The ultimate solo tent???

[Franco]

OK, thanks for that.
I have not seen a Direkt 2 set up, but I am familiar with the others .

[Mountain Rocket]

How do you find the Direkt 2 without a vestibule ninja? I can see it being a problem in bad weather.
Also would not really work well as t 2p tent huh?

[Mountain Rocket]

two person tent outside good weather huh?*

[ninjapuppet]

the Direkt 2 is actually a 2 man tent and can fit 2 full sized thermarests comfortably, but I like my space and only use it as a solo tent.
I did use it in some pretty bad weather and coped fine - Cooking was via a jetboil hanging from the roof.

a vestibule would obviously make life easier, but I can cope. Its more of a WANT, than a NEED

[Mountain Rocket]

Cooking for one sounds perilous, can not image it with two (but I suppose that is OT) - thanks.

[GPSGuided]

Cooking inside the tent is so risky. One mistake and the shelter is gone. Vestibule is so important to me for this reason.

[Franco]

Wedge tents (the two crossing pole freestanding types) like the I tent and the Direkt 2 are designed for climbers not for backpackers.
Different needs .
Cooking inside a tent for a climber is a pretty normal thing to do , hence the hanging kits.

[Happy Pirate]

Im doing some research for a solo tent.
Must be light ie-under 1.5kg but preferrably less.
Must be strong ie-handle strong winds and rain.

Ive looked at Hillman atko and tarptent range-anyone have experience with these?
Ive looked at oneplanet goondie...a little heavy but i have a oneplanet pac and love it.
ive looked at big agnes copper spur 1.

Has anyone had experience with these tents or are their recommendations that i need to look at?
looking forward to your replies kids!!
cheers

Your ultimate tent may be a hammock
http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12887

[Orion]

Wedge tents (the two crossing pole freestanding types) like the I tent and the Direkt 2 are designed for climbers not for backpackers.
Different needs .

How are they designed exclusively for climbers?

Our go-to summer backpacking tent (BD Lighthouse) has two crossing poles. I have five tents with that pole configuration and I'm not pitching them on ledges somewhere. I use them for backcountry camping. They are a little heavier than some tents because of the longer poles, but the freestanding nature and symmetric design make them very liveable shelters with small footprints. A small footprint can be quite nice even if you're just camping in the woods. And I'm not alone in this regard. I see these types of tents used by backpackers all the time.

[Franco]

"How are they designed exclusively for climbers?"

Not sure why you chose to put words into my mouth but I thought that it was clear I meant "best "for and that is far from
"exclusive"
Anyway if you took a bit more time to read and understand my comment you would have noticed that I was referring to the two crossing pole /front entry shelters of which your Ligthouse is neither*.
(I happen to have a Lighthouse so I think that I know what it looks like...)
Those wedge tents are liked by climbers because it is easier to find a ledge that is long but narrow than a wide one , besides you have more weather protection that way
The downside of that design is that you have no rain cover for for a third of the floor area getting in and out .
Of course some hikers use them however they are not necessarily the best choice for most.

*The Lighthouse (not a Todd Bibler design) had the cross apex strut added to give it some rain protection and larger vents.

[Orion]

I apologize. I really didn't mean to misquote you.

I have front-entry tents in this class (without the little third pole). My Bibler Eldorado gets used on backcountry trips and for snow camping. I've even car camped in the desert with it as it keeps out blowing sand better than a 3 season tent. I got the Lighthouse because I wanted the floor space of an Eldorado but BD didn't sell a Superlight model that size with a front entry. I'd actually prefer front entry for backpacking and almost went with the Firstlight for that reason.

A good friend uses his BD Firstlight tent as his first choice for summer backpacking trips. It's lightweight, compact, freestanding, and sets up easily. A great tent.

I shared it with him on a trip earlier this year:

[ninjapuppet]

So I picked up a Unna a few weeks back after seeing Tas01's very interesting setup here http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14052&start=30#p185891.
This is my 6th Hilleberg tent. Ive had a good play with the soulo, atko and now briefly, also the Unna

weights are spot on as Tas01 listed. I already have 2 pyranets but they didnt fit the Unna properly. Its expected to get around to 1.7kg with the modified inner net.
I didnt like the atko because of the low height and set up was very fiddly to get right especially when the ground wasnt flat.
The soulo was great, however I sold it as I felt it was a little overkill for most of the camping that I do in sydney metro. For a longer remote trip, I felt it was slightly cramped. At 2.2kg, a little on the heavy side. Condensation was pretty bad on some nights and when packing the tent away, i'd have to remove the inner net before packing it away to prevent it from getting wet. This took away any advantage of it being integral setup.

Unna Vs Soulo
Bummer! I didnt realise the pole setup was completely different. I ignorantly just assumed they were similar except with a 3rd pole in the soulo. The soulo has sleeves at the ends of the poles and clips along the pole, while Unna requires the poles to be slid in like the atko. The soulo setup process is easier in high winds, quicker overall and makes for a far stronger setup since the guys can be wrapped around the poles to transfer force.
Specs are very similar on paper. The Unna is only 10cm longer, 5cm higher and 5cm wider on specs, however it "FEELS" a LOT roomier with the standard setup. At this price range, they're almost identical being only $38 different.

soulo.jpg (47.05 KiB) Viewed 12035 times

unna.jpg (46.11 KiB) Viewed 12035 times

in 25kph winds, the bottom of the Unna flaps ALOT more noticibly than the soulo. I remember the soulo in 40kph winds and it didnt budge at all.
With the customised inner, I think space would be similar to the soulo, maybe more usable length but with a 500 gram saving for a fair bit less stability in strong winds. The Unna poles are longer (ie weaker) and theres only 2 of them.

CONCLUSION
Overall I feel that the Unna meets my needs, as a general tent for 95% of Australian conditions.

Direkt 2
If you're a crazy bugger and seek that other 5% to camp in, it will be perfect as gnarly winds = zero condensation. Since the floor is attached to the walls, it doesnt flap at all in 60 kph winds. Get it If you need a tent that can survive anything, weighs a kilo and has livable space. I love it because I can live with its single skin limitations but I know having no vestibule will irritate too many people.

If you're a bigger person, or you want a larger entrance, or you appreciate the massive view on good weather days, then (maybe) the Unna is a better buy. Get this tent if most of your camping is in that 95% i'm talking about.
It may well possibly handle anything in Australia, but just do expect it to be a little noisy. see how it flaps here at 1:15 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrz6NzBsoOk

However I somehow feel that the soulo is a superior design than the Unna (IF YOU CAN FIT INSIDE IT).
I'm an ultralight backpacker with a base weight under 3kg, but often lug 30kg+ loads up mountains if need be........ like going up to Colin Todd hut to bag some peaks for a week. 500 grams means alot to me, but in this case I'd have to say the soulo is well worth that 500 grams if your camping is in remote regions. Its basically the best all round solo tent that can handle everything in Australia with ease. It would be my pick if i were to buy ONLY 1 tent for year round use in Australia. I only wish i hadn't got rid of it.

[Tas01]

Hello All
As most people over analyse tent weight and features (I’m guilty), in the end it all comes down to personal preferences etc..95% of the time you can get away with a good 3 season tent like the Hubba Hubba/OP gondie or a tarp and bivvy setup.

Over the last 10 years I think I have been through 10 tents. Settled on the Unna because of how it pitches, free standing (still guy it out though), side entry, relative low weight for 4 season capability. Easily turned into a summer tent with decent ventilation, heaps of space for one and can fit two if you need to. Also the American Alpine Institute guides use them often for guiding clients declaring, “They are perfection in design”. I would almost agree if Hilleberg would make a model with 1000 Kerlon instead of 1200 Kerlon.

If your more into doing winter trips (which I’m not)..then the Soulo would be better choice. If someone offered me a Soulo for $100 then I would buy it.

Clip up versus Sleeve is no big deal. Once you get used to how it sets ups and pulls down. It takes no time at all, literally under 1min easy...

I'm not really a fan of having three poles either. Plus the clip up system isn't that much faster than the sleeve method. I do have an Allak....you still have to align the pole into a little sleeve then spend time going around the shelter clipping it up. It’s just as easy to simply pass the pole length through a sleeve and pop up the shelter up. Either way, both methods are easy to put in high winds/raining environments.

The weather I had on Mt Anne was probably worse than that video posted above. You could lean into the wind with your body and be almost horizontal it was pretty cool. 50-61 km/h was my guess as it was an effort to walk against the wind. The Unna did flap but not like that, probably due the area I chose to camp. I don’t think he has pitched the corners out far enough..

Anyways it will survive... ha-ha. All tents flap in the wind if you pitch it in exposed areas.

I think the lightest the Unna can go is 1547g - remove the standard inner and use a sea to summit Nano Mosquito Net 85g for bugs...this is assuming you have lightweight ground sheet etc.

I like the Unna and it’s a keeper for me.

Out of 100 tents I seen on the West Coast Trail in Canada (7days) last week, I was the only one with a Hilleberg. I didn't even see a MLD or other light weight options, expect for 1 OR Alpine bivvy.
Obviously there is a marketing gap somewhere or people just don't care about gear weights...everyone was way over packed as usual. My gear and food was spot on, but seeing as weather was good I should have tarped/bivvy.

Regards, Phil K

[Tas01]

Hello
Just following up on this thread after some dicussion with ninjapuppet.
Last night I found my solo STS mosquito net and quickly took a photo before the sun went down.

I have used it like this on a number of occasions and it works quite well. Just stake that tent out for bombproof shelter during summer storm.

The net drapes over the sleeping bag and person fine with heaps of room in the tent....easily sleeps two and gear. Dimension of the mosquito nets 220cm x 120cm and you can fit two under it.

This setup makes the Unna exactly 1547g - HEAPS of space.
Unna+pole - 1465g
mosquito net - 82g

cheers, Phil

[Happy Pirate]

Hi Phil
I like your tent for the free-standing feature. Handy for places you can't peg into like rock shelves. And the free-hanging mozzie net is nifty. Lighter than a full inner skin and almost as functional in many situations.
But I've always thought Hilleberg were a little heavier than comparable tents. Maybe it's a resilience/strength issue. For me 1.547 kg is far from optimal for a single person shelter. Especially without a floor. And in rainy situations I really appreciate a tub floor. Especially in the tropics. My Mountain Hardware Sprite 1 weighs about the same with a stitched in tub floor/mesh inner. But it is a lot cosier.

I've just bought a Tarp Tent Strat 1 which is 900g and can sleep 2 at a pinch in the mesh inner or 3 without. Poles add about 40g I think.
Still waiting on delivery.

But I could see some of the ideas of your set-up incorporated into future Tarp-style tent designs.

cheers
Steve

[KANANGRABOYD]

I don't know wheter I posted on this topic before et al - too lazy!.
For what is available for a 1 perosn - all season reasonabley priced, bombroof tent...............
I'd go with something like the Tarptent SS1.
But, If you have the cklams - a MSR Carbon Reflex 1/2 is a good tent.
Oh boy this thread should go totally "mirabella!"
atleast 10 good tents fit this thread.
my personal opinion is:
- less than 1.2kg
-3-4 season
-good vestibule
-less than $500AU
This thread will go forever.
Personally - I think only those that actually own and use a "1 person" tent should be contributing to this thread.
Too many this and that etc.
A 1 person tent doesn't honestly offer many things over a 2 person tent.
I'd like to see people back up their theories with pics of them using a solo/1 person tent.
too many opinions and not enuff(sic) actual personal, real life, real season usage.
back up your opinions with pictures and real world usage!

[KANANGRABOYD]

Here's some of my experiences..........

90-buck-tent.jpg (144.66 KiB) Viewed 11634 times

91385823506_0_ALB[1].jpg (55.45 KiB) Viewed 11634 times

tent onboard- in the back of ATV

getting-the-quad-to-the-cabin.jpg (116.39 KiB) Viewed 11634 times

[Happy Pirate]

I don't know wheter I posted on this topic before et al - too lazy!.
For what is available for a 1 perosn - all season reasonabley priced, bombroof tent...............
I'd go with something like the Tarptent SS1.
But, If you have the cklams - a MSR Carbon Reflex 1/2 is a good tent.
Oh boy this thread should go totally "mirabella!"
atleast 10 good tents fit this thread.
my personal opinion is:
- less than 1.2kg
-3-4 season
-good vestibule
-less than $500AU
This thread will go forever.
Personally - I think only those that actually own and use a "1 person" tent should be contributing to this thread.
Too many this and that etc.
A 1 person tent doesn't honestly offer many things over a 2 person tent.
I'd like to see people back up their theories with pics of them using a solo/1 person tent.
too many opinions and not enuff(sic) actual personal, real life, real season usage.
back up your opinions with pictures and real world usage!

OK, so I'll bite.
What in the Helena B is "cklams" and why does it preference one to MSR? It sounds distinctly medicinal but I'll leave the genital innuendo aside...for now.
"Oh boy this thread should go totally "mirabella!" What, you mean Be voted out in favour of someone less obnoxious???
"Personally - I think only those that actually own and use a "1 person" tent should be contributing to this thread." How do you know it is other than thus? Are you a member of the tent police? The solo sleeping patrol??
"A 1 person tent doesn't honestly offer many things over a 2 person tent." Except less weight, smaller footprint, smaller pack space, cheaper price and a recognition of the existence of single folk.
" but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans EVER done for us?"

"I'd like to see people back up their theories with pics of them using a solo/1 person tent - too many opinions and not enuff(sic) actual personal, real life, real season usage.." *!!**gobsmacked**!!*
Wee are talking about SOLO walking, not hanging about and posing in front of fotografers. Personaly the last thing on my mind at the end of a day of solo walking is setting up posed piktures of myself languishing seductively over my tentt. I get outdoors to get AWAY from "look at me, look at mee!" culchure. And believe me - my tired semi-nude sweaty torso is the last thing you'd want to see!!

"back up your opinions with pictures and real world usage!" - I'm not sure I see the problem here.
Is the blogosphere (Forumosphere? Hikeosphere?? Walk&Talkosphere??) being clogged up with fake solo hike postings?
Are people being sucked into unreasonable solo tent purchases by scruple-lacking insincere solo-hiking-tent-trolls selling fake Korean goods as quality NZ produce?
Are you spending valuable time filtering out spam on the solo-hiking-tent issue by spammers sending messages from Nigeria offering you $12,600,000 in solo hiking tents?
Were you sucked into a passionate but shortlived on-line affair with a sexy solo-hiking babe who you only found to be a dodgey chat bot when she couldn't provide photos of her customised solo tent?
Does the fact that you...(OH I could go on like this all night... )
I think you need to explain why you feel there is a need for a strangle-hold on solo-hiking-tent-opinion-based-fora. Otherwise there seems to be an element of chest-beating going on here. (possibly exemplified by your picture?)

PS I agree with you on the Tarp Tent SS1 (already purchased) but suddenly I feel as if I've been bullied into it
All in good fun,
take care but no offense
Steve

[Strider]

Cklams is meant to be clams. I.e. ifnyou can afford one, an MSR is the ultimate (apparently).

[Strider]

Cklams is meant to be clams. I.e. if you can afford one, an MSR is the ultimate (apparently).

[Happy Pirate]

Cklams is meant to be clams. I.e. ifnyou can afford one, an MSR is the ultimate (apparently).

So ifnyou can afford one and you have clams, a MSR is the ultimate somethingthingymajig..?! .

OK so what in the B Pitt of Helena does clams have to do wiv the cost of an MSR??
And whiy woold yoo wants wun.
Do they have intergrated clam holders?
Are they clam-friendly.
Clamodynamic?
Clamocide or clam repellant properties?
What is this secret connection between MSR and clams??!!
Are the shareholders of MSR secret Clamophiles? Clamstrophobic? Secret alien clams hiding in human skin?
Has anyone noticed that all of KANANGRABOYD's tents look like... CLAMS!!??
The public deserves an answer!!!!!

[Strider]

Put a clam in it Steve

[Happy Pirate]

Put a clam in it Steve

But where does the clam GO?
Should I shove it up my MSR? What if I'm a Macpac man?
I still don't understand......

"A clam should look for what is, and not for what he thinks MSR should be.
Albert Einstein "

"If one clam reference is lost we must explain the analogy to the entire forum"
Martin Luther King

Sage advice

I still don't understand the clam thingie.
You probably think I'm joking. Or a subversive element from free-clams-now.com
I'm confused

Steve

[Happy Pirate]

Put a clam in it Steve

But where does the clam GO?
Should I shove it up my MSR? What if I'm a Macpac man?
I still don't understand......

"A clam should look for what is, and not for what he thinks MSR should be.
Albert Einstein "

"If one clam reference is lost we must explain the analogy to the entire forum"
Martin Luther King

Sage advice

I still don't understand the clam thingie.
You probably think I'm joking. Or a subversive element from free-clams-now.com
I'm confused

Steve

OOHH!!! -- -- -- -- CLAMS!!! -- -- -- DUH!!!
I get it now! - (un)Popular euphemism for MONEY!
And all along I was looking for a secret conspiracy of molluscs. (Y'all thinked I wuz joking).
OK so what were we talkin' about before I lost the plot?
Oh Yeah - A profusion of fashion fotographers hangin' about single folks tents in the midst of people-free wilderness?
Cool!
No clams on me no more.
Steve

[Happy Pirate]

And still I suspekt y'all think I wuz jest takin' the pizz.
Nor thet I dun't take this hole conversatshun seereeeesly.
Eevun Nouw.
But until now I didnt think how I feld that I Ment - Lonng liv Ridley Walker.
Stev

[Tas01]

Hi Phil
For me 1.547 kg is far from optimal for a single person shelter.
Steve

I totally agree with this statement..for me I dont have to worry about my tent being ripped to shreds by crazy weather..I'm pretty confident that my Hille can handle it.

I have been down the lighweght option and i think i have the happy medium where I have 1 tent that can do it all..beach to mountains.

everyone has different level of comfort also..sometimes i just sleep in a bivy on the summit.
cheers.

[stry]

Have the Unna users actually weighed their complete Unna (Outer,Inner, poles, pegs, guys, stuffs) ?

If so, could you please post the weights ?

Most tentmakers seem to crib by only 50 or so grams with their claimed weights, but I have encountered discrepancies of over 200grams between actual and advertised weights. Should I go down the Unna path, I would like to avoid finding out the hard way that it is heavier than my Nallo 2.

[Franco]

Stray,
Tent weight can change because of fabric and some time because of an updated design.
So say a 2010 Unna may be of a different weight to a 2013 version.

[stry]

Thanks Franco. That's understood, but I wouldn't expect 200grams without some major change.

I would still be interested to get actual weights from owners.

[stu]

Well, my 2 bobs worth if it hasn't already been mentioned - the Hilleberg Anjan 2 is a superb 3 season one person tent (yes, it states 2 person, but if like me you like to spread yourself & your gear out it is an ideal solo tent).
It is as light or lighter (around 1.7k) than alot these Unna modifications mentioned.
I used to have a Soulo, & while it was a brilliant, bomb proof 4 season / mountaineering tent, it was way too much tent for what I need down here in Tassie.
Below a pic of the Anjan on the Prince of Wales Range in January this year.