BigAura

I've used mine, so far, for ~100 camping nights including some severe weather and it's held up well. The photo above was from my recent tour and it still looks great. I'm not sure how it'll wear compared to other heavy-weight high-end tents but I'll pit-it against any cheap-o and I'm sure it'll come out on top. I think all tents have limited life so if it ends up costing one-or-two dollars-a-night that's not too bad IMO.

Squeezebox

My understanding is that Big agnes makes heavier versions of their UL tents, with heavier supposedly more durable material. The spec sheets should give you the right info. Trust an REI clerk for good info? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

indyfabz

Yeah. When I first got mine I was a bit taken aback by the seemingly fragile material. Unless I ever find myself pitching on an immaculate lawn, I will always use a plastic ground sheet. I am hard on things so I feel better with the extra protection. Have used mine maybe 25-30 nights and it's held up well so far. Cannot remember it weathering any bad storms with high winds, but it has certainly kept me dry in a few downpours and long rain events. One day last year it was pitched for maybe 12 hrs. It probably rained to one degree or another for 9 or 10 of those hours. No problems.

J.Higgins 

I like this. It appeals to my inner accountant. If you amortize the initial cost over the lifespan and number of uses, a cheap tent used once or twice becomes more expensive than an expensive tent used dozens of times.

My motto is buy once, cry once.

prathmann

Possible, but the economics haven't worked out like that for me. My $10 tent was used for probably 150 nights between various car-camping, backpacking, canoe-camping, and bike-camping trips. It was still in good shape so I gave it to a friend for his kids to use for overnights in the backyard. None of my more expensive tents since then have come close to being as economical on a per-use basis.

TrikeFan

I have the Big Agnus Fly Creek. UL 1.The weight is 38oz including 6 ti stakes,foot print and 2 stuffsack.Its a bit cramped when i add 2 large panniers but if you're looking for light weight,its an option.

BigAura

A $10 tent! Do tell!

prathmann

It was on sale at a 'Meijer's Thrifty Acres' discount store back in '72. Single wall, nominally 2-person A-frame. It worked ok but had significant condensation under the wrong conditions and depended on long guylines to hold up the two poles. Easy for someone to trip on them at night when set up in a crowded campground.

J.Higgins 

Always someone lurking in the shadows waiting to pull the trump card!



A $10 tent is certainly not the norm, so I'll remain with my original statement.

BigAura

Yep. I had something similar I bought at Two-Guys Department Store in Hackensack, NJ in the late 60's. It had the same issues as yours. I was wet inside on several occasions, but still had fun. With regular seam-sealing mine lasted 10 years. It weighed in at about 5-6 pounds. I think it was $12, but can't remember for sure.

MichaelW

I have toured in mild weather using cheap, small tents but for extended touring with foul weather I invested in something much better, a Hilleberg Akto. It is a bit heavy by modern standards and not freestanding but i have pitched on solid rock and survived some truely terrifying storm conditions.

Figure out how bad you can expect conditions to get.

Small tents have small vestubules and i am never happy cooking in mine.

bikemig 

Those are beautiful tents but likely more than I want to spend.

newenglandbikes

I recommend the Vango Banshee 200 -- solid tent for one person.

veloz

REI makes some outstanding tents for the money. We use a half dome plus 2 and like it because it has vestibules for our panniers. They make a solo version as well. REI has a solid reputation for their house branded gear and we've only had good experiences with it.

alan s 

jefnvk

ZOMBIE

... but after a few more trips I still stick with wanting a two person for room for myself and my gear. My Big Agnes Tumble 2 has made a nice replacement for my two decade old Eureka Apex 2 over the last two summers.

djb

more than a year and a half on, did you end up getting one?
Up here in Canada, light one man freestanding tents start at 300, 350 with taxes and go all the way up to an eyewatering 700+ pretax.

revcp 

I really like my Hilleberg Enan. Very quick setup, very stormproof. Can also set it up "dry," i.e. set up the fly (along with footprint if you have one), and then put up the inner. It's small for a sleeping area, which is fine for me, but it has a huge vestibule space. You can see in the pic that all four panniers are in the vestibule, and there is still room left over.

djb

the one thing with HIlleberg tents (other than being very pricey) is that as a lifelong camper in Canada and elsewhere with very hot and humid summers, they just dont have the ventilation of traditional two part tents with a very meshy inner body and rain proof seperate fly for on top.
Would be pretty darn uncomfortable for hot weather camping.
I spent enough nights when younger in tents that had little ventilation and always appreciate modern designs.

bikemig 

I ended up getting a big agnes seedhouse sl2 which weighs 3 lbs 6 ounces and is luxurious for one person. I just need to bite the bullet and buy a better mattress!

cyccommute 

I've used the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2, the Seedhouse 1 and the Fly Creek UL1. The Seedhouse 1 wasn't one of the ultralights and weighed just about as much as the SL2. However, my go to tent is the Fly Creek. It's light, durable and easy to set up. It's also a pretty small package on the rack. It doesn't have a lot of head room but I'm not one to spend a lot of time in a tent. I set up the tent, eat and go to bed. Here it is packed and unpacked.

I've had mine since 2011 and only the stuff sack is showing any kind of wear.

It's the orange bag below the blue and gray one

DSCN1255 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

2015-05-03 11.38.54 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

DSCN1257 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

IMG_0037 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

I don't take my gear into the tent...I grew up in and live in bear country...so I don't need the extra room. Something else I've found when using such a small tent is that it stays a bit warmer. Body heat gets trapped in any tent but the more volume you have, the larger the heat loss. A small tent stays warmer because you aren't heating such a large volume.

fietsbob

There are essentially bivvy bags with hoops ,
But, you have to get out of the tent to put your shoes on.

I'd not get one of those, although it is a way to make it really light..

2 person not much more .. you compare, your question..





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Tourist in MSN

I tried one of the newer designed ultra light tents that is single wall (roof is also the ceiling) tents that use trekking poles. The two person model with vestibule worked out pretty well for one person with some gear. The single wall ones can have significant condensation on damp mornings however. Thus, you learn to try to avoid touching the ceiling in the morning, which is one reason why two people in one of these tents would be a disaster. But one person sleeping in the middle where you have some headroom is not bad. Was reasonably light weight and plenty of room. Since I do not carry trekking poles on a bike, I cut some other tent poles down to size to use instead.

In this photo, since this is not self supporting I had to jam twigs in between the planks in the shelter floor to substitute for tent stakes. Bit of a hassle but it worked. Tent is a Big Agnes Scout Plus. I got it on a clearance sale when they changed colors and discounted the older ones. So far used it on a one week bike tour (West Texas, was quite dry) and a two week bike tour (South Florida, quite damp), it is a keeper.

But, some people that are strongly opposed to any condensation on the ceiling would hate this tent.



I have an older REI brand solo tent (Chrysalis model) that I used to use, weighs about the same but very small and not enough vestibule to put much gear in. So I think this newer one (above) will be my go to tent in the future, replacing the Chrysalis shown below for comparison.

jefnvk

Just out of curiosity, do you regularly bring trekking poles? I can see where the idea would be useful while hiking, where one likely already has them, just intrigued in what benefit you see in them over regular tent poles for bike touring.

Tourist in MSN

You missed it where I said (underlining added for emphasis):

The two person tent that I used before weighed over 7 pounds, so I have been watching for a tent big enough to hold all my gear, some of which was in vestibule. On a week long trip if the forecast is likely dry, I am more inclined to use a one person tent and be cramped in a small tent. But if I am out for over a month, I would prefer to spread out with my gear in a 2 person tent. And I wanted a vestibule that was of a size and shape that if I needed to fire up a stove and heat water in the vestibule, I could. That tent met that criteria of a good size and shape for a stove on a windy day and tipped the scale at about half the weight of the tent I used before. Self supporting for that size and weight would have been nice, but I did not see any that I liked. I liked some of the Hilleberg tents I saw, but I have not won the lottery yet, so not ready to buy a Hilleberg tent yet.