Copper spur hvul2 vs lunar solo

Is staking that big of issue?
Nah, not a bit – unless there is any wind at all. If there is, you might see your tent go sailing off in the wind to the Never-Never. Where it will doubtless be shredded. That has happened.

Cheers

The Lunar Solo is an amazing solo tent, but it is definitely NOT freestanding – you have to stake it in at all points for it to function at all.  Your only optional stake is the tie-out that gives you a little more headroom if you run a guyline over your second trekking pole.

I like my HVUL2. Comes with 8 stakes but to keep from flying away only 2 well-anchored stakes required.

Quinton, I lived in N TX, OK and backpacked the Ozarks. I encountered plenty of severe storms with 50+ mph winds. One trip in particular comes to mind. We were camping by the treeline at the Kyles Landing campground on the Buffalo River. Being early May, there were at least 200 tents in the big field in the bend of the river. A scout troop from KC had a weather radio and told us tornadic storms were on the way. We were in a Sierra Designs mountain dome and deployed the guy lines for anticipated winds. The storms hit around 2 am. They were bad, we could hear trees breaking. We rolled out at first light as did the scout troop. Our tent, the scout’s tents and 3-5 others were left standing. Many dozens of tents were flattened (at least 150+ tents destroyed). From that episode I can faithfully say ALWAYS use stakes and generous is better than skimpy. Get over your fear of stakes. It beats waking up in a storm-flattened tent! Look at this way, when most folks went to bed they had no idea bad storms were on the way. The bad stuff hit when they were asleep – no time to adjust. Whether the plains or the mountains, bad weather happens. Be a wise camper – at least stake out the corners and vestibule.

Cheers,
Bill in Roswell

Comparing two shelters as different as these two comes down mostly to the difference between a shelter that requires more careful attention to detail in setting up and also requires more of the stakes you place (as in, loads them more heavily), as in the Lunar Solo, and a shelter that relies more on pole structure as does the HVUL2. Which means that if you want to fiddle less, are camping on terrain where it’s hard to get solid stake placements,  or just want to keep things simple, something like an HVUL2 suits you better. Of course, you ought to compare an HVUL1 perhaps, being closer in size to a lunar solo. The HVUL2 is so much larger in terms of internal volume than a Lunar solo that it’s not a fair comparison

Of course, you ought to compare an HVUL1 perhaps, being closer in size to a lunar solo. The HVUL2 is so much larger in terms of internal volume than a Lunar solo that it’s not a fair comparison

Totally agree.

I have the CS HVUL2, and have had the UL1… the UL1 is one of the largest 1P tents out there… it is truly palatial. It’s a FANTASTIC tent. Perfect for a 6’/180lb guy wanting more room than a typical “mummy” 1P tent.

I bought a hvul2 and used it this last week.I like the ease of setup but  it was to fragile for me.Both vestibule rain fly zippers hung up and i had to rip one loose.While they are light and i am easy on gear that was not what I expected,it’s getting sent back.

So now back to looking at the lunar solo,does it need the be babied as well?