Ultra light tents

[Scabutz]

I need as light as possible backpacking type tent for some mountain marathons. I goggled "ultra light tents" and the first website was https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/. On there they have tents weighing between 1 & 2kg, but are £300+.

Yesterday I was bored at work so went for a wander around the Go Outdoors nearby. In there, they had this tent. https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/oex-phoxx-1-man-backp... which costs 6 times as much, but weighs only 400g less.

The expensive tent has a lower waterproof rating. The nylon is a lower denier which I guess where the weight saving is coming from.

What I am missing here? Is the cheap tent a load of crap? Does a 400g weight saving cost £300. Is the tent the best place to save weight

[gregs656]

Do you need a tent? I’d look at a tarp or bivy bag.

In terms of cheaper light weight tents the pyramid/tipi shapes offer good bang for buck.

[LordHaveMurci]

gregs656 said:

Do you need a tent? I’d look at a tarp or bivy bag.

My 1st thought too.

[Scabutz]

gregs656 said:

Do you need a tent? I’d look at a tarp or bivy bag.

In terms of cheaper light weight tents the pyramid/tipi shapes offer good bang for buck.

Rules vary. Main race I'm looking at says tent/hooped bivi. Must have poles/hoops and must have a sewn in groundsheet.

[gregs656]

Scabutz said:

Rules vary. Main race I'm looking at says tent/hooped bivi. Must have poles/hoops and must have a sewn in groundsheet.

Ah ok.

Where is the race at what time of year?

[giveitfish]

It’s all a balance of compromises. Lighter weight usually means less strength and waterproofing and more cost. There is certainly an element of diminishing returns and prices going sky high to take advantage of those who must have the most exclusive kit.

Same is true of jackets, sacks and everything else.

A £60 tent will have compromises too, it’s fly sheet won’t be as strong and durable as silicone coated nylon for example. But does that matter for what you need it for?

One thing with backpacking kit is all the margins add up. Slightly heavier tent + slightly heavier sleeping bag + slightly heavier jacket etc etc all adds up, you need to choose which compromises you prefer.

[w1bbles]

Having done a few OMMs, I’d say that the majority of tents used by competitors are Terra Novas. I’ve got a Terra Nova Laser 2 I think. Cost about £300.

[w1bbles]

One good place to save weight is the sleeping bag, to answer your other question.

[Scabutz]

gregs656 said:

Ah ok.

Where is the race at what time of year?

End of September. Location varies each year. Previous years its been Lake District, the Dales, Cheviots, Howgill, Snowdonia. Lakes have had more than their fare share of locations, but its been there last two years so probably a good bet it will be elsewhere.

[Scabutz]

w1bbles said:

Having done a few OMMs, I’d say that the majority of tents used by competitors are Terra Novas. I’ve got a Terra Nova Laser 2 I think. Cost about £300.

Looks a good bit of kit. The 1 man version weights under a kilo and is available for £250 on-line. It has their fast-pack system which can bring the weight down to half a kilo, although not sure that would be allowed.

£200 difference between that and the GoOutdoors one for about 600g saving seems good.

[Scabutz]

w1bbles said:

One good place to save weight is the sleeping bag, to answer your other question.

Yeah been looking at those. I already have some sleeping bags, none are particularly light. As I need the tent the bag may have to be an upgrade for another time :-) Although having done triathlon for years the wife should be used to me spending -000s on kit!

[AlfaPapa]

The other thing to consider is whether you are likely to ever participate as part of pair. The majority of the ROC entries this year (I'm assuming this is the MM you mean as it is end of September) were pairs.

If that's the case then you want to spend your money on a really good two man tent, and look at what half the weight is.


Looking round MM campsites, most people use the terra nova, but this year there was a real smattering of Alpkit Ordos 2's (1.3kg, pretty spacious two man tent). They looked to be holding up to the wind pretty well (it was REALLY windy!)
https://www.alpkit.com/products/ordos-2

[Scabutz]

AlfaPapa said:

The other thing to consider is whether you are likely to ever participate as part of pair. The majority of the ROC entries this year (I'm assuming this is the MM you mean as it is end of September) were pairs.

If that's the case then you want to spend your money on a really good two man tent, and look at what half the weight is.


Looking round MM campsites, most people use the terra nova, but this year there was a real smattering of Alpkit Ordos 2's (1.3kg, pretty spacious two man tent). They looked to be holding up to the wind pretty well (it was REALLY windy!)
https://www.alpkit.com/products/ordos-2

Yes ROC MM. Long Course - Score Format.

I'm so anti-social - to the point my wife made me do an online autism test - that the thought of sharing a tent with another person fills me with dread :-)

Also the ROC MM and others are part of a bigger plan/dream/goal/loss of all sense to be accepted on to the spine race so can use the tent for that.

Will take a look at the Alpkit stuff as well, thanks

[AlfaPapa]

Scabutz said:

to be accepted on to the spine race so can use the tent for that.

You'll be wanting a bivvy for the Spine rather than a tent. It's so important to keep your pack weight down as much as possible, and really you *should* be planning to only sleep / rest at the shelters (although you do have to share floor space with your sweaty, dirty, exhausted fellow competitors!)

For heartwarming, see the video at the end of this year's Spine where a good friend proposes to his girlfriend when he finishes (it was a miracle he got back up off his knee to be honest) and her romantic response is "Your feet stink" <3

[Scabutz]

AlfaPapa said:

Scabutz said:

to be accepted on to the spine race so can use the tent for that.

You'll be wanting a bivvy for the Spine rather than a tent. It's so important to keep your pack weight down as much as possible, and really you *should* be planning to only sleep / rest at the shelters (although you do have to share floor space with your sweaty, dirty, exhausted fellow competitors!)

For heartwarming, see the video at the end of this year's Spine where a good friend proposes to his girlfriend when he finishes (it was a miracle he got back up off his knee to be honest) and her romantic response is "Your feet stink" <3

Yeah good point, think if you carry a tent you have to carry bivvy as well anyway. Was reading a few blogs and a couple of people said they slept out as the checkpoints were so noisy. I am sensitive to noisy so thought a windy mountainside might be better, especially given my anti-social-ness :-) All stuff I need to think about later. Still very early stages in my training & planning for that.

I will have to watch this years video. I watched the long video from a few years back they filmed. Similar to that I said to my wife the other day do I smell funny? She said why, and I said I smelt myself the other day and thought I don't usually smell that bad. She said when I was training for Ironman I started to smell really odd

[Celtic Dragon]

I found the same when I was looking at ultra light tents. I already have a tarp and bivi set up, and aware that my sleeping bag at 800g is the best area to save weight. So a tent has a lot to give in terms of weight to beat that.

Saying that, I like the security of a tent in the pouring rain and midge infested places for obvious reasons.

A friend is sponsored by Nordisk, and they have a tent that’s 600g, packs down to the size of a water bottle and that includes poles. The downside...........


It’s £600!!!!

[feef]

I'd be looking for a hooped bivvy, Something like this?
504g and £155

https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/equipment-...

[AlfaPapa]

Scabutz said:

Was reading a few blogs and a couple of people said they slept out as the checkpoints were so noisy. I am sensitive to noisy so thought a windy mountainside might be better, especially given my anti-social-ness :-)

Custom fitted ear plugs are your friend. They have absolutely changed my partner's Mountain Marathon / Race / Mountaineering Hut life.

He ran the Dragons Back last year and was sitting in the top ten. That meant he was leaving camp last (8-9am) and arriving back first (2-3pm), shoving food down his face, sorting his feet and then getting into bed.
You share tents with 7 other people all running very different races, so staggering in well up until midnight then getting up at 5-6am and faffing noisily. He slept through the lot with his ear plugs and eye mask and barely met some of his tent-mates as he simply never saw them.

He also slept through a massive thunder storm the morning after in my tent, which I had to leave in a bit of a hurry (too much beer the night before celebrating the end of the week)... the tent was wide open, massive storm, Mr AP sleeping like a baby.

I'm usually at most of the Ourea Event organised races, drop us a pm if you're going to take part in any. I'll say hi (and then leave you alone to be anti social)

[Scabutz]

AlfaPapa said:

Custom fitted ear plugs are your friend. They have absolutely changed my partner's Mountain Marathon / Race / Mountaineering Hut life.

Cool, I will check those out. When I was training for Ironman and having to go to bed at 9 I tried normal ear plugs (my wife doesn't do quiet), but didn't get on with them. Will look for some custom ones.

AlfaPapa said:

I'm usually at most of the Ourea Event organised races, drop us a pm if you're going to take part in any. I'll say hi (and then leave you alone to be anti social)

Will do. I am planning on Great Lakes 3 Day and ROC Mountain Marathon. Just waiting to see how the next couple of months training goes before planning my season.

[HardtopManual]

Have a look at Wild Country Zephyros. I have the 2-man. Wait for a sale and they can be had for sub £80 and you can get the weight down with some targeted upgrades.