wanted to add
Just wanted to add that a rainfly that goes all the way to the ground is important in rain and/or wind. The MSR hubba (lightweight but expensive), and Kelty V2 (heavier, but sturdier and more affordable) both have proper rainflys. Camped in both in 50 mph winds accompanied by rain/snow and both performed fine (kept me dry and warm). REI also makes tents with proper rainflys.
Lesser known but Fantastic & Less Money
– Last Updated: Aug-12-09 11:16 PM EST –
There are many fine tents but this company is among the very best quality of material workmanship and design AND for markedly less money.
http://www.alpsmountaineering.com/
Check them out.
Hilleberg Unna
It’s freestanding, sets up with fly first (good for rain), and is made of UV-resistant material (not nylon). You can even set up the fly by itself, if you want to go minimalist and there are no bugs.
Even at my small size, I found being confined for a day inside my Eureka Mtn Pass XT-1 was a bit much (or a bit little). The Unna is noticeably wider, yet it weighs only slightly more AND it fits inside my front hatch compartment all in the stock bag, along with a lot of other gear. No need to break it down into different bundles to pack in my kayak.
Nice website
Information is clear and complete; good photos. The tents and sleeping bags seem well designed and sturdy. A little heavy for backpacking but would work well for paddling. Prices are surprisingly low in some cases.
Solo Tents
Get the best you can afford – a cheap tent will let you down at the worst possible time. Leaks, ripped seams, insufficiently waterproofed floors, partial rain-flies and broken zippers are what you may very well end up with when you go cheap & buy a 100 buck tent. A quality tent simply costs more, but should perform as advertised, last for many, many years and keep you dry & comfortable.
Personally I’m a fan of the MSR Hubba series, but there are several name brands of note.
Also note that it’s been my experience that one should not buy a tent that weighs significantly more than a backpacking tent for canoe/kayak tripping. Sooner or later everything you cram in your boat will be on your back on a portage trail if you do any real exploring. So the weight of your tent matter a lot – chances are it will be your second heaviest single item after your food.
All just my two cents worth - RK
Quality vs price
After many years of buying equipment for several sports, I’ve concluded that it’s possible to obtain well-made equipment at a reasonable (“cheap”) price by doing a lot of comparison shopping of features and price, carefully checking the reviews, and being clear on your priorities. As you look through this thread you will find recommendations for tents from $100 to $500. I don’t believe the $500 tent is 5 times better than the $100 tent.
Alps Mountaineering, recommended above, is a good example of well-made, “cheap” equipment. REI is another.
Regarding priorities, it is advisable to consider how much you’re willing to pay for a specific feature. Am I willing to pay another $200 to shave an additional 8 oz. off my tent or 10 oz. off my paddle? Some may say yes; many will say no depending on priorities and how they practice the sport. For me it’s yes to the paddle and no to the tent.
I think the high-end investment may be worth it for people who practice a sport at the higher performance level, in more difficult conditions, and/or more frequently, and who understand the fine points of equipment. For many of us mere mortals a “cheap” tent, sleeping bag, etc. may be sufficient.
My first $100 REI tent—bought on sale for $50!— lasted 6 years without a single failure or problem. It was watertight and sturdy in all conditions of rain and wind. I only replaced it to get the double side doors and lighter weight of the upgraded—still $100!—version. Amazing.
I’ve had failures of expensive equipment in circumstances where the consequences were not pleasant. One was an air mattress that left me on the hard ground for a month while biking through Europe. Another was a tent that left me floating in water while stuck in 5 days of rain on another bike trip.
I truly don’t believe that there is always a correlation between price and quality, and tents are just one more example of an industry wanting to convince us that more is better and that we need the best.
If you’re convinced that a $500 tent could save your life, go ahead and buy it. If not, I would invest the extra $400 in my kayak and paddle.
Yes and no
While I don’t buy into price absolutely & necessarily correlating to quality I believe it is true that most high end tents will serve an adventurer better than a bargain tent.
Example: it’s not a big deal if a partial rain cover doesn’t completely cover a window that has a fabric door during a short drizzle. That’s not a problem just zip up the window. It IS a big deal if you get caught in an all day deluge and have little ventilation because you have to keep the window closed, or partly closed. A full rain cover is a basic utilitarian issue: it keeps the rain off the tent body and allows for adequate ventilation – two very important factors when considering a tent.
Other examples: what the heck do you do if you find your cheap tent doesn’t have quality waterproofing on the floor? What if the seams or zippers leak? What position would a person be in if the zipper breaks and you’re several days into a long canoe trip and many miles from the nearest road? Not a rhetorical question since the answer is: You’re up the creek so to speak, your sleeping bag and clothes are wet and the bugs are having you for a midnight snack.
A cheap tent is fine when you can just bale and go home from the state park ten miles away I suppose. A cheap tent could be a true bummer if you’re “out there” and it fails.
A quality tent from any of a number of reputable manufacturers will most likely serve you much better in the long run than the “lost leader” weekend special for a 100 bucks. That 100 dollars is better spent as a deposit on a quality tent rather than wasted on an el cheapo rig that may let you down at the worst possible moment.
I’ve been camping for most of my 60 years, investing in good equipment always makes sense – at least to me. I’ll stick with: “buy the best you can afford”.
Above is just my opinion – in the end it’s up to the original poster to decide what will work best for him/her. RK
REI Outlet
is one place to check for the ALPS brand and they have an additional 20% off sale going on.
Also check out Sierratradingpost.com (sign up for their emails and get additional 20-30% off discounted prices). Hiker friend likes Sportsmenwarehouse located in Minnesota and online too.
one person tent
OP want a true 1 person tent for your size?
Check out the MSR Zoid:
http://stuff.silverorange.com/archive/2006/october/msrzoid1tent
There’s also a Zoid 1.5 version for more room.
as for quality, I’m with Arkay.
Buying quality buying much less often and enjoying it more. Quality tents have more rows of stitching, sturdy two way zips that don’t quit and are quiet, deeper tub floors, finer mesh, more ventilation area, more ventilation option, lighter poles, real field repair kits etc.
Do I pay top price for the best quality I can afford? heck no. I have yet to pay full price for any camping gear. But I will pay more for a tent by Marmot or MSR, for example, bec. I get more of the features I want and enjoy them longer. If those features aren’t important to someone else that’s fine - their choice.
Kelty Grand Mesa 2 is
lightweight, roomy for one, packs fairly small and is freestanding.
Sierria Designs Sirius 2
The Sirius 2 is a very small 2 person tent that would be roomy for one. Under 5 lbs and packs nice and small. NG for winter camping though.
I’m with Arkay on this
though I will say I have to laugh when folks start comparing and they always go to the extremes comparing $100 and $500 dollars tents (paddles, widgets, what have you). There is a great middle ground in the $200-$250 range that splits the diff really well and I’ve trusted my life to it a lot.
I spent a bunch of years in Sears, KMart, and other various cheap tents. Did they work? At the time I thought they were fine. A little water drippage, stifling humidity when zipped in, wet sleeping bag/clothes, and some structural issues in high wind was all part of the adventure.
Were they a value? At the time I thought so. Now after using good tents for the last 15 years…not so much. I have a Kelty 4 person that is going strong after many years and my current Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight has over 2 months worth of nights hard use with no end in sight (FYI thats a cost of $3/night if I throw it away today).
Another example. Last year in the Boundary Waters it rained in some form every day the second week of September. Me and the boys were in our fancy man made materials (goretex, polypro, hollofill) and maybe a little wool. Spent the week comfortable, mostly dry, and completely happy. We passed a couple guys that were on shore in jeans and cotton sweatshirts. Every piece of clothing they had was on lines to dry, but I guarantee that stuff never got better than very damp. Were they happy, they sure looked like it. Would I rather have been us, you betcha.
Respectfully
Randy
Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight
If my memory serves me right, the SD Clip Flashlight was one of the first small, light tents, over 25 years ago. I had one of the first ones. It was considered expensive by the standards of the day, and a novelty.
The fly on the first edition did not fully cover the tent and the bathtub sides (if any) and floor were not waterproof. Rain fell directly onto the exposed sides. I was stuck in that tent through several days of rain with a friend. We woke up totally soaked, sleeping bags drenched, and stayed that way for 4 days. Each passing hour in that tent was hell. Guess SD agreed because they redesigned it.
Couple of years before that I spent 2 months biking through Europe with a cheap Eureka Timberline, which I supported like an A-frame with just 2 poles front and rear to save weight. Stayed dry for 2 months.
Sometimes basic and cheap is better.
Hubba Hubba thoughts
While I love to hammock camp, if in a treeless environment I rely on my MSR-HH. Earlier this year I was camped on a completely exposed area adjacent the Shaver’s Fork of the Cheat. We suffered 40 MPH gusting that caused some tarp poles to collapse. My Hubba was staked and guyed out, and would deform into interesting shapes, but I stayed dry the whole weekend. Properly set up it is amazingly watertight for a 2.5-3 season rent.
Jim
I do this stuff to relax & enjoy myself
– Last Updated: Aug-13-09 4:28 PM EST –
Having good quality gear helps me to do that. Worrying needlessly about the weather and how my $65 dollar tent is going to hold up if this-or-that comes to pass is just needless stress to me. And that goes for all my decent quality gear, acquired over time and at discounts. It helps me to be able to chill and have a Hakuna Matata attitude.
I can usually manage to jack up the excitement level a bit all on my own. I don't need cheaply made gear helping out.
Not sure where you headed
with that arguement. Comparing a 25 year old SD design with a much newer Eureka design. I can say the new Clip Flashlight is a sweet tent. Full coverage fly, bathtub floor, nicely ventilated, dry as all get-out in driving rain, easily erected, and withstands big winds. All for a princely sum of $175.
Now compared with the MUCH cheaper Eureka A-frame with vestibule (not included) for $150 and I suddenly feel like I’ve been cheated by Sierra Designs. How do I contact SD to get my money back!
Randy
30$ target 3 pole dome
easy to put up and very roomy.at that price i won’t cry when the zipper breaks.doh!
black diamond ahwahnee
one month in newfoundland–loved it where my friends with NF fly tents had lots of trouble with wind and rain. nothing better, but pricey.
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/mountain/shelters/ahwahnee
Same generation
I owned the Flashlight and the Eureka at the same time. Same generation tents. The Flashlight was about 3 times the cost of the Eureka back then. I put the money into it in hopes that it would be a much better tent. Instead it failed totally while the Eureka held up for years.
Just chose those 2 tents to illustrate a point, not bash the Flashlight. The Flashlight is a much improved tent. (Actually SD did refund my money, since you brought that up. They were quite nice about it.)
Today’s tents and most other equipment are a lot better than in the old days, and some companies have managed to keep prices surprisingly low.
And…
…you do not need flat ground either. As long as you can get a foothold you can sleep comfy on a 45 degree slope if necessary. But…you do need two trees.