Lightweight Tents
Expert advice on how to choose the best Lightweight Tent for your needs. Recommended quality Lightweight Tents from the World's leading brands.
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Your lightweight tent is your portable home from home whether you are on a campsite or a remote windswept mountain. It is your barrier from the elements: wind; rain; snow and insects. A well selected tent will allow you to live and sleep relatively comfortably in almost any environment. Choose a lightweight tent that will provide you with the highest ratio of comfort vs. weight and pack size. Whether you are travelling light or setting up a base camp in a summer campsite, there will be a lightweight tent for you.
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Choosing a Lightweight Tent
Trekking
Trekking tents allow you to venture away from the sheltered campsite and out into the wilderness. The dimensions of the lightweight tent decrease in favour of reduced weight and pack size. Designs are based on a tunnel or geodesic shape, allowing a balance of weight, rigidity and wind resistance.
Mountain
If you want to camp in remote locations or in winter a more resilient lightweight tent is required. Mountain tents are designed for rougher weather and extended trips. The design will have a lower profile in the wind, often making use of geodesic designs for stability, rigidity and ease of pitching.
Family
Ideal for sheltered campsites, a family tent is bought with lots of space as the key criteria. They may have 2 or more separate sleeping compartments with integral groundsheets for home from home comfort. Camping out of the car means having a lightweight tent is not the main criteria.
Quick Tips
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Consider the main activity you will be using your lightweight tent for - are you camping with your family, from the car, or looking to escape the campsite and explore, adventure racing or taking part in a mountain marathon? This will determine the tent design and the combination of weight, stability, ease of pitching, room etc. you require.
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Think about how much storage space you will need for your kit. For example, camping in winter will require extra room for all your gear both internally and in the porch. These factors will determine the design and size of tent you require.
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Choose the best lightweight tent you can afford. If you plan to use it regularly, a trekking or mountain tent will stand up to the use and conditions better than a basic tent. In the long run you will save on repair bills and eventually replacement cost.
Types of Lightweight Tent
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Dome – The dome style lightweight tent is favoured for family and some low level trekking tents due to this design maximising headroom and space against its ground footprint. Dome tents are simple to pitch and are best pitched in lower level and more sheltered camp spots.
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Tunnel – Tunnel lightweight tents offer a comparatively large amount of internal space. They require fewer poles resulting in a lighter tent and are fast and simple to pitch. Some models of tunnel tent are designed for extreme weather; however they may be less rigid in high winds. For extreme weather tunnel tents may need extra poles, guy lines and more care in selecting a campsite.
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Geodesic – The geodesic design lightweight tent is a modern twist on the dome tent using clever pole positioning to increase rigidity and stability. Geodesic designs can be free-standing, allowing easier pitching on soft, uneven or hard ground. The extra poles generally add to the overall weight of the tent, but this may only be marginal. In many cases the inner tent can be pitched on its own (without the flysheet) for use in warmer climes.
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Pop up tent - a recent innovation. This type of lightweight tent is equipped with built-in very flexible hoops so that when the tent is unpacked, it springs into shape immediately, and so is extremely easy to set up. Such tents are usually single-skinned and are generally aimed at the one-season or children's end of the market, their high flexibility makes them unsuitable for use in windy situations. After use the tent is packed down into a thick disc shape.
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Bivouac sack (also known as a bivy sack, bivvy bag, bivi bag or just bivy) is an extremely small, lightweight, waterproof shelter, and an alternative to traditional tent systems. It is used by climbers, mountaineers, hikers,ultralight backpackers, soldiers and minimalist campers.
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Bivouac shelter or "bivy shelter" - a compromise between a bivy sack and a single-person tent. With hoops over the head and feet, it is held sufficiently taut to keep the fabric off the occupant inside in order to prevent condensation from soaking into bedding. This style of shelter also provides some additional breathing room around the head.
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