Starlite 1 Tent
The Ultimate Lightweight Solo Tent
- Pro Protection: 3-Season rated with 7,000mm HH groundsheet.
- Ultra-Compact: Only 29cm packed length—fits anywhere.
- Liteweight: Just 1.12kg total weight.
ONLY £279
Northern Lite 2 Tent
£650.00
The Northern Lite 2 is a free-standing, outer-pitch first, 3/4-season tent that offers plenty of space and two porches.
Out of stock
KEY DETAILS
Sleeps
2
Season
3/4 Season
Trail Weight
The bare minimum needed to pitch the shelter — tent body, flysheet, and poles only.
1.98 kg
Total Weight
Everything in the bag — tent body, flysheet, poles, pegs, guylines, stuff sacks, and accessories.
2.25 kg
Doors
2
Porches
2
MATERIALS
Flysheet
Watershed 20D Nylon Ripstop Silicone/Pu
4000mm HH
Hydrostatic Head measures water pressure resistance in mm. Higher values mean better waterproofing.
Inner
Half mesh with 30D Ripstop Nylon C0
Groundsheet
Waterbloc 70D Nylon Polyurethane
10000mm HH
Hydrostatic Head measures water pressure resistance in mm. Higher values mean better waterproofing.
COMPONENTS
Poles
9.3mm DAC NFL
Pegs
Terra Firma Pegs (13g)
Guylines
Dyneema Reflective
DIMENSIONS
Packed
44L×18W×18H cm
Living Space
207L×144W×99H cm
Pitched
207L×238W×99H cm
Dave Snoddy –
Strong & Versatile
I’ve had this tent for over 2 years now, I absolutley love it, everything from
-Winter mountain tops in 45 / 50mph winds, where the extra living space makes for a comfortable shelter for long nights
-Lashing rain for 2 ppl with the 2 porches giving you so much storage space for wet gear, its a real 2P tent
-Warm easy summer days with the sides rolled back to enjoy the views
For me this tent is very versatile, not the best tent in every scenario BUT really good across all my use cases.
It’s super easy to pitch regardless of the weather, and as i alwasy carry poles its a no brainer
For me I’m more happy to carry the weight by myself as it gives you soo much liveable space.
I value space and comfort over super light weight condensation coffins
Jim Cassidy –
Top Tent for Mountain Tops
I’ve been using the Terra Nova Northern Lite 2 for around two years (probably more), and thought it long overdue that I put a review online. I was looking for something which was suitable for summit camps, where it was likely to come in for harsher conditions than low level camping.
I wanted a tent which was well made, robust, lightweight (while not sacrificing strength) and fairly compact. I was looking for a roomy one man tent, but I didn’t rule out a two man tent, as they are often in the same size and weight range. I already had a very good one man tent, but I just felt that for more exposed pitches I could do with something a little more bombproof.
The Terra Nova Northern Lite 2 ticked a lot of the right boxes. It comes from a brand which is well known for high quality tents, it was a little heavier than my one man tent, but not egregiously so, and pitched with the inner and outer together. Having battled with a separate inner and outer on one wind and rain blown Munro I was aware of the benefits of this type of design. A final benefit was a very good bank holiday sale offer, knocking around 30% off the price. It seemed a bargain in more ways than one.
The tent comes in a spacious storage bag which has a large opening, meaning that you don’t have to have a black belt in origami to get the tent back in the bag. Inside is the tent inner and outer (joined together), a bag containing 14 pegs and a bag containing the one piece pole system. The tent outer is proofed nylon, while the inner is mesh with a polyurethane nylon base. All the zips have loop cord attachments, and there are two internal pockets (ideally placed to tuck the door material in when it is open) and a lantern hanging point. The tent is designed for two people, and each side mirrors the other so that if two people are using the tent they each have their own door and their own vestibule. I’d say that it would be a neat two person tent, and if two sleeping mats were placed inside then there would be no additional room. This means that if you are using it for two people you need to be aware of the maximum width in relation to sleeping mats. My Neo Air X-Therm mat is 64cm wide, and the tent inner is 114cm wide, which leaves only 50cm. Something to bear in mind.
Pitching is relatively straightforward. In calm conditions it is simple enough to lay out the tent, attach the poles, then it can be moved if required and pegged into position. The pole system comes as one complete unit, which has a straight central pole and a Y-shape at each end which supports the ends. In the centre is a rotating cross-pole which opens the roof of the tent out, and it can be tricky when working alone to attach this. The Terra Nova website says that there is the “option to add extra stability” by using two trekking poles, and I’d say that this is not so much an option but a requirement, as without the addition of the trekking poles the tent looks saggy and limp. To get that taut and rigid outer then the trekking poles are a must, but I would note that you must ensure that you use extending poles rather than folding poles. I have a pair of folding poles which only have a small amount of extension available, and even at their lowest they were too long to fit inside. One other point to note is that when you insert the walking poles into the sleeve on the outer tent you must insert the handle end – not the point, as this would rip the material. The pegs are Terra Nova’s Terra Firma Y-shaped pegs, which are robust and hold the ground well, but they are fairly uncomfortable to push in by hand, and I tend to use a bottle cap of a walking pole tip cover to push them into place.
There are a few niggles with the tent, and most can be overcome very simply, For me, the base just seems a lit on the thin side, however there wasn’t a specific footprint for this tent, so for that reason I picked up a generic nylon footprint to put underneath, and this has worked very well without adding a significant amount of weight. I was not a fan of the cord zip loops, which were very minimalist. Instead I changed all the zips over to a slightly chunk glow in the dark zip-pull, which is a lot easier to operate. With only two internal pockets, there’s not a great deal of storage for odds and ends, and it could be improved with some more storage for odds and ends, but that’s just a personal thing. More pockets means more fabric which means more weight. When every gram counts it’s things like pockets and zip pulls which tend to be cut.
Terra Nova tents come with a lifetime material guarantee and a two year warranty on the pole, something I found very useful when my tent collapsed in strong gale-force/storm force winds. I contacted Terra Nova to source a replacement pole and their customer service was fantastic, with a new pole being delivered to me within 24 hours!
All in all I have been very pleased with this tent. It has performed well, it is roomy inside, and I would rely on it in most weather conditions, although I would certainly try to avoid exposed pitches in extremely stormy weather. Unless I am really trying to save weight then this is my go to tent for most expeditions, and I would definitely recommend this tent. Yes, it is expensive, but Terra Nova do put on good deals, and between that and the warranty you do get a product which I would expect to give years of good service.
At present the Northern Lite 2 is showing as out of stock on the Terra Nova website and I have a feeling it may have been discontinued, which would be a shame. It may be available from some other retailers or second hand, and would be worth the investment if you can get your hands on one.
Paul walder (verified owner) –
Easy to pitch with setup being around 5 mins. Nice weight at only 2.2kg. I feel a bad design on the door without a rain gutter. When you open the after it’s been raining, water runs down into the vestibule and on the inner. Considering the price of the tent, this should be on there.
Dean Eager (verified owner) –
In many ways this is the tent that the MSR Hubba Hubba should have been, but it is just short of being perfect.
Pros:
– It’s a solid tent, although I haven’t tested it in a storm yet, it feels well made and I’m confident it’ll hold up well.
– It feels quite roomy inside, and doesn’t have a saggy inner (like many outer-pitch first tents do).
– I used it on a damp, mizzly mountain in Wales. It was warm in the tent and cold outside, yet there wasn’t a drop of condensation.
– For its size and durability it’s pretty lightweight.
Cons:
– The official footprint is thick and heavy. It also covers the vestibules, which means you have to roll it up if you’re using the trekking pole support feature. I immediately replaced the footprint with a generic Tyvek one that is big enough to go under the inner floor – it’s much lighter and doesn’t prohibit using trekking poles as supports.
– There’s very few storage pockets.
– I’m 6’0″/183cm, with a long back. There’s plenty of room for me to sit up inside the tent, but the top of the inner and outer doors are quite low (compared to every other tent I own), which means my head is tucked up in the top of the tent and I can’t see out unless I bend forward, and that hurts my back.
– Although it feels roomy, and on a long-wide Big Agnes Rapide SL mat I didn’t have an issue with my head, or feet touching the inner, the inner isn’t very wide. You can just about get 2 standard width sleep mats in there, but only 1 mat if one of them is a wide version. The MSR Hubba Hubba, by comparison, can just about squeeze 2 wide mats into it, and easily fit a wide and regular together.
Overall I’m happy with my purchase, and looking forward to testing it in some proper ‘orrible weather.
Steve –
Sold my helm 2 and replaced with then NL2, mostly because it’s bigger and stronger and slightly lighter. I use with the Panacea footprint as they’re identical, if you use trekking poles to provide additional support, I use the spike covers, and put them on plastic furniture wheel caps to spread the load, which works fine. You could always make your own grommet in the footprint, but no need. It’s roomier inside than the Helm, more importantly the access is not as cramped so if you’re tall and large that’s a big plus. I only ever use it solo, and lots of room with a Big Agnes Rapide wide, and can easily fit my Kestrel 68L pack in there too. The vestibules are also bigger than the helm so it is easier to cook in there. Lastly, and far from least, with trekking poles it feels tornado proof.
Dean Eager (again) (verified owner) –
*Update on my original review*
I’ve since had this tent out on a night of constant strong winds, and it held up phenomenally well (although I barely slept a wink).
I pitched up in 30mph wind, within an hour it had gone up near 50mph (measured with an anemometer, and it was more of a constant wind than gusty). I picked up a slight bend in the pole set whilst pitching up, just because I hadn’t pegged in the guy line at the windward end.
Just before I took the tent down I measured 56mph winds, but it was definitely gusting stronger than that after I’d put my anemometer away.
So, in my experience, if it’s correctly pitched, with trekking poles, and every guy line and pushing point taut, this is good up to at least 60mph. Which is crazy, considering it’s a big, roomy tent, not a small, low profile 1 man thing!
John Adby (verified owner) –
Solid tent in the wind, trekking poles work well I used the rubber end on the ground sheet/footprint. Just annoying there is no gutter on the doors so water can drip in when open.