I have let the pendulum swing back and am now enjoying a tent in some situations. Lightweight tents are available these days. Sleeping in a tent on a good pad under a quilt is undeniably luxurious. Selecting a tent is the usual tradeoff between weight, price, durability, and other factors. What follows are my comments on a few tents that I have experience with.
Looking at tent specifications involves unravelling some double talk. You hear about packed weight, trail weight, and even "fast fly weight". You can probably ignore "fast fly weight" as the idea here is to just carry the fly and poles and the footprint (which you probably don't even own) and set that up as a tent of sorts -- something almost nobody ever does. You should also ignore or at least cast a jaundiced eye at "trail weight" as it involves not carrying unspecified things that you probably need and or would want to carry anyway (such as stakes and stuff sacks). So pay attention to "packed weight" as that is all I will talk about from now on -- it is the whole setup you bought and paid for.
It is often recommended (and I tend to agree) that if you are buying a tent for use by one person, you buy a 2 person tent. And it you are buying a tent for 2 people, you buy a 3 person tent). Often the extra weight is not that much, and the livability of the tent is greatly enhanced. Despite this, I will admit that I own and enjoy a minimal 1 person tent (the Nemo Hornet) that is just right to fit just me inside -- more below. Also, if you are using a 25 inch pad (or two of them), be sure your tent is wide enough to accomodate them. The standard pad width that most makers plan for is 20 inches.
You absolutely should carry a "footprint", i.e. some protective sheet to lay under the tent and protect the floor from rocks and sticks. Most tent makers will sell you one, nicely made for your exact tent. What I do instead is to buy a sheet of Tyvek "homewrap" from one of a myriad of EBay sellers and use that. It comes 90 inches wide on a huge roll and sellers sell you as many feet as you want, saving you the bother of buying a 500 foot roll of the stuff.
One note on a footprint. You actually want it exactly the size of your tent or a bit smaller if you expect to use it in the rain. A bigger piece will just funnel water under the tent. On the other hand, if you live in the desert like me, and seldom see rain, the footprint keeps sand, rocks, sticks, and junk from poking the tent, so having it 6 inches bigger all around is a good thing.
Be sure to get the pieces on the new cord in the same order as they were originally. The usually suggestion is to use a sharpie and number them to avoid stupid screw ups. This is particularly important if your poles have some kind of curve. Mine are straight and all the same except for the two ends. I found a hemostat a huge help for the last few sections. I could yank out plenty of slack, grab it with a hemostat and thread the next section without a battle.
More talk with Dave erupted when I got to looking at some new tent models by Nemo, in particular with the OSMO fabric as discussed below. My thought was that for the same money I could consider a tent made with Dynema fabric (and indeed I could!). Dave has a "mid" made by Hyperlight Mountain Gear, but it seems to be more of a curiosity with him and I am done with mids. What Dave endorses is the Aeon Li.
I have the now discontinued "1P Hornet" which weighs 32 ounces. The floor is 15D nylon, the fly is 10D nylon. It has a 40 by 87 inch floor (the 40 tapers to 31). It has only 1 door. I have no complaints whatsoever, but if I had it to do again, I would get the 2P (which is now your only choice anyway).
Update 11-3-2022. Nemo is now offering the Dragonfly in a 1P version. This is essentially a Hornet made with somewhat heavier materials.
A brief boil down of information follows. There is of course more to all this than footprint and weight, but this is a starting point. Some people want a tent they can sit up in, share with a dog, play games with a friend, but I just want a warm shelter to sleep in. Other than sleeping (or avoiding serious bugs), I am outside when I am in the wilderness.
The Hornet 1P is 1.63 pounds and the Dragonfly 1P is 2.06 pounds. The Hornet 1P has 22 sq ft of floor space, the Dragonfly 1P has 20. the Hornet floor is 15D nylon, the Dragonfly is 20D nylon. the Hornet fly is 10D, the Dragonfly is 15D. Dragonfly 1P is 88 by 35/32 2 pounds 10 ounces (packed weight) Dragonfly 2P is 88 by 50/45 3 pounds 1 ounce (packed weight) Hornet 1P is 87 by 40/31 2 pounds (packed weight) Hornet 2P is 87 by 51/43 2 pounds 5 ounces (packed weight) $400 BA Tiger wall 2P 86 by 52/42 2 pounds 8 ounces (packed weight)You are confronted head on with a weight versus durability trade off. The Dragonfly offers more durable fabric, but of course at a weight penalty. Again, note the width on these 2 person tents, they all assume 20 inch pads which I have learned to detest. I use a 25 inch wide pad, so I will be fine solo in once of these "2 person" tents, but if you are planning to squeeze in with 2 people, you had both better have 20 inch pads.
I like the Hornet 1P for a light 1 person tent. The main complaint is that it is not entirely free standing, but this has never been a big issue for me. In cold weather, having a small volume of air to keep warm is a virtue. This is all fairly moot now give that the Hornet 1P is no longer available.
Check out this review. I'll note that this guy says that the MSR "Hubba Hubba NX2" is his favorite all around backpacking tent (but weighs in a pound more than the Hornet).
Hornet Elite OSMO 1P 87 by 40/32 -- 1 pound 13 oz packed weight - $500 Hornet Elite OSMO 2P 85 by 50/42 -- 2 pound 1 oz packed weight - $600My first impression is: awfully expensive for a very fragile and light tent. They are asking $200 more for the "Elite", which is a lot to ask to shave 4 ounces. I'll be honest, I would rather have the original version, save $200, carry an extra 4 ounces, and have 15D fabric rather than 10D in the floor. All this has me looking at Dyneema tents.
They don't give a Denier rating for the OSMO fabric on their website, which is unfortunate. They do specify it as "1200 mm" which is probably a water penetration rating. This tells you how the fabric/coating combination resists water, but doesn't tell you a thing about durability.
This review claims they use 7 and 10 denier fabric (my old non-OSMO hornet uses 10 and 15).
As an aside, a water rating of 1200 or even 2000 is nothing spectacular, but is adequate.
They also offer a new model, the Dagger, in OSMO -- this time in "2000 mm" which might be a stouter fabric. This is available as a 2P or 3P model. The 2P is 4 pounds 2 ounces, so this is not an ultralight tent. The floor is a rectangular 90 by 50 in the 2P. The 3P is 90 by 70 and 4 pounds 10 ounces. If I was getting one of these it would be the 3P for sure, for $550.
Once you look at the Ultamid though, the Nemo seems like a bargain. But consider the UltaMid 2 at 1 pound 8 ounces. It is made entirely of Dyneema Composite Fiber (DCF), formerly known as Cuben Fiber. You get a gigantic 83 x 107 in covered area (dare we say "floor") and 64 inches of height at the peak. But it is a "mid", and I have had experience with these in the past. You have no floor, so you will also be carrying ground sheets (but you would have a tent footprint if you had a tent and any sense whatsoever). You have no bug protection, and if any water is running it will run right in.
It is best to think of this as a really tricked out tarp -- and given the 64 inch peak height you won't be able to use a trecking pole, and no center pole is supplied (or available!). A regular tarp is frankly more practial and easy to set up.
Once you solve the pole issue in some way that will stand up to wind and snow load, a "mid" could be a great winter tent. Bugs aren't an issue, and you are dealing with snow rather than rain, mud, and water. In the desert, bugs are not often an issue (but a tent of any sort may not be required at all). Among trees you could run a line between two trees to pull up the peak and thus avoid a pole altogether -- in many ways this is the perfect solution. Back in my megamid days I tried to do this and it was always nearly impossible to arrange. You have a real dilemna if you camp above treeline and have to deal with weather.
Frankly, I am over and done with "mid" designs.
Note that the Aeon is available in plain old silnylon (and without the "Li" designation). Also with a significantly lower price tag.
The Aeon is a Dynema composite (i.e. Cuben fiber) tent with an 88 by 30 floor. It has an "integrated fly" which I think means that it is a one layer tent with ventilation. This may be the name of the game with Dynema composite. The 47 inch peak height will work perfectly with a trekking pole (mine extends to 51 inches).
It sounds great (and my friend loves it), but I do worry about condensation with a single wall tent. I am waiting for a report from my friend on that.
If you are thinking of spending $500 for a Nemo hornet OSMO, a few dollars more would get you one of these. 29 ounces versus 19 ounces.
The following review has a nice chart that lists almost every comparable tent you might want to consider. Tarptent has other models you might consider. For example the "notch" (but it is a double wall tent) and the "dipole" (which our mutual friend, also Dave, has in the 2P version.
The "Tiger Wall" is a big and delicate tent. You can go even more crazy and buy a version of it using Dyneema (Cuben) and carbon fiber poles. The floor and fly both seem to be 15D silnylon (Big Agnes doesn't say, but the reviews think so) -- pretty delicate stuff. The zippers are very small, delicate, and tricky -- be patient and careful with them. The floor is 66 by 88 inches, the 66 inches tapers to 60. It has 2 doors. Note the 60 inch width at the toe, just enough for three 20 inch pads, hence the 3 person rating.
Note that the UL3 is only 4 ounces more than the UL2, so it is a clear choice unless you are absolutely pinching grams and know that only one person will ever use the tent. Trying to squeeze three people into the UL3 would be comical. It would only be something to consider in a life or death survival situation.
Tom's backpacking pages / tom@mmto.org