Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Tent Review: An Ultralight Summer Shelter

Discovering the best tent for a backpacking journey is all the time difficult. You must steadiness packed dimension and weight in opposition to livability and the way properly it stands as much as wind and rain. I’ve all the time erred on the aspect of a sturdy tent over any weight considerations, which is why I really like the Hilleberg Akto, however I do not all the time want the Akto.

There’s a brief season in my neck of the woods known as summer season, when storms are much less seemingly and temps do not drop a lot under the 60s. That is after I’ve been utilizing the Lunar Solo, Six Moon Design’s flagship ultralight one-person tent. After a number of late and early summer season journeys across the north woods of Wisconsin and Michigan, it has proved itself a succesful shelter. It weighs simply 2 kilos, packs down fairly small, and checks an entire lot of different bins on my tent want record.

Loads of House

There is no such thing as a one tent to rule all of them, and looking for one is a mistake. You are higher off with two tents, understanding the restrictions of every and utilizing every when it is the most effective for the job. Which is to say, I really like the Akto, however I additionally suppose Six Moon Design’s Lunar Solo is great for summer season journeys whenever you prize touring gentle over withstanding intense storms.

That is to not say the Lunar Solo will not preserve you dry. It’s going to. The silicone nylon, or silnylon, is a lot waterproof, although you may both must seam-seal it your self with some Seam Grip, or have the Six Moon Designs group do it for you earlier than they ship it, which prices $35. My testing tent arrived seam-sealed, however being sufficiently old to recollect whenever you needed to seam-seal nearly each tent, I’ve carried out it sufficient instances to say it isn’t onerous do you have to select to DIY it.

The Lunar Solo is single-wall, single-pole tent meant to be pitched with a trekking pole. This makes for a really small and lightweight tent but in addition has two potential drawbacks: structural integrity and condensation. Extra on these in a second. As soon as pitched, the Lunar Solo gives 26 sq. ft of dwelling house and a peak top of 49 inches, and the vestibule gives 8.5 sq. ft of further gear storage. Total I discovered the Lunar Solo to be a lot spacious for one particular person with gear. The rear wall expands out barely, providing you with a spot to stash continuously wanted gadgets with out pushing them up in opposition to the tent wall.

The 20D silnylon and mesh partitions really feel as sturdy as something you may discover at this weight, except you wish to go along with a Cuben Fiber/Dyneema tent, however to my thoughts the excessive value of Cuben places it in a unique class. The ground of the Lunar Solo is a extra strong 40-denier (40D), and has a tub form to assist guarantee water does not get in. The rear of the Lunar Solo has a 6-inch mesh portion between the ground and the principle wall that helps with air flow.

Any single pole tent goes to wrestle in wind, irrespective of what number of guyline factors it gives. I did discover the Lunar Solo compressed a great deal after I pitched it in excessive winds on the uncovered shores of Lake Superior. It was admittedly not an ideal campsite from a seeking-shelter viewpoint, not one I’d choose if I wasn’t testing the wind resistance of a tent. However it did persuade me that the Lunar Solo wants both a trekking pole or a heavier tent pole than the ultralight pole Six Moon Design supplied. (I did a great portion of my testing whereas bikepacking so I did not have trekking poles.)