Hi

Looking for a lightweight 2 person tent weighing less than 2 kg. Needs to be freestanding, 3-4 season (preferably 4), enough room for a bit of bag storage etc.

Been researching on the web and have found the Terra Nova Superlite Voyager and the Vaude Hogan / Taurus Ultralight. Although the Vaude tents dont seem to be entirely freestanding.

What else would you recommend from experience? I used to own an MSR Hubba Hubba but it leaked regularly.

Thanks

Try hilleberg very good, very light but not cheap

Thanks Ed2001 but already checked them out and their tents are all over 2kg in weight.

What do you mean by freestanding?

Then try tarptent scarp 2

what do you mean by 4 season as well a true 4 season is unlikely to be less than 2kg but many tents you will be able to use in all 4 seasons, with sensible pitch selection. Free standing will also up the weight considerably.

By freestanding, I mean a tent that is self supporting and does not require pegs etc to support the tent and keep it upright.

I’ve been reading about the Tarptent Scarp 2. Have you any experience of it?

Oh right. 4 season? Under 2kg? Freestanding?

Moon on a stick? 🙂

Ive got a superlite voyager
and superlite quasar.. They are both excellent, however the voyager is tight for two and rucksacks, especially if you are stuck in it for some time on a mountain. I use the voyager as a one person tent. The porches on both these tents are not freestanding and would require some type of securing/pegging.

I guess by 4 season I mean as good as I can get in the worst condiitons for that weight. I know it is difficult to find a truly 4 season tent sub 2kg.

Have a look at Golite, might be something there for you. Also, Alpkit have some new tents out now or soon, but I don’t know anything about the specs or prices of those.

+1 TN Voyager. I’ve got the standard Terra Nova Voyager, an older version, which sneaks in at just over 2kg. And it splits nice and evenly to be carried between 2 folks. The newer, lighter, one would be bang on for your requirements by the sounds of it.

Great tent and would well recommend it – can be found for under £300 if you shop around / are lucky.
Superlight version will shed a few extra grams, but you’re going to sacrifice some robustness – I bought the groundsheet protector, for longer stays & stonier ground, as the standard is pretty thin.

EDIT: Yes – the forthcoming Alpkit tents do look interesting and if anything like their other kit, would well be worth a look. (I buy far too much of their stuff already!). I understand that lightness wasn’t a key feature though – they were trying to do more ‘functional’ designs (i.e. porch space, sitting height, pockets…)…?

Thanks mattstreet – useful to know.

thegrateape – I’m pretty sure the Alpkit tents are all over 2kg.

Thanks for the info

I’m interested to learn more about the tarptent scarp 2 tents if anyone knows anything? I read somewhere that they can be made with a UK flysheet…?

Vango force 10 vitesse, but not free standing but at just over a kilo pretty damn good, although it is single skin so could be an issue with 2.

By freestanding, I mean a tent that is self supporting and does not require pegs etc to support the tent and keep it upright.

There’s not much like that around at under 2 kilos – Crux X2 Storm is a 4-season geodesic, but around 3 kilos. Force Ten has a 2.5 kilo geodesic out next February.

Why does it need to be free standing? Unless you’re pitching on solid rock with no cracks whatsoever, there’s usually a way of anchoring a tent. Your problem is that most four-season – do you mean four-season mountain tents or valley? What are you going to use it for – tents around that weight are tunnels, geodesics are generally significantly heavier.

ps: forgot the Bibler iTent at 2.2kg (1.95kg ‘minimum’) – I’ve used one in the Andes, single-skin, which is fine in high, cold, dry places, but not very clever in the UK. I’m not sure if it’s technically free standing, but it’s not far off anyway. And the fabric is called Todd-Tex after Todd Bibler who designed the things in the first place, which always amused me…

Terra Nova Superlite Voyager – we have one. OK, but not 4 season really. Any snow piles up on the top flat bit quickly. It seems a tent that is stable, roomy, reasonable weight but prone to inner and outer contact. It *will* need guying in any wind. I also doubt that the ‘real world’ weight is what TN claim – our chaps who have other TN superlight products have noted that weights are often stripped out / no guys type thing.
Vaude – I like these tents. Not always the most roomy, but well built, well detailed and stand up to a real storm. The Taurus and Hogan are a favourite with our groups when we use them (we borrow them from another centre 2-3x a year). Fussy about being end on to wind, and again *have* to be pegged out to maintain outer/inner distance – NOT freestanding.
Look at a Vango Apex – 1.7kg, roomyish, but like the two above, needs guying out.

Why does it need to be free standing? Unless you’re pitching on solid rock with no cracks whatsoever, there’s usually a way of anchoring a tent. Your problem is that most four-season – do you mean four-season mountain tents or valley? What are you going to use it for – tents around that weight are tunnels, geodesics are generally significantly heavier.

^ wot BWD says.

I have an old vaude (light wing). Like people say, needs to be pitched into the wind right, needs pegging, but it is brilliant, never let me down, and stupidly light.

Maybe wise to tell the guys where or what you want to do with it
As there are some on here with good experience on tenting and backpacking.

My little experience with light weight tents is the condensation build up inside
so a Two day tenting can turn out to be a bad experience.

If I’m out camping in the “fourth season” then I’d definitely want a tent that will provide good reliable protection in that environment; I wouldn’t want to compromise my safety and security for the sake of an odd half kilo or so of weight . . . so why the strict 2kg weight limit ?

I have a vaude taurus ultralite

its under 2 kg – will stand on its own but needs pegging out to get all the space

is tight for two 5’11 guys

fine for one and kit

I camped out in winter once – would want to do it sgain

rain tight in all the persistant drizzle i’ve had it out in

great tent but perhaps not up to what you need

plum

Check out the Big Agnes Flycreek UL2 or the Easton Kilo, I haven’t found anything that comes close in terms of weight

One of my staff had the vovager out on DoE duties this weekend. 70mph gusts in the Cairngorms on Sat night and it took it.I was impressed,as I have a laser comp and not only was it too narrow for me, it flapped like a goose.

vote of confidence in the taurus ultralite here

its possible to peg it out with 6 pegs and be fine or 8 pegs and you get all the interior space – we had 90mph gusts on raasay at the raasay rumble – was pitched with all the guy line in and on to the wind and we had no issues – saw a few tents end up inside out or in the firth that night.

have camped in frosty winter nights with it but never in snow and wouldnt like to.

…would rather bivvy in the snow !

Thanks for all your replies.

I have no specific plans for what we would use the tent for as yet. It would be for myself and my partner and its use could range from anything from self supported mtb trans alp trips, to ski touring trips, to Scottish winter climbing trips, to two week walking trips in the alps, to kayaking trips. These are just examples of things we may want to use it for…

Not sure what is more important to us between: weight, functionality and stability.

The tarp tent Scarp 2 seems to have an excellent design and is adaptable between 3 and 4 season depending on what you are doing. Not sure on the quality though…

Hi Elsa, I’ve got a Scarp 2 with both types of inner and the optional poles for 4 season use. I’m really pleased with it as it is exactly what I wanted from a tent with the low weight and two entrances. I’ve not actually had a chance to use it as a 4 season tent yet, but it had no problems during a windy cycle tour in the Outer Hebrides last year in it’s summer configuration:

josemctavish – what was the import duty on that do you remember? I’m trying to work out the final cost of getting a six moon designs lunar duo as before I place an order.

Elsa – some more thoughts here

p.s. I’m still a bit stuck between the lunar duo and the shangri-la

You might want to check out the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 here, for example. Roomy for a 3/4 season tent at 1.5kg, and gets excellent reviews (e.g. here). I have the one person version of this and it’s great – lots of space, is a doddle to put up, and it packs down tiny.

The Vaude Power Lizard looks like an interesting option too…

I hate having to make decisions and I’d better do it soon or it’ll be whoever can deliver on time I get it from and not which one suits me best!

p.s. I know my selection criteria are different to yours so my suggestions may be somewhat irrelevant! 🙂

I can’t remember off the top of my head, but it was pretty much as calculated from the HM Customs website advice plus handling from the courier. Maybe as much as forty quid extra?

its use could range from anything from self supported mtb trans alp trips, to ski touring trips, to Scottish winter climbing trips…

Well, I can’t think of a two-person, sub-2.0 kilo tent I’d happily use in Scottish winter conditions. Something like a Macpac Minaret tunnel – 2.5 kilos – would be about a skimpy as I’d go. Or the Hilleberg equivalent. Might be heavier than you’d like for the other stuff, but saving 500g won’t be much consolation if your tent fails in some remote Scottish corrie at 3 in the morning.

I’m not saying that lightweight tents will always fail in Scotland in winter btw, just that in worst case scenarios, you really want to be able to trust your tent.

The Scarp is only a sub 2-kilo tent when it doesn’t have the extra cross over poles for winter use. Chris Townsend tested the one man version and it was fine under this:

Thanks josemctavish – I couldn’t find a calculator on the customs site but my google-fu may not be strong. That is a lot better than I was working on so may weel go for the six moon, I think it ticks most of my boxes and I’m not too bad with a needle and thread so may well be able to sort a couple more ticks myself.

Hi josemctavish

I wanted to email you direct to ask more questions but you dont have an email on your profile.
Pics loosk good! What do you think of the quality of the tent? I really like the design but I am unsure about the quality of the material. Are the seams sealed and have you found it to be waterproof? I have heard you can get a fly sheet specifically for the UK. Did you do this? What was your experience of buying directly from them? I dont think they have a UK distributor. I have heard it takes about 10 mins to put up. Is this about right? Any info you could give me would be great.

Thanks!

Sorry for the slow reply, was actually hit by a car on my way home tonight and have been waiting for the bleeding to stop! I think the quality is spot on and it is all very well thought out. The material feels very lightweight as it does on all these lightweight tents, but it survived a couple of very windy nights along the coasts of Uist and Harris without the extra poles. I’m not aware of the UK fly sheet option, but this may have been added at some point after I got mine.

Buying direct was no problem, just ordered through the website and received the tent after something like 3 weeks – after paying import duty of course! I bought some seam sealer at the same time but haven’t got round to sealing it yet, haven’t had to deal with anything more than the odd rainy night but no problems with seepage. I’d say it’s a lot quicker than 10 mins to put up, especially if you pack it with the inner ready attached – more like under 5 mins?

Shit dude, hope you’re ok! Drivers seem to have been especially bad these last few days.

Yeah – hope you’re ok!! Thanks alot for replying. That info is really useful to me.

Hope you recover ok.

Cheers dude

Aye, I’m very good at avoiding idiots normally but this one just drove straight through the back of me and the first thing I knew of it was the bike taking off then throwing me into the floor! Whole right side of my body is starting to seize up now, won’t be happy if I miss the Applecross duathlon because of someone not bothering to look in front of them. Thanks for your concern though chaps, if you have any more questions about fancy tents from North America please feel free to ask!