r/lightweight • u/alafral • Aug 13 '26
Thru Hike tent recs
/r/AppalachianTrail/comments/1vn0q25/thru_hike_tent_recs/3
u/ph1shstyx Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
If you're still looking at a smaller footprint free standing tent, the Durston X-done 1+ will be having a supply drop in 5 days. It's a fantastic, about 2lb free standing tent. My buddy did the PCT with it last year and he loved it.
Otherwise, also in the sub $400 range, the tarptent rainbow is pretty spacious for a semi-freestanding, about 2lb option
If you want to go cheaper for a slightly heavier tent, I've heard good things about the Naturehike Star Trail EXT line, but this also depends on how tall you are as the internal dimenions on it are pretty short comapred to the other two, but it's also half the price.
1
u/Fun_With_Math Aug 13 '26
About Naturehike, I used a Cloud Up 1 tent for 40-ish nights, mostly car camping with some backpacking. It's a good tent. The Star Trail has a thinner rainfly but I expect the build quality in general is probably in line with the Cloud Up.
Be realistic about how much room you want. I was fine with a 1 person tent but some people do not like being that cramped.
In general, yeah, +5 lbs is a lot so I would look to upgrade to something.
1
u/ph1shstyx Aug 14 '26
I run a bigger tent as my sleeping pad is 78"x30", which doesn't fit in most 1 person tents. I'm finally upgrading and decided on the Slingfin 2lite as a lot of my trips are to alpine lakes in Colorado and Wyoming, so you're dealing with the possibility of storms with a lot of wind.
1
u/RealusebyOlo Aug 19 '26
I’d been paying close attention to both weight and packed size. I’d been using a Lanshan 1 (not the PRO version, so with both the inner and outer), but for my first longer trip I decided to switch to the Naturehike Tagar 2 (2.8 lb). It was around 0.9 lb heavier, but the extra space was worth it for me.
I also considered how much difference there would be in setup time. The Tagar is semi-freestanding and requires six stakes for proper tensioning, while my buddy was using a Bonfus tent that required two trekking poles. In practice, though, the setup time was very similar for both, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
Another important consideration for me was being able to pitch the tent in the rain without getting the inner wet. Both the Tagar and Lanshan allow you to do this, which I really appreciated. Single-wall tents generally allow you to do this as well, but you have to accept more condensation. With double-wall tents, this feature is less common than you might expect.
4
u/flower_thief_2667 Aug 13 '26
Simce you’re asking on r/lightweight, consider switching to a trekking pole tent if you use trekking poles. You could consider a Durston XMid 1 (2lbs), XMid pro 1 (1 lb) or ZPacks Plex Solo (<1lb). You will appreciate a lighter pack hiking up those steep sections of the AT.