Ultralight backpacking tents are a very good choice if you’re attempting to cut back the load of your backpacking gear however you’re unwilling to surrender the consolation of a tent and sleep beneath a tarp with out insect safety. The lightest weight ultralight backpacking tents are sometimes made with Dyneema Composite Fabrics (DCF) and use trekking poles as a substitute of tent poles to avoid wasting weight. While many are single-wall tents and extra vulnerable to inner condensation, some are double-wall tents or a hybrid mixture of the 2. But don’t low cost tents made with extra typical materials which might be freestanding, extra wind worthy, longer for tall folks, or extra spacious, particularly for {couples}. There has by no means been a greater time than now to purchase a light-weight tent.
Here are the ten greatest ultralight backpacking tents that we suggest.
See our recommendation on the backside of the web page for recommendation about how to decide on between these completely different choices.
1. Zpacks Duplex Tent (2P)
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Zpacks
2. Gossamer Gear “The One” (1P)
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Gossamer Gear
3. Durston X-Mid 1 (1P)
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Kasovo Outdoors
4. NEMO Hornet Elite OSMO 2 (2P)
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REI | Backcountry | NEMO
5. Tarptent Double Rainbow (2P)
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Tarptent
6. Zpacks Plex Solo (1P)
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Zpacks
7. Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo (1P)
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Six Moon Designs
8. Tarptent Notch Li (1P)
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Tarptent
9. Hyperlite Mountain Gear Unbound 2 (2P)
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Hyperlite Mountain Gear
10. Tarptent Dipole (2P)
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Tarptent
Ultralight Backpacking Tent Selection Guide
The backpacking tent producers who make trekking poles tents use a variety of various supplies and designs. When searching for a tent, it’s essential to know the tradeoffs of the fashions you’re contemplating and the way they will complement your adventures.
Ultralight Tent Materials and Price Points
Trekking poles tents can be found in quite a lot of completely different supplies and at completely different worth factors. Dyneema DCF is the lightest weight materials and the costliest, partly as a result of it requires specialised manufacturing processes. Tents made with Silpoly, Silnylon, and PU coated silnylon are a lot inexpensive than Dyneema as a result of they are often sewn utilizing typical strategies. They’re additionally roughly comparable in worth. It’d be troublesome to say which is one of the best cloth to make tents with as a result of cloth high quality varies extensively relying on the producer and specification to which it’s made. That stated, ultralight tentmakers are starting to change away from silnylon to silpoly as a result of it has much less stretch than silnylon and absorbs much less water.
- Tents made with Dyneema DCF are very costly, but in addition very light-weight, waterproof, and powerful. They are extra susceptible to wreck from daylight over the long run, however that’s seldom a problem for most individuals. Dyneema tents should be folded when packed not stuffed, however can nonetheless be surprisingly cumbersome regardless of their low weight.
- Tents made with siliconized polyester (silpoly) are a beautiful different to Dyneema DCF as a result of they don’t stretch a lot in a single day or once they get moist from rain. They’re additionally far inexpensive and a few are seam-taped, so you need to use them out of the field with none seam sealing.
- Tents made with PU-coated silnylon are typically extra waterproof than common silnylon, however it’s essential evaluate their waterproofing specs to make sure. The chief advantage of the PU coating over common silnylon is improved UV resistance and the truth that the fabric might be manufacturing facility seam-taped.
- Tents made with silnylon are nonetheless widespread as a result of it’s a simple materials for producers to work with. While silnylon does stretch at night time and when it will get moist, it’s not as huge a deal as folks make it out to be. Silnylon tents should be manually seam-sealed earlier than they can be utilized in wet climate. While you are able to do this your self, my recommendation can be to pay the producer to do it for you so that you get a tent that’s prepared for use when it arrives.
Single-wall vs Double-wall Tents
Ultralight backpacking tents can be found in single-wall and double-wall fashions, with separate inside tents. While each are vulnerable to inner condensation, the benefit of a double-wall tent is the moisture collects on the underside of the rainfly and never on a wall that has contact together with your sleeping bag, quilt, or different gear. The inside tent and rainfly on many double-wall tents will also be used independently from each other, for instance as a standalone tarp or as a bug bivy, which might lengthen their utility. The benefit of a single-wall tent over a double-wall one is normally decreased weight.
If tent condensation ever turns into a problem for you, we suggest carrying a small absorbent face towel to wipe it away. Tent condensation is a small worth to pay for decreased gear weight and it gained’t kill you except you’re a witch (wizard-0f-Oz reference).
Headroom
Many ultralight backpacking tents pole tents have a pyramid form which might restrict the quantity of headroom and foot room obtainable beneath the sloping ceiling. Lying in your again and watching a ceiling that’s three inches out of your face might be unpleasantly claustrophobic. Make certain you look at the size of the tents you’re contemplating, along with their peak heights.
Trekking pole tents that require two poles to arrange normally have two peaks, which might improve the quantity of livable area overhead, in comparison with a one-pole tent. Some tent producers additionally cut back the slope of the ceiling to create extra headroom. The greatest instance of that is Tarptent’s use of carbon fiber finish struts to extend the quantity of room beneath the ceilings on the head and foot ends of their tents. The draw back of those finish struts is that it may make tents more durable to pack horizontally in a backpack.
Vestibules
Vestibules are good for gear storage, particularly moist gear storage, and for cooking beneath cowl in windy or wet climate. Most one-pole tents have a single vestibule, whereas two-pole tents typically have two. When shopping for a two-person tent, you’ll undoubtedly need two doorways and two vestibules so you possibly can every have your individual entrance and equipment storage space. It will also be fairly helpful to have two doorways and two vestibules on a one-person tent, particularly in case you anticipate stormy climate situations the place you might need to hunker down in your tent for a day. For that matter, many individuals use two-person tents as solo tents, one thing that’s possible with out a main weight penalty since most ultralight backpacking tents are fairly light-weight.
Pole Length
When you select a trekking pole tent, you need to make it possible for it’s suitable with the make and mannequin of trekking pole you utilize when you’ve got a desire. Fixed-length poles that aren’t adjustable might be troublesome to make use of with trekking pole tents which have very particular top necessities. In addition, you need to make it possible for your trekking pole handles are suitable if they’ve a non-standard grip.
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