Ways to make a Golite Shangri La 1 better?

I would not suggest a Moment for you…
The Notch or the Rainbow could work…

Brett, what timing. I have my SL-1 set up in the yard, as I am customizing one of Lawson's 1/8" pads to serve as its ground sheet. Here's a photo showing what I've done. First, I tied the trekking pole handles with a strip of velcro to secure them in the pole pocket. Then, I've used a dedicated foot pole that I scavanged from a couple of sections of one of Henry Shires' poles. In the photo you'll see that I have tied the door completely open. With the inverted V front pole arrangement, it's easy to get in/out of the tent. I love the amount of room I have when not using the nest. Two people (good friends…) could squeeze into it easily. With the entry flaps closed, I would think you would have plenty of usuable length, without your feet touching the pole at the foot end.

@ Gary, The thing is I need the bug nest to work more than the fly.

@ Franco, Definitely not the Notch, maybe a Rainbow. Or just get two poles and a bug inner tent with a tarp.

Has anybody heard of taking out the vent stay (the piece of pole that keeps the vent bent outwards) so that the tarp can be better compressed? I've had one for about a year at this point and stopped using the nest and instead have started using a Borah Bivy. However, that pole keeps it from being packed up small which is a hassle when using a smaller pack (ie MLD Burn). I'd like to find a way to make the stay removable but put back in like with the Duomid but have no skills at all when it comes to MYOG or alterations! Anybody heard of doing this?

If the limitation is the Nest(bug Net), you could try modifying it, the fly itself should be big enough for you, but I don't remember the length of the Nest. Maybe add bungee on the ends to pull the mesh closer to the fly.

As far setup time, like most shelters, practice makes a huge difference.
I found it very easy/quick to set up after 4 or 5 tries.

The hoop in the vent could be removed and the vent held in place with velcro or other methods. I'd probably make it removable by sliding it out and back in as needed.

I had the predecessor to the Shangrila called the Hut. It was basically the same thing without the top vent.
You may have to be a little more careful about ventilation in some cases if the vent is sealed.

Another mod is to replace or modify necessary weight, like removing the big logo patch, modifying and/or replacing the tie-outs.

When pitched correctly with solid stake points, the Shangri-la can be a bombproof 4 season shelter that will withstand more wind than most tents.

Also, regarding the pole getting in the way, there isn't any one location to put the pole, it can be angled away from the exit area. It doesn't have to be totally perpendicular to the ground.

Before you decide to get rid of it, sit down and spend a few minutes with it. Your height could be a problem with most shelters, but can usually be fixed with a shelter like yours.

Just keep the poles out of the open right half plane…

(rimshot)

I agree, the more you set this tent up the easier it gets.

I'm also pretty tall, 6'6", and I find the shangrila 1 fine for me–plenty of room between the poles to sleep without hitting the sides at all. To get in and out, it's not that hard to move the pole over to one side after the tent is all setup. And to that point, you can move the front pole on a slight angle forwards to add a few inches inside there. I haven't used the bugnest yet, so can't comment on how that would work for being so tall.

I have a fly creek ul2 for when i don't feel like going full UL trekking pole style. Is not much more weight for a full tent, and i fit in it ok. I hit the end a little, but i'm ok with that.

I better reply here while I still can and before my membership runs out soon. Thanks for all of the assistance but the main thing for me was the bug nest as I live in a part of the country that pretty much has bugs from the last day of frost to the first day of frost. I did try it a few times but I still could not situate myself in it without hitting one wall or the other on the ends so I sent it back. I think it could be a good tent for someone else but it was just not enough what with the length issues and the possibility that I could have knocked out a pole just by tossing and turning in my sleep coupled with the fact that it was still hard to get in and out of it even with the pole to the side.

Hi there
I'm searching for a good solution concerning the back pole of the Shangri-La 1. The back pole keeps sliding out of his position, becomes unstable and collapses. I prefer to tie a cord at the outer loop and tie the cord to a tree. But if there is no tree and I've to use the back pole in the inside of the tent, I'm frustrated.
Thank you

I removed all of the webbing tie outs and replaced them with a short section of triptease and a lineloc.

I was also looking for a way to mod the vents so I could compress it into a smaller stuff sack. I ended up cutting a small opening on the under side of the vent and removing the plastic pieces that keep the vent open. I took some flexible plastic tubing and replaced both vents with it. When I set it back up, I realized that the tubing was not going to be stiff enough to hold the vent fully open. Haven't had a chance to do it yet, but I'm going to sew a stiff piece of velcro that will hold the vent open. The velcro will also separate so the vent will collapse when the tarp if stuffed. Probably hard to visualize from my poor description, but I will post some pics as soon as I finish it.

It weighs 19oz right now without the small pieces of velcro. Not too bad since my duomid also weighed in at 19oz after being seam sealed.