Trail weight and pitched footprint matter more than the season label
A trekking tent is sold on a weight that makers publish twice. Packed weight counts everything in the bag — pegs, guylines, repair sleeve, stuff sack — while trail weight counts only the parts needed to stand it up. The gap between the two runs to several hundred grams, and comparing one maker's trail weight against another's packed weight is the commonest error in this category. The second figure is hydrostatic head, quoted in millimetres of water column and quoted separately for the flysheet and the groundsheet; the floor figure is normally the higher of the two, because a knee on a wet pitch presses harder than rain falls. Fabric is described in denier — 20D nylon is light and thin, 70D is heavier and takes more abuse — and poles are either an aluminium alloy or fibreglass, which is where the cheap end of the shelf gives itself away. Then the geometry: floor area per person, peak height, and how much of the length stays full height instead of tapering into wall. The pitch type — freestanding, semi-freestanding, or pitched on trekking poles — decides whether it stands on a wooden platform or needs ground soft enough for pegs. A season number is a shorthand rather than a standard, so read the pole count and how far the fly reaches down. We compare stated trail and packed weight, floor area and peak height, hydrostatic head of flysheet and groundsheet, fabric denier, pole material, pitch type and season rating.
Two-person dome · 1.9 kg unlabelled weight · 270 × 150 × 110 cm inner · 4000 mm coating stated · 43 × 14 × 14 cm packed
A two-person dome that publishes its inner box, its pack size and a 4000 mm coating figure, but never says whether that figure belongs to the fly, the floor or both.
Best for: Two people who want a known inner length and pack size, and who camp where the ground is dry.
≈ 34 €
One person · freestanding · aluminium poles · PU 5000 bathtub floor · 1.9 kg unlabelled · 38 × 13 × 13 cm packed
A one-person tent that publishes the figure most listings skip — 5000 mm on the floor — and leaves the flysheet without a water column of its own.
Best for: One person on soft ground who wants a floor figure published and a vestibule for boots and a pack.
≈ £50 / 55 €
Two person · freestanding · 7001 aluminium pole · 20D silicone nylon · 4000 mm + fabric figure · 1.9 kg unlabelled
A freestanding 20D nylon tent that names its pole alloy and gives a 4000 mm figure to the fabric rather than to a panel, so the floor is left without one.
Best for: Two people who camp where pegs may not bite and want a named pole alloy under a 20D fly.
≈ 142 €
Two person · two doors and two vestibules · 68D polyester · 2.5 kg unlabelled · no water column published
A two-door two-person tent that publishes its fabric denier — rare on this shelf — and no water column at all, and whose floor dimension is cut off mid-sentence.
Best for: Two people who want a door each and a thicker 68D fabric, on pitches where rain is a shower rather than a night of it.
≈ £73 / 86 €
One person · 1.5 kg unlabelled · 3000 mm fly · PE floor with no figure · fibreglass poles · pegs required
A 1.5 kg solo tent that states its fly water column, admits in its own bullet that it will not stand without pegs, and leaves the floor figure out.
Best for: Bike and motorcycle touring on ground soft enough for pegs, where a 12 × 38 cm roll is the constraint.
≈ 70 €
One to two person dome · single-pole construction · full mesh inner · no weight, no water column and no dimensions published
A named trekking tent from an established brand whose whole listing runs on adjectives: it describes a single-pole dome with a mesh inner and publishes not one figure.
Best for: A buyer who is choosing on the brand and the shape, and who will get the numbers from a retailer rather than the listing.
≈ 42 €
Pop-up · 220 × 220 × 145 cm · 210T polyester outer · 3000 mm on the Zeltgrundgewebe · 82 × 17 × 19 cm folded
A pop-up that publishes its pitched box, its folded size and a 3000 mm figure — attached to a German word that can mean either the base fabric or the groundsheet.
Best for: Car-side camping where an 82 cm folded roll is no obstacle and a one-minute pitch is the point.
≈ £54 / 55 €
Two person · 1.8 kg unlabelled · 20D silicone nylon fly · double Y frame · no water column published
A 1.8 kg two-person dome in 20D silicone-coated nylon that names its fabric and its frame geometry, and never puts a millimetre figure on either panel.
Best for: Two people prioritising a low carried weight in a silicone-coated 20D fly, on a route where the forecast is watched.
≈ 113 €
One to two person · 2.0 kg total weight stated · 4000 mm fly and 5000 mm floor · 20D fly, 40D floor · aluminium poles
The one tent in this group that publishes both water columns and both deniers, and labels its weight as a total rather than leaving it bare.
Best for: One or two people who want the weatherproofing published in full and will accept a 2.0 kg total to get it.
≈ 185 €
This family belongs to the sleeping out kit — see everything that has to work with it.
Prices in these summaries were read on the dates each review gives. The live figure sits beside every product.
