Bicycles and the Sea: Gelert Solo 1 man tent finally tested out, In the Azores! Review

Sunday, 18 August 2013

Gelert Solo 1 man tent finally tested out, In the Azores! Review

I have had my Gelert solo one man tent for well over a year, and it had never been used. However I recently visited the Azores for work and spent a few days trekking and camping and the Gelert Solo seemed the perfect tent to take.

Its small size and < 2kg weight meant it was ideal, as I was walking with all my gear which including all my freediving equipment. My rucksack weighed over 22 kg in the end which meant it was hard work walking in the very humid and hilly Sao Jorge island of the Azores. The tent is very easy to put up and take down, and not too tricky to get back into its bag providing you roll it up neatly and tightly. It is very small inside, especially with all my gear in it, but I knew that would be the case. I was still able to sleep though, and keep all my gear secure and dry. There were some very heavy down pours but there was never any water or dampness getting into the inner tent. It was also very windy at times but the tent was fine with its low profile helping it survive the winds. The tent only holds its form if on very level ground, which meant when I pitched in the forest the roof of the tent was much lower than it should have been. One negative that had been mentioned by other owners was that the poles are fragile. Near the end of my trip the metal corner pieces in the smaller of the two poles bent, but its was not a major issue. I also replaced most of the poles with candy cane aluminium poles form Alpkit.com which was a good move as they were lighter and more sturdy. The Azores has very rocky ground without much top soil due to its volcanic orgins, making good strong tent pegs a big help when pitching the tent.

For £15 pounds this tent was great and did me well.