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Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo > Mara Factor > Initial ReportSix Moon Designs, Lunar Solo Initial ReportManufacturer: Six Moon Designs, 2004 Web site: http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/ MSRP: $225 Tester: Mara Factor Gender: Female Height: 6’1" (185 cm) Weight: 220 lb (100 kg) Age: 38 Locale: Medford, Massachusetts (near Boston), USA Date: November 26, 2004 Email: m_factor@hotmail.com Web: http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor Background: I have been hiking and backpacking extensively since 1989. Weekends frequently find me in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Longer trips I've taken include such diverse locations as Copper Canyon, Mexico; Annapurnas, Nepal; Olympic Mountains, Washington; Austrian Alps; Paria Canyon, UT and AZ; Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Crest Trail, and a 1999 thruhike of the Appalachian Trail. As a lightweight backpacker, I do not forgo comfort or safety. I weigh all of my equipment and carry only items necessary for each trip. My ~13 lb (6 kg) summer base pack weight includes a Nomad lite tent, alcohol stove, Big Agnes sleep system, ULA P-1 backpack or Kelty Vapor backpack, and an MEC filled jacket. Product: The Lunar Solo is a lightweight, one person, tent. It is designed to be used as an integral part of a lightweight backpacking system. Weight: 1.5 lb (.7 kg) both as advertised and as measured at home. Weight does not include seam sealant or stakes. I will supply packed weight in my Field report. Description: The tent is green with a black floor. It is a single wall tent with full coverage SilNylon walls and a SilNylon floor. The floor is attached to the tent walls with bug netting which provides a great deal of ventilation. There is a full vestibule along the length of the tent that can open completely in good weather to allow maximum ventilation. The floor is five sided. With the vestibule closed, the tent is six sided. While the walls are not steep, they are sloped enough to shed water and should fend off wind quite easily. This tent is designed for three season use and may withstand light snow. Given the design which maximizes ventilation, this tent is not designed for extreme cold weather and full winter conditions. The bug netting door opens along half of the vestibule area. The two sided zipper pulls glow in the dark. The tent requires six stakes and at least one hiking pole. An additional pole ensures the interior volume is maximized. The tent does not come seam sealed. The tent material is 1.1 oz/yd^2 (31 g/m^2) SilNylon and has a plastic feel to it. Creases where the material has been folded or stuffed are lighter in color. The material sounds crinklely as it’s handled. The fabric is also a small ripstop material with the periodic heavier threads being spaced about 1/8 in (.4 cm) apart. There are bright yellow guy lines attached to the tent canopy and black guy lines attached to the floor. They have all appropriate hooks, loops, and fasteners in place. Additional guy lines can be added to increase stability and add headroom as necessary. The tent came in a stuff sack, also made of SilNylon. It measures 18x8 in (46x21 cm) with a drawcord and cordlock closure. The hang tag was attached to the stuff sack. Documentation: The hangtag gives minimal information about pitching and seam sealing the tent. It is also short on requirements for the tent. Minimally, it should explicitly state that six stakes and one 45" (114 cm) hiking pole (or equivalent) are required for setting up the tent. It does, however, point the user to the web site. Shortly after the tent was delivered, Ron Moak, owner of Six Moon Designs, installed and updated three pages on the Six Moon Designs web pages that further clarified how to set up the tent and seam seal it. While these pages can still use significant editing, I recommend that printed versions of these pages be packed with each tent sold. Likes:
I expect to use the tent both with and without a Tyvek groundsheet. It is likely I will be setting up the tent on desert sand, New England forest duff, and quite possibly, tent platforms. I also hope to have the opportunity to set up the tent using the loop on the top of the tent. If pitching under a suitable branch, this would mean I wouldn't have to use a hiking pole for the setup. Questions I hope to answer for the field and long term reports:
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