Thanks to Roman for his posts on the OutDoor 2009 trade show. Last year he did a great job getting us all excited over the Osprey Exos packs and the Thermarest NeoAir. This year he has kicked off with some of the tents on show.
Of particular interest is the Vaude Scutum Ultralight (no giggling at the back, it is Latin for “shield”), which looks like an interesting development with design cues taken from the Competition. I have wondered for a while why the Competition doesn’t use clips rather than a pole sleeve, especially as Terra Nova use clips for the Wild Country Sololite. Vaude make an interesting claim that it is stable in high winds. It will be interesting to see whether that claim proves correct in real world use. Will it be less noisy in high winds than the Competition? It certainly looks spacious and not much heavier than the Comp.
The other tent that is worth a look is the GoLite Eden 1. I got all excited when Roman quoted 1045g as a pack weight (now corrected), but I see that is only the tent. The whole set up (tent, pegs, poles) actually weighs 1558g, so it is more of a competitor to the Akto. It does look a very neat design though. The two end hoops ought to make it a very storm worthy tent I would have thought.
The Terra Nova Solar Elite and Solar Competition don’t look so appetising. They look rather small and claustrophobic. I find Terra Nova quite a frustrating company as they have some great ideas but don’t quite execute them, hence, the myriad of tweaks and adjustments to the Laser Competition. I just don’t understand why they don’t do a slightly larger Sololite with truly lightweight materials. It’s a great design, spoilt by a lack of headroom and weight. Here’s another idea for them for free. Why not a Laser Competition with slightly higher ends but using an “A” frame at each end to aid stability and hopefully get rid of the noise in high winds. It would be worth a try.
Hi,
thanks for the tip. I’ve corrected the weight for the Eden as it would be misleading this way.
Roman
If the Eden were 300-400g lighter it would be a killer, tha’s why I got excited when I saw the original weight. Great report.
Yep, I quite fancy the (horribly named!) Scutum too. Very spacious, looks quite quick to set up, dual skin, and looks reasonably storm proof too. The Tarptent Moment, on the other hand, looks too draughty for UK use and for the weight you get.
But yes, Roman is an ace in bringing all these exciting news.
One wonders what’s the price bracket for the Scutum will be. One should get a discount for that name…
Terra Nova have a habit of copying/ripping-off/improving/being-inspired-by/lightening (whatever you choose to call it) Hilleberg tents – I wonder whether they are working on a Soulo-alike say 5-600gm lighter, just as the Comp is lighter than the Akto, and the Laserlarge is lighter than the Nallo.
I wasn’t too impressed by the Vaude with the unfortunate name. For me it looks like a Scarp 1 rip-off, though a bit lighter. The Moment on the other hand I would buy in a heartbeat. I also liked the Eden 1, but the adjusted weight puts me a bit off.
As Alan pointed out, the problem with single skin tents is that condensation on the inside can spray you when it rains. If you have to take a bivvy bg, it negates some of the weight advantage. The Warmlite is a much better design as it is effectively a two skin in the middle. If it had a conventional porch I would be more interested in the Warmlite. The Vaude looks interesting but I’m sceptical that it will be stable in high winds. I think it’s more of a copy of the Competition than the Scarp, which itself looks heavily influenced by the Akto. On the other hand the Eden looks very solid (reminds me of the TNF NorthWind) but too heavy to persuade me to swap my Competition. If the Soulo were the same weight (i.e. 1500g), I’d buy it in a flash.
I’m interested in the Vaude Scutum (sorry, can’t stop giggling) It’s lighter than the Laser I had but with some of the problems sorted (maybe)
The end strut form and inner attachment method will be a deal breaker for me (and of course price)
I’ll let you go first
My tendency now is to keep away from Golite. At one time their quality was excellent, I had an old hex which was fine; however, the Shangri La 2 just was not up to scratch. Certainly it shed bad weather fine, but, seams leaked and have required extensive seam sealing. More scary is where the trekking poles sit under the eaves, the material is showing definite signs of wear and strain. Despite complaints to Golite I have never recieved and satisfactory response. The Vaude, now that is an interesting beastie.