The Lunar Solo is a pyramid-style single-wall trekking-pole tent. It stands out for its affordability, light weight, polyester construction, and livability and only requires a single trekking pole to pitch. It is both my first trekking-pole tent and first single-wall tent. After almost two years of use in everything from 34mph windstorms to granite basins it is still my go-to tent for 3-season trips.
Stats
- Make: Six Moon Designs
- Model: Lunar Solo
- Model year: 2018
- Measured weight: 725g
- Date purchased: 2018-07-06
- Price paid: $200 plus $30 for seam-sealing
- Usage: July 2018 – present (over a dozen trips, two dozen nights, 200+ miles)
Materials
The Lunar Solo is constructed from silicone-impregnated polyester, also known as silpoly. Polyester has an advantage over nylon in that it doesn’t sag when wet and doesn’t break down in sunlight. The fabric thicknesses are 20D for the top and 40D for the floor, both are waterproof with a 3,000mm hydrostatic head.
By default the tent does not come with the seams sealed, however for an additional $30 Six Moon Designs will perform the seam sealing for you. It’s worth noting that because of the construction the only seams are around the base of the peak and where the mesh is attached to the canopy so it’s simple to do it yourself (I’ve re-sealed it once so far).
The floor thickness and durability are sufficient. Even after spending a half-dozen nights without a groundsheet on granite so rough it was too painful to walk barefoot on there’s not a single nick or scratch on the bottom of the tent.
The tent comes in two colors, silver and green. Although listed as “gray” on the website you can see from the pictures that the gray is very, very light. In fact, this is my only regret for this tent: I wish I had purchased the darker green color since the interior is incredibly bright on moonlit nights.
Interior Space
One of my favorite things about the Lunar Solo is how roomy it is inside. In fact, I often describe the Lunar Solo as a 1.5-person tent. Because the floor shape is similar to a half-hexagon there’s a sort of triangular “inner vestibule” area opposite the door where I can easily stash all of my gear for quick access throughout the night. I find this highly preferable to keeping it outside and having to fiddle with zippers in the dark.
However, like all pyramid-style tents it still suffers from walls which quickly close in on the top of the pole. There’s still plenty of room to change comfortably but I do find myself occasionally bumping into the outer wall (and any associated condensation) if I’m not careful.
The other downside of more interior space is the larger area required to pitch the tent. In a pinch, however, I’ve found you can set up this tent almost anywhere: I’ve spent nights face-to-face with a sagebrush or had a tree pushing in against the perimeter and been just fine.
Ventilation
In addition to a six-inch ring of mesh between the bathtub floor and canopy, the Lunar Solo has a small peak vent at the top of the doors. The design is also such that the doors sit several inches off of the ground when the tent is pitched at the typical height, presumably to increase ventilation. Note that tent can also be pitched in storm mode by lowering the pole such that the bottoms of the doors sit flush with the ground.
Pitching
There are many how-to-pitch videos and tutorials online including the official one. Here’s what works for me:
- Adjust all stake loops to be halfway extended
- Stake out the front left and right corners (the ones at the ends of the mesh door)
- Stake out the rear corner (the one opposite the mesh door)
- Insert pole
- Loosen the rear stake loop and tilt the pole forward towards the doors, levering up the rear of the tent
- Attach the doors to the front guyline
- Stake out the front guyline
- Stake out the two remaining rear corners
I find the levering step is important for ensuring that the gap between the canopy and the floor is open instead of collapsed. I also find that attaching the doors is important for getting the front guyline angle correct: if you try to attach the doors afterwards they’ll most likely sag and you’ll have to re-stake unless you got the angle just right.
Vestibule
The front part of the tent’s canopy is comprised of two “doors” separated by a zipper. These doors can either roll up out of the way to provide a view and increase ventilation or they can be attached (independently or together) to the front guyline via a sliding hook mechanism, forming a vestibule. The vestibule is generously sized, however, I still prefer to keep my gear inside the tent with me. Note that the doors also feature a few tabs of hook-and-loop so they can be joined together without engaging the zipper.
Tips
Upgrade the Door Attachment System
Out of the box the Lunar Solo’s doors come with some flat loops that are intended for use with the little hook which is attached to the front guyline via a prusik knot. Unfortunately between the flatness of the loops and the wide and small nature of the hook this system is a giant pain to use.
To address this I tied a small loop of cord through each flat loop in order to provide a more accessible opening. I then attached a carabiner to the hook so that I would have something a bit larger to work with there as well. Result: a new attachment system which is incredibly easy to use and frustration-free.
Use Your Pack as a Headroom Enhancer and Windbreak
I discovered this tip on a particularly windy night: by placing your backpack horizontally up against the head end of the tent it not only blocks wind from that direction but also pushes up against the fabric of the tent, significantly increasing headroom. Since I started using this method I have removed the mid-panel guyout lines which I had previous added on because the pack trick always works regardless of where you pitch the tent.
Pitching on Sand or Rock
In cases where dirt isn’t available I use my own custom anchoring system. Note that on sand you’ll need to attach either a mud or snow basket (the smaller mud basket is sufficient but some poles only come with larger snow baskets) to the end of your trekking pole. Unfortunately adding a basket no longer allows the pole to work correctly with the grommet where the tip is normally placed. However, an elastic loop next to the grommet can be slid around the tip of the pole before the basket is added.
Winter
The Lunar Solo is not marketed as a four-season tent, nor did I purchase it with winter use in mind. However, since Washington is not known for extreme winter weather, the prospect of using a single tent year-round meant that curiosity got the better of me. After perusing some reviews online I came away with the impression that it was perfectly suitable for winter use outside of heavy snowfall and storms. Since I get far more snow at the cabin than I ever have on winter backpacking trips, I decided to perform some backyard testing. What follows is a timeline of sorts during which we received somewhere between 6 and 8 inches of snow overnight.
Pitching in the snow requires three things: stomping down a platform, use of snow stakes, and the addition of a mud or snow basket to your trekking pole so that it doesn’t plunge into the snow.
Our first 3-4 inches of snow have fallen. I’ve left the tent completely untouched, the shedding of snow from the doors happened purely as a result of gravity. The biggest issue is that as snow piles up on the back side it weighs down on the fabric, shrinking the interior space. However, for moderate amounts of snowfall this can easily be remedied from within by lifting the fabric and causing the snow to fall away
Another inch or two of snow has fallen as night approaches. Natural shedding has started to reach its limit as snow begins to accumulate on the bottoms of the doors.
Checking back in the morning, another 2 to 3 inches have fallen. It would appear that, for situations where overnight snowfall is expected to be around eight inches or less, the Lunar Solo requires no hands-on maintenance. However, I would recommend not letting the snow pile up as I’ve done here since I did manage to tear a hole in the tent just after this picture was taken. I was attempting to loosen the front guyline and when I went to grab it I inadvertently introduced just enough extra tension that a small rip (about an inch in length) appeared at the top of the left door, just below where the black “hood” material begins. This is the first visible wear of any sort on the tent after a solid two years of use, which is unfortunate, but the silver lining is that I now have an opportunity to give Tenacious Tape a whirl.
The Lunar Solo is now my year-round go-to tent for every trip.