The 5 best ultralight trekking pole tents

I am a big fan of ultralight trekking pole tents. It makes perfect sense, use your trekking pole instead of tent poles and make your pack significantly lighter. In this article, I will provide a list of the 6 best ultralight trekking pole tents. At the end of the article I will add a more in-depth explanation as to why I chose these specific tents, and what you should look at before buying a trekking pole tent.

Let’s start with an overview, so you can find the right tent for you as quick as possible.

Name	Persons	Price	Weight	Space	Verdict
Hyperlite mountain gear – Ultramid 2	2	$$$$	2.32lbs/1.05kg	5/5	High quality. Spacious. Expensive.
Mier ultralight	2	$$	2.44lbs/1.1kg	3/5	Very good budget option.
River country trekking pole tent 2.2	2	$	3.31lbs/1.5kg	3/5	Cheapest option.
Zpack duplex	2	$$$$	1.80lbs/0.82kg	4/5	High quality. Extremely light. Expensive.
Six Moon Designs Skyscape trekker	1	$$$	1.75lbs/ 0.79kg	4/5	Very good 1 person option.

 

Best trekking pole tents

I will include options for every type of hiker. Whether you are on a budget or you want the highest quality gear, this list will probably include an item for your needs.

Trekking poles are not included unless otherwise stated.

 

1) Hyperlite mountain gear – Ultamid 2

Let’s start with a more premium option, before I’m going to say anything else, let me start by saying that this is not a budget-friendly tent. It’s high quality, and it’s worth the money if you can afford it (otherwise it wouldn’t have made the list), but let’s get it out of the way: this tent is expensive! If you care about your budget, there are very budget friendly options included in the list as well.

Hyperlite mountain gear focuses on ultralight and high quality products, the combination of these 2 things means that the products are rather expensive. Also, by default this tent does not include a ground sheet or an inner mesh. However, you can buy everything separately on their website. It’s meant to be a modular system where you only buy what you need. There is no reason to pay and carry for an inner mesh if you don’t have the intention to use it, right?

The Ultamid 2 -at it’s core- is incredibely lightweight, coming in at 1.17 lbs (18.85 oz | 534g), It’s one of the most spacious ultralight tents. Keep in mind that this does not include the inner mesh or a ground sheet. To make a fair comparison I had to include that weight in the overview, which means it comes in at 2.32lbs.

They use a technology called Dyneema fiber in most of their products, which is very lightweight and durable.

One of the most praised things about the Ultamid 2 is that it’s so roomy when it’s still so lightweight. Usually, ultralight tents are rather compact and a little too small to be comfortable in, but this is no problem at all with this pyramid tent.

The only big downside (except for the price tag) is that you will have to lash 2 trekking poles together in order to set up this tent. However, this will result in a lot of headspace… If you ask me, it’s worth the trouble! It’s not that complicated either, check out the video below if you are wondering how this would work exactly.

You can buy the ultamid 2 on the official hyperlite mountain gear website: Ultamid 2

 

2) MIER/KIKILIVE Ultralight Tent 3-Season

 

The MIER ultralight 3-Season tent is my favorite budget trekking pole tent at the moment. It is -in my opinion- the best value for money you can get today.

There isn’t even that much I can say about this tent, it’s cheap, lightweight and has high-quality.

Btw. this tent is also known as the Lanshan 2 on the Chinese market. However, I wouldn’t recommend buying from AliExpress because it will take way longer before your tent is delivered. On top of that, there is a higher chance that you’ll have troubles with the order (that being said, AliExpress is still pretty reliable most of the time).

This tent has no major downsides that I know of. Some people did claim that it was a bit harder to put up than a regular tent, but I hardly consider this a real con. Oh, and one other thing, you might consider changing the default pegs of this tent because they don’t hold that well in softer ground.

Note that people have been using this on thru-hikes like the PCT without real issues. For a cheap trekking pole tent like this one, that’s pretty impressive!

The Mier Ultralight 3-Season tent weighs around 2.5 pounds (1.13 kg), which is once again, pretty impressive.

Feel free to check out this tent on amazon: MIER Ultralight Tent 3-Season.

 

3) River Country trekking pole tent 2.2

The trekker 2.2 from River Country is the right choice for those of you who are searching for an extremely cheap option that doesn’t suck. It’s a 2 persons tent (it can fit 2 adults, but 2 adults + backpacks might be uncomfortable). I would recommend this tent to any hiker who can’t afford the MIER 3-season tent because this one is just ridiculously cheap.

You might be thinking that it’s impossible to get a good tent for this money – you wouldn’t be the only one. I was skeptical at first as well, but after doing some more research, I realized this product is actually pretty solid.

It’s an improvement on the River Country trekking pole tent 2.0, which was already a very good product. The only issue with that tent was too little ventilation, which caused a lot of condensation. In this version, they added more vents, it did make the tent 4 ounces heavier. In total, this tent weighs 3 pounds (1.36 kg)  and the package is only as big as a football.

There are still some benefits of the 2.0 over the 2.2. however, for most hikers I think the 2.2 will be a lot better. The Trekker tent 2.2 has large mesh side walls with side wall vents, and a lighter weight floor material. It is also slightly heavier. The Trekker 2.0 has smaller rear vents and a heavy duty tarp bathtub floor material, but because it uses less material overall it is lighter. Both have their benefits. The 2.2 was designed for those who hate condensation, the 2.0 gets more condensation inside, but offers more protection from cold windy nights.

Want to know the price of this product, you can check it on amazon:

River Country trekking pole tent 2.2

For those of you who are more interest in the 2.0 version of this product:

River Country trekking pole tent 2.0

Please note that these products do not include trekking poles. That said, you can use any kind of trekking pole to set up this tent. You could even use a stick if you have to.

 

4) Zpack duplex

My last recommendation will be an expensive one. Zpack duplex is one of the highest quality trekking pole tents you can buy today. However, even when keeping the quality in mind, this tent is still very expensive.

I would recommend this only to hikers who are looking for the best gear and are willing to pay a lot of money for it. This tent costs $600 and you can’t buy it from amazon, you will have to buy it from the official website.

Alright, so this product is very expensive, but you do get a very good trekking pole tent in return. This tent is probably more roomy than all the competition (with the hyperlite mountain gear tent as an exceeption) and it’s ridiculously light. It’s only 19 ounces (0.539 kg) and its designed for 2 persons.

Also, I haven’t met a single hiker who regretted buying the Zpack duplex, everybody seems to be very happy with this product.

If you want to learn more/buy the zpack duplex, you can find more information here: Zpack duplex.

 

5) Six Moon Designs Skyscape Trekker 1p

Coming in at 28ounces (1.75lb / 0.79kg) the skyscape trekker is a great trekking pole tent for a single person.

We can very clearly see how the weight affects the price. The skyscape ends up pretty much in the middle of the road.

Sure, when comparing it to the 2 most expensive tents on the list, the skyscape trekker doesn’t seem that lightweight. However, keep in mind that these tents are in a whole other budget range. I actually think that this tent is a beautiful in-between option. It’s relatively cheap, but definitely not super cheap. It’s lightweight but it’s not “ultralight” in comparison to a high-end tent.

Except for the price and the weight the tent has a solid design and is pretty roomy for this type of tent.

You will need 2 trekking poles to set it up.

Don’t be fooled by the somewhat misleading (more negative) reviews on amazon (this can happen when there are a limited amount of reviews). This tent has been tested and approved by many hikers. On a personal note, this would probably be the tent I would buy if I was looking for a 1 person tent.

You should be aware that you still need to seem seal this tent yourself (which also adds around an ounce of weight). Also not included would be a groundsheet and stakes.

The tent can be bought on amazon: Six moon designs Skyscape-trekker

 

What’s important in a trekking pole tent

There are a couple of things you need to look out for when buying a trekking pole tent.

A regular tent comes with an outer wall and an inner mesh wall (most of the time). However, a lot of the trekking pole tents only have a single (outer) wall. There are a couple of issues with single wall tents, one of the main problems is condensation. I’m not saying you should avoid single wall tents at all costs, they are cheaper and lighter, and in certain situations the positives might outweigh the negatives. Just make sure you know what you are buying. Want to learn more about single vs double wall tents? I would recommend reading this article.

The second thing that’s very important in a trekking pole tent –or any kind of tent for that matter– is durability. The last thing you want is your tent giving up on you in the middle of a long distance trail. A lot of trekking pole tents are rated by reviewers who spend one or maybe a couple of nights in it. What you should be looking for is reviews from people who have used it on a long distance trail for example. Also, don’t be fooled by price alone, a cheap tent can be very durable and an expensive one can be very low quality.

Last but not least, weight and size is important. The lighter your pack, the better. Keep in mind that you will pay a lot of money for ultralight high quality gear.

 

Tips for hiking with a trekking pole tent

Bringing a trekking pole tent instead of a regular tent shouldn’t make your trip any harder. That said, there are still a couple of tips that might help you.

The first tip is to bring some cordage. On certain types of ground it might be hard to pitch your tent. Most of the trekking pole tents can also be set up with a cordage.

In case there is nothing to attach your cordage to and you broke your hiking pole, you still have a backup option. Good old sticks, as long as they are long enough, they should be able to do the job.

Often, you can buy hiking poles combined with a trekking pole tent. I would not recommend this. You should focus on buying a good pair of hiking poles and don’t just buy the ones that come with a tent. You do not want to compromise on quality. Every good trekking pole tent is compatible with every hiking pole.

In case you are looking for a good set of hiking poles, I would recommend TrailBuddy trekking poles, these hiking poles are high quality and not that expensive.

 

Conclusion

There are a lot of advantages of using a trekking pole tent instead of a regular one. However, I feel like the market is not that mature yet, there are only a couple of decent trekking pole tents available today. Also, some of them are extremely expensive. I assume that in the next years, multiple new trekking pole tent models will be sold.

I would love to see some competition for the Zpack duplex. Let’s hope we can get a product of the same quality that is a bit more affordable. If there is more competition, the prices are likely to drop and currently there is no real competition for Zpack’s ultralight trekking pole tent.

As I said in the beginning, using your hiking poles as your tent poles just makes sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if more and more hikers would start to swap their regular tent for a hiking pole tent.

Have you ever used a trekking pole tent? What were your experiences? Let me know in the comments below.