Comments on: Review: Terra Nova Superlight Solar 2.2

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:02:29 +0000

The Wild Country tent you’re referring to is, I think, the Burrian. I bought one on Ebay a couple of years ago and it’s been nothing sort of superb. We did a 3.5 month cycle tour round Europe in most weather conditions and it never let us down once. I’m surprised Terra Nova dropped it; or perhaps they didn’t now that I’m looking at the Solar 2.2.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:05:17 +0000

Update on water pooling issue: looking at your photographs Andy, I can see that your tent does not have the manufacturing ‘fault’ that mine has, and which I’ve seen on several other Solar 2.2′s. Your flysheet seams appear to line up well with the poles, whereas all other 2.2′s I’ve seen have the seams shifted (towards the back of the tent) by an inch or more, so that the top seam at the front is well behind the pole (about an inch in my case) and so that the side guying points are rear of the pole intersections by a good couple of inches. To my mind there is definitely a manufacturing fault here. I’m told by TN that the latest Solar 2.2 tents were made in one batch a couple of years ago and they have recently sold out. I’m guessing that yours was an earlier one (?) and that it was made a bit better. I think, with slight modification, which TN are happy to carry out, that this tent of mine will work fine in practice, but they have never (of course) admitted there was a manufacturing fault, and the fact that so many tents were allowed to go out to shops in the condition they were (at best, they were ‘seconds’) doesn’t inspire confidence for any future tent purchases. I’ve persevered because I think the design is great. I hope TN continue the tent and get it manufactured to a standard to match the clearly excellent design.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:53:10 +0000

Oh, and in answer to Alice, 5 measured the poles at 52cm long, and yes, the main bag is 20cm or so in diameter but that’s with the tent packed VERY loosely. It’s a light and compact tent and you could compress the bag down to 10cm I guess, or better yet, stuff the inner and fly into stuff sacks and carry the poles seperately.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:24:38 +0000

Thanks Andy. To be honest I’ve never been rained on in this tent myself, though a friend has; in July we both spent a week in a field in Sweden and it rained a lot. I was bone dry in my Staika, despite rising ground water causing groundsheet to float a bit, but the friend in the Solar 2.2 (who was camped on higher ground) did get dripped on in the night. I’m guessing it was condensation coming through because the fly was being pressed against the inner by the pool of water, but yesterday I seam-sealed it anyway in the garden.

I spoke to Terra Nova last week, and in the course of ordering some replacement pegs was told the pooling is a pitching issue. I was given some advice about which holes to put which poles in to maintain that front-to back slope you speak of, but try as I might, the roof is still almost flat. It’s raining now and I’ve been standing in the garden looking at it, making adjustment and pouring jugs of water on the roof to test it. I think part of the problem is a kind of ‘puckering’ on the top seam at the front (the seam that runs parallel to the longer, blue pole) and that puckering makes the fly a bit loose and baggy right at the top, especially on one side of the tension band, allowing water to collect there. If the fly was taut there would be no problem and any water would roll off to the side.

I think I’ll speak again to TN as I think I’ve got a bit of a stitching fault. This is actually the second flysheet; the original had much more obvious puckering in the same place (as if the thread tension on the sewing machine was too high?) Blacks swapped out the flysheet and this one is much better but still not quite right. I wish now I had been fussier and rejected the second fly as well.

And yes, you can easily push the water off from the inside, but my friend didn’t manage to do that as he was asleep (which is reasonable) and so suffered a wet sleeping bag.

(I do feel slightly guilty for making my friend test the tent for me! – I think I’ve never felt confident of it because the pitch never looked quite right when garden-tested, so I’ve always taken a tried’n'tested tent instead. I’d like to get it sorted though as the Staika is really too heavy for solo backpacking and I also have more trips to Sweden planned and would love to be able to go with hand luggage only.)

By: andy

andy — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:58:54 +0000

Paul, while it is true that a little water can collect at the top of the tent this can easily be pushed away fro inside of the tent. I’ve never had a problem with leakage and have never had to seam seal it. Next time you put it up do so in an area that is flat. Look carefully and you will see there is a natural slope in the roof. On uneven ground it is easy to counter act the effect of the slope!

And no â€” they don’t tell you that in the manual!

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:11:36 +0000

Good tent. I bought it a couple of years back. Haven’t used it that much as I prefer Hilleberg Staika unless weight is a huge issue. Great use of space though. Only one caveat: it has a flat roof and rain water can pool there, making the roof sag, and at best cause outer and inner to touch, causing condensation to drip through, or actual rain to drip through if you haven’t seam-sealed the fly. (Should the owner really have to carry out their own water-proofing on a Â£400 tent?) Terra Nova have made a slight ammendment to the fly (added a light tension band at the top to form a ridge when the rain falls) but this doesn’t quite work. Terra Nova say problems are down to ‘incoorect pitching’ but I say it’s incorrect design/testing/manufacture. Still a good tent but flawed. I would like to see Terra Nova have another go at refining the Solar 2.2 to solve this pitching problem because otherwise it’s excellent. I have much more confidence in my Staika, but then it is 3.7kg!

By: andy

andy — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:50:17 +0000

Alice,
The SS 2.2 packs into a oversize stuffsack. You’ll be grateful of this when things are wet. However, once packed you can ‘crunch’ the stuffack down considerqbly. Stash the poles separately.

By: Alice

Alice — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:45:20 +0000

Hi Andy. Brilliant review. Am considering buying this tent as want a bigger porch space than the voyager superlite.
One question – although very light, terra nova quotes its pack size as 55x20cm, which seems a very large diameter for a tent this weight (voyager only 14cm diameter). Can’t find a shop that has it in stock to check it out for real, so any info on its size when packed would be great. Thanks.

By: andy

andy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:19:15 +0000

The tent should be fine Stephan1 Winkly or not!

By: stefanve

stefanve — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:34:50 +0000

Hello,

I got this tent +/- 2 years ago after reading this review (they should give you a cut af the profits I guess ) but I used it only once , we where planing to use it soon after but we never did. until last weekend. since I kept the tent in the back the outer tent is now wrinkly. we didn’t have any rain but I’m wondering if this could be a problem and if any thing can be done

thanks,

stefan
The Netherlands