Sierra DesignsHigh Side 1 Person Tent, Ultralight Freestanding Solo Shelter for Backpacking, Camping, and Bikepacking with Awning Style Vestibule

I was looking for a lighter tent for backpacking. Tents and sleep gear can easily get very heavy, and when you're hiking several miles, you want as light as possible. Unfortunately, I didn't get in much backpacking this summer, instead only out-and-back hikes, so I didn't get a chance to test this tent until last weekend.I'll be honest, I'm not much of a fan of small tents. Mainly because, without fail, no matter what the weather forecast calls for, there will be one kind of weather - thunderstorms. Every. Time. So, I like to have room to put my pack down, room to change clothes, etc. But, with bigger tents comes more weight. I wanted a tent that was lightweight, but durable, roomy but didn't take up much space, warm at night, but offered plenty of ventilation during the day. This is that tent!At 6'3", 230 pounds, I'm not a small guy. But, I still had room inside this tent to lay my pack across the top to act as a pillow, and enough room on the sides for things like my knife, bearspray, and flashlight. The inside pocket just inside the door is actually pretty large, and can hold quite a bit of stuff. There is also a nice little vestibule that is large enough to store your shoes under, plus a bit of gear if needed. There is a very nice screen mesh to the actual tent, and additional flaps with velcro supports at the top left (by your head) and bottom by your feet for plenty of ventilation. I didn't get to try out how water resistant it was, seeing that I only did an overnight trip, and surprisingly had decent weather. So I can't speak to how waterproof it is, but I had planned to do seamsealing and waterproofing on it anyway, as that is my standard practice for all new tents.This tent also packs down extremely small, which checked another box on my wishlist for a new tent. Let's be honest, tent makers invoke some dark magic and space-time voodoo to get their products into those bags they ship in, and once you take them out the first time, you're not getting it back in there without the help of Master Yoda and all the Jedi combined. But you'll get this one back in the bag!! It actually fits in the bag incredibly easily, and I even found room to include the official footprint for the tent along with everything else, so everything is all in one nice neat bag. I just simply laid everything flat, individually, tri-folded everything length-wise, and rolled it up, and into the bag it went. No muss, no fuss. Get everything in the bag, secure it together with the included tie strap, tuck in the cover flap, and snap down the clips and tighten down the straps. I've included photos to show how small it folds down.You also don't need trekking poles. While they do offer a nice option for setup if you want the vestibule propped open, just know it isn't required. I actually forgot my poles at home, and as you can see in the photos, it set up just fine.My only, and I mean only complaint with this tent is that it can be a bit difficult to set up by yourself, especially if you have any wind. It can definitely be done, but it isn't as quick and easy as most standard 4-person tents. Not a deal breaker but I thought I should mention it for sake of being thorough.Also, I feel I should mention that, if you do purchase the official footprint (VERY highly recommended) with this tent, just know that it only covers the tent area, and not the vestibule area. While this isn't really a big deal for me, I know it can be for others, and so I wanted to make mention of that as well.And so, having said all that, I absolutely love this tent, and can't wait to put a few miles and nights in its history. I've written a novel, which should say a lot in itself, since I don't write reviews very often to begin with.FINAL THOUGHTS:If you're looking for a lightweight tent that will pack down small, and offers great ventilation and surprisingly adequate room inside, I think you'll like this tent! I do recommend it, and will likely be looking to more Sierra Designs products in the future. Great little 1-person tent!

It is a lightweight tent coming to around 2 pounds, rain proof, packs easy and nice (even in rainy weather), a little hard to set up first try you may need practice, smaller than i thought it would be. A little overpriced for a trekking pole tent that comes with poles (thats what it is).

FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC:* The design, materials, build quality, weight and pack size are all excellent.* Waterproof coating is Sil/PeU (polyether urethane), not Sil/PU (polyester urethane), so it has a superior coating to most tents on the market as PeU is hydrophobic while PU is not. What this means is that it doesn't absorb water, so it performs more effectively than PU even at a lower hydrostatic head rating and it doesn't hydrolize, which is what happens when your tent gets all sticky, smelly and leaky. Both PU and PeU do reduce fabric tear strength and PeU reduces it even more than PU does, but on 20D nylon this is largely a nonfactor. Fortunately, the High Side has a 20D floor. On 15D or lower, you might opt for a PU, sil/PU or sil/sil coated tent instead.* Pitches fast.* Zippers run smooth.* No skimping on stakes or guy lines to lower the weight.* A lot of people, myself included, gripe about the color, but it honestly looks much better in person and the white part is not white. It's light grey and that makes a big difference to what it really looks like.BUT IT'S NOT PERFECT:* Both zippers on the fly cross the tent poles near the top, so you have to stop there, move the pull and your hand around the pole and finish zipping/unzipping. The long zipper is worse than the short one.* The rain flap over the zippers like to snag. If you're outside you can deal with this easily by holding the flap out of the way. If you're inside, just wrap your finger around the zipper head to obstruct the flap and be kinda slow with it and it's fine. The biggest problem is remembering to do this.* The vestibule space could be bigger. I guess it's fine, but I do wish it had another couple inches in width. As it is I'm able to get a Granite Gear Crown2 60L backpack, a pair of boots and camp shoes, extra water bottle (stuck in a boot), my cookset and a collapsible chair (in the collapsed state) in there. In a hard rain these things will get damp if left near the edge of the fly. Your backpack, you can count on it because it fills the space at the wide end. You could put it in the tent if you want to, but it'll be cramped.THE DEFECT (See uploaded image):* The stake line loop at the bottom of the long zipper came unstitched. I have used the tent only once and as soon as I put tension on that line the stitching came unraveled and let go of the tensioner. You have to have that staked out, too, else your vestibule just hangs there flapping in the breeze. I was able to field repair it and it worked out well enough that I did get one night out of my trip, but since I had no wi-fi signal I had to head home in the morning to see if I still had time to get a replacement. Fortunately, I did, but only barely, and one is on the way.SUMMARY:* Great tent and I don't even care about the defect. It happens sometimes, so no big deal. This particular version is the 2022 version and sold regularly for $280. The 2023 version is a solid $300, so $169 closeout is a steal for this level of quality. Get one while you still can because when they're gone they're gone and it's back to $300! And remember, it is nylon, and if you don't know it the fly is going to sag and need tightening when it gets wet. Even high humidity will cause it to happen.

First outing with this tent. First set up and rear small tent pole snapped. Tried to upload pics but it's giving me problems. Also, when it snapped it tore through the rain fly. So that sucks when you're out in the field. Not such a big deal out here in Zion, but I'm headed to Colorado where this was going to be my dad's tent for a backpacking trip as I have another one person tent. So disappointing after reading great reviews. Not sure if I'm in the window to return thus. I'll find out soon enough.