How light can you go?

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Vorpal
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by Vorpal »

My first tents were hand-me-downs from family. While my first was a reasonably good tent from a few years before I got it (my cousin upgraded), the first tent I ever bought was a budget model & certainly did what it said in the tin.
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

You had a tent in a tin? Cool!
iandusud
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by iandusud »

pjclinch wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 2:52pm Lest we get too precious about high-end tents, my tandeming pals went round the Western Isles with a cheap (and light) Eurohike dome, cost about £40. I've posted a pic of our Spacepacker somewhere here, next to us on the same site was a chap doing LEJoG and he was also using a cheap (and light) Eurohike dome and hadn't had any troubles with it.

Speaking as a dreadful gear snob, I think it's worth pointing out that you don't need to listen to dreadful gear snobs to get something that is at least functional and that you can have fun with.

Pete.
I couldn't agree more.
https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/campi ... px/purple/
I've bought a couple of these over the years for our children and they are perfectly adequate for most uses. Large enough for solo use with plenty of room for kit inside. At 2.2 about the same weight as my Spacepacker plus which I've used for solo camping. All for £29.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Jdsk wrote: 16 Apr 2021, 11:09am
leftpoole wrote: 16 Apr 2021, 10:43am
Jdsk wrote: 16 Apr 2021, 10:23am
We're happy with our late 70s Base Packer. It does what we ask of it. How would anything newer be easier to use?
How? Simply read and absorbe anything on a website such as Hilleberg.
Saunders are very old hat out of date. At the time they came into existence were indeed, very good, but now.......
I couldn't care less if anyone thinks that it's "out of date" or "old hat". How would anything newer be easier to use, please?

Thanks

Jonathan
https://www.myoutdoors.co.uk/gear-news/ ... remembered
Ridge tents waste a lot of space.
Large flat panels that catch the wind.
Outdated now for sure.
Needs lots of footprint area for same internal usable volume.
If you are happy great.
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willem jongman
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by willem jongman »

For the children I bought an 89 euro Decathlon Quickhiker 2 for festival use. I used it a couple of times as a solo tent and it was pretty decent. But at 2.8 kg it is not light, and I would be a bit apprehensive about really bad weather. Their more expensive models are rather better and lighter.
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by PH »

I forget the model now, but some years ago there was an Argos tent that got great reviews, even when compared against tents 5X the price.
It also amused me that Rivendell, purveyors of fine but pricey bikes, used to recommend a $100 tent as being as good as anyone needed (Spitfire? I did have a look at the time but again it was some years ago)
I had a 20+ year gap in my camping trips, the tent that it'd taken me a year to save for (Atlas?), was inferior to the cheap Coleman I bought on my return. I replaced that with a TN Solar 2.2 about fourteen years ago, which is a better tent in every way, though the differences are not as great as the price difference. I was lucky enough to get a replacement fly for it a couple of years ago, so I'm expecting it to outlive me, it suits me better than any other tent I've tried or seen, so I'm uninterested in hearing that there's been improvements since. Having said that, I do have a hankering for a sub 5kg kit list, for fast overnighters or even a couple of nights, not so much for the weight saving itself, rather that it would then be more practical to use a different bike. My finger had s hovered over the buy button a few times, but I'm not sure I could live with the compromises.
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by willem jongman »

As I think I have said before, the savings start with reducing the bulk of the sleeping kit, and also clothing. Once that is done, you can save a lot on size and hence weight of bags.
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andrew_s
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by andrew_s »

PH wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:53pm I forget the model now, but some years ago there was an Argos tent that got great reviews, even when compared against tents 5X the price.
This one:
https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Pr ... e-Lite/497

5x the price wasn't too difficult, as you could often find it priced at £17 or £18
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
andrew_s wrote: 21 Apr 2021, 9:33pm
PH wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:53pm I forget the model now, but some years ago there was an Argos tent that got great reviews, even when compared against tents 5X the price.
This one:
https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Pr ... e-Lite/497

5x the price wasn't too difficult, as you could often find it priced at £17 or £18
I have bought four and own two (1 spare) :)
A copy, but ticks all the boxes, I also have a eureka spitfire which comes in at 1.5 kg.
Tiger paws.
http://www.eusebiosporting.com/t-tigerpaws.html
They seem to showing as two man unless its different from the solo one?
But yes you could sleep two for shelter no problem.
I like it because its green as well, tho they did in orange.
The link I posted does show different detail on the fly....?
https://maceachain.blogspot.com/2009/06 ... art-1.html
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pjclinch
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by pjclinch »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:11pm
Ridge tents waste a lot of space.
Large flat panels that catch the wind.
Outdated now for sure.
As recently as 2020 Hilleberg released their Anaris ridge tent model. Outdoor magazine in Germany gave it their 2020 Editors’ Choice Best Tent Award. Also picked up a Scandanavian Outdoor Award for Hardware.

But if you want to get in touch with Bo and Petra and tell them they don't know what they're doing...

All tents are compromises. None is optimal for all cases. Ridges still work well at some things (and the Spacepacker is a modified ridge, with a ridge-like inner)

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
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horizon
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by horizon »

pjclinch wrote: 22 Apr 2021, 4:10pm
NATURAL ANKLING wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:11pm
Ridge tents waste a lot of space.
Large flat panels that catch the wind.
Outdated now for sure.
Ridges still work well at some things

Pete.
Would you care to list them? My own guess is that the ridge is a fundamentally strong (triangulated) structure, very simple in design and more tolerant of inexactitude. Anyone can construct a simple ridge tent (though I presume bending the right branches into a tunnel shape isn't rocket science either!).

I do appreciate the space that a tunnel/dome provides, less appreciative of broken poles and structural weakness. I also wonder whether there is more actual material involved in a tunnel/dome and that this therefore makes them more dependent on lightweight materials.
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KTHSullivan
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by KTHSullivan »

Classical "Force 10" tents (the orange ones) are ridge tents and have been to base camp and higher on Everest on a regular basis. Very nice tents but not what could be construed to be light weight.
Just remember, when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed. :lol:
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
pjclinch wrote: 22 Apr 2021, 4:10pm
NATURAL ANKLING wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:11pm
Ridge tents waste a lot of space.
Large flat panels that catch the wind.
Outdated now for sure.
As recently as 2020 Hilleberg released their Anaris ridge tent model. Outdoor magazine in Germany gave it their 2020 Editors’ Choice Best Tent Award. Also picked up a Scandanavian Outdoor Award for Hardware.

But if you want to get in touch with Bo and Petra and tell them they don't know what they're doing...

All tents are compromises. None is optimal for all cases. Ridges still work well at some things (and the Spacepacker is a modified ridge, with a ridge-like inner)

Pete.
Assuming this is the tent?
https://trekandmountain.com/2020/08/30/ ... is-review/
AFEA678A-6A75-43B8-8D2F-6C1D8CC04047.png
https://outdoorguru.com/outdoorgear-en/ ... nt-review/
33F87040-35B7-4E72-99B4-EC630B9DD526.png
Space Packer Is a hoop tent Not a ridge?
Okay let's call it a ridge, The trouble with ridge tents they have to be extra tall to be practical.
Then we get back to the problem of stability?
Twin hooped tents are very difficult to beat, in my opinion.
This looks interesting, not read it yet.
http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/20 ... g.html?m=1
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boblo
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by boblo »

Spacepacker? IIRC it was/is a transverse ridge, the ridge happens to be a flexi pole that looks like a hoop...

I had one for years. Again from memory, approx 1.75kg and big enough for two. The only real downside was the steeply sloping sides that gave you a faceful of fabric in windy conditions. Used mine all year round for mountain backpacking and bikepacking.

I now use a Laser Competition when solo and a Big Agnes Seedhouse 2 when accompanied or need a bit of extra space. I also have a Quasar for more specialist use...
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pjclinch
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Re: How light can you go?

Post by pjclinch »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote: 22 Apr 2021, 7:08pm
Assuming this is the tent?
<snip>
Yes, that's it. The downsides listed there don't strike me as deal breakers.
NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Space Packer Is a hoop tent Not a ridge?
Okay let's call it a ridge, The trouble with ridge tents they have to be extra tall to be practical.
As boblo notes, it's a ridge formed by a hoop. The inner is the same triangular prism you'll get in a "pure" ridge.
The Spacepacker is not extra tall. It is practical. A "classic" orange Force 10 is not extra tall. It is practical. And so on.
NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Then we get back to the problem of stability?
Just as well you put a question mark there... what stability problems does a Force 10 have, exactly?
NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Twin hooped tents are very difficult to beat, in my opinion.
Depends what you want. For my money they're easy to beat... with a three-hoop design! (our Kaitum is more often than not our weapon of choice). But say you have two hoops, would they be crossing to give you a dome, or set apart to give a tunnel. Both are "twin hooped" but they have different pros and cons, and in any case the devil tends to be in the detail. Even if you want a tunnel, which is better out of a transverse tunnel like the Saunders Galaxy or Hilleberg Stalon, or the more common design sleeping parallel to the apex? Pros and cons each way, still with the devil in the detail.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
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