Could it be suitable as a ‘Fast & Light’ backpacking / bike-packing shelter?
Background
Lofoten – packed volume = 2375 ml
I started experimenting with a Hilleberg Tarp 5 as a ‘fast and light’ backpacking shelter last year. The first three day trip went well, but using it on my more recent five day walk along the Offa’s Dyke Path was far less satisfactory. Whilst it was a secure shelter that kept my kit and myself dry on some very wet nights, it did not provide the level of protection from the wind which I now understand that I desire. Since I have very much enjoyed carrying a 35 L / 8 kg pack for certain multi-day walks, I set about researching alternative low weight / low volume shelters that might better meet my needs & desires. I settled on the Lofoten
This is an initial review of the Nordisk Lofoten after pitching for a few test nights, either in the remote wilderness which is our back garden, or atop a local fell.
User Requirements:
Essential features
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A shelter that can keep out heavy rain and moderate winds
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Pitches quickly & easily
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Very low packed volume (to enable use of 35 L pack for 3 day walk)
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Weighs < 700 g inc. all components (pegs, guys, bag etc)
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Provides reasonable shelter for cooking in the rain.
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Ten year lifespan at 8 nights use per year
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Holds it’s value so I can sell on without too large a loss (this is a niche item I’ll either love or hate)
Acceptable compromises
Review – Space (Score – see below )
The Lofoten is the antithesis of the Tardis; one’s first impression is that it looks a reasonable size but that myth is soon dispelled when you get inside. This is very specialist shelter, made for the mountain marathon market, meaning that it does the very minimum to meet their requirements for a shelter – a two layer tent with a sewn in groundsheet with enough space to lie down and sleep. For sleeping the size and design is wholly acceptable. It is a standard 220 cm long which is a good length for me at 5’ 11” (180 cm). Once lying down I had space for my sleeping bag foot-box, plus the full length of me and a spare approx. 20 cm at my head end where I could keep book, torch, phone, map etc. It has a pentagonal footprint so there is a triangular space next to the pole for your next days clothes.
…it’s really best to view the Lofoten not as a tent, but as a luxury hooped bivvy
Sensibly the bathtub extends to the full height of the inner at the foot end which should minimise the chance of dampness from the fly wetting your sleeping bag. It will stop moisture transferring from the fly, but can be subject to condensation on humid nights. Thus I will continue with my normal practice of wrapping my windproof or waterproof jacket around my feet as insurance. I would not want to use a winter down sleeping bag in this tent as it would touch the ceiling and at least one side of the inner tent. (But then I would never have viewed this as a winter tent.). I sleep on a self inflating pad (ca. 25 mm thick) and suspect that the considerably thicker air-pads such as the Neoair might be thick enough to cause the foot-box of your sleeping bag to touch the top of the inner. I plan to borrow an air pad to test this before I consider investing in one.
I found it easier to get undressed / dressed in the Lofoten than under the tarp, in part because the inner tent protects you from condensation on the fly and also because the height does not drop away as sharply. The “headroom” around my waist and thighs is actually greater. That said, unless you are a child you’ll not be able to sit up, the maximum headroom being a very modest 70 cm.
The unresolved challenge I see, is how one should get changed out of full waterproofs and get into the shelter if it is still raining heavily at the time. There is no porch area which is tall enough to sit in. If anyone reading this has devised a good way to deal with this issue when ‘camping’ in a bivvy bag please do leave me your advice in a comment.
There is space for boots, stove & waterproofs (only) in the fixed section of the tiny porch – see photo. If you have the door open in ‘tarp mode’ you have lots of covered space, but if you want to keep your pack undercover it will need to be in the wide part of the ‘opening section’ of the porch and pushed out of the way when you want to get in and out of the tent. This leaves the narrow end of the porch somewhere you are best not to store any gear.
Considering all the above, it’s really best to view the Lofoten not as a tent, but as a luxury hooped bivvy. But because the entrance is on the side rather than the end it is much easier and more pleasant to get into / out from. Additionally I do not feel any sense of claustrophobia because the tent is at it’s tallest above your shoulders, the head wall of the inner is very steep and together this means the inner is well away from your face.
An unusual, excellent and game-changing feature is being able to prop up the door with the supplied bonus pole to make a tarp like cover over the entrance. This gives a good level of protection to safely cook in the rain and is lovely to leave open all night leaving you with the views of a tarp shelter but much greater protection. I’d plan to store my pack under ‘tarp’ section knowing that if bad weather sets in I can remove the tarp pole and seal myself away from the rain. It is possible to use a fully compressed trekking pole in place of the tarp pole and save yet further weight.
…being able to turn the door into a tarp over the entrance is a game changing feature.
Score (5/5 vs a hooped bivvy, 2/5 vs a conventional tent)
Ease of pitching (Score 4 ½/5)
This tent is very easy and quick to pitch even the first time you get it out of the bag. With practice I’d expect it to take < 3 minutes to erect. It pitches with a minimum of five pegs, but I’d carry another five so you can peg down the pole ends, add the two guys (supplied) and guy out the door as a tarp as discussed above. The tent is supplied with two sets of pegs – five titanium toothpicks, with which the 490 g weight is achieved, and five decent Y pegs akin to MSR Groundhogs. Peg choice is a heated topic, but I would suggest that the Y pegs should work well in all the conditions in which you be likely to use this tent. I’ve found carrying eight of these plus two of the toothpicks to peg down the pole ends is an excellent compromise.
The inner is semi-permanently attached to the fly with Dyneema guy cord, so the tent pitches ‘all in one’ as is common with most of today’s tunnel tents. It is possible to separate the two but this involves undoing knots in 2 mm cord which is a tricky, lengthy task.
My one complaint would be the fixed length guy at the foot end of the tent. Given that this is a Si-Nylon fly which will stretch in the wet it would have been far better to have a guy runner so you could easily adjust the tension and also have the option to choose where to put the peg if you are on stony ground. I have upgraded this guy.
Weather worthiness (Score – pending)
So far I’ve only used the tent on dry still nights so it’s too early to say. That the flysheet is Si-nylon with a hydrostatic head (HH) of 1600 mm which bodes well for sheltered 3 season use. The groundsheet has a 3600 mm HH.
When you do get a breeze you are advised to pitch the head / high end into the wind so you can take advantage of the shelter of the fixed porch area. Pitched in the reverse would form a windsock!
Ventilation / Condensation (Score – pending)
So far I’ve only pitched on windless nights when we saw a swings from 25-27 Celsius in the day to 10-12 Celsius at night, so maximised condensation potential for any tent design. Thus it’s too early to assess. The catenary cut fly at the head end and a covered mesh panel at the foot should aid ventilation even if you have the outer door closed. On one night I did see a small but appreciable amount of condensation form on the groundsheet just at the foot end of the tent, ironically this may have been due to the cooling effect of the vent in the fly at this end of the tent because I did not see any on any other part of the groundsheet.
Footprint (Score 4/5)
The footprint is about as small as could ever be possible. The guys are modest in length vs a tarp, so the Lofoten can be pitched into very tight spaces. Note though, that because the groundsheet is only 15 Denier it would not be happy on rocky ground without some kind of sacrificial footprint.
Also, most regular sized single hoop tents (e.g. the Enan or Laser) are symmetrical in the shape they present to the wind, the Lofoten is not. So, if you can only find a sloped pitch you may not be able to pitch it in the correct orientation to the wind and sleep with your head above your feet. This will probably mean hunting further for a pitch which is level or where the uphill end is into the wind. This may present a challenge to wild campers.
Weight / Robustness (Score 3½ / 5)
The only two skin tents lighter than the Lofoten (my real world weight 590 g) are the Terra Nova Pulse (total weight* 545 g) or Pulse Ultra (total weight* 490 g). The pitching method for the Pulse looks a real faff with the main pole being held to the fly with velcro tabs which is why I opted for the Lofoten.
All the above *claimed weights are achieved using 2 g titanium toothpick pegs. These are simply not practical options for real world camping – they are only really useful for use on a golfing green on a calm night! The Lofoten was supplied with a set of toothpicks and also a set of standard Y pegs. When I add all the guys, eight Y pegs and two toothpicks (for the pole ends) but exclude the zip out inner pocket cum-tent-bag my real world weight comes to 590 g. That’s nicely inside the 700 g target which was the combined weight of my tarp, and accessories. Honestly, the weight, but especially the packed volume of this tent, are amazing. It’s lighter than any hooped bivvy.
The design of the tent has a curved pole (6.5 mm Al) at the head and a short upright pole at the foot. The poles have unusually short pole sections (22 cm) which would work very well for bike-packers. There are three guying points, one essential one at the foot and two optional ones on the main pole. All guys are provided. To achieve both the ultralight weight and the impressive pack size ( 25 cm long by 11 cm diameter) very thin fabrics have been used, but the 7D fly still has a tear strength of 3.5 kg (Hilleberg’s Kerlon 1000 is 8 kg for comparison) and high tension points have been reinforced. My only disappointment is the 15D groundsheet which will need me to buy or make a footprint for use on all but campsites or the aforementioned golfing green. Careful handling will be essential, but if you want something of ultra low volume this is a price which physics demands that you pay. I am happier with thin nylon than DCF; this has now been in the market place for a while now and there are a number of reports of it having a too short a lifespan in real-world use. Furthermore, Si-nylon packs down smaller.
Conclusions
After a few test nights I think this tent shows promise with meeting my requirements, buying pre-loved was clearly a good idea, as how I cope with the low headroom (low every-type-of-room to be honest!) is something only experience will reveal. I am impressed with how well it has been manufactured and how quick and easy it is to pitch and strike. The true test is to take it away for a multi-day walk and see what it’s like to use when I’m tired and how much hassle it is to pack a bag from inside it. Also it will be interesting to see how one manges entrance / egress in heavy rain. It is certainly a niche design which will lead to polarised opinions. Either you / I will love it or hate it. I will write up a further review when I have the experience to know which is true for me.
If you have found this review helpful, you may also enjoy my other tent reviews:
Other shelter designs I could have considered:
Very similar micro-tent designs are the Terra Nova Pulse or Vango F10 Hydrogen both of which are within 50 g of the Lofoten. However, both use velcro tabs to attach to the main pole which seems like a lot of hassle vs. a pole sleeve. On the plus side, the Pulse has enough height to sit up if you hunch (85 cm). If only it had a pole sleeve I might well have bought one. (are you listening Terra Nova?)
The obvious alternative designs are one of the wide range of hiking pole tents now available. They offer generous headroom and much more space but usually a single skin design – a fly with attached mesh doors and skirt between the fly and groundsheet.
Liteway Illusion Solo
A challenge with these designs is that the groundsheet is almost always made of the same fabric as the fly and thus as slippery as a well greased banana skin, necessitating a totally level pitch. The build quality of the cottage industry makers is rarely excellent and varies from tent to tent, if you are buying in the UK you will probably have to seal your own tent seams which may not appeal to everyone. If you want a whole package below 700 g without the use of DCF your options narrow considerably. The only ones I can find to meet this spec are Gossamer Gear’s “The One” at 620 g – this has the additional advantage over pyramid tents of a much easier pitching process – or the Trekkertent Stealth 1 (640 g for fly, inner and 6 Y pegs) which has the advantage of being UK made and supplied with sealed seams.
TN Pulse
Gossamer Gear – The One
Trekkertent – Stealth