Time for a review.
I bought the Lightwave T0 Ultra about three years ago as a solo camping upgrade to my very old one man tent that I had had for 25 years. The brief was simple. Lighter than my (then) current tent (2.1kg). One man. Easy to put up. Strong in harsh weather. Green (I know, I know….)
After looking around for some time, I settled on either a variety of Vaude tents or one of the Lightwave range of tents which at the time I have to admit I had not heard of. In the end I made my final choice based on the most important consideration of all…price! I had initially dismissed the T0 ultra as an option because it was so expensive but was quite interested in its slightly heavier sibling the T0 Trek (same basic tent, 150g heavier due to different materials used). The Ultra normally retails for around £350 whereas the Trek at around £195. I was on the verge of purchasing the Trek when low and behold I discovered the Ultra on sale online for £150! That was it…job’s a good un.
So what did I get for my money?
A tent coming in at 1450grammes, that was claimed to be extremely storm worthy, an interesting feature called “architekture” poles and of course green. It was also an inner first tent which was for me a first.
Pitching it for the first time was relatively easy and once up I was surprised how sturdy it felt. The fly was pulled taut and gave a nice wrinkle free pitch (which I do think is important both structurally as well as aesthetically). The room inside it has to be said wasnt huge but this was partly because the rear of the tent slopes down from the entrance. For me the room was ok but I am 5/7 and I would imagine a 6 footer might struggle a bit in this tent. Having said that the tent was well made (using lineloks for instance on the guylines) and looked the part. How would it fare in poor weather though?
I had chance to test the tent in a variety of bad weather conditions including a very wet weekend and a very windy night. Firstly in the wet.
Attempting to pitch the tent on a dark wet night immediately brought home to me its main shortcoming …..its an inner first pitch. Even though it only took me a couple of minutes to get the tent up, the inner got wet and I had to mop the floor up. Also the inner walls stayed slightly wet throughout the evening which was more of an annoyance than a show-stopper. You can reduce the chance of the inner getting wet by draping the fly over it whilst pitching but this is a bit of a faff.
On the windy night, the inner first was actually a slight advantage as it allowed pegging and pole insertion to be reasonably easy. But the test didnt end with the erection. During the night, the tent was subjected to a howling, swirling gale that got up towards 70mph and it didnt move. The tent stayed absolutely solid. Even the supposed weakness of tunnel tents of the sidewalls blowing in didnt happen with the Ultra. Possibly this was due to the fact that the fly was pitched really drum tight and so couldnt blow in. After this windy night I was particularily pleased with the tents performance but in the end its use declined mainly due to the wet weather disadvantage of the inner first design.
Still overall the tent is a very nice design, well thought out and able to put up with very harsh wind.
Pro’s
Well designed with some clever features
Lightweight
Very storm worthy
small pack-size
Con’s
wet weather pitching
I reckon the one with the extra long porch is a fine looking tent. PTC had a bad time with his test model yet Trail liked it???
Was that something to do with the sidewall’s blowing in too much? I found that for me personally pitching the fly really tautly resulted in not much trouble when I encountered 70mph swirling winds.
The XT model means that you have a huge porch and makes the tent “liveable in” for longer treks
I know this is a little late but have you got any photos of the inside, just to get an idea of the room and the porch etc??
I can have a look and see I have any stored anywhere and get back to you Marcus…
I also have a t0 and agree with your comments. I haven’t pitched it in wet conditions yet. Carol McDermott (the owner /designer) sent me instructions for “fast pitching” in bad weather. He is a very helpful guy, give him a ring sometime.
My main gripe with it is the short pole which keeps the front vent open. I find it a total pain in the ass to fit and sometimes don’t bother. I am going to get a flexible “rod” sewn in to the inside of the vent (like on the Nallo) to get round this problem. Does this bother you?
Hi Jack,
yeah Carol is very helpful and I do like Lightwave/Crux tents. The front “pole” is an oddity and a flexible rod is a clever solution to having to take it in and out all the time. After all the rod doesnt add much structural rigidity to the frame it just keeps the porch peak taut
A fast pitch normally involves putting the fly over the inner loosely and pegging the back down then erecting from within/underneath. This does work well in wet conditions but its a challenge in windy wet conditions!