Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Camping It Up => Topic started by: canny colin on 12 August, 2023, 10:46:26 pm
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I have the chance of one of these . Used twice stored properly . £ 180.00 . Looking to carry on trike for odd nights camping ." In mild weather " . Are these still a decent tent or has progress left them miles behind . Thanks Colin
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I had a Solar 2 and it was a fabulous tent. Very similar design but slightly bigger inside.
I passed it on to my eldest son but I haven't heard about it for a while.
Apparently once I was so drunk I slept in the vestibule. 🤣
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TN have a habit of recycling the names for different tents, assuming it's the original Solar (Not the Solar Competition or the Solar Photon) with a single transverse pole and big rectangle door: I went to TN HQ intending to buy one and after having a crawl around, bought a Solar 2.2 instead. I'm 6'3" and found the shape of the inner too restrictive, there looks to be more space when you look at the spec than there is, though this applies to many tents. Otherwise the design is good, as long as you're happy with inner first pitching (I am). The door, same design as the 2.2, is fantastic, IMO the best door of any lightweight tent. I think the fly fabric is PU coated as was the original Solar 2 (The 2.2 got a silicon coating). Nothing wrong with PU, though top end tents have moved on to stronger and lighter materials. Poles are probably the DAC ones that TN were using at the time, no issues with mine in twenty years. I don't think pole tech has changed much, other than the hub joint designs. It was a good tent when made, it'll still be a good tent, probably a bit heavier than the modern equivalent. Also looks a little pricey to me, there's a choice of sub 2kg one man tents you could buy new for the same price, such as TN's Wild Country Helm Compact.
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Thank you Mr Bear & Paul H . It is an original solar . I do love the design, especially the door/way & TN had A really good reputation . But I am just over six foot tall so I will have a look at some newer options . Once again thank you .