Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Green 1 Person Ultralight Tent. 26 oz. Backpacking Tent. 100% Silicone Coated Polyester Material for Reduced Fabric Stretch & Volume. Trekking Pole Setup.

Product Information

The Lunar Solar can be set up in under two minutes (with a little practice). The adjustable tension cords on each guy line make it easy to get a solid pitch, The easy tensioning adjustment keeps your tent taut without too much moving stakes or geometry. Durability I’ll say this though, the design of the vestibule door does seem to help to extend the life of the outer zip, as it’s easy to zip the door down with very little tension on the zipper itself and then slide down the little guy-line knot to give it tension once it’s fully closed. Typically, when I have a zipper fail, it’s an area that tensions using the zip itself, so this design is an improvement over many. One quirk with the vestibule door is that the little nylon loops it uses to attach to the apex guy-line can be fussy to attach in any condition and especially so when your hands are freezing. Silpoly is more compressible than silnylon. It is also less likely to sag, allowing for a tauter pitch. Siliconized polyester is less likely to trap moisture and is less likely to delaminate. Silpoly is shaking up the ultralight world, and as a smaller brand, Six Moon Designs has had the most time of almost any brand to perfect using it in a shelter. Netting The Skyscape Scout is a fantastic option between a tarp and a tent. The hybrid design gives you plenty of space, a good level of protection and all at a relatively low weight. This is an absolute bargain for anyone looking for a different shelter to get out and explore in. I’m excited about the non-toxic movement in camping gear. New dye and fabric treatment methods use less water and gentler chemicals but produce great results.

All Skyscape models utilize a dual fixed length 45" or 115 cm pole support structure. We offer two optional pole types, Aluminum or Carbon Fiber (sold separately). While both poles work well with the Scout, the Aluminumpoles are more affordable in price. While our Carbon Fiber poles are half the weight of the Aluminum poles. I have used the Lunar Solo in high winds, rain, and snow. It has performed great in extreme conditions. I get it, the strategy one is supposed to have with regard to a single-wall tent is that condensation should be headed off before it ever accumulates. This can have to do with big picture considerations like whether you’re camping in humid environments and precisely where you decide to pitch, to more micro habits, like whether you’ve taken a lot of wet gear inside. The main defense is that well-designed tents provide for substantial ventilation.

Who Is The Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo For?

A 2012 redesign raised the canopy up to 122 cm and offset the pole. The result was considerably more headroom. Extending the floor to 229 cm and making end walls vertical enhances sleeping for taller individuals. The slight reduction in floor space is more than compensated for by better weather handling. With more vertical walls, the Lunar Solo easily sheds wind and snow.

As we alluded to, it’s hard to say whether this is a tarp or a tent but rather a blending of the two concepts. It features a single skin silicon coated polyester upper that’s suspended off a trekking pole (or the bespoke pole that SMD make) and pegged down at the edges and corners to form a hexagonal shape around its base, the floor then hangs down from the upper, suspended around the edges by ‘noseeum’ mesh – the idea being maximum ventilation but also a bug-free sleep. The sleeping area is large, with a 1.2m height (ideal sitting up height) and 2.4 square metres of sleeping space. There’s then also a 0.8 square metres of porch space, so all in all, a lot of room to cook and faff about with your kit in. With single skin tents, you definitely want that, as it makes it far easier to avoid touching the normally damp sides. The Lunar Solar has approximately 48” of headroom inside the shelter when the pole is set to 49”. This is plenty of height to comfortably sit up and change clothes without touching the canopy. However. In the Columbia River gorge it took a 40 mph wind, which reversed during the night, without a whimper. Driving rain? Not a problem. Three inches of snow was a problem and the old design wasn’t the best for me at 6’ tall. Yet, my coffee and breakfast set up was easily accommodated. The most important tip I can share when setting up any pyramid-like shelter like the Lunar Solo, is to keep the guylines as loose as possible when staking it out, only tightening them once the main pole has been set. This gives the shelter the ability to adapt to potentially uneven or slightly sloped terrain.

Pitching

The X-Mid 1P isn't the holy grail of ultralight tents, beginning with its weight, which tips the scales slightly higher than average for tents in this ultralight tent review. The interior mesh area is much improved in this version, but the 20 square foot area is less than other tents. Still, the X-Mid 1P is a great choice to keep comfortable in a wide range of scenarios at a great price – and that's precisely what you're looking for when embarking on cross-country missions. That was the harshest weather that the tent has been through and it didn’t cope well. However, this is to be expected from a 740g non-free standing, UL single-sided tent that you pitch on your hiking pole. This tent is simply not designed for such harsh weather (eg. late autumn / early winter conditions on the tops of windy Scottish Highlands). The Lunar Solar has a very well-designed floating bathtub floor. I have found that the bathtub floor pitches perfectly every time. The floor “floats,” reducing stress on the materials and minimizing punctures. I have never had a puncture despite not using a ground sheet. SMD sells a lightweight polycro groundsheet for those who want extra protection. Internal Gear Storage Area When the weather gets wet, I prefer car camping for 100% assurance of staying dry. Failing this, however, you need a durable tent specifically designed to handle rain. Behold, the MSR Hubba Hubba 1. mesh lining above the bathtub floor increases ventilation and keeps you further from the canopy walls, so you stay nice and dry.

Six Moon Designs was one of the first tent manufacturers to convert from silnylon to a 100% silicone-coated polyester material (silpoly). The Lunar Solo has been manufactured with silpoly since 2019. The Silpoly used by SMD has a hydrostatic head of 3,000mm, which means that the fabric can withstand a 3-meter column of water; 1,400mm is the minimum to be considered waterproof. We recommend tents be a minimum of 2,000mm.Not sure where to get started? There is *so much* jargon when it comes to tents, particularly with high-quality tents. I’ve created a buying guide to explain the differences between single and double-wall tents, freestanding versus trekking pole tents, and ultralights versus bivvies. The Lunar Solo tries to mitigate condensation with airflow. Not only is there an upper vent near the peak, but the front vestibule is designed to be pitch pitched at varying heights, so more or less air can be allowed to pass through depending on how you’ve got it set up. For me, on nights where it isn’t raining or well below freezing out, I always keep one of the vestibule doors completely open to get the air moving as much as possible. If it’s reasonably mild, I’ll keep both sides of the vestibule open. Single-walled tents are prone to condensation. However, I have not had major condensation issues with the Lunar Solo. In 2019, SMD redesigned the top vent to improve airflow and increase durability. There is a full perimeter noseeum netting between the bathtub floor and shelter walls. The Lunar Solo is designed to pull in cold air from the bottom and vent warmer air out the top. Easy to pitch The North Face Stormbreak 1 is one of the best one-person tents for hot weather because half of its body is mesh. You can sleep comfortably on clear summer nights with maximum ventilation. The condensation and sloping walls meant that I, at five feet, eight inches, couldn’t sit up anywhere but directly below the tent’s peak without brushing my head against a wet ceiling, or move around much without brushing my bag’s foot against a wet wall. Frankly, it’s not easy living in the Lunar Solo in wet conditions.