I am new to hiking and camping and was a little unsure as to whether I would enjoy it. After doing my research into which tents offer different solutions I realised that I needed a single person tent which was small and compact.

I started to look at bivvys as they are similar to swags which I loved in Australia, however they were very expensive, typically around £150-200 which was just too much to be spending on a start up hobby so I started to look for a cheaper alternative. This is when came across the Gelert Solo tent.

It is widely available and I paid only £22 for it, although I have seen it for around £30 I thought this was a bargain. My thinking was that if I didnt enjoy the camping then I wouldnt have lost much on the tent itself and I could always use it for gigs and the like as it would be perfect for this.

The tent is a double skin one man tent and is large enough for you to lye in confortably and even sit up as long as you are not too tall( im 5 10) and it also has a side panel which comes out slightly, enabling you to cook just outside your tent if you wish. Without even looking at the instructions it took me around 3 minutes to set up, and a minute to take down and pack away which I thought was fantastic and so simple anybody could do it.

The pack itself is very small and light, it wieghs less than a kilo and is no longer than your forearm and only slightly wider-perfect for fitting into a small rucksack...I hadnt ever seen a tent pack away so small.

I have used it twice now, both times it was dry so cannot comment on its waterproof ability, however in the dry it was great. Although it was cold out side I stayed warm and due to the double skin there was no condensation build up. The sides are almost completely made out of mesh of the inner layer so the tent is very well ventilated and I had plenty of space to move around.

Once erected the tent doesnt take up much space at all, and doesnt stand out too much as it is an olive/green colour so plenty in relatively well with the surroundings.

Overall I was very impressed with this tent. For the money it is great value and suits my needs perfectly. I am yet to find a similar tent to this for anywhere near the money and cant see why other tents are over twice this price yet seem to offer no extras. This would be great for taking to a gig as it is small and leightweight and cheap enough to even leave behind as most people tend to do. Or you could use it like me for hiking and camping.