[Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1kg

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[Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1kg

Postby Dubna48K » Mon 31 Jul, 2017 4:56 pm

Tent purchased from the below link.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Black-hawk-limit-ultra-light-680-double-layer-parallel-chord-1-2-gauze-tent/1686424224.html

I did a lot of research before buying this tent. I wanted a one man shelter that was double layer and less than 1 kg in weight. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money either, which ruled out all the western brands of lightweight tents. So after cruising the ultralight reddit forum, I stumbled across a post that mentioned this tent and that it could be purchased from Aliexpress for a low price.

For roughly AUD$100, this was a hard tent to ignore. I was concerned about the quality, but, others who had bought it assured me that it was actually pretty good. So, I took chance and went for it. I have used this tent once so far, but, have set it up on 2 other occasions. Below you will find what I liked and disliked about it.

Liked
    1. Cheap - fluctuates, but roughly $100 AUD

    2. Weight - it is listed at 880g, but mine with its bags for the tent and pegs came in at 964g. Still good I thought

    3. Quality - it is not perfect, but mine was pretty damn good, I investigated all the seams and found no problems. Definitely waterproof and I don’t see it falling apart anytime soon

    4. Width - plenty of room for one person width wise

Disliked

    1. Length - this tent is not made for tall people. I measured the bottom of the tent when setup and it was 195cm. I'm 175cm tall and would definitely not recommend this tent to anyone much taller than myself

    2. Tent foot end - another reason I wouldn't recommend this tent to anyone much taller than myself is that on the foot end of the tent, it is possible that a tall persons feet would touch the mesh when laying on your back. It just isn’t very high maybe 30cm at most at the low point

    3. Second pole - the pictures on Aliexpress show a trekking pole holding up the head end, and a guy line holding up the foot end. This works fine when there is no rainfly, but, with the fly on, the foot end is squished down majorly. The solution to this requires a second pole (40cm in length) to hold up the fly sheet at the foot end. So, more weight, but you could just find a stick at the campsite and use that I guess

    4. Gap between rainfly and tent - set up incorrectly, the rainfly will be touching the mesh of the tent, this can be avoided but takes a bit of time to learn how. I managed to get a decent gap between the 2 only when using the 40cm foot end pole and making the guy lines at either end of the fly very tight

    5. Mesh sags a little - honestly, it doesn't sag that much when setup with the correct tension, and I don’t seem to touch it when in the tent. Just can’t get it fully tight that is all

    6. Not enough pegs - they only supplied 8 pegs, I reckon it needs at least 10, and if you want the tent to be absolute perfection 14

Perfect tent setup instructions

I am a bit of a perfectionist, so have tried a few different ways to get this tent absolutely perfect. A few points that I have found that work really well are:

    • peg the tent and rain fly separately, except for the one peg at the foot end. I also pegged the tent though the fabric loops and not the elastic that is attached to them, this has the effect of pinning the tent firmly on the ground

    • I mentioned this above already, but the guy lines on the rainfly's foot and head end needs to be really tight. This ensures that the fly and mesh don’t touch

    • I found the trekking pole set at 120cm to be best. For the pole at the foot end I thought 40cm was perfect, though others reckon 30cm

Conclusion

Despite the dislikes list being longer than the likes, my opinion is that this tent is fantastic, particularly because of the price. Yeah It's short, but, so am I. And, while on the first go it took me about 2 hours to put this tent up so that it was perfect, it only takes me 10mins now. It performed well on my overnighter and despite there being some fairly good gusts of wind it handled them without problem. It is also well ventilated and there is enough room to keep your pack protected under the fly at the head end of the tent.

I would recommend this tent to anyone who is a cheap *&%$#! like me and wants a lightweight option. They must however be no taller than 180cm in height. Also note that the pegs in the picture on the Aliexpress site are not the ones they send to you. The pegs they actually send are the little aluminium star picket ones.
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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby michael_p » Mon 31 Jul, 2017 7:29 pm

Wow. Nice comprehensive review. Thank you.

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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby CasualNerd » Mon 31 Jul, 2017 7:40 pm

Thanks, some of this cheap gear is decent quality and insanely cheap.
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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby slparker » Tue 01 Aug, 2017 4:39 pm

CasualNerd wrote:Thanks, some of this cheap gear is decent quality and insanely cheap.




I'd be interested to see this one -
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ultrali ... 3.5.3VdB3M

can't imagine that it has great ventilation or would stand up to an alpine storm but might be reasonable for some applications

great weight and price
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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby Dubna48K » Tue 01 Aug, 2017 5:23 pm

I'd be interested to see this one -
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ultrali ... 3.5.3VdB3M

can't imagine that it has great ventilation or would stand up to an alpine storm but might be reasonable for some applications

great weight and price[/quote]

The foot end is definitely better on this one, but length is the same so you would still need to be small. I reckon it would be a good tent, not as much ventilation being that it is a single layer tent. However, what made the ventilation good on my one was that the fly, when attached, leaves a fairly large gap (no rain will get in though) at the bottom pretty much all the way around the tent. Providing there is a little breeze this works wonders. It doesn't look as though the gap on the one you linked too is as large as mine, but still looks decent.

It is a good price and weight, but, I steered away from that one because it was single layer.
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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby jimmeyer176 » Wed 23 Aug, 2017 12:48 pm

Just be mindful that industry standards don't necessarily apply to manufacturing in China.

Ron Bell at Mountain Laurel Designs performed a hydrostatic head water test (on his facebook page) on a MLD knock-off and the material failed very quickly, something like 600h/h. The main issue with much that is sold on Aliexpress is that many of these companies don't even have websites or phone number listed - why? Some like Naturehike seem legit but even a company like 3F UL Gear has no information listed?

I would strongly recommend testing your product thoroughly before taking it out in serious conditions, and keep in mind that nearly any shelter can repel the garden hose of sprinkler for a few hours, what happens when it dumps for 12 hours overnight and you're 30kms from the nearest road? What happens when the wind blows and those seams start to take pressure?

Some of those designs are pretty cool, I'm in love with a 3F design, but I don't trust it as far as I can throw it - not until it's tested comprehensively.
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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby Franco » Thu 24 Aug, 2017 10:23 am

I'm in love with a 3F design
Most (all?) 3F stuff is a copy, have you looked for an original version ?
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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby Strider » Thu 24 Aug, 2017 11:21 am

Franco wrote:I'm in love with a 3F design
Most (all?) 3F stuff is a copy, have you looked for an original version ?
Mate you really need to learn how to quote so people can follow your discussion :P

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Re: [Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1

Postby Singe » Thu 24 Aug, 2017 12:19 pm

Franco wrote:I'm in love with a 3F design
Most (all?) 3F stuff is a copy, have you looked for an original version ?
Happens in every industry; someone does the hard work to R&D for a great, original design and overnight there are 30 cheapo rip-off versions for half the price being sold direct from the factory.

Typically they're less than half as good as the original, and simply a copy of the form without the functionality IME.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” -Heraclitus
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[Tent] Axeman Ultralight Double Layer 1-2 Person $100 <1kg

Postby GPSGuided » Thu 24 Aug, 2017 1:05 pm

Singe wrote:Happens in every industry; someone does the hard work to R&D for a great, original design and overnight there are 30 cheapo rip-off versions for half the price being sold direct from the factory.

That's why there's intellectual property law and patents. If the R&D is of financial value to you/company, then patent it. If not, then the law encourages the IP to go back to public domain and allow the society to use it freely and build on it. That's also why the annual patent renewal fees go up over 17 years. The society/law forces you to let go as soon as possible. Then there's cross border issue. There's no protection if one does not file in a particular jurisdiction (for financial value). So whilst we mostly resist copying since our school days, the law and for the interest of societal advancement actually encourage free use, competition and innovation.

Back to tent design and as an earlier statement, there's hardly anything truly original and patentable. Then it becomes like fashion clothing, better to keep coming up with newer styles and compete on quality and price. That's life.
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