Tents

Wild Country Helm 1 Tent | Review

A unique tent from Wild Country which is as strong on space as it is on weight...

The first thing you’ll notice about the Helm 1 is its slightly strange asymmetric shape. Don’t worry, that’s deliberate, it’s all about the space-to-weight ratio. The single-person tent, made by Terra Nova Equipment’s sub-brand Wild Country provides a generous amount of inner space while remaining impressively light overall.

Terra Nova and Wild Country’s tents are known for being some of the most technical and reliable on the market.

They were the first company to launch a sub one-kilogram tent after the Millennium, and though their rivals would soon catch up with them, the weight and the little details have always been something at which they have excelled.

The Helm 1 is a shining example of that.

The free-standing tent is designed for the camper or trekker who likes their space, and also a reliable, sturdy design but who also doesn’t want to sacrifice the light weight of their pack in order to get a good night’s sleep. At a pack weight of 1.87kg, this tent strikes a good balance between these things.

“Designed for the camper who likes their space, and also a reliable sturdy design but who also doesn’t want to sacrifice the light weight of their pack to get a good night’s sleep…”

Inside the Helm 1 you’ll find generous headroom and more than just room for your bag and a sleeping mat. Outside you’ll find a spacious porch easily big enough for everything you could possibly need to store on a medium-length walk or trek, which is really the kind of adventure that this tent has been designed for.

Views that are even easier to appreciate with a bit of kit you can rely on... Photo: Chris Johnson.

The Wild Country all packed up. Photo: Chris Johnson.

Generous headroom and a porch to boot. Photo: Chris Johnson.

A free-standing tent with a lot of room. Photo: Chris Johnson.

A midge-proof mesh is incorporated in the inner door for added ventilation and to keep those demonic insects away from you when you wake up in the morning, and there’s a bit of extra storage out the back as well, with a small door at the rear of the inner giving you access to the space under the flysheet.

The tent pitches with the inner and flysheet together, and between that and the colour-coded poles it’s really a very simple setup. Testing this in the Brecon Beacons National Park we had it up in a matter of minutes.

If you’re going to be walking a fair amount and are looking for a single person tent that’s roomy, reliable and not too hard on the shoulders when it’s all packed away, then look no further. The Helm 1 is difficult to beat.