Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo
Weight: 740g
Price: £240
Internal Size: 2.4 m2
While you may not have heard of Six Moon Designs before, they are in fact an extremely popular brand within the ultralight hiking and fastpacking community. For that reason, the Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo makes for an ideal tent for fast and light solo trips.
The Lunar Solo is a hybrid tarp / tent design that features a single skin of silicon coated polyester upper that’s suspended off a trekking pole. This upper is pegged down at the edge and corners to form a hexagonal shape around its base.
This design gives a relatively large sleeping area, with 1.2 metres of height and 2.4 square metres of sleeping space. On top of that, you’ve also got the benefit of a 0.8 square metre porch, providing plenty room to cook and organise your kit – something we feel is an essential feature in single skin tents to avoid touching the potentially damp walls of the main compartment.
You’ll be able to pitch this tent in no time, once you’ve got the hang of it. First of all, peg down the back corner, then stick your trekking pole in place and pull the guyline on the peak to then peg down the front, followed by the corners. Don’t worry if the sides look to be high off the ground; this has been done to promote ventilation.
Full Specification
Full vestibule / high vent / zipper vestibule closure / easy tensioning adjustment / floating canopy / floating floor / optimized sleeping area / centre pole support
Selected for the Outdoor 100 2019/20 – Read our full Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Tent review
Snugpak Ionosphere
Weight: 1520g
Price: £200
Internal Size: (LxWxH): 240cm x 90cm x 75cm
If you can’t stomach forking out £500 or so for a premium tent, but still want a sturdy, roomy and weatherproof shelter for your backpacking adventures, then look no further than the Ionosphere. At £180, Snugpak’s offering is the joint cheapest tent on test, making it an affordable and excellent value option. It can’t compete with Terra Nova, Hilleberg and co in terms of weight – at 1520g it is heavier than many solo wild campers would prefer – and it isn’t as flush with high-end touches and premium materials. But don’t be fooled into thinking the low price tag means low features. This is a great tent at a great price.
Snugpak’s Ionosphere is a long, narrow and low profile tent, with a huge floorspace. At 240cm in length, it is big enough for even the tallest of wild campers, and there is ample room for a single occupant with lots of equipment, despite the lack of a porch. At only 75cm high, it isn’t the best for sitting up in, but the low profile means the tent isn’t thrown around by the wind. The two-pole, hooped structure feels sturdy and durable, while the 5000mm hydrostatic fly sheet with taped seams effectively keeps out the rain and the accompanying mesh interior effectively prevents condensation (and midge attacks). Other positives include the military green colour, which is ideal for stealthy wild camping; and the 16 star-shaped pegs, which enable extremely secure pegging out.
As with any product, there are of course some negatives. The pole sleeve, which is split into three parts, is fiddly and awkward, while the very low profile of the tent makes sitting up without your head pressing against the inner roof impossible. In some ways, the Ionosphere could be described as a very large, hooped bivvy bag, or perhaps a particularly shallow, squat tent. But none of this really matters. At £180 and a weight of 1520g, this is an amazing value tent that is lightweight, sturdy and weatherproof – a great companion for adventures, both big and small.
Pros: excellent value; large floorspace
Cons: poor head room; relatively heavy; no porch
Full Specification
210T ripstop nylon 5000mm outer / 48cm x 14cm pack size /
anodised Aluminium poles, 100% aluminium / single-point side entry / taped seams / 14 lightweight alloy pegs.
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