A one man tent is a great investment, even if you’re not the kind of person that does much solo camping or backpacking. A one man tent is a must have for any solo backpacking or camping, but even when you’re going with other people, it can be a useful thing to have. If there is an odd number of people compared to the amount of space available in tents, then you always have the option of bringing along your own tent to help even the numbers out. A one man tent also gives you the opportunity to buy a lightweight tent, and save yourself from having to carry around a big, heavy tent that someone else was foolish enough to buy. And finally, with a one person tent you don’t have to listen to someone else snoring or moving around all night, which is never a fun thing to go through in a small little camping or backpacking tent.
One Man Tent
Features to be on the lookout for when reviewing one man tents.- Weight – If you’re going to be carrying your one man tent, you should be putting some research in to the varying weights of tents on the market. One man tents will be small, and so lightweight, but even within the one man tents, there is quite a lot of variation between the weights of different tents, based on materials and designs.
- Seasons – Different tents are intended for different weather conditions. Many three season tents are fine for good weather camping, but would suffer in a wind storm. Likewise, a four season tent would withstand a windstorm just fine, but would be overkill, and unnecessarily heavy in summer conditions.
Best One Man Tent
A few of the better one man tents currently out there on the market.- Terra Nova Laser Photon - Terra Nova is not as well known on North America as they are in their home base of the UK, but they make some excellent camping and backpacking products, including a few one man tents. This particular tent is a two walled design, intended for 3 season use. What really stands out about the Laser Photon, however, is the weight, which is just 1.47 pounds, or 670 grams.
- Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1 - Another excellent solo tent, and this one the winner of the 2010 Backpacker Magazine Editor's Choice award. It's another 3 season, two wall design, though it weighs a bit more, at 1.87 pounds, or 850 grams. This increase in weight, however, is offset in a large decrease in price from the more expensive Laser Photon above.
- Tarptent Contrail - The Contrail is something a little different. You can actually use a trekking pole, if you use them, as the roof support, though you can also order a pole with the tent if you don't use trekking poles. It's also a single wall design, but with plenty of ventilation so you don't end up with a wet interior in the morning. What all that adds up to is another extremely lightweight one man tent, at just 1.53 pounds, or 696 grams.
