Light Tents

[catzrob]

Not deerstalking related but this seems like potentially a good place to ask - does anyone have a recommendation for a multi-day hiking tent or tarp setup that balances price, weight and durability?

Not planning to head out into force 10 storms so no need for amazing weatherproofness.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[tozzybum]

May i suggest as a back up /top up to protect your sleeping bag you get an ex army gortex bivvi bag .
About 36 quid ,waterproof breathable and 8ft long so you can put your day pack in as a pillow.
Keeping all your gear dry .
Any tarp needs to be at least 2000mm head ,thats the volume of water it puts up with .
But if you can get and afford go for the highest rating.
Amazon may not have the cheapest but you can read their customers reviews and decide what you think is best atb

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

It really depends on your budget and how big a tent you need!

MSR do some very good tents but they’re relatively pricey. Some of the Vango offerings are well regarded online but I can’t claim to have experience of them.

 

[Feugh]

What are you planning to do, and where about?
Some folks use a bivi bag alone, and for dry nights or a single wet night that is fine, but a multi day wet trip with a bivi is no fun. It can be pretty bad in warm wet conditions with midges.
A tarp arrangement with a bivi is better in the wet but still not great with midges, if you’re camping where and when they are bad.
What I use for multi day spring to autumn trips is a lightweight tent, which weighs just a bit more than a heavy bivi bag but less than a bivi tarp combo, keeps all kit dry and keeps the midges out. I use a two man tent for single use because you would have to be exceptionally good friends to get someone else in. The make is a terra nova Quaser competition. Not the cheapest but also not as much as a hilleberg, which are generally considered the best on the market.

 

[Feugh]

Laser Competition 2 Tent - Terra Nova

The Laser Competition 2 tent offers a great mix of super-low weight and added comfort.

www.terra-nova.co.uk

Sorry, it’s the Laser that I have, not the Quaser. A decent tent that I picked up in a sale.

 

[bowji john]

All the above

My personal favourite is a tarp (DD tarps) and hammock combo

Google Search

You do have to have trees though so I also carry a very light weight bivi bag as a back up

If going the tent route I prefer hilleberg (others just as good) and if spending longer periods of time in one I go for a ''2 man'' if I'm alone and ''3 man'' if 2 people are sharing - the extra space is a god send

 

[bowji john]

Alternatively - if you like your comforts

 

[Koenig]

If you’re on the move it pays to travel light. A decent bivi sheet roll mat and bivi bag will see you right for most UK conditions. The presence of Insects, especially mosquitoes or midges will mean you need a net unless you want to get savaged. If you aren’t moving or won’t be far from the truck use a suitable tent, because you don’t have to carry it.

 

[VSS]

May i suggest as a back up /top up to protect your sleeping bag you get an ex army gortex bivvi bag .
About 36 quid ,waterproof breathable and 8ft long so you can put your day pack in as a pillow.
Keeping all your gear dry .

I'll second this ^^^^
Often I don't bother with a tent, just sleeping bag, ex-army bivvy bag (reproofed with some of Diver Dave's wonderful stuff), and a simple camp bed.

 

[Freeforester]

Naturehike. Mongar 2 is inexpensive, light, roomy, relatively easy and quick to erect. Providing your not intending pitching in gorse or brambles you should get a few seasons out of it and be glad of its comparatively favourable bang for buck.

Mongar 2-3 Person 210T Double-layer Tent Camping Waterproof 3 Season Tent (2 person): Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors

Shop Mongar 2-3 Person 210T Double-layer Tent Camping Waterproof 3 Season Tent (2 person). Free delivery and returns on all eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

(Subtitles available, si no lo comprende Español)

 

[I. Farticus]

I've got a bivvi for one dry/dampish night, and a 2 man Vango for any longer or wetter.
I'll be b*ggered if I'm going to be any damper than I need to be!!!

 

[A J]

This is my domain! I've camped on ice sheets at -30c and hammock camped in monsoons.

Some good suggestions so far, but people have a tendency to just suggest what they have rather than what is actually best for you or your application. Seeing as I probably have more camping kit that most shops, I'm happy to give impartial advice!

First question needs to be where are you setting up camp? Are you on a hillside or woodland, how far from your base (car / house) will you be walking and for how long? What pack will you be using?

Bivvi bags are great, but you get what you pay for and if you're out for multi-day trips you'll want respite from mozzies. A decent breathable bivi and tarp will actually take up as much room in your pack as a good one man tent, but the tent will give you a comfortable place to relax away from pets, get changed and keep your file away from the elements.

MSR or Terra Nova would most certainly be my go-to brands to recommend for a light weight backpacking tent. Quality from both are excellent and you'll get something that is durable and tested to extremes. Don't be fooled by cheap Chineese knockoffs on Amazon. Please. Not if you want something that will last more than a few outings.

For complete space saving and light weight you may want to look at the MSR Hubba NX Solo:

Hubba™ NX Solo Backpacking Tent | Backpacking Tents | MSR

A leader in outdoor equipment innovation, MSR is dedicated to engineering high-quality stoves, tents, water filters, snowshoes and more to help people worldwide unlock their greatest adventures.

www.msrgear.com

This actually packs smaller than my ground sheet, gore-tex bivi and tarp, but can also be used as a hooped bivi if you want to go ultra light in the summer without the inner tent. The down side is space. It offers a nice place to be, you can sit up fully, but your pack is down by your feet or in the small porch if it's dry.



If you don't feel you can justify that price then the Wild Country (Terra Nova's less expensive brand) Zephyros 1 or 2 are fantastic value. You don't get as much headroom, but you get a little more width but you pay for it with a little extra weight. I think I have 6 mates with the Zephyros and it probably offers the best bang for buck. It's not as easy to pitch and doesn't offer the outer / footprint only combo that the MSR offers, but seeing as the Hubba is so light I rarely bother not taking the inner tent for the comfort it offers.

Zephyros Compact 1 - 1 Person Tent by Wild Country - Terra Nova

Looking for a lightweight tent that takes the minimum of space in your rucksack? This packs down to just 30x18cm and weighs only 1.57kg. An ideal for backpacking and travelling companion.

www.terra-nova.co.uk

If you're camping in or around woodland then I'm a big hammock fan. I've never slept as well outdoors as I have done in a hammock. The last time I was out I slept for 10 hours! The downside to a hammock is that for a decent setup you're looking at a fair cost and they're not as compact as a quality small tent.



A hammock offers the advantage of being off the ground. It also offers the disadvantage of being off the ground. You have no insulation under you and a sleeping bag alone is not enough. You either need to use a softly inflated mat under you, which will inevitably end up on top of you in the middle of the night, or you need to invest in an under quilt. A decent down under quilt will set you back as much as a decent down sleeping bag. Or you can make one quite easily if you're brave with a sewing machine (YouTube tutorials are aplenty).

As far as hammocks go there's a decent amount of choice these days. For anywhere in Europe you need one with an integrated mozzie net. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. If you're happy to tinker and modify to your specific needs then Hennessy are an excellent option. You will probably want to modify the suspension system, but they are a great system.

Hennessy Hammock UK: The Coolest Tent in the World

The Hennessy Hammock is the most innovative solution to lightweight, comfortable camping. Learn more about our designs and features, and buy directly from the manufacturer.

hennessyhammock.co.uk

If you want something that is great out of the box then the Thermarest Slacker Hammock House is brilliant. No need for modification or upgraded suspension, but it's not as 'stealth' or as light as the Hennessy.

Slacker™ Hammock House | Archived | Therm-a-Rest

The all-in-one hammock shelter, ready for camping adventures.

www.thermarest.com

Both systems will need an under quilt. Don't bother messing about with any other type of insulation, I've tried them all and an under quilt is the only way to go with a hammock. Again, don't be fooled by cheap knockoffs, they just don't last. A mate bought one on Amazon and he ended up on the floor the first time he used it.

I guess without answers to the questions at the start of this in summary I'd suggest:

• Need for ultra light, one night and on loamy or mossy ground - Quality Gore-Tex (or similar breathable fabric) bivi
• Multi day hillside or you want a little more comfort and shelter from elements / midges - Light weight quality 1 man tent
• Woodland multi day - Hammock with tarp, net and underquilt

 

[20-250]

Walk back to the truck and sleep in that.

 

[Feugh]

Walk back to the truck and sleep in that.

That's a whole new topic for some folk - how to modify a truck for comfortable sleeping. Some use roof-top tents, others crunch themselves in the truck bed, and others sleep with the back of the truck open with either a tent over the back of the canopy or an arrangement that slides out from the truck, in order to keep the feet dry. Like this one:

Someone on here will have done some mods, almost definitely. I haven't - yet.

 

[Rory]

Hennessy hammock. Really good, you may still need a thermarest/thermal groundsheet in colder weather though. Brilliant bits of kit.

 

[caorach]

I tried a few variations and looked at lots of options and decided that you simply couldn't beat a tent as you can put it up anywhere and escape the midges plus most tents only take a few minutes to put up before you have a shelter, and they are simple. I did consider a tarp and all the faff plus the fact that once you worked it all out you weren't saving weight and the insect factor just put it out of the game for me, your requirements may differ.

For walking to fishing (which is where I camp) then I found that weight and size were important as I don't want to pretend I've joined the army so I want an enjoyable day out and the tent isn't the focus of what I'm doing so I want things to be as simple as possible there - I don't want to have enough rigging gear to build a railway bridge. As an experiment I started with a Vango Banshee 200 - these are the standard "Duke of Edinburgh" type tent and they are inexpensive and have a relatively good reputation. The Banshee worked well for me but was quite heavy compared to some modern lightweight tents plus it took up a lot of pack space.

In a sale on Uttings I got a Vaude Power Lizard SUL 1-2. The person who came up with the name had way too little going on in their lives. However, it was a very lightweight (around 1kg) and packable tent and I didn't pay much more for it than for the Banshee. To be honest I still think Uttings got their pricing wrong. Now I'm not specifically recommending the Power Lizard, though it does my job well, but I've found that having a lighter tent that packs down much smaller really makes a difference to my comfort when it comes to walking the moor to fishing. So, the only specific advice I can give is to get a decent sized tent as you'll appreciate the room, and to go as light and small as you can afford. As weight goes down price tends to go up but if you shop carefully then, like I did, you can often do well in a sale.

 

[Stalker62]

I don't want to pretend I've joined the army so... I don't want to have enough rigging gear to build a railway bridge.

I suspected I was carrying too much "stuff".

In Sutherland with loaded rucksack, rifle and stuff -middle of nowhere.
Suddenly I got a flyby from two RAF jets out on a bombing run in the Dornoch Firth.

I looked up to see them scream over my head and promptly fell over onto my back.

Yes. Too much stuff. Way, way too much stuff...

 

[bowji john]

I suspected I was carrying too much "stuff".

Yes. Too much stuff. Way, way too much stuff...

Never buy a bigger rucksack than you require - I swear they fill themselves when you turn your back on them

 

[Freeforester]

The Hubba solo will set you back near four times the cost of the Mongar, abeit for the saving of about 600gr and roughly half the useable space; the Zephyros again offers half the space, and a weight saving of 50gr but at a cost of £70 over the Mongar 2; I'd say the reviews given by those who have used all are worth a view, because if the Naturehike offering were as inferior as is being suggested this would have been flagged up a long time ago.

Our Mo 2 tent had an outing recently, and the weight of it breaks down as follows:
Poles 560 gr
Fly with lines 560gr
Inner 640gr
Pegs 90gr
Optional ground mat for under the tent 122gr


A decent hammock can be had for £20 or so (11' parachute material min 60" wide, so you can lay flat diagonally across it, don't go for anything shorter), packs to about the size and weight of a pound of sugar when stuffed in its own integral bag; anything except a half decent quality underquilt and you'll be cold; anyone who has tried using a pad and then a down underquilt never went back to the former. A decent tarp can be had for relatively small outlay too, so hammock camping need not break the bank, you can be set up for far less than the price of the Hubba solo, and have more living space too.

First DIY underquilts I made for our £20 hammocks were inexpensive mil-surp poncho liners, which worked surprisingly well, but were just a little more bulky; a down underquilt is a joy, ask my southern-born partner, she loves to be cocooned in hers. If you want to save on cost, weight and bulk, a smaller tarp will get you by, it need not come near to the ground for three season use in the UK, a 2,8-3m by 3-3,5m is sufficient.

A piece of old net curtain material draped over your ridgeline will work as a mozzy net if you can't be bothered to make your own, which I did, all you need is sufficient mesh to cover your head and shoulders, assuming you are sleeping under a topquilt or sleeping bag, any extra is surplus weight and material to carry. The raw material itself for making them is cheap and readily available from most haberdashers or online from specialist shops. If you want complete minimal, a headset and a squirt of permethrin will keep them from you, we've drunk our evening wine through the headnets in extremis!

Much as we'd all like to throw money at the problem, it's perfectly possible to buy on a budget good quality, durable and lightweight gear and get out to the wild; the suggestions I've made are very much with this in mind, being a significant part of the OP's outline criteria, but it might be a good idea to get an indication of anticipated budget here before making too many further recommendations.

AJ - I'd at least remove the bolt if you're not taking it inside?

 

[Apthorpe]

In the past, I used a very lightweight Coleman Cobra 2tent. It was quite cheap, quick and easy to pitch, stood up to weather well, space for gear and good quality mosquito net and waterproofing. I'd buy the same again.