Another gear review - the Macpac Microlight tent

Back by popular demand (OK … one person asked!) is the outdoor diaries gear review. This time I’m reviewing a one-person winter tent, the Macpac Microlight.

10 or 15 years ago the Microlight was very fashionable, being one of the smallest and lightest one-person tents available at that time. It was the first solo tent that I bought and my first one gave me many years of solid service. These days it doesn’t really live up to its “microlight” name as it’s been usurped by many much lighter shelters that are now widely available. But when I needed a new one-person tent for this winter, I found myself still attracted to the Microlight and the sale price of £175 that I found online. Here’s why.

Let’s face it, the Scottish winter can be cold, grey, grim and very wet or exceedingly snowy. In foul conditions I don’t want to head out into the mountains in a flimsy, featherweight shelter. I want to feel that I’m trusting my wellbeing to something pretty strong and sturdy. The Microlight has that reassuringly robust feel although you pay for it in its 1.6kg of weight. The groundsheet is much thicker than you will find, for example on the Terra Nova Laser, my summer tent. So you feel quite confident about pitching it on rough or wet terrain. The groundsheet has quite a deep “bathtub” shape which I think is really important when you’re camping on sodden ground, slush or deep snow. It’s happened in the Laser that wind-driven rain has come over the top of the groundsheet and inside the inner. But that doesn’t happen with the bathtub groundsheet of the Microlight. Extra protection is also provided by the flysheet extending fully to the ground right around the bottom.

The tent has a single pole that runs length ways and when pitched the tent has a “limpet” shape which is quite appropriate as it seems to cling to the mountain like a limpet to a rock. I’ve not had the new one out yet in bad conditions but my older version stood up to some severe weather and high winds. Even in these conditions it remained reassuringly solid and strong. However I did have the idea on one mildly windy night that the new version was a bit more “flappy” than the original. The limpet shape is also excellent at shedding rain and snow simply slides off.

I don’t think I’ve owned any other tent that pitches as quickly as the Microlight. With the flysheet and inner going up together and the single pole, it can be up in just a couple of minutes. It’s easy then to quickly peg out the six main anchor points and this can be done with a minimal of faffing. With some tents I feel have to go round the pegging points a couple of times making adjustments to get things right but the Microlight always seems to pitch perfectly and easily first time. I think that’s really important in a winter tent – you want to get it up quickly if conditions are bad or your hands are getting cold. Once the main points are pegged, you can then peg out the four guylines for extra stability.

The footprint of the inner tent is big and there’s even room for two at a push if you should unexpectedly meet the man or woman of your dreams out in the hills. The floor is wider at one end, creating lots of space for any kit you want to bring indoors. The porch is huge, big enough to hold my folding bicycle. The groundsheet can be rolled back at the wide end to make the porch even bigger. But one of the downsides of the tent is the living space. Because the pole runs the length of the tent and not along the width like the Laser or Akto, the internal space is narrow and the inner tends to hang loosely inwards. This doesn’t bother me as I am so tiny and I also spend most of my time in the tent with the inner door open and in doing so, extend my living space into the porch. But I think that bigger or bulkier bodies would not like the inner space. My other minor grumble is that I felt I couldn’t make tight enough the tension straps that attach the inner to the outer at the bottom – perhaps this explains the slight “flappiness”.

The inner door is made with half mesh which can be zipped closed on chillier nights. Probably my favourite feature of this tent is the outer door. It can be half-opened to give good protection for cooking in wind and rain but both the inner and outer can be fully peeled back as well so that the front of the tent is completely open, allowing you to enjoy the outdoor space and gaze wistfully, mug in hand, across open mountain vistas. I really like this as I feel I’m sitting outdoors but still benefitting from a bit of wind protection on colder days.

I should say that the classification of “winter” tent is mine and I’m not aware that it’s actively marketed as a four season tent. But, based on my experience of the tent and the original one I used for many years, I think that classification is justified. It really is strong, perfectly sheds snow and that bathtub groundsheet is just what’s needed in wet winter conditions. The tent comes with a nice stuffsac with two integrated compression straps, repair patches, seam sealant and a small stuffsac containing pegs and a pole repair sleeve.

In summary, the Microlight is not in the featherweight category of one-person shelters but I think its design and robustness are ideally suited to the Scottish winter. With a regular price tag of £200-220, I think it’s also excellent value for money. You can get all the technical specs here.

If you do meet the person of your dreams out in the hills, you'll quite quickly want to upsize to the more salubrious accommodations provided by a two-man tent. So keep reading for the next blog when I'll review a two-person Exped mountain tent.   

Addendum - January 14
Used the Microlight with a friend who had a Terra Nova Laser. A damp night with light wind. The Laser had gathered quite a lot of condensation by the morning whereas the Microlight was perfectly dry.