Gelert Solo observations...
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:45 pm
After a quick trip to Scotland for some car camping and 7Stanes riding last week, I can offer a few thoughts on this bargain basement solo tent. (I paid £35 for mine on ebay). We camped for three nights in cold but still conditions (around freezing, there was a hard frost each morning).
Good stuff
-- Ventilation is pretty decent, provided you keep the fly door open. The mesh along either side of the inner provides some good airflow, though I did get some condensation on the inside top of the inner (unavoidable in those conditions really). I was quite cold one night & tried closing the fly fully. Within minutes the top inner was dripping so I quickly opened it again! No surprise there really.
-- Tiny footprint, even with the fly the footprint is not much bigger than a bivy (I'll get on to that in a bit).
-- Stealthy. It has a very low profile & is very, erm, green, so would be good for stealth camping (if you changed the guys).
-- Packs quite small, and is relatively light. I haven't weighed it...the weight is irrelevant for me as this is just for car camping.
-- Cheap!
Bad stuff
-- It's very very stupidly SMALL! I know this is a "solo" tent, but my theory is that it should be big enough for ONE person at least. Seriously, I'm 5ft 9" and with a Peak Elite mat I can't lie flat without my head and/or my feet touching the ends . On the first night I tried my new Englightened Revelation X quilt, rated to -12deg C and with tons of loft...it barely fit in there. It spent the entire night pressed against the top of the inner tent, getting wet from condensation. (Incidentally, the quilt was lovely & toasty and wasn't too adversely affected by the moisture).
On the 2nd & 3rd nights I used my cheap 5deg synthetic bag that I use for car camping, which still touched the inner in various places. I was a bit chilly but at least I didn't spend the night worrying about my down quilt getting soggy. As we were car camping, I brought my proper pillow from home...it wouldn't fit inside without folding! I had to turn it lengthwise and cram the end into the triangle at the head of the tent.
I also spent the 3rd night on a much thinner synthetic mat, which didn't make much difference at all over the thicker air mat with regards to interior space.
-- Ok this is a continuation of the point above, but I'm pretty sure my MLD Soul bivy has more space inside, and that's by no means an enormous bivy. The Borah Bivy I have on order will have way more space. My Nemo Gogo Elite is bigger by quite a margin.
So, if you're a tiny person and don't need to use it with a lofty bag in cold weather, then this tent could possibly be a real bargain. Otherwise, I'd advise sticking to a bivy bag as it'll quite possibly be just as cheap (Alpkit) and will probably have more interior space!
Good stuff
-- Ventilation is pretty decent, provided you keep the fly door open. The mesh along either side of the inner provides some good airflow, though I did get some condensation on the inside top of the inner (unavoidable in those conditions really). I was quite cold one night & tried closing the fly fully. Within minutes the top inner was dripping so I quickly opened it again! No surprise there really.
-- Tiny footprint, even with the fly the footprint is not much bigger than a bivy (I'll get on to that in a bit).
-- Stealthy. It has a very low profile & is very, erm, green, so would be good for stealth camping (if you changed the guys).
-- Packs quite small, and is relatively light. I haven't weighed it...the weight is irrelevant for me as this is just for car camping.
-- Cheap!
Bad stuff
-- It's very very stupidly SMALL! I know this is a "solo" tent, but my theory is that it should be big enough for ONE person at least. Seriously, I'm 5ft 9" and with a Peak Elite mat I can't lie flat without my head and/or my feet touching the ends . On the first night I tried my new Englightened Revelation X quilt, rated to -12deg C and with tons of loft...it barely fit in there. It spent the entire night pressed against the top of the inner tent, getting wet from condensation. (Incidentally, the quilt was lovely & toasty and wasn't too adversely affected by the moisture).
On the 2nd & 3rd nights I used my cheap 5deg synthetic bag that I use for car camping, which still touched the inner in various places. I was a bit chilly but at least I didn't spend the night worrying about my down quilt getting soggy. As we were car camping, I brought my proper pillow from home...it wouldn't fit inside without folding! I had to turn it lengthwise and cram the end into the triangle at the head of the tent.
I also spent the 3rd night on a much thinner synthetic mat, which didn't make much difference at all over the thicker air mat with regards to interior space.
-- Ok this is a continuation of the point above, but I'm pretty sure my MLD Soul bivy has more space inside, and that's by no means an enormous bivy. The Borah Bivy I have on order will have way more space. My Nemo Gogo Elite is bigger by quite a margin.
So, if you're a tiny person and don't need to use it with a lofty bag in cold weather, then this tent could possibly be a real bargain. Otherwise, I'd advise sticking to a bivy bag as it'll quite possibly be just as cheap (Alpkit) and will probably have more interior space!
