UL freestanding tent: Terra Nova Solar Photon 1

What about a MLD Duomid with Innernet.

Has a vent, should have more room and is also lighter in Cuben.

And you can just set up the Innernet. Some people had them in pretty nasty weather.

Ah, just saw that you were looking for freestanding. Can't help you with that.

But it might be worth considering a design that is not freestanding…

Hi GT
We just had a huge but quick (about 20 minute) downpour here so I set up the Contrail do do some taping.
By the time I set that up got inside and changed (I was drenched wearing a rain jacket…) the storm passed…
(got tree drops on the floor , possibly setting it up )
I'll do some thinking and send you a PM.
Edit
I was thinkin of the Photon not the Solar Photon…
Have not seen anything much on that but I will ponder on that design.
Franco

Check out Andy Howells blog for a british perspective. http://www.andyhowell.info/trek-blog/2010/05/31/review-mountain-laurel-designs-duomid-—-cuben-fibre/
On the other hand, the Terra Nova Laser Competition is pretty much the default one person wild camping tent for British wild campers. TN has a good reputation in the UK.

Even though its not super light, the Big Agnes Flycreek 1 fits all your requirements. Ive got the Flycreek 2 and love everything about it.

A caveat with "freestanding" tents. They will stand up by themselves, but aren't functional that way. A Big Agnes Seedhouse requires TWELVE stakes. A Golite Utopia 1 with floor requires EIGHT stakes (only 2 are used with the floor). If you are using trekking poles, there just isn't much gain— just more complex, more to break, more to lose, more cost, more weight.

I do NOT consider the Rainbow freestanding — as extraneous parts (and weight) are required.

For a UL freestanding tent option, take a look at Big Sky International. If you buy, be sure to first check on tent availability. Last I checked, there are Mirage tents on hand. Tents not on hand frequently means months and months of wait time.

I don't use it much anymore but I once enjoyed my Black Diamond Hilight 2 (old Epic fabric with the "classic" water saturation issues that rarely impacted me even in heavy rain) as a spacious solo shelter. The new fabric is supposed to be better and it is a legitimate free-standing tent that can take wind and snow like a champion, yet still weighs around 3 lbs. Nowadays I only use mine when backpacking with wife and dog together, since she likes the complete enclosure versus the tarp.

Nemo has a new line of UL freestanding double walled shelters to be available in the next month or so. The Obi series and an UL version Obi series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Ren3HkJW8

The 1 person will be around 2 lbs fully packed.

More pics:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mltUyRK256s/TOXNG22Jt4I/AAAAAAAAAig/spLECG79O6w/s1600/obi%2Belite%2Bjpegs.jpg

You might want to check out the Easton Kilo.
It appears to meet your requirements.

– JV

Wow, first of all thanks for all the tips. I have to do some more research here. But while looking at your various suggestions I discovered that I forgot to mention 2 more prerequisites of the tent:

– durable fabric (that means no cuben). I use my tents months on end. A typical Tarptent lasts about one year with constant use and I don't think that Cuben is up to that.
– stealth colour (green/brown/gray only). I am from Europe and plan to do more hiking here. In Europe you want to be as stealth as possible when camping and therefore I absolutely need a discreet colour. Unfortunately, this eliminates the otherwise great options of Big Agnes, the Easton Kilo and the Nemo tent.

So far that only leaves the following options:

– Terra Nova Solar Photon 1
– Big Sky Evolution (with the other Big Sky tents you cannot set up the inner tent separately)

I am also still considering the Tarptent Rainbow. I always hike with trekking poles so I DO consider it a freestanding tent. But the Rainbow is single wall again… With the Rainbow I am most worried about wind stability again.

The Terra Nova Solar Photon 1 has quite a unique design and I do wonder how it will fare in strong winds.

Any other options or ideas?
Christine

Have you considered the TT Moment with a liner and crossing pole? It comes pretty close to your requirements (no inner tent though).

Since you use hiking poles and are OK with the Rainbow's extra requirements for freestanding — then the Rainbow can work well for you. But between the Rainbow and the Big Sky Mirage — I would go for the Mirage (if available or if you are in no hurry). I've used both and IMO, the hybrid Mirage 2doors/vestibule/vents fights off condensation better than the Rainbow. However, except for very humid areas where you probably wouldn't use any single wall or hybrid tents anyway… the Rainbow is still a good option in and of itself. That's because the Rainbow is such a voluminous single person tent that even if the walls are coated with a moderate amount of condensation, there is so much room inside that it's easy to keep your gear and yourself away from the wet walls. So moderate amounts of condensation is really no big deal. Hope this helps.

So when I was looking at one person tents, I did notice the BA seedhouse listed as freestanding, but does it truly qualify? Both the BA and Terra Nova tents mentioned used a tripod kind of setup. I wonder how truly freestanding a tent is without four actual pole ends fully extending the floor of the tent. I imagine the floor being pulled taught at a point and really floppy corners at your feet.

Yes, you should stake the corners out, but part of the reason I might prefer a freestanding tent is just in case there is no available option to stake down your tent. In that sort of situation, especially with any unexpected rain, I would think it preferable to have a design that didn't leave your rain fly hanging on your sleeping bag.

So I guess my main question is does this exactly meet the needs of someone looking for a freestanding tent? Personally, I might opt for a little more weight just to opt up for a tent that could give me four fully taught corners.

Jonathan:

The BA Seedhouse 2 SL is freestanding. The four pole corners extend out the tent floor and keep the tent standing and taut without any need for stakes. Obviously, one would want to stake or somehow weigh down the tent so it doesn't fly off with the winds. As well, one would also need to stake down the vestibule to make it usable and to keep it from flapping in the wind.

The pole structure of the BA Seedhouse 1 SL and the BA Flycreek models will enable these tents to stand. But unlike the Seedhouse 2 SL above, two stakes are required to stretch out the floor at the foot end of these models. The vestibules of these tents are the same as the Seedhouse 2 SL described above.

The BA Flycreek is lighter than the seedhouse fyi.

We tested the Terra Nova Solar Photon 1 Tent! Please check our review. Translated by google: http://tiny.cc/ogrlgw

Testbericht Test in deutscher Sprache: http://ich-liebe-berge.ch/WordPress/2012/06/test/

Well, IMHO I think the SMD Skyscape X Cuben fabric tent is the best buy out there in UL solo tents. True, it's held up with your hiking poles but to me that's a plus for weight and "multiple use" reasons.

I know you would like freestanding but is it worth it to have that feature and pay the weight penalty? That's a decision only you can make given your needs.

On my budget I have a TT Moment with the liner. It serves my 3 season purposes very well. It can be made freestanding with the optional crossing pole. (I modded my Moment to run the crossing pole inside the tent and back out both ends at the apex of the end triangles for more canopy support.)

Christine,
This issue has been so often explored that your thread could be just a continuation of several dozen others.

The truth is – No one makes what you are looking for – something eminently livable, with a dry pitch in the rain, a supporting frame that requires only a few pegs for anchoring, not support, and strong materials and construction with a taut pitch.

So if you can handle four pegs, consider a Lightheart gear tent, or a Tarptent Notch if you are a smaller person. Only two pegs that must be rock solid for support on unpegworthy ground or tent platforms. And a couple more to pull out the end covers (vestibules) on the Notch. Try watching the Notch set up video on Tarpent.com and see what you think. It is way more space than the Terra Nova. There are videos of the LHG on U-tube. The Notch also has a rear vestibule, with access for storage.

What you want could be built with high quality carbon poles, and a single wall made of a material both light, strong and highly vapor permeable, much moreso than Goretex and the like. But the Black Diamond tents have been reported to be quite fragile, and how about crawling under the unpitched tent to install poles in a deluge. Ridiculous. And the LHG tents do require you to get partly under the canopy during pitching to install your trekking poles.

I did look at the Mountain Hardwear Super Omega whatever. It is between 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 pounds, depending on how you measure. It is much like the Big Agnes designs, only has a hoop rather than a bow-sided triangle at the front, and the ridge pole extends over the door so the floor won't swamp when getting in and out – both improvements on the Big Agnes design; but you can't pitch it covered in the rain like you can with the TT design; and even with the large floor area, is quite cramped, as the sidewalls behind the hoop descend from the ridge pole in a triangle, just like a pup tent. Folks look at these single ridgepole hub designs and completely miss the fact that they are looking at a glorified pup tent, as far as space goes. The grandaddy glorified pup tent was the hubless North Face Canyonlands – same problem.

I am building a FS tent with carbon poles and Epic fabric for the main canopy. You can search here for the "XX" tarptent thread on MYOG to get the idea. But I can't get it under two pounds without using Cuben for the end covers, which you reject. I think you will have a long wait unless you lower your bar somehow.