Gelert Solo Tent: An initial kit report
An earlier mention of this a few days ago was put in the "wrong" section, perhaps MK can tie these two threads together with a wave of his magic wand.
A spur of the moment buy at a price which was hard to beat - £20! But what was it like to use.
I've only used this on an overnight in good weather at the moment so any views are subject to using it in wet/windy conditions but this first trip certainly showed up some of the pros and cons.
As this picture shows it packs to a small and neat size and weighs in at a tiny 1.5kg
Pegging out the inner and inserting the fibre glass poles into the short sleeves has the tent erected in no time at all. clipping the inner to the poles is easy with the attached clips.
It won't have escaped your notice that the inner is mostly mesh with a thin groundsheet sown in. I like to reinforce/protect the groundsheet with a liner underneath. [that's the light brown sheet at the far end before being slid underneath] This is just an old bit of groundsheet fabric salvaged from an old tent.
The flysheet merely drapes over and attaches on elastic pegging points + a couple of guys at the front.
To aid positioning over the poles there are a couple of ties on the underside of the fly to attach to each pole. It is easy to forget them and then those on the far side from the entrance are hard to get at. The seams are tapped though the accompanying instructions do recommend applying seam sealant to the inside of the seams. A small repair kit is provided
There is good separation between the inner and the fly
The side access is much easier than the front entrance on older tents that I have had in the past. It is helpful to have a sleeping bag with a side zip.
In fine weather it is a simple matter to role up the side of both the inner and fly and secure on the usual elastics. The fly here is only part secured back.
I tried pegging out the fly on the open side with a short extra pole to make a small awning for cooking.
This worked ok but I'm sure can be improved on.
With the usual care cooking is quite possible under the flysheet in wet weather.
I found it a perfectly ok size for me as I'm an average build. Someone 6ft + and large built would needless to say struggle. On the night I have used it the weather was fine and the wind varied from nil to light so it's not possible to comment on its stability. It gives every impression of coping though.
Full technical specs can be found at the Gelert web site at http://www.gelert.com/.%2fProducts%2fSolo.aspx
Pros:
light weight and compact
easy to erect
good separation between inner and fly
ample storage space under the fly
finish was fine
fantastic price
Cons:
Pitching inner first is not ideal to say the least
Would have been nice to have zipped access on both sides.
Not designed for sever winter conditions
For it's price first impressions are that it was a good buy. I'm sure i'll learn to live with it's limitations. For what I aim to use it for I think it will serve just fine. When I've used it more extensively I'll aim to update this kit report.
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Originally Posted by water_mad
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] and it was just like my old fjallraven moutain marathon jobbie....... small and tight... great if you were on the go all day then just put it up to bed down into. Absolutely useless if you were stuck for a day or so.
so if the ground is damp/wet/muddy, your knees will become wet too. So I have a notion to bring a seperate small groundsheet to crawl onto and to sit on etc.
Convinced Gelert
