Probably milked to death already… but what 1 man tent?

My son has just done a 4 day wild camping backpacking trip with mates, and the old shared 3 man tent was on it’s last legs with a snapped pole and some bodge repair done en -route to keep it going. Anyway, that’s done and he reckoned that individual 1 man tents would be a better bet on some of the smaller rockier spots they camped in.

It’s end of summer, tents are on sale, so for around £150 or so what’s the current choice budget 1 man wild camping tent in use nowadays please? Also for bikepacking use I suspect too. I been looking at the Alpkit Soloist XL, Vango Nevis 100, maybe a Banshee, but they are heavier. Probably a proper double skin tent and no walking poles as it might also be used for bikepacking.

My stock answer would be one of the variants of a TerraNova Laser Comp, but that’s likely out of budget. There was a thread here the other day talking about a OEX Phoxx model of some sort, much more reasonably priced, I’ll have a look later

How tall is he? My mrs got a great lightweight I person tent from decathlon but it’d be no use to me. I’m 6’3 and after a lot of thought found the hille enan was worth it for taller people

He’s 5’11. Thanks.

Would he consider a camping hammock?

You need a tarp to pitch over a ridgeline in the UK and get straps that will not damage trees but it all folds into a lighter and easier to carry package than a tent.

ideal for wild camping in rocky places, as long as there are trees!

PSA for the bike Packers – sub 800g tent for £148

My Hilleberg Akto is the best one man tent I’ve ever owned, but it is well over budget, even secondhand!

The Phoxx 1 UL is probably the closest copy at a reasonable price.

Vango Banshee, not the lightest but seem pretty bombproof I have been using mine for over 10 years, it’s done hundreds of nights and now showing signs of wear.

I also use a Forclaz dome tent but it’s increased in price, so I got my son an almost identical one from Amazon for £80 the Forceatt camping tent 2-3 person my lad has worked all summer on festivals and it is still looking good.

It’s worth considering the weight carefully if you are using 1 man tents as a group. 3x 1 man tents could easily weigh more than 1x 3 man tent.

Horses for courses etc.

Lanshan (1 or 2) and some bearbones poles for if you are bike packing.

I’ll have a look later

Just got back from walking the dog, and the thread I was thinking of has been added up there about 45 mins ago. Plenty of thoughts in that, plus the other comments on here, all of which make sense.

Yeah, the 3 man tent per person was quite light, but the group is fairly fluid and some of the others who weren’t there already have 1 man tents. If it was a fixed group of 3 every time then I would suggest new poles for that tent and carry on.

New options to look at then from above:

Phoxx 1UL,  Lanshan 1/2, Forclaz

I will float the idea of a hammock/tarp. Plenty of the Network Scouts locally have gone down that route. I can that in a n+1 fashion, if you wild camp enough you can justify both hammock and a tent.

10 years out of Vango Banshee is impressive! Excepting a polycotton force 10, I have never had 10 years out of a tent in regular use.  I guess that extra bit of weight on the Banshee may be worth it.

This is the one the Mrs got

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/trekking-dome-tent-1-person-mt900/_/R-p-305777?mc=8545744

I picked up one of these Naturehike tents last summer – https://amzn.to/4dQx3jr. It’s basically the same design as the MSR Hubba Hubba (I have one of those as well).  I paid around £140.  If you aren’t bothered about colour they have a bright green one for just over £100. For the price it is amazing. The inner mesh is heavier than the type used in MSR, but the poles and other fabric used is on par with the MSR. Even came with a footprint. I tent not to use the pegs as I use the Alpkit Cane pegs which are brilliant. It weighs in sub 2kg.  I’m 6ft 2 and have plenty of room.  Myself an the Mrs have used the tent and can get two full width lightweight airbeds in there without issue.

Naturehike also do some 1 man tents (Cloud Up) that look just like the Big Agnes tent I used to have a few years back.

no walking poles as it might also be used for bikepacking.

You can easily get a custom pole made for not very much money on eBay. Mine was made to neatly fit in my frame bag

‘Milked to death’ what a way to go.

its what he would have wanted

I like my Alpkit soloist XL.

I’d like it more if it was side entrance not end entrance.

Wild Country? Possibly Zephyros

Vango Helium 1

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15980945/oex-phoxx-1-ii-tent-15980945

Mentioned above.  I have3 not used one but have looked at one – its small but its light for the price.

I bought this earlier in the summer, https://amzn.eu/d/gONPu1P

It’s pitch outer first which is a +

I like it as it’s possible to just erect the outer so it becomes more like a bivvy, but with the inner it’s pitch as one anyway.

Price has come down a bit since I bought mine :-/ now less than £100!

Weight seems high but just junk the rubbish heavy pegs and substitute with lighter ones, it doesn’t need a lot of pegging anway.

Nice and spacious inside with a porch. I like mine a lot.

I’ve got the Oex Phoxx 2 which is generally about 60-80£.  It’s ‘2’ as its ostensibly 2 man but really its quite spacious 1 man.

(the Phoxx 1 is known as the ‘coffin’ tent apparently)

It’s fine.  I like it, although not sure how weight stacks up (cheap, light, strong pick 2 etc)  Its inner lining first though which is a problem in rain obviously.

Go Outdoors stock them so you can try it out for size in their tent pitch area

Second hand Trekkertent, or anything from Tarptent. I have a Trekkertent Stealth 2 bought new and a Tarptent Notch I picked up used for £125. Both are silnylon and can be pitched with walking poles or carbon poles from Bearbones. I’m 5’11 and can sit up in both, which is helpful in crap weather.

15% off at Alpkit with this code

https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/web-view?a=PxFuMp&c=01G2T9SAY8K7M0MX386V5J9KP3&k=902fc3f619845495191fb082d266ab11&m=01J5DFDVTKCMD9JZ6Q6HHSNR25&r=3e6hX5KD

I have never had 10 years out of a tent in regular use.

Still using my decathlon pop-up tent, its nearly 20 years old now, some sewing repairs, use a footprint as the groundsheet is getting worn, but its still going strong.

Re the Phoxx 1 v2 my eldest (15) has just used his for a couple of nights cycle camping, I also borrowed it for a night.

He really likes it and I was quite impressed for the money with how it pitches etc.

It’s very stable and the small space makes it warm.

No room to change in it and it was noticeable that he popped over to our tarpstar 4 to change clothes etc.

Not much room for storing kit so you need a waterproof bag if you’ve got more than the clothes on your back and a small burner/pan.

I would be tempted to get some lighter and more easily inserter pegs as the ones that came with ours are big, very fat traditional steel hook pegs that you need a 2lb lump hammer (joking (a bit)) or decent sized rock to knock in.

Yak, I bought a phoxx 1 for my daughter from gooutdoors to do her D of E a few weeks ago, I bought it with the intention of selling it straight back on again, but never got round to it, it’s literally been used once and is perfect, you can have it for 45 quid inc postage if you want?
Or £40 collected/ rendezvous if you’re in the north east!

have a look on the go outdoors website to see if it fits the bill!

I’ve just bought a Phoxx 1 v2 for Thud. He’s 6ft 5 and fits in it – which was its main selling point.

Not used it in anger yet, unless the front lawn counts, but I was really impressed for the money.

Thanks everyone.

Augustuswindsock, thanks but we will pass on that one. He might be fine in it but if I use it I think I would want a fraction more sitting up space.

Alpkit Soloist. I’m 5’10” but he might better with the XL. Have used my std Soloist on numerous bike packing trips in Scotland, cannot fault it, particularly given the price it is available at.

I ended up going with the OEX Bobcat Ultralight, with Feral tarp when they were on offer. Haven’t used it yet though

The OEX ones seem to be pretty good for the money. I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks. One mate has an OEX Phoxx I think, another something from Ali-Express (he’s a cheapskate and got the lightest tent he could as he’s a weight weenie) and I picked up a used Mountain Equipment AR Ultralight.

Wild Country? Possibly Zephyros

I’ve got one, basically a heavier but cheaper copy of the terra nova laser comp. I’m 5’11, I like it.

Re the Phoxx 1 v2 my eldest (15) has just used his for a couple of nights cycle camping, I also borrowed it for a night.

He really likes it and I was quite impressed for the money with how it pitches etc.

It’s very stable and the small space makes it warm.

No room to change in it and it was noticeable that he popped over to our tarpstar 4 to change clothes etc.

Not much room for storing kit so you need a waterproof bag if you’ve got more than the clothes on your back and a small burner/pan.

I’ve used mine once so far for a dry overnighter where we weren’t planning on carrying much kit. It went up quickly in the dark, had enough room to sleep in and was easy to pack away. It is too small to put my socks or shorts on without popping my head out of the door. Needless to say, it’s inexpensive, isn’t very bulky and isn’t heavy. I’ll use it again over the next few weeks – if it ever dries up – for a quick camp in the Neath valley where I want to be as low profile and unobtrusive as possible. If I was planning a multi-day trip I’d use a different tent, but I’m quite impressed with this for the money.

Go Outdoors stock them so you can try it out for size in their tent pitch area

And then go online and buy for £10 less through Blacks.