SMD - Lunar Solo. First night impressions.

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SMD - Lunar Solo. First night impressions.

Postby PedalRoll » Thu 12 Jul, 2018 6:12 pm

I recently picked this up from Bruce on here.

Ended up taking it out for a night in a nice little river spot close to home. It rained all night and the ground was damp when I reached camp.

No, I did not forget my pegs.....I have some nice new Lawson Ti hooks I have been trying to get into rotation with some Mini Groundhogs.

Initial impressions from this first night:

Pros:
•Insanely easy set-up. I did it in the dark with a 50 lumen headlight and had no issues except discovering the little sleeve where the pole slides in at the apex.
•Large vestibule kept my shoes + pack dry
•Decent internal floor space meant I could keep some items I wanted to protect from rain inside with me.
•Only 150gms heavier than my tarp + bivy setup.

Cons:
•Rather high amount of condensation. Setting up on wet ground, no wind and raining all night did not help. There was no drips and any beading I saw went straight down to the mesh sides and out.
•Found it difficult to turn without brushing my head on the side/roof. Not really a major issue except for a little dampness on my hood.
•Not too certain on why the door zip runs through the bathtub inside of along the join with the mesh. Will see how this goes in a good rain and if I pitch on a slope one night.

Overall I'm stoked on it!

Without moving to a cuben shelter I cant really see any side opening + single pole setups that are better. Better in regards to weight and liveable space. Im not a fan of pyramid or front entry shelters.

This definitely fills my needs on trips where I don't want to tarp and/or bivy. Not that I don't love that; its just sometimes an easy pitch after a couple of swollops of bourbon and a long day is nice. Or I know its going to be raining and the comfort of being able to change and stay dry is worth 150gms.

Please share thoughts and comments.
PedalRoll
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