The Absolute LIGHTEST Tents You Can Buy

that's how many trekking poles I need for today's video why are there so many tents on the market and how do you choose the right tint for you look the reality is a lot of tints are basically the same with only a few that really stand out from the rest now all these tints are very similar but they each Excel in different areas so I thought we should go through them all talk about the pros and cons so you know which one is right for you so let's check it out okay all the tints we're talking about today are ultralight single person trekking pole tents these tints represent the lightest of light tints which no matter who you are even if you're not a grand weenie you shouldn't be ignoring weight and with that in mind the lightest tint not just on this list but in the world is the zpax Plex solo the Plex solo weighs less than 14 ounces not counting trekking poles or Stakes it's made out of dyneema which is part of what makes it so light and it was my go-to tint all last year if weight is your priority there just isn't a lighter tint available to you but because this tint is so light there are some some things you're going to have to compromise on like the rainbow door that falls to the ground the pole that's in the way of the door and probably most importantly is the price the Plex solo is 600 on its own not counting trekking poles or Stakes so even though I love this tent unless you're really after the lightest possible setup it's probably not for you now if you want a little bit more room while paying half of what the Plex solo cost then the lunar solo is the tint for you the lunar solo is one of the original hexagon style single pole tents that now so many tints are designed after these days it's made out of polyester which doesn't absorb water or sag like nylon but it's not as light as dyneema in fact this is the heaviest tint on my list at 28 ounces still well under two pounds not counting poles or Stakes but what you get for that weight is the roomiest one person tent that I have ever used it's almost big enough for two people so if you like to keep your gear inside the tent with you or you like to hike with a dog this is the temp for you and it's one of the more more affordable tints on this list at just two hundred and sixty dollars one issue though is that this tent isn't seam sealed from the manufacturer so he'll either need to do that yourself or pay six moons to do it for you but if you want to go even cheaper with basically the same design as the first two tints you can get the land Shan one pro this tint comes in at just a hundred and eighty dollars and is still pretty lightweight at just 25.6 ounces but just like the lunar solo it isn't seem sealed from the factory so you need to do that yourself and cheap tints do have other costs it uses cheaper materials like nylon that will sag and stretch when it gets wet not the best when you're relying on material to keep the pole erect but a lot of tints use nylon materials so you're in good company you're also paying for better quality control workmanship customer service and more but the main thing should pay for when you buy from small cottage companies are better wages for the people who make the tents by hand right here in the United States you're paying for benefits like insurance paid time off research and development to come up with these designs and improve on them not just make the same tent Cheaper by cutting Corners are worse cutting the wages of the people who make these tents when you buy from Cottage companies you are supporting people just like you people who love hiking and backpacking and work at these companies because they want to contribute to the hiking Community just like garage grown gear who has made it their mission to support these small Brands by providing them all in one place through their online store garage growing gear actively seeks out small cottage companies like six Moon designs or gossmore gear that we'll talk about here in a few minutes to bring you the best backpacking and ultralight gear that you can find anywhere on the internet garage growing gear supports small Brands and is a small company themselves I'll often have conversations with the owner and co-founder where he'll say all right I gotta go pack some boxes we just had a big order come in today those are the kinds of things to pay for when you buy from Cottage gear companies so thank you for buying from my sponsors buying from small companies and supporting people just like you and me it means more to me than you realize speaking of small companies I've had a few opportunities to chat with the designer of this next tent Dan durston who designed the brand new x-med Pro one you may recall that I was somewhat critical of the X-Men Pro 2 mainly because I didn't feel like it was a true two-person tent something that Dan and I have discussed a few different times now but the pro one is probably the most Innovative one-person tent on the market right now it is the second lightest tent that I've ever used at 17.6 ounces on my home scale that's just three ounces heavier than the plexo though the lightest tint in the world and for three extra ounces you get a ton of Headroom properly hanging doors that are not blocked by the pole an ingenious geometric design that only needs four Stakes to properly pitch which brings the total carried weight down even further and it's very wind and weather resistant it's also made out of dyneema but it has heat bondage seams instead of sewn seams to provide even better construction having spoken to Dan about this tent a few different times I'm not sure that there's any one tent that has had as much thought put into it as the x-med pro series and when you use this tint you can tell that it is his baby so to speak the only problem is this is the second most expensive tent at six hundred dollars the same cost as the Plex solo but the reality is if you want a tent this Innovative this light you're going to have to Fork out some big bucks but probably the best all-around tent balancing design price Headroom and weight is the gossamer gear the one this tent is just 18.1 ounces that's just one ounce heavier than the X-Men Pro one and it uses much cheaper rip stop nylon that allows it to cost just three hundred dollars which when you compare it to other tints this light that is a significant difference it has quite a bit of Headroom with a whopping 43 inches between the poles of the Ridgeline my only complaint about this tent is they tapered the floor to 21 inches of the foot which means if you want to use a 25 inch wide pad in this tent it's going to have to be a tapered or mummy shaped pad which isn't my favorite but it's not the worst either if you can get past that this is really a great tent at a great weight for a decent price now the last 10 on my list which I'm calling the honorable mention is the Outdoor vitals 40s tint the reason this tent is just an honorable mention is because I really struggled with this tent it's not the lightest it's not the roomiest it's not the least expensive nor is it the most Innovative it's actually got a really similar design to the gossamer gear the one and it's ten dollars cheaper but it's also four ounces heavier which when you're talking about tints this light four ounces is a lot and ten dollars is not that much to pay to shed that much weight I do like the open mesh in the back that makes this tin feel a little bit more open but it also means that this vestibule is basically worthless because you can't really access it but at 28 inches wide you can fit a full rectangular wide pad in this tent which if that is important to you then this is a decent tent at a decent price but I'm curious out of all these tints which is the one that you would choose drop me a comment and let me know thank you to garage grown gear for sponsoring this video please like subscribe and do all those other things and as always thanks for watching

Channel: MyLifeOutdoors

Views: 115,077

Keywords:

Id: YibtJJu8RDk

Length: 7min 24sec (444 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023