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10 Best One-Person Backpacking Tents of 2024

10 Best One Person Backpacking Tents

One person, solo backpacking tents are ideal if you’re thru-hiking, fast-packing, or backpacking big miles and want to trim your gear weight as low as possible. More livable than bivy sacks, one-person tents are designed for sleeping and bad weather protection. While some solo tents are more plush and spacious than others, you almost always have to choose between competing priorities including weight, ease of use, durability, and cost when selecting one. This can make it tough to choose between tents, especially since few stores have display models anymore.

Make / ModelTypeWeight
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 1Double Wall34 oz / 964g
NEMO Hornet OSMO UL 1PDouble Wall29 oz / 822g
Zpacks AltaplexSingle Wall15.4oz / 437g
Durston X-Mid Pro 1Single Wall15.5 oz / 440 g
Gossamer Gear The OneSingle Wall17.7 oz / 503g
Six Moon Designs Lunar SoloSingle Wall26 oz / 740g
Slingfin Portal 1Double Wall40 oz / 1134g
Tarptent Notch LiDouble Wall21.5 oz / 610g
Mountain Hardwear Nimbus UL 1Double Wall27.8 oz / 788g
Tarptent Dipole Li 1Single Wall20.8 oz / 590g

Taking these different priorities into consideration, here are our picks for the top 10 one-person tents of 2024.

1. Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL1

Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL1
The Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL1 is a spacious, freestanding double-wall tent that’s easy to set up and has a trail weight of just 34 oz. With a “porchable” side door, a high vent, and two-way door zips, the Copper Spur has lots of options to vent extra moisture, increase airflow, and reduce internal condensation. The side door makes getting in and out easy and the large front vestibule lets you store gear without blocking access. A ceiling pocket, media pockets, and internal hang points help keep your gear organized and tucked out of the way. A longtime backpacker favorite, the well-appointed Copper Spur strikes an excellent balance between luxury and low weight.

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2. NEMO Hornet OSMO Ultralight 1P

NEMO Hornet 1 300
The NEMO Hornet OSMO Ultralight 1P is a 29 oz ultralight semi-free-standing double wall tent made with a nylon/polyester rain fly that won’t sag in the rain. It has a single side door with lots of mesh for ventilation and to help prevent internal condensation transfer. The side vestibule over the door provides plenty of gear storage without interfering with entry or exit. But the thing that sets his tent apart from others is the poles, which when collapsed are only 12.5″ long, making it possible to pack horizontally in almost any backpack! An even lighter weight, but more expensive version is available called the NEMO Hornet Elite OSMO 1P which only weighs 23 oz, or for more interior space, the NEMO Hornet Elite OSMO 2P which weighs 27 ounces.

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3. Zpacks Altaplex

Zpacks Altaplex Tent

The 15.4 oz Zpacks Altaplex is a single wall trekking pole tent made with Dyneema DCF which doesn’t stretch or sag at night and is extremely waterproof. It has a deep bathtub floor to keep you dry, steep walls to shed strong wind and snow, and a rainbow door that makes it easy to get in and out from either side of the front vestibule. While it is designed to accommodate taller people up to 6’6″ in height, it’s a favorite with many hikers because it has so much headroom and a 36″ wide bathtub floor so you can keep all your gear inside the tent at night, even though there is ample vestibule space in front of the door.

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4. Durston X-Mid Pro 1

Durston X-Mid Pro 1

The Durston X-Mid Pro 1 is a single-wall trekking pole tent made with ultralight Dyneema DCF. It is extremely easy to set up and requires 2 trekking poles to set up. It has a very spacious interior with a 32″ wide bathtub floor and is long enough to accommodate hikers up to 6’8″ in height. Numerous refinements make it quite livable including dual doors and vestibules, peak vents, and magnetic door toggles.  The X-Mid Pro 1 is quite stormworthy and includes extra guy-out points for extreme conditions.

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5. Gossamer Gear “The One”

Gossamer Gear The One Tent

Gossamer Gear’s “The One” is an ultralight, single-walled trekking-pole tent that weighs 17.7 oz. It has a spacious interior that’s a palace for one, with excellent ventilation to help prevent internal condensation. Made with 10d Sil/PU ripstop nylon, the One is factory seam-taped so you can use it without seam-sealing. The front vestibule is quite large with a zippered center opening which can be closed shut in inclement weather, or rolled back for views and ventilation. The vestibule is also large enough to store your pack under half the vestibule and get in and out through the other. Read our review.

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6. Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo

Six Moon Design Lunar Solo
The Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo is an ultralight style, single-wall tent that’s pitched with a single trekking pole. Weighing 26 ounces, the Lunar Solo has a bathtub style floor to prevent flooding in the rain and a side door, making entry easy. The interior is quite roomy, with a hexagon-shaped floor, providing room to store your gear in the tent, and plenty of headroom to sit up inside. A large vestibule also provides gear storage. The Lunar Solo upper is made with a 20d silicone-coated polyester, reducing fabric stretch and packed volume, while the floor utilizes a durable 40D fabric. Read the SectionHiker Review.

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7. SlingFin Portal 1

SlingFin Portal 1
The SlingFin Portal 1 is a freestanding double-wall tent that’s a one-person version of their bomber Portal 2-person tent, which we first used several years ago and also recommend highly. The Portal 1 is superbly made, and suitable for 3+ season camping with the ability to counter increased snow loads by combining tent poles and trekking poles for structural support. The inner tent has a deep bathtub floor for moisture protection with 7 internal pockets and 360 degrees of mesh providing excellent ventilation. There are also numerous plastic rings in the ceiling and corners that you can hang gear from, although they serve double duty as a unique internal guyline system to give the tent more stability in high winds when using external guylines Read the SectionHiker Portal 1 Review.

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8. Tarptent Notch Li

The Tarptent Notch Li is a one-person, double-wall tent with two vestibules and two doors that weighs 21.4 oz. It’s a strong wind and weather-worthy shelter that is made with Dyneema DCF. Internal livability is excellent with plenty of headroom, space to accommodate a wide 25″ sleeping pad, and large vestibule spaces for gear storage, cooking in the rain, or a canine companion. Peak and end vents help maintain ventilation even in crappy weather. The inner tent can be set up by itself with trekking poles in dry weather and a solid inner tent is also available to extend the tent’s range in colder winter weather. Read the SectionHiker Notch Review.

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9. Mountain Hardwear Nimbus UL 1

Mountain Hardware Nimbus UL 1

The Nimbus UL 1 is a 27.8 oz semi-freestanding double-wall tent with a front door and vestibule. It packs up small and is very straightforward to pitch. The inner tent is 3/4 mesh with a high bathtub floor to keep pooling water out of the tent and provide enhanced dust and wind protection. The silicone-impregnated nylon fly is made without any fabric dye, significantly reducing the use of water and chemicals in the manufacturing process. The tent comes with Featherlite DAC aluminum poles which are pre-bent and connected by hubs to increase interior headroom and make the tent easy to set up. The beauty of a tent like this (without side doors) is that it’s much easier to find unprepared tent sites for it, especially in forested terrain.

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10. Tarptent Dipole 1 Li

Tarptent Dipole Li 1

Weighing 20.8 oz, the Tarptent Dipole 1 Li is an ultralight Dyneema DCF trekking pole tent with two doors and two vestibules. The tent has a rectangular footprint and requires two trekking poles to set up and 6 to 8 stakes depending on the degree of stability you prefer. It includes two carbon fiber struts that are used to increase the headroom at the ends and form covered awnings that can be sealed closed in high wind. The struts are collapsible so that the entire tent can be rolled up and packed horizontally in any backpack that’s at least 13″ wide (which fits most backpacks).

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Tent Selection Criteria

Here are the most important variables to consider when buying a backpacking or camping tent.

WEIGHT/TRAIL WEIGHT –  The total weight of a tent usually measures the tent and all of its packaging, while the trail weight is the weight of its poles, inner tent, outer rain fly, minus any tent stakes. Why the difference? Most people replace the tent stakes that come with a tent with lighter weight or stronger ones and leave all the extra stuff sacks and packaging at home rather than carry it.

DIMENSIONS – When selecting a tent, consider how much width, length, and height (headroom) you desire. Do you use a wide sleeping pad? How tall are you? Do you want to bring your gear inside the tent at night or are you ok with storing it under a vestibule? Do you want to be able to sit up in the tent or change your clothing? These are all factors to consider. When evaluating tent dimensions, make sure you, particularly if it is a double-wall tent, make sure you understand whether the stated dimensions measure the width and length of the interior and not the width and length of the rain fly, which is often much larger and can give the illusion of spaciousness.

TENT POLES – Tent poles are made using fiberglass, aluminum, or carbon fiber. Aluminum is the most durable of the three, while carbon fiber is normally only used in very high-end tents where the focus is on low weight. Fiberglass poles are the least durable tent poles and break frequently.  So much so, that we recommend avoiding any tent with fiberglass poles. All the ones above have aluminum poles or use trekking poles. Most manufacturers who sell trekking pole tents offer regular tent poles as an add-on purchase.

DURABILITY – The floor of a tent is the part of a tent most likely to be punctured or torn as a result of ground abrasion. While using a footprint on floors that are 20 denier thick or less is always recommended, it’s far less necessary on 30 denier or higher floors, except on highly abrasive or rough terrain.

DOORS – Tents with two side doors are often preferable when purchasing a tent for two because it means each occupant can each get in and out without disturbing one another.

INTERIOR STORAGE – Interior pockets and storage organization is a plus in a multi-person tent. Look for internal pockets and gear loops to hang gear from the ceiling. A gear loft is an added bonus. Vestibule space is always a plus as well, but especially if there are multiple doors, so that gear storage does not block entry and exit.

VENTILATION – All tents experience tent condensation, but good tent site selection and ventilation are the best ways to avoid it. Look for tents that have lots of mesh netting to facilitate airflow, top vents to release moist air, and door tie-backs to roll up tent doors and keep them open at night.

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17 comments

  1. I have the TT Notch Li and like it.
    I dyed the liner “solid” tent Green with RIT DyeMore synthetic fabric dye for more shade and privacy. Also I added 4 tent loops, two per side, at the fly hem to cut down on flapping in high winds. I used circles of Dyneema repair that Henry Shires sent me at my request. I folded it over the fly hem edge and then added a larger circle of Tenacious Tape before sewing a nylon grosgrain tape loop to the hem. Finally I added a girth hitched loop of women’s hair elastic to use for the stake for some give to keep big wind gusts from deforming the Dyneema.
    I bought the OPTIONAL TT hiking pole handle sleeves that attach to the pole peak areas B/C I hate the idea of my pole handles and straps in the dirt. Very clever idea. Thank you Henry.

  2. based on your review of the REI Quarterdome SL 1 person tent I’m surprised it didn’t make this list.. curious as to why?

  3. My favorite tent right now is Dan’s Durstons XMid series. It’s practically the perfect balance of tradeoffs in a tent. Pretty much every aspect of the tent was dialed in to offer the best tradeoffs. It’s light, easy to set up, avoids condensation, and packs small. It’s durable as hell as long as you are sensible. With a little experience and some additional guy wires, stakeouts, and custom poles, you can make this tent so strong that it shrugs off a person throwing their body weight onto it.

    I have absolutely no problem taking this thing out into high-wind, extreme-cold events here in Canada. These tents really do deserve all the hype and attention they get in the field.

  4. Coleman Sun Dome. They come in different sizes, are all square, two pole tents. They keep the water out and can be put up in 8 minutes, and will actually hold up over time.

    • There is no 1-person version, it does not have a full coverage fly, no covered storage, and it doesn’t even list the weight for the 2-person on the Coleman site. Nor does it list what material the poles are. 1-year limited warranty. Coleman tents are very much designed for cost first and everything else later. It can be used for backpacking, but it not anywhere near optimized for it.

  5. Do you have a recommendation for which ones take up the least space? for if you’re sharing a platform or tent pad, or have to cram a bunch of tents into a small site. Thanks for the list and reviews.

    • If you have to sleep on a platform or cram onto one with others, you want a freestanding tent that can be set up without a lot of long guylines. I’d get the Big Agnes Copper Spur. It’s an excellent tent.

  6. I own a Lanshan One XL with a ‘T’ zip inner, in my opinion far better than the ‘J’ zip version. It comes already steam sealed and I’ve used it both in the UK and in France for over two years. It has served me well and it’s never leaked. It does sag in the rain a bit but that’s no problem for me. Its one disadvantage, like the Durston, is that it’s not free-standing which is fine here in the UK, our ground is almost always soft, but in the heat wave in the South of France this summer the ground was as hard as concrete and my pegs were useless. I had to lay my tent flat, fill it with my stuff, get in pull and zip the mesh over me and use it as a bivvy.

    • When pegs are questionable, I have used rocks or logs (but I imagine well scoured European campgrounds don’t have those) or (believe-it-or-not) notice board “stick pins” superlight and very handy on sandy driftwood beaches or on wooden campsite tent pads (put them in the sides of the wood pad for max strength). If you truly are dealing with a concrete like tent pad consider what we use for surveying work: concrete nails. Building supply stores have them for less than $20 per 100 box. Get the shortest ones, about 1″ long – they seem to work the best to penetrate and not bend.

  7. Why have you listed the durston x mid as a sigle wall tent? You could use it as one (fly only) but the included picture shows the inner tent. Also you mention the bathtub floor. You really need the inner for that

    • Because when you lie on your back on the bathtub floor, the condensation still drips on your face. The ceiling of the xmid-pro is still the fly – definition of a single wall tent. The silpoly version (much less expensive and listed in our recommended budget tents) is a double wall tent with a separate inner. Yep – pay more, get less.

  8. I’m pretty sure this would not make a “10 best” list because 1) it weighs almost 4 pounds and 2) right now Eureka! is in limbo as a manufacturer; however, I really like my Eureka! Midori 1. My teenage son and I got a Midori 3 to split between our packs when we were just starting out, and I loved the design, durability, livability and price point, so when I wanted a 1P tent it seemed only natural to go with the same product line. I replaced the included stakes with a handful of MSR Mini Groundhogs, split a large trash compactor bag down the sides to make a tough ground sheet, and I was off and running.

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