We recommend using a footprint that sits under the groundsheet and porch area to help prolong the life of your tent. A footprint for the Helm Compact 1 is available. This design gives a relatively large sleeping area, with 1.2 metres of height and 2.4 square metres of sleeping space. On top of that, you’ve also got the benefit of a 0.8 square metre porch, providing plenty room to cook and organise your kit – something we feel is an essential feature in single skin tents to avoid touching the potentially damp walls of the main compartment. At its base weight, this tent weighs just 567g, but that measurement doesn’t include the pegs and guylines. Add them in and you can expect to be carrying around 100g extra. Full vestibule / high vent / zipper vestibule closure / easy tensioning adjustment / floating canopy / floating floor / optimized sleeping area / centre pole support. Suitable for 3 season camping, the dome style provides more stability than a single hoop design such as the Zephyros 1.

This one person tent features a cleverly-designed, hub-connected, all-in-one skeletal pole, which forms the main structure. A smaller transverse pole then slots across the apex of this structure stretching out the peak to maximise headroom. The freestanding inner, which is pitched first, clips tightly to this skeletal pole – and the result is a shelter with near-vertical walls and maximum head and elbow room. A decent-sized side porch and minimally-tapered floor add to the sense of spaciousness. Full Specifications They were the first company to launch a sub one-kilogram tent after the Millennium, and though their rivals would soon catch up with them, the weight and the little details have always been something at which they have excelled. For anyone taller than me, I would say this isn’t really big enough. I’ll live with it because I wanted to reduce the weight and bulk of my old Terra Nova Solar 2, which is actually still a good tent, but heavier and bulkier. Like most light tents, I would recommend using a footprint of some sort to protect the thin groundsheet from cuts etc. The Wisp Bivy’s incredibly light weight is mainly down to the technical materials that have been used, more specifically, the clever SuperSil fabric, which is a ripstop nylon that’s coated on both sides with silicon to add both waterproofness and durability.

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The Helm 2 Compact is a 3-season tent (fine for spring, summer & autumn use) and will also take a light dusting of snow in the not too harsh UK winter conditions A tarp pitched over the front of your tent can make a great gear garage so you have more space inside. It can also double up as an all weather kitchen. The flysheet is a PFC-free 20D ripstop sil-nylon (1,500mm HH), coated on both sides and with taped seams. The inner is entirely made from 15D fine gauge mosquito mesh, with a bathtub groundsheet made of 40D sil-nylon (5,000mm HH). The hubbed poles, on the other hand, are high-quality aluminium alloy DAC Featherlite NSL, in variable diameters. The tent is supplied with 9 lightweight pegs and 2 guylines. The inner has plenty of headroom and there's a good-sized porch for kit storage, plus extra storage space under the rear flysheet accessed from a small door in the inner. we] were impressed with its fast pitching, all-in-one design, practical features and reassuringly robust build quality. The one-person version is just as good as its big brother, and arguably this style of tent is even better suited to solo use.”

A footprint or groundsheet protector is an excellent investment – moles have no idea how much financial trauma they cause when trying to surface under a brand new tent! Its easy to put up (inner tent & flysheet pitch together) and only takes 2 mins once you’ve done it once (I love tents like this - especially when putting up tents when its raining - I don't like pitching them separately) It has 2 poles which are clearly colour coded and you won't even need to read the instructions to put it up! The flysheet and groundsheet are made from a silicone-treated ripstop nylon with a 1,200mm hydrostatic head rating and an additional PU coating, while the tent inner is a breathable ripstop nylon with polyester mesh. All seams are taped with a waterproof, solvent free PU tape and the poles are DAC Featherlite. It pitches like a tarp tent, requiring a trekking pole to prop it up which should be either 120cm of less in length. There’s then a 15-inch aluminium pole that props up the other end. This is embedded but can be removed if necessary.There’s only a single entrance, but it has a decent-sized porch plus a handy rear storage area with an unusual ‘hatch’ in the mesh inner that allows you to reach through and stash small items of kit. The end walls are also fairly steep, especially at the head of the tent, which means you ought to be able to lie out comfortably even if you’re well over 6 foot tall. The width isn’t class-leading by any stretch, but should still accommodate all but the chunkiest sleeping mats. Terra Nova and Wild Country’s tents are known for being some of the most technical and reliable on the market. Great ventilation with a mesh panel on the inner door, plus a smaller mesh door with a cover at the rear of the inner.

The name ‘super bivy’ is a spot-on description of this. Big Sky have come up with a shelter that you could arguably say comes with all of the benefits of a bivy bag without the claustrophobic downsides. It’s very similar in design to the Six Moon Designs Wisp Bivy – also reviewed here, only it has an extra mini pole and it’s a bit lighter, presumably because it doesn’t have the mesh vents along the base that the SMD Lunar Solo has. Like all of the products that Vaude manufactures, the Taurus SUL tent is completely PVC-free and instead, uses waterproof tent fabrics made from triple silicone coated nylon which is siliconised on both sides. This gives it high UV reflection and increased tear resistance, ensuring sustainability through longevity without resorting to more harmful treatments.

Product Reviews

Selected for the Outdoor 100 2019/20 – Read our full Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Tent review BUY NOW: SIXMOONDESIGNS.COM The Helm Compact 1 has a mesh panel on the inner door plus a small mesh door with cover at the rear of the inner (which also allows access to the rear storage space) , providing several options for ventilation depending on weather conditions. The inner has plenty of headroom and there's a good sized porch for kit storage, plus extra storage space under the rear flysheet accessed from a small door in the inner.

Wild Country tents offer the perfect combination of quality and value for money. The Helm Compact tents are no exception. This award complements the Helm Compact 2 which was also awarded the Best Value two-person tent in 2021. Key questions to ask yourself before tent shopping are: Where am I going? When am I going? What terrain will I need to pitch on? The distinctive pole structure gives plenty of headroom inside the tent and give's it strength in windy weather It’s a hybrid tarp / tent design that features a single skin of silicon coated polyester upper that’s suspended off a trekking pole. This upper is pegged down at the edge and corners to form a hexagonal shape around its base. Is that too much to ask from one tent? Our in-depth, in-field research – undertaken throughout the Highlands of Scotland during a Munro-bagging hiking expedition – concludes a categorical ‘hell no’.I haven’t tried this out for real yet, but on first erection in my garden: -The tent appears to be well made (I have bought Terra Nova tents before and am confident this will be fine), and really good value for the money, but there are a few points to think about. – The Helm Compact 1 has a mesh panel on the inner door plus a small mesh door with a cover at the rear of the inner (which also allows access to the rear storage space), providing several options for ventilation depending on weather conditions.