Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
DannyMilks
4557
Feb 7, 2016
We get a lot of requests for budget-friendly options for tents, as not everyone can (or wants to) pay $200-400. The Solitaire is the best super-affordable shelter I've been able to find. It's not PCT-worthy, but it would work well for such things as the recreational backpacker, budding young campers, and motorcycle touring. Even tramping around Europe, where the cost of this tent would pay off within a few nights of camping in lieu of more expensive hostels. A few notes about the Solitaire: - It has fiberglass poles, which are very light and thin. Durability should not be an issue as long as you are careful with them, as you would be with any ultralight item. Fiberglass can break if it is stepped on or if bent too much. Take care to avoid these user errors and this tent could last a lifetime. - Eureka! calls this a Bivy Tent, and that is pretty accurate, as it is way more spacious than a bivy but not as roomy as a tent. You can't sit up in it. However, it does have a cool feature of the top center zip along the whole mesh ridge line, which serves as an additional entrance/exit and possible just extra room to stretch out. - It is basically a double-wall tent, in that it has inner mesh walls and an outer fly. The fly rolls up instead of being removed like in most other tents. - It is not free-standing, so you do need to use stakes to set it up. Once properly staked out, the hoop/tunnel design is actually quite storm-proof, probably more so then any other dome tent that retails for under $100. I would recommend you immediately replace the guyline and stakes with 2mm guyline and higher quality stakes, as this could save you a couple of ounces at very little cost.