I’m looking for a new tent mostly for cycle touring. I want something relativly light weight and had pretty much decided on a Six Moon Designs Lunar Duo but the import duty is scaring me off a bit, does anyone know how much it is? I was working on about 20%, that plus VAT at 20% puts the price up a fair whack!

It does meet a lot of my criteria though; light, 2 man, tall enough to sit up in, door(s) on the long side, two doors…

Then I saw the Golite Shangri-la 3 which with the nest looks like it would make a good two man tent, albeit it’s a bit out of left field and doesn’t really fit the criteria I’ve set above. My main concerns are water coming in to the sleeping area when you open the door in rain – Any teepee users care to comment (is Charlie about or is he in a hendge somewhere in Ireland by now?) ? You also can’t really cook undercover in it but for some reason I’m still tempted!

Anything else I should be considering before I throw my money at one of these? I did look at the Vango Ton was considering as for the money it looks good (except the single door) but it is more of a 1+ rather than a 2 and we plan to sleep in this for most of October so would like the extra space.

How about a half-nest for the shangri-la?
http://oookworks.com/oooknest_ripstop.html

Would that solve the two problems you mentioned above?

It depends how light you wanna go!

We needed a touring tent that would do cycle touring and motorcycle touring. We tow a trailer when cycle touring and go 2-up on the motorbike, so we needed something to pack small enough in the trailer/topbox but still leave storage for cooking gear/clothes/motorbike gear.

We looked at several tents and decided that one with 2 entrances/porches was the way to go as one can always be used for gear storage.

We also wanted enough space for 2 of us to sit inside if it was peeing it down, some tents are a bit tight on headroom.

It’s not featherweight at 2.9kg, but you can split it between 2 people easily enough, it packs pretty small, and it seems very well made, but we bought an MSR Holler

http://cascadedesigns.com/en/msr/tents/experience-series/holler/product

We’ve done a 12 day cycle tour, and 4 days on the motorbike this year and another weekend (BBB) and I have to say it’s been perfect for us.

We paid £350 including a free footprint which enables you to leave the inner at home if you so wish, or pitch it under the inner to protect the groundsheet better.

Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

EDIT
Regarding space it’s a big 3 man, technically. There’s nearly 1ft of space at my feet (I’m 5’8″) abd there’s loads of room for 2 and all our gear

Not sure how you’d get on with a teepee style if the ground was too hard or rocky to get the pegs in.

The Shangri-la 3 works very well. I don’t use a full nest with mine but have a half nest for when I’m solo. I’ve also 2 floors, a full go-lite one and a half floor from backpackinglight.co.uk.

No reason why you can’t cook in the thing as long as you’re sensible. The internal space means that condensation isn’t much of an issue either.

You will get a little rain coming through the door if it’s left open … just don’t stick your gear below the door or roll the floor back a few inches.

On another note todays tent bargain must be http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=167 last post.

hmmmm….. I wander if we could get away with just a floor and not a nest – not sure how buggy it’s going to be.

There is something about that Golite that appeals.

I’d probably have a go at making a 1/2 nest myself at some point for solo use.

I am tempted by the Vango for that price but I think it’s just too small for two, especially for an extended tour. I guess you could drop the wait a bit with a pair of scissors, some Dyneema and Ti if you felt so inclined…

Hey Andy,

If you want to keep the budget right down how’s about something like a Wild Country Aspect.

Tent

Thought that was a genius design when I saw it. Good for watching the world go by…

How about this – Big Agnes Copper Spur.

Light, tall enough to sit up in and two doors. A freind has one and really rates it.

anyone got or use one of the Easton Kilo’s?

I’ve got a lightwave T2xt which is really good – they’ve just bought out a slightly newer model the T20. A bit ‘spensive @ £350 but ample room, hits your criteria and in awful weather you can actually fit a bike inside the porch if you whip off the wheels and seatpost.

Weighs <kg and packs up pretty small. I love it.

clicky…

Voyager XL

I’ve used this last year for cycle touring from England to New Zealand. It benefits from being a geodesic design meaning you can put it up on any surface, but also has a tunnel porch so you’ve got loads of room for all your gear. It’s definitely worth having a big porch for touring and this has room to fit full set of panniers for 2 people and still gives plenty of room to get into the thing.

Euan – interesting, but would I still spend the night with it punching me in the face while you snore away starfished in the middle 😆

Big Agnes – they’ve got that American thing of doing tents in light colours, but not as bad as Easton!

The lightwave and Voyager xl dont really appeal, I think they’re getting a bit big and wouldn’t be so useful to use as a solo when I’m on my tod.

Keep em coming folks, plenty of food for thought, but currently I’m still swithering between my two originals with the Aspect hovering on the periphery.

Me, picky much?! 🙂

New 3 season Hillebergs if you have the cash

Rik – I think Hilleberg may just be pushing the budget a tad too far!

Starfish? Moi? Shurely shum mishtake!

Have you had a look at a Spacepacker? You’d need a “Plus” model for length. 2.2Kg and loads of space under the flysheet.

What’s wrong with Terra Nova?

Druidh – I did have a look at spacepacker but wasn’t convinced.

Basil – I don’t like Terra Nova designs and I think you can get better for the money.

Too late now anyway; Six Moon Designs has been ordered, with the carbon fibre easton poles. Should be less than 1.4kg with plenty of room for two and a palace for one. I just hope it turns up in time!

I’m happy with my Terra Nova Voyager Superlite – 1.5 kg, just fits 2 average sized blokes or massive on my own.

Hilleberg are worth it my nallo gt is 10 years old this year and still going strong!

I paid £380 then which I thought a lot but think they are £700+ now – but I’d still buy another. Worth it if your using it a lot.

Oh – I have some of the Easton carbon poles for my tarp – been very impressed by them so far. They are float away light!