Tentipi tents are marvellous creations with amazing headroom. I can easily stand up inside the Zirkon Light 5, which is the smallest model. Tentipi say it will sleep six but I reckon for comfort four would be better. Tentipi tents and inners come separately so you can choose the combination you want or just use a groundsheet with the tent. The Zirkon Light 5 alone weighs 4kg, which would make it quite portable with a lightweight groundsheet for three or four people. The tents are bulky as well as heavy though and not that fast to pitch. If staying in one place for a while it would be worth lugging one into the wilds but I’d rather something lighter and faster to pitch if moving on every day.
That said the space is fantastic and the weather resistance excellent. There is mosquito netting in the top of the tent where a separate cap fi ts over the pole and reinforced material round the perimeter that just about seals the tent to the ground. The ventilator cap on the tent is a wonderfully complex design with fibreglass rods, adjustment cords, mosquito netting and six openings, controllable from inside the tent. These mean that a wood-burning stove can be used inside the tent with a chimney running out of the cap. Tentipi off ers a range of these stoves – the lightest is 14.1kg so these are defi nitely for base camps. You could also light a fire inside the tent – there is room to do so safely.
The inner provided has a thick groundsheet with zipped panels so sections can be folded back for cooking or storing wet gear. There’s an insect net that fastens round the upper pole to keep the bugs out.
I really liked this tent – I reckon I could live in it comfortably for months. However it is very expensive and best used for car camping or carrying in a canoe.
