but are also a heftier 2.35kgs – see, even Vango seem to have sacrificed some weight-saving for practicality). His Banshee was shorter internally and physically smaller externally than my Avior X2, but gave a weight saving of nearly 0.5kg over my Coleman. However, my pal had to sleep with his gear in the inner tent with him, whereas my 0.5kg weight penalty afforded me the luxury of greater sleeping space and my gear out of the way in the vestibule. At the time I was quite happy to pay the 0.5kg penalty for the greater comfort and convenience.
Share the weight
While I’m thinking about it, if you always backpack as a couple or with a companion, then sharing the weight of a slightly larger three man tent can be beneficial. Usually the weight increase between two and three man tents is relatively little. Ok, it is too heavy and too bulky for one person to carry alone, but when shared, the three man version of the same tent is considerably less weight than one person carrying a two person tent - and in most cases even a one person tent. Of course sharing has its downsides (you’ll think of a few), and myself I’m far happier having the tent to myself. When I first walked Offa’s Dyke Path, I was originally going to do the walk with a friend, and indeed we had considered sharing a three man tent. However, my friend could be somewhat unreliable, so I decided this might not be such a good idea and opted for the Coleman Avior X2, two man tent. And I’m glad I did, as my mate pulled out a week before we were due to set off, so if we had purchased a three man tent I would have been lumbered with unnecessary weight and an unnecessarily large tent. Anyway, back to the script…
Tents on a diet
Manufacturers can reduce the overall weight of their tents by employing lighter materials. The denier rating of the flysheet and flooring can reduce weight, but this inevitably comes at some cost to its strength, resilience and indeed overall durability. A flysheet with a denier rating of 15D will be much lighter than a flysheet with a denier rating of 70D of the same material, but the 70D flysheet will be far more robust and durable. You would also expect the floor fabric to be of a higher denier or slightly different material to the flysheet, as the floor will be taking a lot more abuse and be subjected to potentially much greater wear and tear. A ridiculously low denier floor rating would always concern me. Remember, weight-saving always comes at a cost.
And indeed, when all other avenues have been exhausted, one area that manufacturers drastically reduce weight is the floor material or groundsheet of the tent. All good modern lightweight tents have waterproof bathtub floors which are sewn onto the inner tent. In the old days this floor material was quite heavy, robust and durable, often some form of rubber or a laminate of materials, and a very different material to the inner and outer tent fabrics. Nowadays, in order to minimise weight, the floor material is often very similar to the lightweight outer flysheet fabric but with a higher denier rating and usually with a higher hydrostatic head – that is, it can withstand a much greater pressure of water before there is water ingress.
Tent floors
And so this is where I come to another bugbear of mine. Modern lightweight tent flooring fabric, though it can be made extremely waterproof, it is by nature very thin and so much less resilient, hence much more prone to damage by sharp objects (thorns, stones, etc.) than the thicker, heavier, older materials. Of course manufacturers know this, but they also know that their advertised ultralight tent sells primarily due to its advertised 'ultra-light weight'. The last thing they want to do is design in a more resilient tent floor that will add grams to the overall weight of the tent. They mitigate this issue by recommending that you use the tent with an additional groundsheet, commonly termed a ‘footprint’.
Picture this:
“Yes Sir, this tent is £499 but only weighs 1kg. However, in order not to invalidate the warranty you will need to purchase an additional footprint that costs a further £65 and weighs 0.5kg” !!
Ok, maybe a little exaggeration on my part, but you can see my gripe here.
And in any case, the super-ultralight backpacker that drills holes in his toothbrush handle and removes the labels from his clothing in order to save weight would think it absolute sacrilege to carry an additional groundsheet!
There are pros and cons to everything, but when I camp out in a lightweight tent, and in order to protect the floor, I always lay my bright orange polythene survival bag down on the ground first. I always carry it with me as an emergency shelter anyway, but it very effectively doubles as a small tent additional groundsheet. And indeed this arrangement worked perfectly well with my Coleman tent over many years. And to this date I have never, ever suffered damage to my tent's groundsheet.
Hydrostatic head
A quick word about the hydrostatic head of a material (its waterproofness).
An outer tent material (flysheet) with, for example, a hydrostatic head of 2000mm can effectively withstand the pressure of a static column of water 2 metres high before water ingress - that is before the pressure will force water through the material - so quite a lot! Any material with a hydrostatic head of 1000mm or above is considered waterproof, and in a UK summer, a tent employing a flysheet with a hydrostatic head of between 1000mm – 2000mm is normally adequate to keep water out. That said, the minimum hydrostatic head generally considered as waterproof for a UK three season tent is 1500mm. A tent with a flysheet hydrostatic head of 2500mm is accepted as being more than adequate for UK three season camping and all nature can throw at it. Obviously the higher this number the better, and indeed, for peace of mind, this is where you may just want to pay a little more for a tent employing material with a higher hydrostatic head, particularly if you intend, or expect, to regularly use your tent in more extreme weather conditions. However, there is no point in paying an excessive amount of your hard-earned money for a tent with a flysheet hydrostatic head of 5000mm if you only camp out a for few nights in your back garden in the height of summer.
I just should add that as well as employing a full mesh inner tent, some very expensive big brand name tents keep the overall tent weight down by employing a very thin, light flysheet, and you can pay a small fortune for these ultralight tents. However in order to achieve this, some of these flysheets (and indeed floors) have a relatively low hydrostatic head. You save weight, yes, but at the expense of the tents waterproofness. Thinner materials are also often far less robust. The choice of course is yours, and if every gram counts then perhaps spending £600 on a high-end ultralight tent is justifiable, but be aware that as the weight of the ultralight tent comes down, often so too do other specifications.
The hydrostatic head of the floor material is of far greater importance as your bodyweight pushing the floor down into wet ground is effectively the same as a large column of water pushing from the other side. In such circumstances some ingress of water can occur, hence the higher the hydrostatic head of the floor material, the greater chance the inside of your tent floor stays dry.
What are you actually getting for the specified weight?
Some of the very high-end, big brand name tents reduce the overall weight of their tents by including titanium tent pegs, and indeed a decent shepherd’s crook, 3mm x 150mm, titanium tent peg is very strong and weighs in at just 5.5 - 6 grams. However, even here some manufacturers take it to the extreme, providing titanium tent pegs that weigh a mere 2 grams - or even 1 gram! Great weight-saving, and while they may do for pinning down a groundsheet, in less than perfect conditions you really would want something more substantial than a toothpick holding down your flysheet - verging on ridiculous!
And be careful when looking at total tent weights. Tents are often specified with a 'gross' weight and a 'minimum' weight or 'trail' weight, and often the minimum weight is that which is promoted. So always check to see what the stated weight actually includes, because along with the recommended footprint, some suppliers do not include the weight of the tent pegs, guy ropes, tent stuff sack, tent poles bag, etc. The minimum weight figure always looks far more enticing than the gross weight figure, but the reality is that your tent won't be of much use without tent pegs and guy ropes.
And then there is this: some manufacturers employ an extremely lightweight outer shell fabric that does not lend itself to having the seams factory sealed in the conventional manner. Fair enough. However, instead of sealing the seams in some other more ‘unconventional’ manner at the factory, they sell you the tent for hundreds of pounds of your hard-earned dosh and advise you to seal the seams yourself… What? C’mon…! Or is it just me that has an issue with this…?
Another potential area for weight-saving is the inner tent material. An inner tent made primarily of nylon no-see-um bug mesh (fine netting), will inevitably weigh less than a inner tent made primarily of full breathable polyester material. But then the mesh inner will certainly be colder and more draughty than the full polyester material inner.
Full mesh inner tent = reduced weight = colder. Slightly heavier full fabric inner tent = warmer = more weight.
Four season tents with storm flaps or snow skirts keep the draughts out but tend to be heavier and obviously provide less air flow which can lead to a build-up of condensation. Conversely a tent with no storm flaps or snow skirt may well be free of condensation, but quite draughty. I’ve also seen contrasting poor reviews given to the very same tent, one was because it was considered too cold and draughty, and one was because it was considered too hot without enough ventilation! Swings and roundabouts. But again you also have to consider who has left the review… an experienced, hardened camper, or a fresh-faced, new-to-this-game camper who is relatively clueless. Whatever the case, you simply can’t have everything, and depending on conditions most tents tend to excel in one particular area, while falling down slightly - or miserably - in other areas. You simply can not expect an ultralight three season tent with a mesh inner, to perform well in up a mountain, in the snow, in the depths of winter.
A little more on condensation
Of course if a flysheet is designed to keep water out, then it follows, by its very nature, that it will also keep water in. That is, moisture from your breath and heat from your body will cause water in the air to condense on the inside of your waterproof flysheet when it is colder outside. Now, this will happen with all tents, but small one and two man tents are particularly prone to the formation of condensation simply because of the more confined space.
Condensation will happen, its a fact of life. In colder conditions condensation will form on the inside of your flysheet, but it is then what happens with this condensation that really matters. If it runs harmlessly down the inside of your tent flysheet to the ground, then fine, no problem. If tent ventilation removes it at a rate that prevents it from dripping into your inner tent, then again, fine, no harm done. However, if condensation builds up to a point whereby it is literally dripping off the inside of your flysheet and into your inner tent, then it may be a concern. If the inner tent is just lightweight nylon bug mesh, then condensation may drip straight though onto you. However, if your tent has a solid breathable polyester inner, then any condensation dripping from the flysheet may actually just dampen the inner tent, but spread and disperse before actually finding its way through to you.
Now, hardier four season tents can suffer real condensation issues, because by their very nature they are designed to keep all the unfavourable elements out: wind, rain, snow, etc. Under extreme conditions it is far more important to keep out the weather and retain heat, and with snow skirts and very small air vents, condensation can really build up. Under these circumstances, four season tents rely heavily on the tent design to allow the inevitable condensation to harmlessly run off the inside of the flysheet to ground. Three season tents tend to have larger air vents and/or better airflow by design. Along with flysheet air vents, and with no storm flaps or snow skirts, and with a flysheet that is raised slightly from the ground to allow for much better all round ventilation, most small three season tents can avoid any real condensation issues.
Good, value for money lightweight tents
Unless money is no object, then high on your priority list will be cost. High-end ultralight tents can cost an arm and a leg, but if you do your research you can often find a lightweight tent that will more than meet your needs at a fraction of the cost, without sacrificing quality or making too big a compromise. And who doesn’t enjoy getting value for money?
When I research tents, I’m looking for a good, value for money tent that exactly suits my needs. However, I often find that the sacrifices in functionality, robustness, performance, reliability and general practicality can not be justified by the saving of just a few grams. Alloy tent poles that are made thinner to save weight are more likely to bend or buckle; less stable tent designs that save weight are more likely to distort or collapse in bad weather; less durable lightweight tent floors are more prone to punctures; ridiculous 1 gram titanium tent pegs that stand no chance of holding in the ground from even the slightest gentle breeze. All these things reduce the weight you carry on your back, but sadly can also greatly effect how the tent functions and indeed performs in the real world.
Just be careful if you are looking into purchasing an ultralight tent. That ultra-lightweight advertised may not be quite so ultralight at all when you have to use an additional groundsheet and update those ridiculous 1 gram tent pegs to something functional. And this is to say nothing of the extra cost involved after already paying a small fortune for the tent.
So what tents out there can give my trusty Coleman Avior X2 a run for its money?
Here at Station13, before we invest in tents, we need to know that the tent or tents that we supply to you, will not only be lightweight, made of quality materials and display quality workmanship, but also provide adequately for your needs, live up to your expectations in the real world… and not cost an arm and a leg.
Remember, we are looking for good value for money, high quality, one man and two man tents.
Watch this space…
…OK, if you have been watching this space, we have some news.
After doing our research, two tents that we have been very interested in, are manufactured by GeerTop of China. What attracted us to these two tents in particular, and indeed this China manufacturer, is the fact their tents do seem to be relatively high spec, high quality tents, they seem like a very reputable company - we’d not heard anything bad about their products... and, most importantly, both are very lightweight tents!
With the quality of the tent being of foremost importance to us, and GeerTop of China looking to be a genuinely good company providing genuinely good products, we imported samples of these two tents to evaluate. Both are lightweight one person backpacking tents.
These tents are the GeerTop TOPWIND 1, lightweight one man tent and the GeerTop PYRAMID, lightweight one man tent. The GeerTop TOPWIND 1 we were sent has the yellow flysheet (but is also available in red), and the GeerTop PYRAMID has the iron blue flysheet.
There are of course all manner of camping tents to suit all manner of camping and all manner of individual requirements, from enormous family tents to tiny, solo backpacking tents. And even within any specific tent category you will find a truly vast range of prices. For example, two person tents can range from cheap throwaway £15 festival tents to similar size tents costing around the £1000 mark!
Here, at Station13, our interest is only in the small, three season, one man and two man camping tents for lightweight camping and backpacking. Please do also see our website pages on the new, true, two person tents that we now have in stock here: Lightweight 2 Person Tents.
Even in this category of camping tents there is a vast array of options, and what suits one person may not suit another. And then of course there is your budget to consider. Not everyone can afford to fork out for the most expensive, lightest, highest spec tent available. And indeed, you will find that even with the most expensive, lightest tents, from big name brands, there are always trade-offs. That is to say, there is no such thing as a universally perfect lightweight tent.
What I mean by this, is that to reduce overall weight, something has to give somewhere else. Fair enough, ditching relatively heavy, weaker fibreglass tent poles for lighter and stronger aluminium alloy poles makes perfect sense, but there comes a point whereby, even using the best, lightest, most costly, cutting edge materials, the only way to further reduce weight is by compromising on some other aspect of the tent. Thinner tent poles, one tent pole as opposed to two tent poles, thinner materials, six tent pegs as opposed to eight, smaller sleeping area, no vestibule, etc - all things that can possibly decrease the robustness and reliability of the tent and also reduce overall functionality.
Like I said, there are always trade-offs, which in essence means that when looking for your ideal tent, you will need to prioritise.
The weight of your tent
No backpacker wants to carry any more weight than necessary, however there does come a point whereby reducing the weight of the tent to an extreme can result in far less practical tent, with less comfort and greater hardship – two things you probably won’t enjoy after a long day hiking. Now you can get ultra-lightweight tents that only weigh a kilogram or less, provide enough space for you and your pack, and allow you a very good nights sleep. Of course the very latest, cutting edge, ultra-lightweight fabrics come at a price, and you could by a decent second hand car for the price of some tents in this category.
If these high-end, high performance, ultralight tents are out of your price range, but you still only want to carry around a kilogram, then small one man ‘coffin’ tents or bivvy tents are an option. However, you will likely have to leave your rucksack and other gear outside, be comfortable sleeping in such a confined space, and certainly not suffer from claustrophobia. Some people get on great with these tiny one man bivvy tents, but I must admit I do prefer at little comfort at the end of a hard day - a tent roomy enough for me to get changed in, store my gear inside with me, and have at least a little head room. Sometimes, particularly if budget is a major issue, then the comfort, convenience and sheer practicality afforded by slogging an extra ½ kg or so around, is well justifiable. But that’s just my opinion. If that extra ½ kg is going to cripple you or make your life a total misery, then unless you have an unlimited budget, you obviously have less options.
Of course it is quite easy to find a tent that meets my requirements, and for a very decent price, if I'm willing to accept that I will have to carry around 2.5 – 2.7kgs. However, if I want to shave a kilogram or so off the weight, then finding a tent that meets my specific requirements at a half-decent price is a whole different matter. As the grams come off, the tent prices tend to start soaring.
The key thing when looking for a suitable tent, is to know exactly what you want in the first place. Once you have determined what you are looking for in a tent, and what your budget is, then you have a good basis to start your research. Given the vast array of tents available, until you know exactly what your personal requirements are, then finding the most suitable tent for your specific needs will, to say the least, be very difficult.
You get what you pay for
As with many things, the old adage ‘You get what you pay for.’ is often banded about when it comes to lightweight tents, and while there is always a certain truth to this saying, you can also, very easily, ‘Overpay for what you get’! Many people tend to shy way from anything made in China, however, the reality is that many of the bigger brand names, though based in the UK, USA or wherever, all have their products manufactured in China. So, if the tent is of quality material, quality construction and performs, I would not be overly concerned by this. In fact, when we were researching tents to source from China, looking for a reputable and reliable supplier, we found that you can find various versions of almost identical looking tents, some seemingly at substantial cost-savings. However, although outwardly they may appear identical, this is not the case, and indeed is far from true. When we looked a little deeper we saw that the differing versions are made to different standards and very different specifications, to suit different markets and indeed different pockets. Cost-saving and corner-cutting is evident on the cheaper versions: less waterproof flysheet; fibreglass poles, different inner tent materials and construction, and often more subtle hard-to-notice labour-saving construction differences that can impact performance in the field. Here, the old adage 'You get what you pay for.' really does apply.
The biggest selling point for most one person and two person tents, and often the number one priority for any budding lightweight (or ultralight) backpacker, is weight. If you are travelling on a motorbike, or even cycling, lower weight and smaller pack size is important, but never as much so as when you are lugging your tent around all day, on your back, in a rucksack.
Cyclists can get away with a few more pounds, a small two man tent weighing 3 – 3.5kgs is not going to be crippling, but reducing this weight by 1 – 1.5kgs can make a hell of a difference when it’s on your back for hours on end.
I have walked the Coast to Coast Path, Offa’s Dyke Path and cycled Land’s End to John O’Groats twice. On all of these adventures (and they were adventures) I camped and used a Coleman Avior X2. This tent is no longer made, (why, is beyond me, as it was a cracking little tent) and while it would not suit everyone, I loved it. This tent never once failed me, handling everything mother nature chucked at it – I still have it and still use it. However, it is classed as a two man tent and it does weigh in at 2.45kgs. A few years ago I did not consider this to be any great issue, and I was one of those people that took with me everything I thought I may need, rather than just everything I would need. I was somewhat younger and fitter then, so lugging around a 21kg rucksack was manageable – but still bloody hard!
Nowadays, with dodgy knees, dodgy back and the odd twinge from my hips, my outlook has changed. Less is more!
So less tent weight is important for me now, but I still want certain features, so I’m still willing to sacrifice a little weight-saving for functionality and convenience. Now I do tend to compare everything to my much-loved Coleman Avior X2, as it provided me with all the features I required, and so it does give me a solid foundation on which to make comparisons, so please bear with me.
Tent season ratings
Before I go on, just a quick word about the season ratings of a tent. Any half-decent tent is rated as a three season tent or a four season tent, the difference being that a true four season tent is designed to cope with torrential rain, very high winds and snow. The four season tent will usually have a snow skirt, it will feature thicker, stronger tent poles (usually more of), more guylines and generally be of a semi-geodesic or geodesic design for strength and stability. Four season tents are designed to be more robust, but all this will come at a cost in terms of weight. In the UK, a good three season tent will usually be adequate for most of the year round unless you plan on camping atop Ben Nevis in the heart of winter. Note also, that a four season tent will generally be overkill for any other time of the year but winter. The particular tents that we are interested in at present are good, value for money, three season tents.
Tent design
Tent design itself is critical. There’s no point in having a ultralight tent that is so unstable or with fabric so weak that it won’t handle a bit of wind without collapsing or shredding, or ridiculously thin, weak tent poles that break the first time you use the tent. But the tent design itself will also lend itself to features that are or aren’t particularly desirable, or will or won’t suit your individual requirements. For example, it’s no use buying a tent that is not free-standing when you will be mainly camping on rocky terrain where it may be impossible to properly secure tent pegs into the ground. My Coleman Avior X2, has realistically, comfortably, only enough room for myself and my gear, but it was roomy enough to sit up in and indeed get changed in. It pitched fast, with the inner left attached to the outer, and stood up to wind and heavy rain with no issues whatsoever. I never cook in my tent, always preferring a local pub, so a cooking area is never an issue for me, but for some folk this may be a key requirement. That said, no manufacturer of small one/two person tents would ever recommend that you cook inside a small tent - there is so much potential for complete disaster, and it only takes one minor mishap for it all to end in tears!
Two-man tent... Err, no, I don't think so!
As most backpackers, and lightweight campers in general know, the term 'two man' or 'two person' tent has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Many so-called ‘lightweight two man tents’ are, in reality, one-and-a-half man, one man and a young child, one man and his dog, one man with gear, or two (well acquainted) small men with just their sunglasses. And this pretty well applies to what ever the ‘man’ rating of the tent, i.e. a lightweight three man tent is generally only practical for two people and their gear.
The times I see tent reviews where the purchaser obviously has not done their homework and has slagged a good tent because they had expected to be able to get him, her, the dog, all their gear and still have space to cook, in a tiny, lightweight two man tent!
Tent reviews
And, while we are on tent reviews, it is generally accepted that a greater proportion of people only leave reviews when they are not happy bunnies, when they have an axe to grind, which can lead to a great distortion and general disservice to the tent in question. You may see a tent with thirty '5 star' reviews and ten lowly '1 star' reviews, leading you to think that one in four people thought the tent was bad, but the reality may be that a much greater percentage of disgruntled folk have left a bad review. That said, there are often some suspiciously good reviews for blatantly poor tents too - and indeed a highly suspicious number of good reviews. Even ultra-cheap and cheerful so-called ‘festival’ tents can have mind-bogglingly good reviews, but then they are often only used for a few days at summer festivals by inexperienced campers, and at throw-away prices they adequately serve their purpose and folks are happy. But no serious backpacker would ever look twice at such a tent.
You will also find good reviews for tents that have only been erected in the back garden (or even a living room!) and so are effectively untested in the real world. And you always get the illiterate halfwit of a reviewer who scores the tent on something totally unrelated to the tent itself, like a good or bad delivery service. Fair enough, there are some badly designed, poorly manufactured tents that deserve what they get, but often people leaving bad reviews have simply invested in an unsuitable tent - no fault but their own. Others simply do not understand tents or camping and seem to expect 5 star accommodation from something that weighs a couple of kilograms!
You also see similar tent reviews on Youtube, whereby somebody gives a glowing recommendation to a tent, saying how wonderful it is, after basically just erecting it in a field on a nice sunny day. These so-called reviews provide absolutely no insight as to how the tent performs in the field, how it copes with the weather, how it sleeps, or the reliability of its components, nor do they usually provide any in useful in depth detail. Just erecting a tent and saying, 'Look, it's a great tent', is not a review! This is where you have to be careful, because not until you actually put the tent to proper use, out in the field on a genuine camping trip or a trek, along with your rucksack and all your kit, will you really be able to evaluate how well the tent stands up to less than ideal weather conditions, and indeed how well it performs overall.
Do your research
The key is, do your research. Don’t buy a tent with an inner that is only 5 foot 10 inches in length and then rate it lowly because it is too small, when you are 6 foot 3 inches tall! After a while you will learn to separate the genuinely useful reviews from the, let’s just say, less than useful reviews. A pet hate of mine is when a reviewer marks a tent down because of their own failure to understand what they are buying. For example, the person who gave a tiny bivvy tent a low rating because there was no cooking area… what?! Yes, you know who you are. Research, research, research! It’s not hard nowadays with the internet.
All the information is out there, so don't buy on a whim and don't rush into buying a tent without doing your homework first. Remember, it's horses for courses, and a tent that suits one person may be totally inadequate and unsuitable for another person. There is no point whatsoever purchasing an ultralight 1.2kg tent if it’s simply not big enough for your needs, and you have to sleep with your feet sticking out of the door!
But I digress...
So, I’m looking for a lightweight two man or one man tent to suit my particular needs.
I don’t want to have to leave my rucksack and boots outside the tent at night, so I want enough internal space, preferably a large enough vestibule (porch area), to store my kit. So bivvy tents or tiny one man coffin tents are not for me. I definitely want a tent with quality aluminium alloy poles, they are lighter than fibreglass poles and more likely just to bend in extremes rather than snap – you hear about so many trips ruined by broken, cheap fibreglass tent poles.
Which reminds me. Before my first long distance walk (Offa’s Dyke Path), and before I knew much about what I wanted from a tent, I hastily purchased a Gelert Solo (now I believe also re-branded as the Blackthorn Highlander 1). On delivery I immediately set it up in the back garden and realised that this tiny fabric coffin-like tent was not for me, at 16.5 stones and 5’11, I found just getting in and out very tricky - it looked much bigger in the photos on the website! There was hardly any room to move and turn, and at 5'11" my head was pushing into the inner tent material one end and my feet were pushing well into the inner tent material the other end - this was a very short tent! In fact, at the time I seriously wondered if I had been sent the childs version. I could not sit up and it was apparent that I would not be able to easily get changed in this tiny tent, and that even just getting in and out of my sleeping bag could be an issue. And if you don't particularly like enclosed, small spaces, then forget it! It was a bargain at £17 (or it seemed like a bargain at the time) and only weighed just over 1.6kg, which were the real attractions, but this is when I recognised that weight-saving is not the be-all and end-all. The floor of the Gelert Solo only had a hydrostatic head rating of 1500mm and the poles were truly, truly awful - mine were a sloppy fit into the poorly made aluminium ferrules and the fibreglass poles themselves looked more like lengths of black charcoal. Anyway, as I took it down, one of the cheap and nasty fibreglass poles split and it became a non-issue - it’s been in a cupboard ever since.
There are some seriously bad reviews for the Gelert Solo, which do tend to highlight some glaring quality issues with this tent. However, and rather mind-bogglingly, I’ve seen reviews of the Gelert Solo, whereby people have been very happy, some people can’t recommend it high enough – even when having to constantly repair or replace broken poles... very strange indeed! There appears to be somewhat of a cult following for the Gelert Solo, and I do struggle to get my head round this, though I guess it all comes down to expectations, and if you don't expect too much then a cheap, budget tent may suffice. Personally I would not want to put my faith in a tent whilst on a two week adventure trip, knowing that the tent poles could give up at anytime and I could be left shelterless, at night, in the pouring rain, miles from anywhere... But, if your tent budget only extends to £20, and you are only camping a couple of nights, then I guess you take the gamble and learn to live with your decision.
I would like to get the tent weight down to under 2kgs, but still have somewhere to put my 65 litre rucksack and boots. My old Avior X2 with both a side and end entrance excelled here as, at the end opening, there is a vestibule area large enough for all my gear. I could then either access my gear from the inner tent or from the outside. I only ever used the end entrance for storage, always preferring to enter and exit the tent from the long side entrance. It really was an ideal arrangement for me.
One of my LEJOG travelling companions had a Vango Banshee 200, which by all accounts is also a good little tent, and he was very happy with it. The build quality and the fabrics were right up there. His Banshee was an older version with just the one side entrance and weighed in at around 2kgs (I believe the latest Banshees have two side entrances and perhaps slightly upgraded materials, but are also a heftier 2.35kgs – see, even Vango seem to have sacrificed some weight-saving for practicality). His Banshee was shorter internally and physically smaller externally than my Avior X2, but gave a weight saving of nearly 0.5kg over my Coleman. However, my pal had to sleep with his gear in the inner tent with him, whereas my 0.5kg weight penalty afforded me the luxury of greater sleeping space and my gear out of the way in the vestibule. At the time I was quite happy to pay the 0.5kg penalty for the greater comfort and convenience.
Share the weight
While I’m thinking about it, if you always backpack as a couple or with a companion, then sharing the weight of a slightly larger three man tent can be beneficial. Usually the weight increase between two and three man tents is relatively little. Ok, it is too heavy and too bulky for one person to carry alone, but when shared, the three man version of the same tent is considerably less weight than one person carrying a two person tent - and in most cases even a one person tent. Of course sharing has its downsides (you’ll think of a few), and myself I’m far happier having the tent to myself. When I first walked Offa’s Dyke Path, I was originally going to do the walk with a friend, and indeed we had considered sharing a three man tent. However, my friend could be somewhat unreliable, so I decided this might not be such a good idea and opted for the Coleman Avior X2, two man tent. And I’m glad I did, as my mate pulled out a week before we were due to set off, so if we had purchased a three man tent I would have been lumbered with unnecessary weight and an unnecessarily large tent. Anyway, back to the script…
Tents on a diet
Manufacturers can reduce the overall weight of their tents by employing lighter materials. The denier rating of the flysheet and flooring can reduce weight, but this inevitably comes at some cost to its strength, resilience and indeed overall durability. A flysheet with a denier rating of 15D will be much lighter than a flysheet with a denier rating of 70D of the same material, but the 70D flysheet will be far more robust and durable. You would also expect the floor fabric to be of a higher denier or slightly different material to the flysheet, as the floor will be taking a lot more abuse and be subjected to potentially much greater wear and tear. A ridiculously low denier floor rating would always concern me. Remember, weight-saving always comes at a cost.
And indeed, when all other avenues have been exhausted, one area that manufacturers drastically reduce weight is the floor material or groundsheet of the tent. All good modern lightweight tents have waterproof bathtub floors which are sewn onto the inner tent. In the old days this floor material was quite heavy, robust and durable, often some form of rubber or a laminate of materials, and a very different material to the inner and outer tent fabrics. Nowadays, in order to minimise weight, the floor material is often very similar to the lightweight outer flysheet fabric but with a higher denier rating and usually with a higher hydrostatic head – that is, it can withstand a much greater pressure of water before there is water ingress.
Tent floors
And so this is where I come to another bugbear of mine. Modern lightweight tent flooring fabric, though it can be made extremely waterproof, it is by nature very thin and so much less resilient, hence much more prone to damage by sharp objects (thorns, stones, etc.) than the thicker, heavier, older materials. Of course manufacturers know this, but they also know that their advertised ultralight tent sells primarily due to its advertised 'ultra-light weight'. The last thing they want to do is design in a more resilient tent floor that will add grams to the overall weight of the tent. They mitigate this issue by recommending that you use the tent with an additional groundsheet, commonly termed a ‘footprint’.
Picture this:
“Yes Sir, this tent is £499 but only weighs 1kg. However, in order not to invalidate the warranty you will need to purchase an additional footprint that costs a further £65 and weighs 0.5kg” !!
Ok, maybe a little exaggeration on my part, but you can see my gripe here.
And in any case, the super-ultralight backpacker that drills holes in his toothbrush handle and removes the labels from his clothing in order to save weight would think it absolute sacrilege to carry an additional groundsheet!
There are pros and cons to everything, but when I camp out in a lightweight tent, and in order to protect the floor, I always lay my bright orange polythene survival bag down on the ground first. I always carry it with me as an emergency shelter anyway, but it very effectively doubles as a small tent additional groundsheet. And indeed this arrangement worked perfectly well with my Coleman tent over many years. And to this date I have never, ever suffered damage to my tent's groundsheet.
Hydrostatic head
A quick word about the hydrostatic head of a material (its waterproofness).
An outer tent material (flysheet) with, for example, a hydrostatic head of 2000mm can effectively withstand the pressure of a static column of water 2 metres high before water ingress - that is before the pressure will force water through the material - so quite a lot! Any material with a hydrostatic head of 1000mm or above is considered waterproof, and in a UK summer, a tent employing a flysheet with a hydrostatic head of between 1000mm – 2000mm is normally adequate to keep water out. That said, the minimum hydrostatic head generally considered as waterproof for a UK three season tent is 1500mm. A tent with a flysheet hydrostatic head of 2500mm is accepted as being more than adequate for UK three season camping and all nature can throw at it. Obviously the higher this number the better, and indeed, for peace of mind, this is where you may just want to pay a little more for a tent employing material with a higher hydrostatic head, particularly if you intend, or expect, to regularly use your tent in more extreme weather conditions. However, there is no point in paying an excessive amount of your hard-earned money for a tent with a flysheet hydrostatic head of 5000mm if you only camp out a for few nights in your back garden in the height of summer.
I just should add that as well as employing a full mesh inner tent, some very expensive big brand name tents keep the overall tent weight down by employing a very thin, light flysheet, and you can pay a small fortune for these ultralight tents. However in order to achieve this, some of these flysheets (and indeed floors) have a relatively low hydrostatic head. You save weight, yes, but at the expense of the tents waterproofness. Thinner materials are also often far less robust. The choice of course is yours, and if every gram counts then perhaps spending £600 on a high-end ultralight tent is justifiable, but be aware that as the weight of the ultralight tent comes down, often so too do other specifications.
The hydrostatic head of the floor material is of far greater importance as your bodyweight pushing the floor down into wet ground is effectively the same as a large column of water pushing from the other side. In such circumstances some ingress of water can occur, hence the higher the hydrostatic head of the floor material, the greater chance the inside of your tent floor stays dry.
What are you actually getting for the specified weight?
Some of the very high-end, big brand name tents reduce the overall weight of their tents by including titanium tent pegs, and indeed a decent shepherd’s crook, 3mm x 150mm, titanium tent peg is very strong and weighs in at just 5.5 - 6 grams. However, even here some manufacturers take it to the extreme, providing titanium tent pegs that weigh a mere 2 grams - or even 1 gram! Great weight-saving, and while they may do for pinning down a groundsheet, in less than perfect conditions you really would want something more substantial than a toothpick holding down your flysheet - verging on ridiculous!
And be careful when looking at total tent weights. Tents are often specified with a 'gross' weight and a 'minimum' weight or 'trail' weight, and often the minimum weight is that which is promoted. So always check to see what the stated weight actually includes, because along with the recommended footprint, some suppliers do not include the weight of the tent pegs, guy ropes, tent stuff sack, tent poles bag, etc. The minimum weight figure always looks far more enticing than the gross weight figure, but the reality is that your tent won't be of much use without tent pegs and guy ropes.
And then there is this: some manufacturers employ an extremely lightweight outer shell fabric that does not lend itself to having the seams factory sealed in the conventional manner. Fair enough. However, instead of sealing the seams in some other more ‘unconventional’ manner at the factory, they sell you the tent for hundreds of pounds of your hard-earned dosh and advise you to seal the seams yourself… What? C’mon…! Or is it just me that has an issue with this…?
Another potential area for weight-saving is the inner tent material. An inner tent made primarily of nylon no-see-um bug mesh (fine netting), will inevitably weigh less than a inner tent made primarily of full breathable polyester material. But then the mesh inner will certainly be colder and more draughty than the full polyester material inner.
Full mesh inner tent = reduced weight = colder. Slightly heavier full fabric inner tent = warmer = more weight.
Four season tents with storm flaps or snow skirts keep the draughts out but tend to be heavier and obviously provide less air flow which can lead to a build-up of condensation. Conversely a tent with no storm flaps or snow skirt may well be free of condensation, but quite draughty. I’ve also seen contrasting poor reviews given to the very same tent, one was because it was considered too cold and draughty, and one was because it was considered too hot without enough ventilation! Swings and roundabouts. But again you also have to consider who has left the review… an experienced, hardened camper, or a fresh-faced, new-to-this-game camper who is relatively clueless. Whatever the case, you simply can’t have everything, and depending on conditions most tents tend to excel in one particular area, while falling down slightly - or miserably - in other areas. You simply can not expect an ultralight three season tent with a mesh inner, to perform well in up a mountain, in the snow, in the depths of winter.
A little more on condensation
Of course if a flysheet is designed to keep water out, then it follows, by its very nature, that it will also keep water in. That is, moisture from your breath and heat from your body will cause water in the air to condense on the inside of your waterproof flysheet when it is colder outside. Now, this will happen with all tents, but small one and two man tents are particularly prone to the formation of condensation simply because of the more confined space.
Condensation will happen, its a fact of life. In colder conditions condensation will form on the inside of your flysheet, but it is then what happens with this condensation that really matters. If it runs harmlessly down the inside of your tent flysheet to the ground, then fine, no problem. If tent ventilation removes it at a rate that prevents it from dripping into your inner tent, then again, fine, no harm done. However, if condensation builds up to a point whereby it is literally dripping off the inside of your flysheet and into your inner tent, then it may be a concern. If the inner tent is just lightweight nylon bug mesh, then condensation may drip straight though onto you. However, if your tent has a solid breathable polyester inner, then any condensation dripping from the flysheet may actually just dampen the inner tent, but spread and disperse before actually finding its way through to you.
Now, hardier four season tents can suffer real condensation issues, because by their very nature they are designed to keep all the unfavourable elements out: wind, rain, snow, etc. Under extreme conditions it is far more important to keep out the weather and retain heat, and with snow skirts and very small air vents, condensation can really build up. Under these circumstances, four season tents rely heavily on the tent design to allow the inevitable condensation to harmlessly run off the inside of the flysheet to ground. Three season tents tend to have larger air vents and/or better airflow by design. Along with flysheet air vents, and with no storm flaps or snow skirts, and with a flysheet that is raised slightly from the ground to allow for much better all round ventilation, most small three season tents can avoid any real condensation issues.
Good, value for money lightweight tents
Unless money is no object, then high on your priority list will be cost. High-end ultralight tents can cost an arm and a leg, but if you do your research you can often find a lightweight tent that will more than meet your needs at a fraction of the cost, without sacrificing quality or making too big a compromise. And who doesn’t enjoy getting value for money?
When I research tents, I’m looking for a good, value for money tent that exactly suits my needs. However, I often find that the sacrifices in functionality, robustness, performance, reliability and general practicality can not be justified by the saving of just a few grams. Alloy tent poles that are made thinner to save weight are more likely to bend or buckle; less stable tent designs that save weight are more likely to distort or collapse in bad weather; less durable lightweight tent floors are more prone to punctures; ridiculous 1 gram titanium tent pegs that stand no chance of holding in the ground from even the slightest gentle breeze. All these things reduce the weight you carry on your back, but sadly can also greatly effect how the tent functions and indeed performs in the real world.
Just be careful if you are looking into purchasing an ultralight tent. That ultra-lightweight advertised may not be quite so ultralight at all when you have to use an additional groundsheet and update those ridiculous 1 gram tent pegs to something functional. And this is to say nothing of the extra cost involved after already paying a small fortune for the tent.
So what tents out there can give my trusty Coleman Avior X2 a run for its money?
Here at Station13, before we invest in tents, we need to know that the tent or tents that we supply to you, will not only be lightweight, made of quality materials and display quality workmanship, but also provide adequately for your needs, live up to your expectations in the real world… and not cost an arm and a leg.
Remember, we are looking for good value for money, high quality, one man and two man tents.
Watch this space…
…OK, if you have been watching this space, we have some news.
After doing our research, two tents that we have been very interested in, are manufactured by GeerTop of China. What attracted us to these two tents in particular, and indeed this China manufacturer, is the fact their tents do seem to be relatively high spec, high quality tents, they seem like a very reputable company - we’d not heard anything bad about their products... and, most importantly, both are very lightweight tents!
With the quality of the tent being of foremost importance to us, and GeerTop of China looking to be a genuinely good company providing genuinely good products, we imported samples of these two tents to evaluate. Both are lightweight one person backpacking tents.
These tents are the GeerTop TOPWIND 1, lightweight one man tent and the GeerTop PYRAMID, lightweight one man tent. The GeerTop TOPWIND 1 we were sent has the yellow flysheet (but is also available in red), and the GeerTop PYRAMID has the iron blue flysheet.
GeerTop TOPWIND 1 |
GeerTop PYRAMID |
GeerTop Topwind 1 Tent
According to the specs from China, the TOPWIND 1 tent has a gross weight of 2.2kgs, with a trail weight of 1.9kgs (the 'trail weight' being the weight of the flysheet and inner tent, minus the tent pegs, guy ropes and various bags) The PYRAMID tent has a gross weight of 1.1kg, with a trail weight of 0.98kgs. The great difference in weight being due to the fact that the PYRAMID has no dedicated poles and is designed to be used with your own walking poles.
First impressions were very good. The TOPWIND 1 comes in a very neat, waterproof carry bag with compression straps and carrying strap, it also features a clip buckle roll top. There is also a buckle compression strap holding the rolled tent itself together. We specified that wanted quality tent pegs, and there are eight very nice looking, V-shape aluminium pegs which are anodised for greater corrosion resistance. Along with the tent pegs there are a couple of reflective guy ropes in the peg bag. Two aluminium alloy tent poles also come in their own bag. Here again, we specified that we wanted high quality aluminium alloy tent poles and this little tent features exactly that: High quality, 8mm ProFlex 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles; these tent poles are shock-corded, strong and flexible, and anodised for extra corrosion resistance.
On our very sensitive kitchen scales, the whole tent together, including all the bags, pegs, straps, etc, comes to 1.846kgs. Actually less than the manufacturer's stated 'trail weight' specifications, and considerably less than the manufacturers stated gross weight, maybe because of the higher spec components we requested - lovely!
The flysheet is made from 20D 360T PU3000mm silicone-coated nylon with taped seams and UV protection. The inner tent is breathable 210T polyester and nylon mesh and the bathtub floor is 210T PU4000mm waterproof polyester. It has two, nice, large entrances and reasonable storage space in the form of two vestibules. On first impressions the TOPWIND 1 tent is a very nice, high quality, three season tent.
All seams are taped to provide a fully waterproof seal at the stitching. All seams are double-stitched with reinforced box stitching at any potential stress points.
There are pitching instructions sewn into the carry bag - not that we expect you will need them with this tent.
This tent is a specialist one person tent for people wanting a high quality, high performance tent that is not only incredibly practical, light enough to carry for hours on end when backpacking, but also spacious enough to provide some creature comfort.
The weights break down as follows:
Outer Flysheet: 432 grams
Inner Tent: 794 grams
ProFlex 7001-T6, Shock-Corded, Aluminium Alloy Poles: 392 grams
Tent Pegs & Guy Ropes: 124 grams (pegs: 92 grams. 11.5g per peg)
Total: 1.742 kgs (3.83lbs)
Total with the carry bags and straps: 1.846kgs (4.05lbs)
Pack Size: 42cm x 15cm
All good so far, and on par with - or better than - the stated weight specifications.
First impressions were very good. The TOPWIND 1 comes in a very neat, waterproof carry bag with compression straps and carrying strap, it also features a clip buckle roll top. There is also a buckle compression strap holding the rolled tent itself together. We specified that wanted quality tent pegs, and there are eight very nice looking, V-shape aluminium pegs which are anodised for greater corrosion resistance. Along with the tent pegs there are a couple of reflective guy ropes in the peg bag. Two aluminium alloy tent poles also come in their own bag. Here again, we specified that we wanted high quality aluminium alloy tent poles and this little tent features exactly that: High quality, 8mm ProFlex 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles; these tent poles are shock-corded, strong and flexible, and anodised for extra corrosion resistance.
On our very sensitive kitchen scales, the whole tent together, including all the bags, pegs, straps, etc, comes to 1.846kgs. Actually less than the manufacturer's stated 'trail weight' specifications, and considerably less than the manufacturers stated gross weight, maybe because of the higher spec components we requested - lovely!
The flysheet is made from 20D 360T PU3000mm silicone-coated nylon with taped seams and UV protection. The inner tent is breathable 210T polyester and nylon mesh and the bathtub floor is 210T PU4000mm waterproof polyester. It has two, nice, large entrances and reasonable storage space in the form of two vestibules. On first impressions the TOPWIND 1 tent is a very nice, high quality, three season tent.
All seams are taped to provide a fully waterproof seal at the stitching. All seams are double-stitched with reinforced box stitching at any potential stress points.
There are pitching instructions sewn into the carry bag - not that we expect you will need them with this tent.
This tent is a specialist one person tent for people wanting a high quality, high performance tent that is not only incredibly practical, light enough to carry for hours on end when backpacking, but also spacious enough to provide some creature comfort.
The weights break down as follows:
Outer Flysheet: 432 grams
Inner Tent: 794 grams
ProFlex 7001-T6, Shock-Corded, Aluminium Alloy Poles: 392 grams
Tent Pegs & Guy Ropes: 124 grams (pegs: 92 grams. 11.5g per peg)
Total: 1.742 kgs (3.83lbs)
Total with the carry bags and straps: 1.846kgs (4.05lbs)
Pack Size: 42cm x 15cm
All good so far, and on par with - or better than - the stated weight specifications.
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Geertop Pyramid Tent
The GeerTop PYRAMID, without any dedicated tent poles provides a substantially smaller package, and again straight out of the box everything looks and feels like quality.
The PYRAMID employs a flysheet of the same material as the TOPWIND 1, 20D 360T PU3000mm silicone-coated nylon with taped seams and UV protection. The inner tent though, is all nylon mesh apart from the bathtub floor, which employs a 55D PU5000mm waterproof polyester.
However, we immediately found weight discrepancies with our PYRAMID tent with regards to the stated weights. The manufacturer's specifications state the PYRAMID tent as having a gross weight of 1.1kgs (2.42lbs), and a trail weight of 0.98kgs (2.16lbs), which from our experience is blatantly incorrect! On our sensitive kitchen scales the whole package weight topped out at 1.35kgs (2.97lbs)!
The weight broke down in the following way:
Outer Flysheet: 602 grams (manufacturers stated weight is only 390gs! - we suspect this is incorrect)
Inner Tent: 452 grams (manufacturers stated weight is 410gs)
Tent Pegs and Guy Ropes: (252g with bag)
Total: 1.306kgs (2.79lbs)
Total with the carry bags: 1.35kgs (2.97lbs)
Pack Size: 38cm x 11cm
So, at this point we are not quite sure why our sample tent has a gross weight of around 250 grams more than expected. Our flysheet appeared to be the main culprit, but why, at this point we're not sure.
Anyway, even at 1.35kgs, it’s a light enough tent. Compared with TOPWIND 1, The PYRAMID tent also comes with what seems like an excessive amount of tent pegs and guy ropes. No less than 16 V-shape aluminium tent pegs and six guy ropes.
The PYRAMID employs a flysheet of the same material as the TOPWIND 1, 20D 360T PU3000mm silicone-coated nylon with taped seams and UV protection. The inner tent though, is all nylon mesh apart from the bathtub floor, which employs a 55D PU5000mm waterproof polyester.
However, we immediately found weight discrepancies with our PYRAMID tent with regards to the stated weights. The manufacturer's specifications state the PYRAMID tent as having a gross weight of 1.1kgs (2.42lbs), and a trail weight of 0.98kgs (2.16lbs), which from our experience is blatantly incorrect! On our sensitive kitchen scales the whole package weight topped out at 1.35kgs (2.97lbs)!
The weight broke down in the following way:
Outer Flysheet: 602 grams (manufacturers stated weight is only 390gs! - we suspect this is incorrect)
Inner Tent: 452 grams (manufacturers stated weight is 410gs)
Tent Pegs and Guy Ropes: (252g with bag)
Total: 1.306kgs (2.79lbs)
Total with the carry bags: 1.35kgs (2.97lbs)
Pack Size: 38cm x 11cm
So, at this point we are not quite sure why our sample tent has a gross weight of around 250 grams more than expected. Our flysheet appeared to be the main culprit, but why, at this point we're not sure.
Anyway, even at 1.35kgs, it’s a light enough tent. Compared with TOPWIND 1, The PYRAMID tent also comes with what seems like an excessive amount of tent pegs and guy ropes. No less than 16 V-shape aluminium tent pegs and six guy ropes.
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Once again the V-shape aluminium pegs are extremely good quality and they are also anodised for extra corrosion resistance. All the guy ropes are a bright green and highly reflective under torchlight (as you can see from the photo below when we used the flash) which helps you avoid tripping over them in the dark when making any necessary nighttime excursions.
On both tents all seams and edges are double-stitched, with reinforced stitching at any potential stress points. Both tents do also have fabric pitching instructions sewed into the main carry bags, which is a nice touch.
On both tents all seams and edges are double-stitched, with reinforced stitching at any potential stress points. Both tents do also have fabric pitching instructions sewed into the main carry bags, which is a nice touch.
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So, first impressions are extremely favourable and we are quite excited by these little tents. Now for some real world testing…
UPDATE
We have spoken to the manufacturer regarding the weight discrepancy of the PYRAMID tent. They tell us that we have been sent the new model PYRAMID tent, which has two entrances - a door either side and a sewn-in bathtub floor that features corner uprights - see photos below. The manufacturers claim that the total weight increase of around 250 grams over the previous version is well justified, but we are not convinced as this is effectively a 23% weight increase. With this in mind we asked the manufacturer if they could supply us with the original, slightly lighter PYRAMID flysheet, as we see the lighter weight being of more importance than two flysheet entrances on this particular one person backpacking tent. We did however ask for the new inner tent with the bathtub floor uprights and the two doors, and while this does increase the weight marginally (around 40 grams) over the original inner tent version, we saw benefits to this new inner tent. Firstly, the corner uprights allow the inner tent to sit better, raising the bathtub floor sides. And secondly, the two inner tent doors meant that we could still make use of the storage space under the far side of the flysheet, easily accessing it from inside the tent - space that would otherwise have been inaccessible and so wasted with only one inner tent door. The manufacturer understood our reasoning and agreed to our requests, and so these are the one-door fly, two-door inner tent, hybrid versions of the PYRAMID tent that we will be supplying.
As far as we know, we are the only people now supplying this lighter weight, single flysheet door version of the PYRAMID tent. However, it seems like other suppliers are listing the new, two door version with the same weight as the original version. That is, they have not updated the weight specs, so if you do purchase a two door version of the PYRAMID tent from somewhere, be aware that it will weigh around 1.35kgs, not 1.1kgs!
We have spoken to the manufacturer regarding the weight discrepancy of the PYRAMID tent. They tell us that we have been sent the new model PYRAMID tent, which has two entrances - a door either side and a sewn-in bathtub floor that features corner uprights - see photos below. The manufacturers claim that the total weight increase of around 250 grams over the previous version is well justified, but we are not convinced as this is effectively a 23% weight increase. With this in mind we asked the manufacturer if they could supply us with the original, slightly lighter PYRAMID flysheet, as we see the lighter weight being of more importance than two flysheet entrances on this particular one person backpacking tent. We did however ask for the new inner tent with the bathtub floor uprights and the two doors, and while this does increase the weight marginally (around 40 grams) over the original inner tent version, we saw benefits to this new inner tent. Firstly, the corner uprights allow the inner tent to sit better, raising the bathtub floor sides. And secondly, the two inner tent doors meant that we could still make use of the storage space under the far side of the flysheet, easily accessing it from inside the tent - space that would otherwise have been inaccessible and so wasted with only one inner tent door. The manufacturer understood our reasoning and agreed to our requests, and so these are the one-door fly, two-door inner tent, hybrid versions of the PYRAMID tent that we will be supplying.
As far as we know, we are the only people now supplying this lighter weight, single flysheet door version of the PYRAMID tent. However, it seems like other suppliers are listing the new, two door version with the same weight as the original version. That is, they have not updated the weight specs, so if you do purchase a two door version of the PYRAMID tent from somewhere, be aware that it will weigh around 1.35kgs, not 1.1kgs!
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Sewn-in corner uprights nicely raise bathtub sides. This new feature of the bathtub floor automatically pulls the uprights up by 100mm (4") when staking out the inner tent, while also reducing sagging of the inner mesh tent. We found that we did initially have to untie and slightly adjust the top line length to get the upright nice and vertical, but it only took a couple of minutes and only needs to be done on the first time setting up.
We set up the tents and compared the various features:
We set up and compared the GeerTop TOPWIND 1, the GeerTop PYRAMID, my old GELERT SOLO and my beloved COLEMAN AVIOR X2
We set up and compared the GeerTop TOPWIND 1, the GeerTop PYRAMID, my old GELERT SOLO and my beloved COLEMAN AVIOR X2
The GeerTop TOPWIND 1
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The GeerTop PYRAMID
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My old Gelert Solo
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My old COLEMAN AVIOR X2
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Weight: 1.84kg
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Weight: 1.35kg
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Weight: 1.62kg
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Weight: 2.45kg
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GeerTop TOPWIND 1 Tent - Initial Set-up Review
I have to start by saying, we loved this tent straight out of the box, it really looks the part and exudes quality.
It erects incredibly quickly and easily, taking only a few minutes, and it feels truly spacious for a one man tent. In fact we have seen two man tents that seem to have less space than this lovely little tent. Now, we know the specs of the materials are good, we also know the build quality is good, but what we did not know until today was just how easy it is to erect: Lay down the inner tent, feed the alloy poles through the mesh sleeves, slot the pole ends into the metal eyelets on the corner straps and the inner tent is immediately up and free-standing. Peg the inner tent down at the four corners, drape the flysheet over the top and clip it to the inner tent buckles and the tent is up. An absolute dream to erect. Once the flysheet is pegged out the tent is ready to use.
You will notice that this tent pitches inner first, which means that in foul weather the waterproof flysheet is last to go on, however the reality is that this little tent pitches so fast that this is not likely to be any great issue. And in our experience many flysheet first pitching small tents may sound great, but you then have to grovel around in the dirt or on the wet ground, on your hands and knees in order to attach the inner. Outer flysheet first pitching tents are fine if they are large or relatively spacious tents, with room to get undercover and big enough to comfortably hang the inner tent, but when it comes to very small, lightweight and ultralight tents then the practicality of flysheet first pitching does become somewhat debatable.
Please note that the mesh pole sleeves travel for most of the length of the inner tent. We like this because it holds the shape of the inner tent much better than tents with just a couple of clips or ties that can allow the inner tent to sag in areas. The full length mesh sleeves of the TOPWIND 1 eliminates sagging areas and hence gives the tent a much roomier feel.
There are ties on the inner of the flysheet to secure it to the poles. This stops the flysheet moving out of alignment with the poles if it's a bit blowy.
I have to start by saying, we loved this tent straight out of the box, it really looks the part and exudes quality.
It erects incredibly quickly and easily, taking only a few minutes, and it feels truly spacious for a one man tent. In fact we have seen two man tents that seem to have less space than this lovely little tent. Now, we know the specs of the materials are good, we also know the build quality is good, but what we did not know until today was just how easy it is to erect: Lay down the inner tent, feed the alloy poles through the mesh sleeves, slot the pole ends into the metal eyelets on the corner straps and the inner tent is immediately up and free-standing. Peg the inner tent down at the four corners, drape the flysheet over the top and clip it to the inner tent buckles and the tent is up. An absolute dream to erect. Once the flysheet is pegged out the tent is ready to use.
You will notice that this tent pitches inner first, which means that in foul weather the waterproof flysheet is last to go on, however the reality is that this little tent pitches so fast that this is not likely to be any great issue. And in our experience many flysheet first pitching small tents may sound great, but you then have to grovel around in the dirt or on the wet ground, on your hands and knees in order to attach the inner. Outer flysheet first pitching tents are fine if they are large or relatively spacious tents, with room to get undercover and big enough to comfortably hang the inner tent, but when it comes to very small, lightweight and ultralight tents then the practicality of flysheet first pitching does become somewhat debatable.
Please note that the mesh pole sleeves travel for most of the length of the inner tent. We like this because it holds the shape of the inner tent much better than tents with just a couple of clips or ties that can allow the inner tent to sag in areas. The full length mesh sleeves of the TOPWIND 1 eliminates sagging areas and hence gives the tent a much roomier feel.
There are ties on the inner of the flysheet to secure it to the poles. This stops the flysheet moving out of alignment with the poles if it's a bit blowy.
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From the above photos, you will see the TOPWIND 1 is free-standing once the poles are inserted - you can the pull the inner tent slightly tighter as you peg it down. The two aluminium alloy poles do a good job of providing internal space and the crossing poles form a very stable framework.
You will also see my large 65 litre rucksack does just fit inside the flysheet, with plenty of space for boots and other bits the other side. Of course, if you carry a smaller pack, then you will have storage space to spare. Note that when I took these photos I had effectively opened the wrong side of the flysheet (3rd photo). Opening the other side would have made access far easier and my rucksack could be moved across out of the way of the door. In the 4th photo you can see my folding sleeping pad. This pad is 183cm x 57cm, so you can see how much extra space is afforded within the inner tent. The inner tent specifications are 210cm x 90 cm, and at 180cm tall, I fitted inside comfortably when lying down. The angle of the alloy poles means that the inner tent does not come down too shallow at the head, foot or sides, so even though the floor is only 90cm wide it does not feel particularly cramped. The TOPWIND 1 is nice and bright and does feel deceptively big and airy for a one person tent. In feet and inches I'm 5'11" and the length was extremely good for me, with around 7 - 8 inches to spare. So it should certainly be quite adequate for anyone up to around 6' 5".
The inner tent is primarily breathable polyester fabric, with two mesh triangles right in the middle at the top to allow air flow. The inner tent, like the flysheet, has a large entrance either side, and what is nice is that each door is a double door - that is, each door has both a polyester AND a mesh door. Hence you can either open just the polyester door and leave the bug net door closed, open both or have both closed. This is great for both air circulation and heat control. There are also two vents at the top of the flysheet that can be propped open. We did notice that the flysheet does appear to touch the inner tent near the bottom ends, but as it is right at the base and is only actually touching the waterproof bathtub floor, we don't see this being an issue.
Our tent only weighs 1.846kgs, and that is including all the various bags, pegs, guy ropes and the main storage bag which itself features a handy carry strap and compression straps. 150mm x 3mm, 6g titanium tent pegs would halve the weight of the included alloy tent pegs if anyone feels the need to further lighten the load. All in all, we feel that this tent is going to be a very hard tent to better in this weight/price range.
I should just reiterate, there are other manufacturers in China that copy designs but use inferior materials and cut corners on construction and labour. For example, we have seen numerous similar versions of the TOPWIND 1 advertised, that you could easily be fooled into thinking is the exact same tent, but at a far better price... BE CAREFUL. Things are not always as they seem and on closer inspection you will find cost-cutting is evident and indeed the reason for the seemingly better value - you will not be getting better value, rather you will be getting a cheaper tent for a reason. There can be blatant differences or subtle differences, but all can affect reliability and performance. There are even some less scrupulous manufacturers/retailers that claim a far higher hydrostatic head for any given similar tent in order to infer that the tent they supply is of superior quality - after all how would any potential buyer be able to test or confirm the hydrostatic head without great difficulty? You have been warned...!
You will also see my large 65 litre rucksack does just fit inside the flysheet, with plenty of space for boots and other bits the other side. Of course, if you carry a smaller pack, then you will have storage space to spare. Note that when I took these photos I had effectively opened the wrong side of the flysheet (3rd photo). Opening the other side would have made access far easier and my rucksack could be moved across out of the way of the door. In the 4th photo you can see my folding sleeping pad. This pad is 183cm x 57cm, so you can see how much extra space is afforded within the inner tent. The inner tent specifications are 210cm x 90 cm, and at 180cm tall, I fitted inside comfortably when lying down. The angle of the alloy poles means that the inner tent does not come down too shallow at the head, foot or sides, so even though the floor is only 90cm wide it does not feel particularly cramped. The TOPWIND 1 is nice and bright and does feel deceptively big and airy for a one person tent. In feet and inches I'm 5'11" and the length was extremely good for me, with around 7 - 8 inches to spare. So it should certainly be quite adequate for anyone up to around 6' 5".
The inner tent is primarily breathable polyester fabric, with two mesh triangles right in the middle at the top to allow air flow. The inner tent, like the flysheet, has a large entrance either side, and what is nice is that each door is a double door - that is, each door has both a polyester AND a mesh door. Hence you can either open just the polyester door and leave the bug net door closed, open both or have both closed. This is great for both air circulation and heat control. There are also two vents at the top of the flysheet that can be propped open. We did notice that the flysheet does appear to touch the inner tent near the bottom ends, but as it is right at the base and is only actually touching the waterproof bathtub floor, we don't see this being an issue.
Our tent only weighs 1.846kgs, and that is including all the various bags, pegs, guy ropes and the main storage bag which itself features a handy carry strap and compression straps. 150mm x 3mm, 6g titanium tent pegs would halve the weight of the included alloy tent pegs if anyone feels the need to further lighten the load. All in all, we feel that this tent is going to be a very hard tent to better in this weight/price range.
I should just reiterate, there are other manufacturers in China that copy designs but use inferior materials and cut corners on construction and labour. For example, we have seen numerous similar versions of the TOPWIND 1 advertised, that you could easily be fooled into thinking is the exact same tent, but at a far better price... BE CAREFUL. Things are not always as they seem and on closer inspection you will find cost-cutting is evident and indeed the reason for the seemingly better value - you will not be getting better value, rather you will be getting a cheaper tent for a reason. There can be blatant differences or subtle differences, but all can affect reliability and performance. There are even some less scrupulous manufacturers/retailers that claim a far higher hydrostatic head for any given similar tent in order to infer that the tent they supply is of superior quality - after all how would any potential buyer be able to test or confirm the hydrostatic head without great difficulty? You have been warned...!
GeerTop PYRAMID Tent - Initial Set-up Review
So, as mentioned above, we have been sent a sample of the new version of the PYRAMID tent, with two doors on both the flysheet and inner tent. However, it also comes in slightly heavier at 1.35kgs. (Please do note that the HYBRID version of the PYRAMID tent that we actually supply weighs only 1.2kgs)
Setting up the PYRAMID was in complete contrast to the TOPWIND 1. The fact that it employs your walking poles was always likely to make this a more challenging first time set up than the TOPWIND 1, and indeed it took us a longer. However, we learned a lot. Unlike the TOPWIND 1, we would strongly suggest that you set this tent up at least once before you intend to use it just in order to get a measure of it. When we initially set the tent up, the flysheet would not come down to the ground on one side, and we quickly realised that we had our walking poles set too long. On reading the cloth instructions attached to the tent bag, we saw that the recommended walking pole length is 120cm. The problem was that we did not happen to have a tape measure with us at the time. Anyway we were pretty sure we had our walking poles set too long, so we shortened each one bit by bit until the flysheet nicely met the ground on all sides. This is one reason why you might need a bit of practice erecting this tent as at any given length of walking pole, the angle you set them in the ground will obviously make a difference to the effective height of the tent, and hence how the inner and flysheet hang. With this tent, you lay out the inner tent, peg the four corners and the insert you walking poles into the sleeves at the top. Once you have done this, it will stand up by itself. Then you simply drape the flysheet over the top and peg out evenly. So, it is by no means complicated, it simply requires you to get the initial walking pole settings correct. We pegged the flysheet out roughly to start with, then adjusted each peg to provide a nice even, taut shape.
Our walking poles are the telescopic sort, and not knowing what length we had ours set at, we left one pole extended in order to measure it later. It turned out that we had extended our poles to 126cm, so 6cm more than recommended. Incidentally the measured distance was from the very top of the walking pole handle, to the cup - the 60cm spike below the cup was secured into the ground so did not affect the total length.
Once up and stabilised with guy lines, the tent looked pretty good.
It should also be noted that the PYRAMID can be used with just the flysheet and a single walking pole if required.
So, as mentioned above, we have been sent a sample of the new version of the PYRAMID tent, with two doors on both the flysheet and inner tent. However, it also comes in slightly heavier at 1.35kgs. (Please do note that the HYBRID version of the PYRAMID tent that we actually supply weighs only 1.2kgs)
Setting up the PYRAMID was in complete contrast to the TOPWIND 1. The fact that it employs your walking poles was always likely to make this a more challenging first time set up than the TOPWIND 1, and indeed it took us a longer. However, we learned a lot. Unlike the TOPWIND 1, we would strongly suggest that you set this tent up at least once before you intend to use it just in order to get a measure of it. When we initially set the tent up, the flysheet would not come down to the ground on one side, and we quickly realised that we had our walking poles set too long. On reading the cloth instructions attached to the tent bag, we saw that the recommended walking pole length is 120cm. The problem was that we did not happen to have a tape measure with us at the time. Anyway we were pretty sure we had our walking poles set too long, so we shortened each one bit by bit until the flysheet nicely met the ground on all sides. This is one reason why you might need a bit of practice erecting this tent as at any given length of walking pole, the angle you set them in the ground will obviously make a difference to the effective height of the tent, and hence how the inner and flysheet hang. With this tent, you lay out the inner tent, peg the four corners and the insert you walking poles into the sleeves at the top. Once you have done this, it will stand up by itself. Then you simply drape the flysheet over the top and peg out evenly. So, it is by no means complicated, it simply requires you to get the initial walking pole settings correct. We pegged the flysheet out roughly to start with, then adjusted each peg to provide a nice even, taut shape.
Our walking poles are the telescopic sort, and not knowing what length we had ours set at, we left one pole extended in order to measure it later. It turned out that we had extended our poles to 126cm, so 6cm more than recommended. Incidentally the measured distance was from the very top of the walking pole handle, to the cup - the 60cm spike below the cup was secured into the ground so did not affect the total length.
Once up and stabilised with guy lines, the tent looked pretty good.
It should also be noted that the PYRAMID can be used with just the flysheet and a single walking pole if required.
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The PYRAMID tent has the same inner tent footprint as the TOPWIND 1, but due to the effective A-frame set up, the sides of the tent are shallower. The pyramidal shape effectively provides less internal space than the TOPWIND 1, and you do feel you are much closer to the sides of the inner tent mesh, however, there are tie clips that attach the inner to the fly in order to prevent the inner sagging. So, although you can sit up in both tents, the PYRAMID is not, and does not, feel as spacious as the TOPWIND 1. We were slightly concerned that the shallow angles might mean that the head and feet of a taller person might push the inner tent onto the flysheet when lying down, but, as you can see from the 3rd photo above, the flysheet on this tent is actually quite a distance from the inner tent. At 5'11", and with the floor plan the same 210cm x 90cm as the TOPWIND 1, the length was good for me and even with the shallower sloping sides, the tent should just about accommodate someone up to around 6'1". This said, the thickness of your inflatable mattress will come into play here, as a thick mattress will effectively raise you up into a narrower part of the tent. Again, like the TOPWIND 1 there was room enough between the flysheet and the inner for my 65 litre rucksack and boots. Unlike the TOPWIND 1 with its near full polyester fabric inner tent, apart from the bathtub floor, the PYRAMID has an all mesh inner tent. This does mean that it could potentially get quite chilly and feel draughty at certain times of the year.
Initially we only connected the two side guy lines, and even with just the two pegged out, the tent seemed very stable, we couldn't imagine the tent going anywhere very fast if you pegged out all six guy ropes and 16 tent pegs! The two air vents on the side of the flysheet are both held open by the side guy lines. We played about a little with this until we realised that you can close up the vent by simply running the guyline attached to the top of the vent through the loop on the lower vent material (see third photo below). With only the two side guylines pegged out we found that the lower material of the air vents sagged very close or even onto the mesh inner tent, which we did not like at all and indeed this did concern us. However, this situation rectified itself immediately once we had attached and pegged out the remaining four corner guylines. This naturally pulled taut the lower air vent material and instantly resolved the issue.
Initially we only connected the two side guy lines, and even with just the two pegged out, the tent seemed very stable, we couldn't imagine the tent going anywhere very fast if you pegged out all six guy ropes and 16 tent pegs! The two air vents on the side of the flysheet are both held open by the side guy lines. We played about a little with this until we realised that you can close up the vent by simply running the guyline attached to the top of the vent through the loop on the lower vent material (see third photo below). With only the two side guylines pegged out we found that the lower material of the air vents sagged very close or even onto the mesh inner tent, which we did not like at all and indeed this did concern us. However, this situation rectified itself immediately once we had attached and pegged out the remaining four corner guylines. This naturally pulled taut the lower air vent material and instantly resolved the issue.
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Again, this is where erecting this tent a few times will definitely be beneficial, as it gives you chance to experiment and indeed iron out any initial erection issues... did I just say that? Unless you remember or know exactly where the 120cm length setting is on your walking poles, we would suggest marking them to make life easier.
This PYRAMID was certainly slightly more challenging to erect first time than the TOPWIND 1, that said, getting our walking pole heights correct would have helped. But this is something that would no doubt quickly become second nature. If you usually backpack and hike with walking poles, then the big plus with the PYRAMID tent is that there is a substantial weight-saving to be had.
UPDATE
We have now spent a weekend camping with both tents and all of our kit, with no issues to speak of.
The Topwind 1 is super-easy and fast to erect. With decent size vestibules either side, this little tent provided space for our packs and our dirty boots underneath the flysheet. There was plenty of sleeping area, and with the full polyester inner tent, this little tent was quite cosy.
As expected the second time we erected the PYRAMID (and with our walking poles set at exactly 120cm) it went up far easier and far faster. It rained lightly one night, but nothing that really put either tent to a test. It did get a bit blowy one night and with all guy lines staked out, both tents never budged. The PYRAMID with its low, sloping sides was particularly unaffected by the wind. And it is worth mentioning, with our walking poles now set to the correct length, the flysheet on the PYRAMID now pegged tight onto the ground. This meant that although the inner tent is all mesh, the blowing wind outside struggled to get in. By contrast, the flysheet of the TOPWIND 1 pegs slightly off the ground, allowing more potential air flow, but of course this then is somewhat negated by the full polyester inner tent. And of course both tents have roof vents to help regulate airflow depending on conditions. The PYRAMID tent has quite large vents mid-way up the two sides which you can open or close up depending upon how much ventilation you require.
Another thing that we realised about the PYRAMID tent is that if we did add a few centimetres to our walking poles height we could effectively raise the outer flysheet slightly allowing greater air flow into the tent should conditions warrant it. In fact, we ended up actually preferring our walking poles set at 125cm. This did two things: firstly it tensioned the inner tent slightly better and secondly it raised the flysheet slightly off the ground allowing even better ventilation. It was now becoming apparent to us just how versatile the PYRAMID could be.
As already mentioned, every tent will suffer from condensation in certain conditions and generally to a certain degree, this is simply a fact of life, but as long as it runs down the inside of the outer flysheet rather than dripping onto the inner tent, then all is fine. And this is where the pyramidal shape of the PYRAMID tent works extremely well. Condensation only becomes an issue if it drips onto or down the inner tent. To date we have suffered no real condensation issues with either tent.
We loved the TOPWIND 1 tent from the word go, its simple but effective, straight-forward design and high quality materials immediately made it a winner for us. However, the PYRAMID tent, with its lowly weight, versatility and great aerodynamics is fast growing on us!
This PYRAMID was certainly slightly more challenging to erect first time than the TOPWIND 1, that said, getting our walking pole heights correct would have helped. But this is something that would no doubt quickly become second nature. If you usually backpack and hike with walking poles, then the big plus with the PYRAMID tent is that there is a substantial weight-saving to be had.
UPDATE
We have now spent a weekend camping with both tents and all of our kit, with no issues to speak of.
The Topwind 1 is super-easy and fast to erect. With decent size vestibules either side, this little tent provided space for our packs and our dirty boots underneath the flysheet. There was plenty of sleeping area, and with the full polyester inner tent, this little tent was quite cosy.
As expected the second time we erected the PYRAMID (and with our walking poles set at exactly 120cm) it went up far easier and far faster. It rained lightly one night, but nothing that really put either tent to a test. It did get a bit blowy one night and with all guy lines staked out, both tents never budged. The PYRAMID with its low, sloping sides was particularly unaffected by the wind. And it is worth mentioning, with our walking poles now set to the correct length, the flysheet on the PYRAMID now pegged tight onto the ground. This meant that although the inner tent is all mesh, the blowing wind outside struggled to get in. By contrast, the flysheet of the TOPWIND 1 pegs slightly off the ground, allowing more potential air flow, but of course this then is somewhat negated by the full polyester inner tent. And of course both tents have roof vents to help regulate airflow depending on conditions. The PYRAMID tent has quite large vents mid-way up the two sides which you can open or close up depending upon how much ventilation you require.
Another thing that we realised about the PYRAMID tent is that if we did add a few centimetres to our walking poles height we could effectively raise the outer flysheet slightly allowing greater air flow into the tent should conditions warrant it. In fact, we ended up actually preferring our walking poles set at 125cm. This did two things: firstly it tensioned the inner tent slightly better and secondly it raised the flysheet slightly off the ground allowing even better ventilation. It was now becoming apparent to us just how versatile the PYRAMID could be.
As already mentioned, every tent will suffer from condensation in certain conditions and generally to a certain degree, this is simply a fact of life, but as long as it runs down the inside of the outer flysheet rather than dripping onto the inner tent, then all is fine. And this is where the pyramidal shape of the PYRAMID tent works extremely well. Condensation only becomes an issue if it drips onto or down the inner tent. To date we have suffered no real condensation issues with either tent.
We loved the TOPWIND 1 tent from the word go, its simple but effective, straight-forward design and high quality materials immediately made it a winner for us. However, the PYRAMID tent, with its lowly weight, versatility and great aerodynamics is fast growing on us!
My old COLEMAN AVIOR X2 and old GELERT SOLO
You might wonder why I am talking about these old model of tents, that may no longer even available. Well, this is just to add a little perspective. My much-loved, trusty Coleman Avior X2 still looks good, but I'm pretty hooked by the new GeerTop models, and the weight-saving they offer over my Coleman is just too impressive to ignore. The TOPWIND 1 gives me a weight saving of over 600 grams for a tent that still happily meets my requirements, while the PYRAMID provides me with an incredible weight-saving of around 1.2kgs!
And, as I do now always walk with walking poles, I rather expect the PYRAMID tent will be my go-to tent from this point on... that said, the other one person GeerTop tents both have very endearing qualities... so... hmm...
You might wonder why I am talking about these old model of tents, that may no longer even available. Well, this is just to add a little perspective. My much-loved, trusty Coleman Avior X2 still looks good, but I'm pretty hooked by the new GeerTop models, and the weight-saving they offer over my Coleman is just too impressive to ignore. The TOPWIND 1 gives me a weight saving of over 600 grams for a tent that still happily meets my requirements, while the PYRAMID provides me with an incredible weight-saving of around 1.2kgs!
And, as I do now always walk with walking poles, I rather expect the PYRAMID tent will be my go-to tent from this point on... that said, the other one person GeerTop tents both have very endearing qualities... so... hmm...
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My trusty old Coleman Avior X2, all the features I like, but it can't compete with the weight-saving advantages offered by the new GeerTop TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID.
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My old (never-used in anger) Gelert Solo. Only 1.6kgs, No room inside for my 65 litre rucksack but I could get my boots in under the flysheet. However, very suspect quality - I had to Gaffa tape all the cheap fibreglass poles as one cracked the very first time setting it up.
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The old gives way to the new...
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TOPWIND 1 - PYRAMID - GELERT SOLO
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Avior X2 - TOPWIND 1 - Gelert Solo - PYRAMID
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Pack Sizes: Avior X2: 44cm x 19cm - TOPWIND 1: 42cm x 15cm - Gelert Solo: 40cm x 14cm - PYRAMID: 38cm x 11cm
GeerTop also manufacture a high quality camouflage, wild camping tent known as the BLAZER. This little tent is along the lines of the old Gelert Solo, but with updated materials, ProFlex 7001-T6 alloy poles and generally much higher specifications. This is a slightly smaller tent than both the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID, and is particularly suited to discreet, wild camping and stealth camping.
The BLAZER tent weighs in at 1.5kgs, and actually has a smaller footprint than the old Gelert Solo. Fully taped waterproof seams, double-stitching and reinforced stitching, better waterproofing and better ventilation options all add to the attraction.
The BLAZER tent weighs in at 1.5kgs, and actually has a smaller footprint than the old Gelert Solo. Fully taped waterproof seams, double-stitching and reinforced stitching, better waterproofing and better ventilation options all add to the attraction.
GeerTop BLAZER Tent
The BLAZER tent is a lightweight, one person, three season, camouflaged backpacking tent, designed to blend into the surrounding countryside. This little tent meets an altogether different requirement to both the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID tents, its camouflage flysheet making it an ideal candidate for discreet, lightweight wild camping and stealth camping.
Weighing just 1.5kgs (3.3lbs), with a pack size of 44cm x 11cm.
Compared to both the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID tents, the BLAZER is a smaller tent with a slightly smaller pitch size. While this means that the BLAZER can be pitched in places too small for the TOPWIND 1 or PYRAMID tents, this does also mean that there is not any practical space for a rucksack inside the tent underneath the flysheet - though there is enough room for dirty boots. While this is unlikely to be a problem for the minimalist camper who only carries a small to medium size backpack, which can be taken inside the tent itself, anyone with a very large pack may not be so comfortable and prefer to leave it outside under a rain cover when using the tent. While my initial reaction was that this tent would not suit myself (expecting something along the lines of my old Gelert Solo), this lightweight camouflage tent actually proved to be a very different animal. Given its small pitch size, this tent does have a surprisingly spacious interior - in fact it far exceeded our expectations. Whilst the BLAZER appears similar in concept to the Gelert Solo, this tent is far superior in all respects. There is room to move around and lengthwise it will easily accommodate taller people up to around 6'4". For a small, 1 man tent, The BLAZER is a deceptively spacious tent - a bit like Dr Who's Tardis!
The BLAZER admirably complements our other two tents. By also supplying the BLAZER tent, we feel that we have covered all the bases, and indeed this little, high quality, wild camping tent nicely fills a niche that the other two tents do not.
The BLAZER has a floor space of 213cm x 101cms at its widest, with the floor space narrowing to around 50cm at the foot end, with an inner tent height of 91cms at its highest point. Two 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles nicely hold the tents shape.
With wild camping and stealth camping being its foremost purpose, and with its small pitch size and light weight, this little tent perfectly meets a specific need. Described by the manufacturer as a bivvy tent, we were expecting a very small tent not much bigger than a bivvy bag. However, to call the BLAZER a 'bivvy' tent is probably misleading and doing the tent a real injustice because it is actually a genuine little lightweight tent, and in terms of comfort it is far superior to any 'bivvy bag'. So, while not as light or as compact as a true bivvy bag, the BLAZER does have a relatively spacious interior while featuring a true double-skin, which in turn provides better breathability, better airflow and hence less condensation issues. Like the other GeerTop tents, once again the quality of the materials and the workmanship is clear to see. The camouflage flysheet allows for discreet camping where other tents would colourfully announce their presence.
Unlike many tents of this size and nature, the BLAZER is a true three season tent. The outer flysheet and the floor is made from 210T PU2500mm waterproof polyester, with taped seams and UV protection, while the inner tent is 210T polyester with full no-see-um mesh doors and end panels. Our BLAZER tents also feature quality 8mm ProFlex 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles and come with nine very nice shepherd's crook aluminium (anodised in green) hex tent pegs. Like the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID tents, the BLAZER also features taped seams to provide fully waterproof seals at the stitching. Seams are double-stitched and reinforced with box stitching at any potential stress points. And once again, the quality materials and quality of workmanship is evident.
This is a two door tent, with a high air vent at the head end and fully adjustable venting at the foot end allowing for excellent air circulation and ventilation.
While outwardly it may look similar to my old Gelert Solo, the difference in materials and build quality immediately sets it apart - not least the fact that this tent employs quality ProFlex 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles as opposed to the very awful, weak fibreglass poles of the Gelert. And, although it has an overall smaller pitching area than the Gelert, its internal height is around six inches higher and it really does feel more roomy and spacious inside. The odd thing is that the Gelert Solo specifications state the inner as being 250cm in length, whereas the BLAZER is only 213cm, leading you to think that the Gelert would be suitable for someone up to around 7'6"! Where Gelert get this figure from is anyone's guess because the reality is that anyone much over 5'10" will struggle with the length of the Gelert. In great contrast to this, the BLAZER will accommodate someone up to around 6'4". Go figure!
The BLAZER tent is a lightweight, one person, three season, camouflaged backpacking tent, designed to blend into the surrounding countryside. This little tent meets an altogether different requirement to both the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID tents, its camouflage flysheet making it an ideal candidate for discreet, lightweight wild camping and stealth camping.
Weighing just 1.5kgs (3.3lbs), with a pack size of 44cm x 11cm.
Compared to both the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID tents, the BLAZER is a smaller tent with a slightly smaller pitch size. While this means that the BLAZER can be pitched in places too small for the TOPWIND 1 or PYRAMID tents, this does also mean that there is not any practical space for a rucksack inside the tent underneath the flysheet - though there is enough room for dirty boots. While this is unlikely to be a problem for the minimalist camper who only carries a small to medium size backpack, which can be taken inside the tent itself, anyone with a very large pack may not be so comfortable and prefer to leave it outside under a rain cover when using the tent. While my initial reaction was that this tent would not suit myself (expecting something along the lines of my old Gelert Solo), this lightweight camouflage tent actually proved to be a very different animal. Given its small pitch size, this tent does have a surprisingly spacious interior - in fact it far exceeded our expectations. Whilst the BLAZER appears similar in concept to the Gelert Solo, this tent is far superior in all respects. There is room to move around and lengthwise it will easily accommodate taller people up to around 6'4". For a small, 1 man tent, The BLAZER is a deceptively spacious tent - a bit like Dr Who's Tardis!
The BLAZER admirably complements our other two tents. By also supplying the BLAZER tent, we feel that we have covered all the bases, and indeed this little, high quality, wild camping tent nicely fills a niche that the other two tents do not.
The BLAZER has a floor space of 213cm x 101cms at its widest, with the floor space narrowing to around 50cm at the foot end, with an inner tent height of 91cms at its highest point. Two 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles nicely hold the tents shape.
With wild camping and stealth camping being its foremost purpose, and with its small pitch size and light weight, this little tent perfectly meets a specific need. Described by the manufacturer as a bivvy tent, we were expecting a very small tent not much bigger than a bivvy bag. However, to call the BLAZER a 'bivvy' tent is probably misleading and doing the tent a real injustice because it is actually a genuine little lightweight tent, and in terms of comfort it is far superior to any 'bivvy bag'. So, while not as light or as compact as a true bivvy bag, the BLAZER does have a relatively spacious interior while featuring a true double-skin, which in turn provides better breathability, better airflow and hence less condensation issues. Like the other GeerTop tents, once again the quality of the materials and the workmanship is clear to see. The camouflage flysheet allows for discreet camping where other tents would colourfully announce their presence.
Unlike many tents of this size and nature, the BLAZER is a true three season tent. The outer flysheet and the floor is made from 210T PU2500mm waterproof polyester, with taped seams and UV protection, while the inner tent is 210T polyester with full no-see-um mesh doors and end panels. Our BLAZER tents also feature quality 8mm ProFlex 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles and come with nine very nice shepherd's crook aluminium (anodised in green) hex tent pegs. Like the TOPWIND 1 and the PYRAMID tents, the BLAZER also features taped seams to provide fully waterproof seals at the stitching. Seams are double-stitched and reinforced with box stitching at any potential stress points. And once again, the quality materials and quality of workmanship is evident.
This is a two door tent, with a high air vent at the head end and fully adjustable venting at the foot end allowing for excellent air circulation and ventilation.
While outwardly it may look similar to my old Gelert Solo, the difference in materials and build quality immediately sets it apart - not least the fact that this tent employs quality ProFlex 7001-T6 aluminium alloy tent poles as opposed to the very awful, weak fibreglass poles of the Gelert. And, although it has an overall smaller pitching area than the Gelert, its internal height is around six inches higher and it really does feel more roomy and spacious inside. The odd thing is that the Gelert Solo specifications state the inner as being 250cm in length, whereas the BLAZER is only 213cm, leading you to think that the Gelert would be suitable for someone up to around 7'6"! Where Gelert get this figure from is anyone's guess because the reality is that anyone much over 5'10" will struggle with the length of the Gelert. In great contrast to this, the BLAZER will accommodate someone up to around 6'4". Go figure!
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BLAZER – 1 Person, 3 Season, Camouflage Backpacking Tent
Features:
Flysheet: 210T PU2500mm Waterproof Polyester, UV Protected, Taped Seams
Inner Tent: 210T Breathable Polyester + No-See-Um Bug Mesh
Floor: 210T PU2500mm Waterproof Polyester
2 x 8mm ProFlex 7001-T6 Shock-Corded Aluminium Alloy Tent Poles in a Pole Bag
9 x Aluminium Tent Pegs in a Drawstring Bag
Weight: 1.5kgs
Pack Size: 43cm x 11cm
Features:
Flysheet: 210T PU2500mm Waterproof Polyester, UV Protected, Taped Seams
Inner Tent: 210T Breathable Polyester + No-See-Um Bug Mesh
Floor: 210T PU2500mm Waterproof Polyester
2 x 8mm ProFlex 7001-T6 Shock-Corded Aluminium Alloy Tent Poles in a Pole Bag
9 x Aluminium Tent Pegs in a Drawstring Bag
Weight: 1.5kgs
Pack Size: 43cm x 11cm
