For the previous few years, innovation within the ultralight tent market has felt a little bit stagnant. Materials enhancements slowed, and the designs themselves began to really feel typical.
Not too long ago, although, the competitors appears to have reignited — not with new supplies, however with extra progressive designs. The objective now could be to maximise house and luxury whereas rivaling the ultralight weight of tarps and floorless shelters (with out their compromises or steep studying curve).
As somebody who has put a number of thousand miles on numerous Zpacks shelters, I used to be desperate to see if the Pivot Solo Lite might present sufficient house and luxury to tempt me into downsizing from their palatial Duplex. Maybe extra intriguingly, I wished to learn the way this tent would stack as much as the Durston X-Mid Professional — one other geometry-forward design that has taken the thru-hiking world by storm.
Let’s discover out!
Zpacks Pivot Solo Lite At-a-Look
MSRP: $649.00 USD
Weight: 13.5 oz (383 g), stakes not included
Flooring Dimensions: 84″ (214 cm) size, width tapers from 28″ (71 cm) to 42″ (107 cm) on the widest level
Peak Peak: 52″ (132 cm) on the entrance, 32″ (81 cm) on the rear
Different Options: Absolutely enclosed insect netting, peak vent, zippered and magnet-toggle storm doorways, bathtub flooring
Who Is This Tent For?
Shock! My Pivot Solo got here out to 13.25 oz with out the stuff sack.
This tent is for ultralight hikers trying to shave right down to the bottom doable shelter weight with out making the total transition to a tarp or floorless tent. The Pivot Solo Lite is totally featured with a bath flooring, mesh bug netting, and even a zippered storm door with magnetic toggles. Regardless of that, it nonetheless sits firmly on the lighter finish of the burden spectrum.
For hikers who’re prepared to spend money on ultralight gear however nonetheless need the consolation of a conventional tent, that is precisely what you’re on the lookout for.
Testing Circumstances
I used this tent in a mixture of environments: dry December desert nights in Southern California, a paddleboarding journey to an island in Baja the place I needed to match the whole lot right into a 10L dry bag, a number of nights of seaside tenting, and a setup take a look at in an opportune wind and lightweight rainstorm to see the way it dealt with tough climate.
I examined the tent in typically heat circumstances with gentle seaside humidity, sleeping in a 45-degree bag with a regular-length sleeping pad at lows round 50°F. I set it up with Zpacks-brand trekking poles and (virtually all) Zpacks-brand tent stakes.
Options & Efficiency
Spacious Inside: The distinctive dual-pivoted trekking pole design maximizes head and foot room, with two totally different peak heights making the tent really feel considerably roomier lengthwise than many different ultralight 1-person choices. The structure simply accommodates a large, lengthy sleeping pad whereas nonetheless leaving house for gear.
Setup & Adjustability: The tent pitches with two trekking poles set at 52″ and 32″, respectively, and 6 to eight stakes. I tried my first setup with out consulting directions and was in a position to take action with minimal trial and error.
Wonderful-tuning the proper pitch takes just a few changes. The LineLoc V adjusters make tensioning simple, however you want persistence to get it good at first.
Magnetic Toggles hold each display door and storm door open collectively or individually.
Storm Doorways & Entry: The storm and mesh doorways each use magnetic toggles that allow you to roll the fabric out of the best way, which is a superb improve from Zpacks’ previous looped plastic toggles. This design makes it simple to safe the doorways, even at nighttime or whereas carrying gloves. The mesh door options an L-shaped zipper, permitting for simple one-hand opening with out requiring any awkward contortions or yoga poses to totally unzip.
Air flow & Condensation Management: A peak vent and perimeter display enhance airflow and assist handle condensation. The bath flooring is designed to maintain out splash-up throughout rain, with an adjustable system that lets you elevate it for splash safety or decrease it to enhance airflow.
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- Bathtub flooring in airflow mode
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- Bathtub flooring in rain-defense mode
Structural Reinforcement: A small standout characteristic is the strengthened material extension from the tub flooring, designed to anchor the tip of a trekking pole. This further little bit of construction enhances stability and prevents the tub flooring from billowing up in windy circumstances.
Sturdiness & Climate Resistance: Comprised of Dyneema Composite Cloth (DCF), the tent is inherently waterproof, stretch-free, and proof against excessive wind forces. No extra seam sealing is required, and it contains restore tape and spare zipper sliders for subject repairs. No separate floor tarp is required with the sturdy DCF bathtub flooring.
Built-in mesh pocket for easy-to-access gear storage.
Zpacks Pivot Solo Lite Professionals
Practical size: This tent is deceptively roomy for its weight class. I’m six toes tall. In most UL one-person (and even some two-person) tents, I can often count on sloping wall both in my face or soaking the foot of my sleeping bag with condensation. However within the Pivot Solo Lite, I discovered I had loads of house at each ends.
Headroom within the “rear” and “entrance” of tent.
Both finish might be the top finish: One among my absolute favourite issues about this tent is how versatile the sleeping orientation is. You possibly can sleep comfortably in both route relying on the bottom slope and desire.
Regardless of Zpacks formally labeling the perimeters as entrance and rear, I discovered that sleeping below the “rear” decrease peak provided essentially the most headroom and minimized sloping partitions. The decrease trekking pole stored the cover practically a foot above my face, making a surprisingly open feeling with out drape, whereas the upper peak on the reverse finish offered a steep sufficient wall to stop my sleeping bag from urgent towards the material with room to spare.
Sufficient house in your pack: For such a light-weight design, it nonetheless feels as livable as a freestanding tent—there’s sufficient house to maintain your pack inside (both subsequent to you or at your toes) and even to do minor gear explosions inside.
Additionally: The tent holds up effectively in windy circumstances and packs down ridiculously small, making it a perfect shelter for all ultralight adventures.
Gear room in “rear” and “entrance” of tent.
Zpacks Pivot Solo Lite Cons
Fiddly setup: There’s actually not a lot to complain about with this tent, however as with every trekking pole tent, fine-tuning the pitch takes apply. The form is a little bit unconventional (and I nonetheless don’t totally perceive a number of the seams on the primary partitions), so at first you might not discover the setup as intuitive as your typical A-Body shelter. In the event you’re as choosy as I’m about how your tent seems when pitched, count on to spend a little bit further time getting the whole lot good.
Mid-panel tie-out placement: It additionally appeared to me that the mid-panel tie-outs, often meant to stop sagging and enhance tent stability in wind and dangerous climate, have been positioned a bit too excessive, inflicting an ungainly downward fold within the tent wall, even when the man traces have been prolonged totally. Luckily, these didn’t appear all that vital for arrange in fairly calm climate and may very well be skipped solely till wanted.
No quantity of adjusting appeared to tighten up the ground by the door, solely totally zipping it shut.
Much less structured bathtub: I additionally discovered that the tub flooring on the door sagged a bit. This admittedly made sliding out of the tent with out snagging fairly simple, but it surely additionally meant dust and dirt might sneak in simply when the door was left open.
In contrast to different Zpacks tents I’ve used, the tub flooring right here doesn’t have the identical structured, cube-like form. As a substitute, it feels a bit extra open, counting on adjustable pressure quite than inflexible shaping, so its lengthy aspect alongside the again wall slopes up greater than stands by itself, which means you do begin to restrict your flooring house whenever you modify for the next flooring to guard from splash throughout rainstorms.
Zpacks Pivot Solo Lite vs. the Competitors
So, is that this Zpacks’ official response to the Durston X-Mid Professional 1‘s recognition? Each tents weigh lower than a pound, and the X-Mid sequence additionally encompasses a distinctive offset trekking pole construction that has earned it a robust thru-hiker following for the spacious inside and glorious storm resistance it supplies.
One benefit the Pivot Solo has over the Durston X-Mid Professional 1, for many who may be evaluating the 2, is that the Pivot Solo’s smaller footprint means it matches in smaller campsites in contrast with the bigger X-Mid.
In comparison with Zpacks’ different one-person tents, the Pivot Solo Lite isn’t absolutely the lightest — that award goes to the Plex Solo Lite at 11.8 oz (334 g) and the Altaplex Lite at 13.2 oz (374 g), each of that are variations of the identical single trekking pole design, with the Altaplex Lite providing extra inside house for taller hikers. However for simply 0.3 to 1.7 ounces (and +$50) extra, the Pivot Solo Lite supplies noticeably extra head and foot room.
Zpacks tents have been a thru-hiker staple for years, proving themselves over hundreds of miles in all types of climate and terrain. The Pivot Solo Lite makes a well-executed entry to the market with an progressive form that prioritizes livability with out compromising on weight.
Last Ideas
Would I take the Pivot Solo Lite on a thru-hike? Completely. Actually, I intend to. It’s compact, totally featured, and surprisingly livable for a one-person ultralight shelter.
At $649, the Pivot Solo Lite isn’t low cost, however for an ultralight tent fabricated from high-end DCF, it’s a strong funding for critical backpackers and thru-hikers. It’s completely value it in case you’re on the lookout for one of many lightest doable shelters that also supplies actual livability.
Not solely has it satisfied me to downsize from the Zpacks Duplex for solo hikes, however I additionally rank it highest on the listing of one-person tents I’ve used, particularly for taller hikers or anybody who has confronted points with tent designs draping into their head and foot house.
Store the Zpacks Pivot Solo Lite
Various Choices
In the event you’re contemplating the Pivot Solo Lite, listed below are just a few different choices to take a look at:
Gossamer Gear The One
Weight: 17.7 oz / 503 g
MSRP: $255.00
Tarptent Aeon Li
Weight: 19.15 oz / 543 g
MSRP: $569.00
Durston X-Mid Professional 1P
Weight: 15.5 oz / 440 g
MSRP: $549.00
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid 1
Weight: 16.8 oz / 476 g
MSRP: $599.00
Zpacks Plex Solo Lite
Weight: 11.8 oz / 334.0 g
MSRP: $599.00
Zpacks Altaplex Lite
Weight: 13.2 oz / 374 g
MSRP: $669.00
The Zpacks Pivot Solo Lite was donated for goal of assessment
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