Easiest shelter to set up… with one arm?

yeah, I figured that would "pop up"

a comment said 4.4 lbs, which I wouldn't call ultralight, but pretty convenient!

I have a friend who uses a pop-up tent he bought from costco for car camping, but it has a packed size of an average third grader.

setting it up looks easy,taking it down maybe not so much…

I'll try the Moment when I get the time.

I could not resist the challemge.
Moment
took me 3:40 sec from inside the stuff sack to correctly set up.
(my best set up with two hands is 49sec)

I have an SMD trekker and its he fastest, easiest set up ever. Out three stakes in, add two internal poles, and stake out vetibiules. No guy lines, just adjust the tie outs and angle of the interior poles or hiking poles. I can do it in under a minute. One caveat, you'll need to leave the interior pole sleeve installed but it packs up well that way and I usually do this anyway.

hi Brian
The point here is to do it with one hand. Try that with yours and let us know.

Collapsing the Pop Up tent.
I had this video clip in mind :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxER4KXOFog
The clip was sent to me by the designer of that tent…

Ozzie,
"One Hand UL" came up a few years ago. I can't find the thread.

But in terms of shelters a LineLock goes a long way towards one handed operation, both to tighten and to loosen. Putting a loop in the end of a line for the stake, and attaching the LineLock to the body of the shelter keeps the adjustment out of the mud, and allows for buried anchors in sand, and a "stacked rocks" approach.

I think anything with tensioned, arcing, poles would be a problem when you try to set the end in the grommet, and when you have to stretch the fly over a spreader pole.

Edit: My Terra Nova Photon might work if you added a "anchor tab" to kneel or stand on while inserting the pole into the 2nd grommet.

My Hexamid Plus would work.

I was also thinking the hexamid plus would work. I may try this afternoon…I'm curious now.

Probably pyramid silnylon shelter with linelock will be the easiest.Stake 4 corner and use one piece stick/pole for center.that's it with a bit of practice!good luck

I vote for my 3-sided pyramid and Black Diamond carbon pole. One hand with eyes closed. Put a peg in a corner loop, pull the next corner taut and put in a peg, pull the final corner taut and put in a peg. Shake out the pole, go inside, stand up, (head finds apex), put pole in apex, swing to middle (more or less). Grip pole end between feet and pull up adjustable section until taut.

(You can then put in three edge guys at your convenience)

To put it away, reverse the process, then stuff into sack peak first so corners go last. Stand on edge of sack to hold it still while stuffing.

I was thinking a four-sided mid, but three sided would be even easier! I didn't know black diamond made an adjustable carbon shelter pole (other than trekking poles). I just figured putting two trekking poles together with the coupler thingy would be hard with one arm.

But… what if it's tick/mosquito season? I suppose add a bivy…

Greg- I was also thinking about the addition of some sort of foot/knee anchor, or what you could use with a free-standing tent that is already there. If you stake out the corners first, you might not need an anchor? I may have to pull out the "loaner" tent and give this a try…

The Notch is a "pole supported Moment". Might work for you.

mld solmid, first you stake out the 4 corners then put in the pole.
Very quick easy pitch, you would need to stick your head in the doorway and hold the doorway up for a moment with your head as you reached down to pick up the pole but its doable.

Ozzy,
You are right about staking first and then inserting to the grommet. It all depends on how much of a tab they give you. I've not tried this exercise, so it's just a "thought experiment" for me. Add the "anchor tab" only if needed, which will become apparent as you wrestle with various shelters. Adaptive "technology" is only worthwhile if it helps ;-) But "anchor tabs", here and there for knees or teeth, just might make something possible.

I've not tried this exercise, so it's just a "thought experiment" for me. When I look at our free standing Big Agnes Salt Creek I can't figure out how to 1) operate the Fastex clips to attach the fly to the corners, 2) or how to get the spreader rod into the fly's pockets. I can barely get it don't with two hands and a bit of color.

On Ozzy's comment: Black Diamond's carbon pole from the Mega Light is adjustable. The top section is aluminum with a brilliant angled ferrule and jam washer. I can't find a pic online or I'd post it here. The adjustment allows for pitching tight to the ground or up about 8" off.

Although I love my 3-sided 'mid, it is very space inefficient and I haven't actually used it on a trip. It weighs 17 oz and is 35 square feet (including very pointy corners, vs 24 oz. and 75 square feet for my Black Diamond Mega Light. (The TetraMid was a production error by a cottage manufacturer- seamstress got lost in the billowing fabric and missed a side)

loads of easy to set up shelters ,in theory.
So far I am still the only one that knows for sure…

Franco – it can be done, but alas I have nowhere to try it until I am out again, if I bring the SMD, but it would be easy provided the pole support stayed in the tent. I don't think that could be threaded with one hand.

I just went out and set up my SMD Skyscape, to see how easily it sets up with one arm.

Starting from fully packed, to me sitting inside, took me just over 3 minutes.

I had to use my teeth to help open the stuff sack. I used my head to hold up the peak,

after I inserted the first pole, to be able to put in the second pole.

Overall, I would say it worked pretty well, but packing it back up was a bit more challenging. A bigger stuff sack, that you could hold with you're teeth while you stuff the tent in would probably make it much easier.

now I have set up the Notch ,single handed (…), too.
3:20. That is without fixing the inner to the poles but having the "rainfly" set up correctly so the time included a bit of fiddling with one end and tightening the guylines.
BTW, I used my right hand because I thought that if you only have one hand that will be the one you favor.

"BTW, I used my right hand because I thought that if you only have one hand that will be the one you favor."

I am left handed and in my experience it is the left arm or hand that gets inured most often. so practicing with your best hand may not be a good idea.

I was thinking something like the BD Firstlight and other similar 2-pole single-walled tents (similar ones have been mentioned above) might be fairly easy with one hand – and fairly UL. Stake out corners, extending rods should be a snap (pun intended) one handed. Then you just grab a rod and poke it spear-like into one of the far corners, hang on the rod and you push it into the tent and seat the other end in the opposite front corner, all with one hand. Rinse and repeat for other rod. Step inside tent and adjust position of rods if required. Fastening the velcro rod attachments may not be too necessary if the weather is not rough, but I believe you could do these one handed as well. Definitely the easiest and fastest tent set up, however many hands, I have ever used – especially in high winds. I think the one-handed stipulation would make this one much more doable than a lot of the other ones mentioned if the weather was making things difficult.

Now I want to go out and try it out too.

I would think any tarp or tent with guy lines that could get at all tangled in packing might be off the table in this case. The design style mentioned above does have the advantage that there are no cords required at all, unless a hurricane is on the way.

Regardless of shelter, I bet the drummer from Def Leppard would have even Franco beat on his two-arm attempts.