Budget bikepacking/backpacking tent

Wa gwan.

I’m in the market for a one-person tent after my fantastic Nemo Gogo bivi-tent fell to bits (seems to happen if you leave it in a dry bag in the loft for about 8 years after a kayaking trip)

I want something that I can take on the bike if I want but will also work on the SUP and motorbike.

I guess the budget is fairly tight, maybe up to around £150 I thought. I don’t want to spend MSR money.

I’ve looked at the Decathlon one, which looks pretty good but have kind of ruled it out based on the colour really, and it’s suitability for camping unnoticed.

I’ve also been looking at one from Go Outdoors which is fairly cheap at the moment. The Oex Bobcat, but, man it looks kinda weird 😂

Seems ok in a review or two though.

The decathlon one is fairly light at 1.3kg but doesn’t have the waterproofness quite of the Oex at 1.9kg.
Is 1.9kg getting a bit heavy for bikepacking?
My Nemo was about 1kg with its airbeam, no poles design.

Anyone got any other recommendations I might try?
👊

Have a look at nature hike stuff on Amazon.

Yep, really like my nature hike cloud up.

Yeah just been looking at the Cloud up actually. A little bit more expensive but looks good.

Alpkit Soloist on offer at the moment at £110. I’ve got one and whilst not perfect it’s pretty good for the money, reasonable weight and pack size. Get the footprint too though if you go for it.

OEX Phoxx 1 Available here for £45

Whatever light one-person Vango you can find…

And ‘too heavy’ is relative. I’ve carried 2-3kg tents half my life outdoors. Only recently got a 1kg Alpkit Delta, I’ve worn that out, so moved back to a 1.8kg Robens/Vango

Alpkit Soloist on offer at the moment at £110.

Great value!

Yeah the Soloist looks good actually. Always liked Alpkit gear.

The Oex Phoxx is a bit of a good deal thanks.
Worth considering. 👍

I’ve got a couple of Vangos and always been happy with them but not familiar with the smaller ones so I’ll take a look.
Weight isn’t the be all of course but it would be nice to keep it down a bit.

Vango Nevis. Cheap and fairly light.

One thing I have read about the Alpkit Soloist is that the design/shape of the door on the fly and the inner means that water will pour off the fly into the inner tent should it be wet.

I keep looking at a Naturehike Cloud Up 1 and then not getting round to buying it.
I’d get the 20D version (a bit lighter than the 210T material) in forest green.

Lanshan 2, it’s not significantly bulkier or heavier than the 1 and there’s way more space. My lanshan one person tent is compact and light but condenses quite heavily.

I got the Oex Phoxx last year for a few solo trips, very happy with it, that’s a really bargain price for it at the mo, might get another one for my son.

cheers,

Keith

Not heard good things about cheap Vangos, the Phoxx1 is supposed to be good and I’m planning on picking one up at that price.

I’ve got a Phoxx 2 and an earlier version of the decathlon ultralight 2 man tent. I marginally prefer the decathlon as it pitches all in one and has a slightly bigger side porch, but they’re both good. I’d buy either again

Not heard good things about cheap Vangos,

As ‘owner’ of a couple of hundred over the years in outdoor centre and now volunteer DofE, that’s not my experience.

They occasionally have a duff design – over long poles in Monsoon and Hydra, I’ve a few ?Jupiter? at the moment without a rear vent.

They’ve some classic and superb designs – thier tunnel tents like Scafell/Nova, Banshee and Halo. Thier F10 range is cracking.

But build quality wise I’ve had one issue over the years. They’re Scottish made, spare parts available and customer service is good.

And often less than £100 a tent…

Yes I’ve always been ok with Vango.
However, I think the Naturehike Cloud up is so far ticking the most boxes (though I imagine that customer services could potentially not be one of them if needed…)

I recently had to buy a new tent as my +30 y/o gore-tex Phoenix gave up in a storm…

I wasn’t particularly on a budget, but I also didn’t want to pay mega-money and then only use it a few times so went mid-pack and bought a Vango F10 Helium 1.

Reasons – light, compact, outer pitch first, decent reviews and reasonably priced.

I’ve used it a few times now and happy with it. Only gripe is that it does need a bit of ‘care’ when pitching to get the right level of tension on the outer. I’m 6’2″ and it’s plenty of length plus I can actually sit upright.

My old tent was 1.9kg all in and the new one is 1.3kg (both including a groundsheet/footprint), but, the real improvement from a bikepacking perspective is that it’s about half the packed size. This means that for a 1/2 nighter in the summer I don’t need to use my seat-pack, as the whole ‘camp’ will fit in my front bag.

Happy with it.

Snugpak journey is down from 160 to 100 at the moment. I’ve got the ionosphere which looks pretty similar and has been awesome so far. Snugpak Journey

I have a Blacks version of the Bobcat and looking at the Bobcat they’ve addressed most of the issues I had with the Blacks version (mostly around the porch, now having 2 zips that open from each end it looks very good.

However…. it is a small sleeping space, which helps to keep warm. You’ll struggle to sit up in it in comfort, assume doing everything lying down.

Paul Messner tent reviews

They’re Scottish made,

Company based in Scotland but I thought they were made in far east?

My sister in law is a guide leader and hated the Banshee, reckoned it was just crap. Dunno, YMMV, I have no direct experience myself. Probably not all that helpful tbh.

Company based in Scotland but I thought they were made in far east?

I have been told by an ex employee that the ‘better’ tents – the Trekking and F10 range – were made right here in Scotland.

*lots* of their range of course is China imported…

Helm Compact 1

Any good?

^ yes, but then you have to deal with Terra Nova “customer service” which in my experience wasn’t service and I won’t be a customer again.

Naturehike cloud up or one of the Vango F10 tents would be my choice.

I have a Wild Country Zephyros 2 which I use when the dogs come camping (I wouldn’t let them in the Laser Comp!). It’s served me well for a few years now.

I’ve heard a few complaints about Terra Nova/Wild Country but their costumer service was reasonable when I dealt with them (admittedly about 5 or 6 years ago).

I have a Terra Nova Zephyros, nice little tent with short poles somw will fit in a handlebar roll

Currently being drawn slightly away from the Naturehike Cloud Up to the Vango Nevis 100.

Partly because it’s a uk brand so I might get some aftercare if I need it, and partly as the inner and fly pitch together.
Lot less hassle like that, although the Naturehike can be pitched fly first providing you use the footprint too.
Hmm
🤔

The Vango F10 tents seem a good bit more money.

I’ve a vango.

Pitches as one so fast and easy.

I’ve had a few over the years.

Had one issue with an Arch300 but that was swapped no quibble

kayak23

Currently being drawn slightly away from the Naturehike Cloud Up to the Vango Nevis 100.

Can you sit up in that?
I bought a cheap tent last year to try out bikepacking (blackthorn Highlander 1)
Seems ok for £50 but can’t sit up in it, which turns out to be a bit of a pain.

Yes,a couple of reviews seem to suggest so, though I imagine you have to be not crazy tall.

I’ve looked at the Decathlon one, which looks pretty good but have kind of ruled it out based on the colour really, and it’s suitability for camping unnoticed.

My son just bought the Decathlon one. Admittedly he’s in Scotland so surreptitious camping is not a priority. From the brief look at it I would say it may be more discrete than you think. Its obviously not invisible or camo, but unless you happen to pick exactly the right bush to camp in front of at exactly the right time of year I think green tents are likely to be visible too. Given its only about 1m tall you’ll also likely be outside of it quite a lot as will your bike; so to me you want subtle, discrete and small rather than invisible and it fits that bill.

Partly because it’s a uk brand so I might get some aftercare if I need it, and partly as the inner and fly pitch together.
Lot less hassle like that, although the Naturehike can be pitched fly first providing you use the footprint too.
Hmm
🤔

The Vango F10 tents seem a good bit more money.

Not sure about the Nevis but the F10 Helium pitches/packs footprint-inner-outer as a single ‘unit’, so very quick/simple to both erect and pack.

I wouldn’t put too much weight on the colour discretion thing, those green’s aren’t exactly natural. Also you’re likely to be arriving late / setting off early so not much of a problem. In some situations the grey may blend in better than the green. I think as long as you’re not behaving like a fly-camper I wouldn’t worry about it.

Vango Nevis are really good I reckon. The OEX Phoxx is the one to get for value but not sure it would stand up to really stormy weather.

I got a 3FUL Lanshan off ebay – really impressed. Used in 30mph+ wind and rain, no problems. Only downside is you need a walking pole to pitch it and the vestibule is quite exposed. It’s also fairly fragile, but super light.

I got a set of carbon poles for my lanshan 2 that are handy for on the bike or when I’m not walking with poles. They fold up to about 25/30cm. Also modified the guys so that apex has a line but bottom of the doors now has bungee for pegging out.

I have an old Banshee 200, it has been great for many years. Its stood up to some really crap weather at times.

Stable and reliable, easy to pitch. The only downside for me has been head room, or the lack of it.

Its never bothered me until recent years and I think its down to being older and being uncomfortable as everything needs to be done lying down.

Overall a great little tent IMO.

Hi,
I have an Alpkit soloist that I bought brand new last Summer. I’ve used it for one night only. A great little tent. Then Mrs.S bought me an MSR Hubba NX for my birthday. I prefer the MSR (It should be better at 4x the cost!).
Happy to sell the Soloist for £100 if you fancied it?
Near Stockport if you wanted to see it.

I got a 3FUL Lanshan off ebay – really impressed. Used in 30mph+ wind and rain, no problems. Only downside is you need a walking pole to pitch it and the vestibule is quite exposed. It’s also fairly fragile, but super light.

I have a Lanshan tipi tent, its massive, light and goes up outer only which is useful for light bike packing. Uses a trekking pole and extender. The extender doesn’t fit in my trekking pole!! I got a carbon pole made by some bloke on eBay for not much money and he could make it so the sections are short enough to go in my bikes frame back.

It did need seem sealing as it leaked a bit on first use but is fine now.

You could easy sit up in that Monty, not sure how good it would be in high winds though.