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Mountain Hardwear SuperMegaUL 1 tent

9
£324.99

VERDICT:

9
10
Light, compact, easy to pitch, roomy for one and excellent for hot conditions – spot on for touring
Weight: 
980g

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There's a fine balance to be struck with a tent for bikepacking or touring between comfort, weight, packsize and ease of use. The Mountain Hardwear SuperMegaUL 1 is definitely light, packs down small and goes up easily, which all makes for an excellent start.

The SuperMegaUL 1 is Mountain Hardwear's lightest one-man (or woman) tent, and is aimed squarely at fast and light backpackers and cyclists, or anyone for whom low overall weight and compact packsize are absolutely crucial.

It's made using some of the lightest fabrics and components in the industry, yet is still designed to be fully weatherproof and durable.

Find your nearest dealer here 

Buy this online here 

At less than a kilo all in, it's hard to find fault with the weight of the SuperMegaUL 1. Everything packs into a decent compact space too, with the end result fitting into a rear pannier quite happily, or the pouch straps easily onto a rear rack.

The tent pitches inner first, with just two DAC Featherlight NSL poles and some clever clips and eyelets. This mesh inner is completely self-standing and makes an ideal hot weather shelter, giving protection against insects and yet allowing the breeze to pass through. The super-lightweight outer waterproof fly sheet fastens easily and mainly with just tent pegs, rather than actually clipping to the interior. This helps reduce the weight and bulk further too. There's a small porch created by the fly sheet, and mesh pockets in the inner tent to keep things tidy.

Pitching the tent was incredibly quick and easy, taking just five to ten minutes including the outer fly sheet. The poles are joined together, so there's absolutely no confusion at all as to what goes where. There's only one place they CAN go!

As tempting as the inner mesh tent is, I can't imagine it will be used alone that often in UK conditions, but it's the sort of thing that makes European touring that bit more enjoyable. I've spent many a night under canvas in the Mediterranean and roasted. This tent puts paid to that problem. With the outer, though, it's watertight and still fast to put up.

Space inside is ample for one person, even a six-footer, but definitely only one. Even spooning. The porch created by the fly sheet doesn't give much space for storage of luggage or cooking in bad weather, but it's just about big enough for a pair of rear panniers, and the less tall cyclist has space inside the tent too.

The tent was stable and didn't leak, but overall it definitely favours changeable weather rather than persistently bad weather, given the ultra-lightweight nature of the fly sheet, the lack of ventilation options and the way the outer pitches. In fairness, who wants to set off on a week's cycle tour expecting persistent rain and gail force winds? Not I! If you don't have a choice, though, a different and almost certainly heavier tent might be a better option.

Price wise, this is somewhere in the middle of the vast continuum of prices for a one-person tent, but it marks good value given that it's an extremely technical tent, extraordinarily light and very easy to pitch, perfectly tuned for solo adventures. Most tents of a comparable weight and packsize are more expensive than the SuperMegaUL 1. The more likely it is that you're going to travel to warmer climes, the better and better value this tent gets.

Verdict

Light, compact, easy to pitch, roomy for one and excellent for hot conditions – spot on for touring

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Mountain Hard Wear SuperMega UL 1 Tent

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Mountain Hardwear says:

"Our lightest 1-person backpacking tent. Truly free standing, with integrated vestibule. An ultra lightweight and compact tent for fast packing, cycling and other extremely space- and weight-sensitive trips."

Does just what it's supposed to. Incredibly light and compact.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Mountain Hardwear says:

Industry leading DAC Featherlight® NSL poles

Super lightweight fabrics designed in every aspect to be as lightweight as possible but to still deliver solid protection from the elements

Guaranteed watertight construction with fully taped fly, taped perimeter seam, welded corners and welded guy clip anchors

Dry entry vestibule for added storage and convenience

Truly free standing light weight geometry and design

Welded zipper flap construction is lighter and drier than a sewn flap

Mesh pockets for interior storage

Super-light buckles and webbing reduce tent weight

Materials

Pole Type: DAC Featherlight™ NSL poles

Fabric Fly: 10D Nylon 800-1200mm PU

Fabric Canopy: 15D Poly Knit Mesh;15D Nylon Ripstop

Fabric Tent Floor: 30D Nylon Ripstop 2000 mm Ether Type PU/SIL

Measurements

Weight Packed: 2 lb 3 oz / 0.98 kg

Weight Minimum: 1 lb 13 oz / 807 g

Weight Pitch Light: 1 lb 6 oz / 631 g

Tent Capacity: 1

Number of Poles: 2

Number of Doors: 1

Number of Vestibules: 1

Height Interior: 33 in / 84 cm

Length Packed: 19 in / 48 cm

Diameter Packed: 5 in / 13 cm

Tent Floor Area: 16 sq ft / 1.5 sq m

Tent Vestibule Area: 4 sq ft / 0.4 sq m

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
10/10

Superbly well made from high quality fabric and components.

Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10

Performed very well.

Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10

Such incredibly lightweight fabric does incur a penalty of being more likely to tear or catch on brambles and the like, but if taken care of properly and mindfully, it should last just fine.

Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
10/10

Weight cannot be faulted, especially for a tent with plenty of space for one person.

Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
9/10

Extremely comfortable, especially inner only for hot conditions.

Rate the product for value:
 
9/10

Very good value for its weight and pack size. Many tents of similar spec are much more expensive.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Very well indeed.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Amount of space for one person, ease of erection, light weight and small pack size.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Lack of ventilation options for wetter weather, slightly small porch.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes, definitely

Would you consider buying the product? Probably, especially if planning overseas tours in hot conditions.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your score

A very well considered tent, and extremely easy to put up and take down. Best suited to occasional bad weather rather than prolonged, but up to the job nonetheless. Perfect choice for hot-conditions bike camping.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 42  Height: 1.65m  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: Boardman Hybrid Fi  My best bike is: Specialized Ruby Elite

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, sportives, general fitness riding, mountain biking

 

Lara has been riding bikes for longer than she'd care to admit, and writing about them nearly as long. Since 2009 she has been working as part of the road.cc review team whilst championing women's cycling on the side, most notably via two years as editor of the, sadly now defunct, UK's first and only women's cycling mag, erm, Women's Cycling. 

Believing fervently that cycling will save the world, she wishes that more people would just ride a bike and be pleasant to each other. 

She will ride anything with two wheels, occasionally likes to go fast, definitely likes to go far and is always up for a bit of exploring somewhere new and exciting. 

Add new comment

6 comments

Avatar
Tass Whitby | 8 years ago
0 likes

Reviewer says according to the website the minimum length is 48cm, and it definitely fits in a classic rear pannier in her experience. Hope that helps!

Avatar
themartincox | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'm interested to know the smallest possible length this can pack down to, as determined by the longest piece of pole.

I've a really lovely TNF 1 person tent which has a pole about 20cm too long to go anywhere on the bike without sticking out like a, well, pole from the rear - to the extent I have to wear a backpack to carry it - or ultimately take a bivvy instead

cheers

Avatar
Benjamin Nickolls | 8 years ago
0 likes

Or you could get a two-man tent that won't get wet pitching and uses only one pole to erect. Weighing about 200g more. http://www.tarptent.com/double-rainbow.html

Avatar
crikey | 8 years ago
0 likes

The same price as a Classic wind jacket and a Pro team softshell jacket from Rapha.

I know where I'd rather sleep.

Avatar
jezza666 | 8 years ago
0 likes

How much???

Avatar
Airzound replied to jezza666 | 8 years ago
0 likes
jezza666 wrote:

How much???

It's £324.99 as given in the title. D'oh!

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