Sure - but the next field test won't happen until the third week in May when the next 5 day trip is planned. The wet and wild West Coast Trail. A good test for all things 'waterproof.'

it is more like a 3 - 4 season tent and not ultralight.

but the aarn pacer tents could be interesting too.

the 1 person version weighs 2.8 pounds though.


http://www.aarnpacks.com/products/pacer_tent_1.html

some people in NZ and Tasmania like it for inclement conditions.

Chris, I think you've got an excellent list there. I'm with David, I'd love to see the Notch included, but I understand why it's outside of your criteria. It would be nice if there's another review, especially testing how it carries over to shoulder season (I'd do it if I had one, but that's outside the budget).

I'm also noticing that many of these are potentially good for four seasons. Are there any plans to incorporate that into the SOTMR? For me, any shelter I own has to stand up to at least light to moderate snow loading or it'll only be good for July and August.

In regards to 4-season use, I'd say it depends. Unless something changes here, winter appears to be gone for the most part so testing for snow would push things out way too far. We could definitely note winter-worthy features though like wall slopes, extra guy lines, etc.

Oh, and I talked to GoLite today about their Shangri-La 1 tent, and apparently 4 of the ounces that they list is just for stakes (6 of them). I would assume that's true of Shangri-La 2 as well. That makes them that much more appealing.

I noticed that on their site as well. A good point since most (if not all) of the other weights are without stakes.

You mean you can't set up all the tents in your backyard and then borrow one of those fancy snow-making machines to test it out?

Haha. We do have some ski spots I might could play with them at. I'll see what I can do. No promises of course. :-)

I'm pretty sure Henry includes stakes in his weights as well, but he also uses lighter stakes. Both versions of the StratoSpire take 6 stakes, and for the 6" Easton stakes that he ships, that drops just over 2 ounces from each shelter there as well.

Let's try to narrow it down some between the 1P and 2P versions.

On the duomid, I think it makes sense to use the 2P inner since it adds very minimal weight.

The easy solution for narrowing things down is to add a weight restriction.

2.5 lbs?

Edited by simplespirit on 02/29/2012 15:08:39 MST.

I'm inclined to adjust the criteria for this SOTMR to this:

Space for 1+
Trekking pole supported
Double-wall or hybrid single/double
Supports are not in the middle of the sheltered space
Light enough for solo use"

I think your criteria is excellent. No suggestions for improvement from me.

The Sea to Summit Specialist looks like a good shelter to include IMO. The 37" wide Duo version looks like a joke, but the 27" wide solo shelter at 15.6oz sounds like a nice competitor to the LG Solong and the SMD Skyscape. I'd include it if you can. The SOTMR would be stronger for it.

Let's try to narrow it down some between the 1P and 2P versions."
I'd say go with whatever is likely to be the most popular option/version and fits your above criteria. Then just quickly mention the other options in the review and/or just include them in the comparison table but don't do detailed reviews. In general, I think 1 person or 1+ person is going to be more interesting due to a wider range of designs that aren't always available in 2P (ie. SMD Skyscape) and even when they are (ie. HMG Echo II), they're really more suited for 1+ person use because of a lack of headroom.

Edited by dandydan on 02/29/2012 15:18:20 MST.

Looking at 1+ shelters to me means tents good for one person but enough room for two people if you're either very close to one another or encounter unexpected weather. Since a lot of people on here hike with their spouses but may not want two shelters (or their spouses don't want them to have two shelters), this 1+ designation seems like a strong criteria.

With that logic then, you probably wouldn't want to include anything that one person shouldn't carry. Being generous then, that would imply a limit of around 36-40 ounces. How is that for a cut off?

Edited by GlacierRambler on 02/29/2012 15:14:25 MST.

Right in line with my thinking. This gives me a much more defined list to work from and start trying to obtain.

"Looking at 1+ shelters to me means tents good for one person but enough room for two people if you're either very close to one another or encounter unexpected weather."

Makes sense. But something like the Notch is a bit of an anomaly. The shelter has two vestibules and the inner can be unclipped. With the inner out of the way, you could probably squeeze in 3 in an emergency. But then that means no dedicated floor and / or bug protection.

So that gets you down to these:

Zpacks Hexamid Solo-Plus - 9.3 oz
LightHeart SoLong 6 - 30 sq ft @ 27 oz
GoLite Shangri-La 1 - 23 sq ft @ 32 oz
MLD DuoMid + net - 29 oz with duo net or 24.5 oz with solo net
TarpTent StratoSpire 1 - 19 sq ft @ 31 oz
TarpTent StratoSpire 2 - 31 sq ft @ 38 oz
SMD SkyScape Trekker - 23 sq ft @ 24 oz
Nemo Meta 1 - 26 sq ft @ 31 oz

This seems like a strong list. I'd really enjoy reading up on that. Thanks Chris.

Regarding a weight cap, I think 36oz is a good cap for 1 and 1+ person shelters.

"Since a lot of people on here hike with their spouses but may not want two shelters (or their spouses don't want them to have two shelters), this 1+ designation seems like a strong criteria."

This is semantics, but I think the appeal of a 1+ person shelter is that a hiker can enjoy a generous amount of space for just a tiny weight penalty over a 1P shelter, thus increasing comfort on the trail. Most people who've tried to use a 1+ person shelter with their wife can probably tell you that it doesn't work out so well if you're trying to get her to enjoy camping.

Edited by dandydan on 02/29/2012 15:28:22 MST.

I'd be interested to see if the extra few ounces of the SS2 is worth the weight penalty. But that might be outside the purview of this report since it seems unlikely that someone would use it for a solo shelter with the SS1 being so large already.

I sorta view the SS1 as a 1+ person version of the Notch.

"This is semantics, but I think the appeal of a 1+ person shelter is that a hiker can enjoy a generous amount of space for just a tiny weight penalty over a 1P shelter, thus increasing comfort on the trail. Most people who've tried to use a 1+ person shelter with their wife can probably tell you that it doesn't work out so well if you're trying to get her to enjoy camping.

Good point about the extra space for minimal weight.

As for spouses, that's how we do it, and it works well for us. Of course, my wife is pretty small, and she prefers the warmth of being so close. (Actually, I'm the one who'd rather have a proper two-person shelter for convenience sake.) Either way, 1+ is a good category.