New Seek Outside Solo Shelter – The Silex

7′ x 7′, slight diamond shape due to catenary cuts so one diagonal is 6″ shorter than the other.

It will sleep two on the offset or one diagonally. With two head / foot room becomes an issue for me in heavy rain at my 6’3″ height.

The zipperless door works nicely.

Looks pretty good – a clever design that only requires 4 stakes in an almost-square pattern.

I wonder what the inner tent looks like. And how easy it is to open the door from the inside.

It looks wrinkly to me. I wonder if the photos just show a bad pitch or if its cut and sew and/or patterning is sloppy, maybe it’s just a prototype in the photos?

I don’t want wrinkles in my DCF shelters…

Most of the pics are protos.  Mine had one slightly puckered seam caused by uneven tension on the panels.  That will be corrected in production versions.

Pitched correctly it is very tight.

I love the way Seek Outside are so innovative – their products are always interesting. But I do have some reservations about this shelter.

Pros:

• Should handle gnarly weather pretty well
• A good weight for such a robust shelter
• Quick and easy to pitch
• Lots of vestibule space.

Concerns:

• Quite a big footprint
• An awkward internal shape will require a bespoke nest, unless you use a small bivy. Will the nest work free-standing if you want to sleep under the stars?
• Sloping walls might leave your head and feet close to the fabric, especially on a high air mat – difficult to tell from the current pics
• I accept that zips can be a pain point, but I’m a bit wary of the sliding vestibules. When fully open there’s a lot of flappy-looking loose fabric that might gather water as well. And I can’t see how you could leave it half-closed for venting – what happens to all the loose fabric? Short, straight zips are pretty light and reliable – most of the problems seem to be with long, curved zips. And a zipped vestibule could be a lot more versatile, if well designed. I’m nor convinced that this is the right tradeoff.

But I’m more than open to being proved wrong. I look forward to seeing the hands-on reviews…

Hi Geoff

Thanks for the compliment. Understood the zipperless may not be everyones cup of tea. It does perform well, and is very space efficient, A solo user around 7ft tall on an air pad should be fine. We will show the nest in the next few days.

Regarding your concerns, understood it’s not for everyone. We just won’t put a number #3 in a canopy they are too prone to failure and this is far lighter than a #5. That being said, in real world usage, your concerns have not seemed to be much of an issue. There are a couple things a traditional zippered tent does better with but it isn’t a huge difference, and there are some things this is better. Getting in and out is probably easier in the zipperless honestly and it will catch partial distance if you want some airflow.

The one thing that is a bit different is it does allow essentially a stronger shelter to be built, as the cordage holds those opening sides pretty taught.

Once again thanks, and we will keep trying to innovate.

Kevin

We just won’t put a number #3 in a canopy they are too prone to failure
In the hands of novices, maybe. I can understand that.
But all my tents have used #3 zips and they have lasted for many years with no damage at all. Tricky: how do you tell a customer he is a clumsy idiot?

Cheers

I like this.  Relatively close in specs to my sil Solomid but more usable width due to two peaks.  And the price is right (in sil).  And I’m interested in the zipperliess door.

I really like the looks of this.  Coverage and profile looks very good for wind and rain.  Setup looks nice.  I like the concept of the vestibule doors too.  Good work.  If my trailstar bites the dust, I will give this a closer look for sure.

Please, please, please find some way to add a peak vent. A single one that can be oriented downwind. Same problem as with the HMG Dirigo. Actually, a lot of smaller shelters lack adequate air exchange to combat condensation.

Cool that you can add a small woodstove. That will be one toasty tent.

I ordered a cuben Silex and am excited to put it to use. I plan on pairing it with a Borah Gear bug bivy early season then just a piece of Tyvek once the bugs die down (Mosquitoes are horrible this year in CO it seems). I briefly ran the sister version of this shelter, the Eolus, and my main gripe was the low door opening height but it seems to be much better in the Silex. I felt a bit cramped in the Eolus with two people plus gear but it is too big for solo use so I’m really looking forward to the new Silex.

How are you Silex users getting on with the shelter?

“We just won’t put a number #3 in a canopy they are too prone to failure …

Agree, but have often bought beefier YKK #3 coil zips from Warmlite.  They weighed 0.12 oz/ft vs 0.1 oz /ft for the conventional YKK 3#, which is a bit flimsy.. Also bought #3 tooth zips that are even stronger, but heavier, of course.  Have had no problem with the Warmlite #3 coil, and find them much stronger..Would not use anything less for zipping up an outer door on a 3 season tent.  Check:
https://www.warmlite.com/repairs-and-parts/

The nonzip opening is not unlike Tarptent’s use of sliders to reduce the size of floors.  Agree with Geoff’s comments about loose fabric with the use of sliders; and from the pix on the SS site, looks like there is a lot of precip exposure of the sleeping area when the door is opened to enter and exit, especially with the floor if using the nest.

Could not tell from the SS site how taut the pitch is, but no obvious sagging or wrinkling. Maybe there is a link in the OP that did not appear for me.  It’s night here now, and been raining for several hours; so just checked again the three nylon samples outside for tautness (2 sil/PU, 1 all sil). No sagging, but a slight wrinkling, so think that even with some shockcordage and tension of the fabric on its bias, there will still be less than perfect tautness in all weather with nylon.  But, as has been said, do not sacrifice the good for the perfect, the reason being that nothing is perfect..

I’ve used regular #3 zipper in pyramid tent.  It worked for quite a few days but eventually opened up in the middle.  So I ripped it out and put in #5 which worked without problem.

maybe that beefier #3 would be better

Reviving this thread. After about a year+, how are Silex users enjoying/not enjoying the shelter? Currently comparing Silex/X Mid/SD High Route. On paper there are pros and cons of each, but would love to hear some more real world experience from users of the Silex.

No. 5 for zip for sure. And I clean the 3s and am super careful. still have had issues, especially with a taut pitch (not over tight).

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/seek-outside-silex-and-u-turn-stove-review-by-josh-boyd.182399/

Also several reviews on our site https://seekoutside.com/silex/