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The FreeLite series gets a makeover and is now lighter than its predecessors. Poles weigh 226g Flysheets weigh 416g Inner tent weighs 338g Total weight 980g The tent I was given to test has a dark flysheet but this didn’t seem gloomy in any way. We camped in high summer and the weather was good so the tent hasn’t had a long term test nor tested in stormy conditions. …

The  Black Diamond Distance tent is a good example of the kind of tent I look out for – it’s spacious for one person (although Black Diamond says it’s a two-person), has a good head height and is very lightweight. It achieves its lightweight tag by being single skin and utilising your trekking poles as its support structure. Also, there’s no porch for storing gear – so using the …

The VLT from Gram-Counter Gear is a single skin tent, saving on weight and bulk through less fabric being used. This concept has been popular for some time now and it just so happens our introduction to single skin tents came a few years ago from the designer of this very shelter, so we were obviously very eager to see how the VLT would perform for us in Scotland. The name VLT simpl …

The Big Agnes Platinum series tent use the lightest of materials to get down to astonishingly low weights at 1113grams for a three person, two skin, two door, spacious shelter. My main reason for taking this tent on the Tour of the Matterhorn was to assess its robustness, not so much a long-term durability test but an out-of-the-box assessment of whether the tent was up to the rigours …

Sea to Summit have thought about the design of the Alto tents very carefully trying not to recreate what’s already available and fans of the brand will not be disappointed with this tent. We took the Plus version out for a three-day backpacking trip at the beginning of April when the weather was very cold but quite clear. The cold conditions (sub zeroC) required largish sleeping bags an …

When Nigor folded as a company the product designs were taken up by Bach, already a well-known rucksack brand. Bach has taken the designs and added these largely unchanged shelters to its offering. A key USP for Nigor was the use of ‘Nylon 6.6’ as opposed to standard Nylon 6 used by most manufacturers and Bach has continued with this type of nylon. It is significantly better than the …

As a well-seasoned bike-packer, I have mastered the art of strapping cargo onto my bike and into various packs, panniers and pouches for multi-day travels. So, when I got the opportunity to test the Nemo Dragonfly Bikepack 2P, a 2-person, bike-packing specific tent, I jumped at the chance to see for myself if this could be a game-changer or just a gimmick to jump on the bandwagon fol …

As the weight and appearance would suggest the High Side 3000 1P tent from Sierra Designs is built with fast travel in mind, making its way into our pack for packrafting, bikepacking, and wild camping amongst some of Scotland’s remote mountain areas. At just over 1kg (110 grams extra with footprint) it fits into the lightweight category rather than ultralight. It might then seem odd …

The Ridge Raider Bivi was one of our earliest pieces of kit we tested and reviewed for UOG. This was also our first venture into a hooped bivy bag having before very much adopted a very basic bivy tactic. We viewed the Ridge Raider to strike a mark between a tent and a bivy bag. The overall weight and pack size baffled us as to its use, but there was no denying it was simply a joy to us …

We’ve spent most of this season taking a minimalist approach in either a lightweight bivy bag or single skin tent, so it made for a nice change to receive a more comfortable option from Sea to Summit with their new and highly innovative Telos TR2 Plus tent. Weighing in a just over 1.6 kg this is a freestanding, two-person, 3+ season shelter that, in pack size and weight, is very sim …

Sea to Summit have thought about the design of the  Alto tent very carefully, trying not to recreate what's already available and fans of the brand will not be disappointed with this tent. We took the Alto TR2 Plus version out for a three-day backpacking trip at the beginning of April when the weather was very cold but quite clear. The cold conditions (sub zero) required largis …

The Stargazer Bivy has made my bivying experiences much more enjoyable than with my older, basic unhooped bivy. I think a hooped bivy is more than worth the extra weight penalty for the additional room and comfort it gives you by keeping the fabric away from your face. The intelligent design means that the angle of the hoop gives the bivy a reasonably stable structure. Using the 2 peg i …