Mat, your videos are always so informative, down to the smallest detail. I like that. You let me know what I need to be aware of and how to go about my adventure or journey in the best possible way. On a wider scale, watching your videos is like watching Bob Ross paint a painting or Father Brown solve a mystery. I mean that in the nicest possible way, which is to suggest that you do your art in a quiet but knowledgeable, thorough, and kind manner. Hope to see you on the trail sometime.
Michael Hayes, Happy trees with a happy little tent. I greatly appreciate your viewership and compliments. I'm glad you find the videos informative and look forward to possibly seeing you on the trail.
That's a great review, thank you. Very informative and it's interesting to see the differences between this and the Lanshan 1 Pro. I wish they'd designed the trekking pole sleeve like the Lanshan, just for extra stability.
Very cool review. If it were me, I'd put the adhesive dots on the sleeping pad, and that way you can put it anywhere and not be tied to one side or the other.
I have a couple year old model. I noticed you have the front guy on the inside of the vestibule. I just changed mine to go thru the top vent which holds it open so I expect to get much better air flow. Have you tried this? I also noticed it is much easier to open & close the vestibule zipper now.
I'm just losing my mind with this tent. It seems nice, but I can't get the bathtub to stand up at all. And the ceiling of the tent doesn't seem to be very high. Also the "toggle" you mentioned at 12:39 came unattached from that drawstring line out of the box. I"m not sure how to attach it or what to do. I'm confused about what to do next and how to fix these problems. I found Six Moon's instruction pamphlet to be very unhelpful. Do you have any suggestions or could you help? Thank you!
I was in the same boat. Make sure the tent is on a level surface to get maximum bathtub depth. Also, as noted in the video, have the adjustable straps where the stakes attach all the way out (maximum slack) and tighten as needed after staking everything. I stupidly unattached the toggle at first and had to learn a Prusik knot to reattach it. If you’re not familiar, a Prusik knot is like the most common climbing knot and used for its ability to tighten under tension. This means the tension between the vestibule door flap and the front guy line will provide rigidity to the vestibule as the knot will not move up the guy line under tension-instead, it will actually tighten and become more rigid (in a sense). I was confused too but this was the best video guide I found to pitching this tent. Something I gleaned from watching other reviews and how tos on this tent is the importance of the angle of the pole on ceiling height. I would keep this in mind when attaching the front guy line. It may benefit you to have your pole past ninety degrees away from the inside of the tent when pitching so that under tension from the opposite side it returns to 90 degrees and maximizes the height accordingly. Alternatively, you could use a slightly longer pole.
@@madwelshacre Thanks for the response. I will try all these suggestions. However, I recently was trying to perfect setting this tent up in my backyard before a hiking trip I went on and I had the vestibule zipper come off the zipper line. I emailed Six Moon and they sent me instructions for a quick fix. I had to unstitch the top part of the tent to access the top zipper runs and then reattach the zipper with pliers - it was a pain and the zipper teeth didn't stay "locked" and would ungrip under any level of tension, so I am lucky it never rained when I was out on my backpacking trip. Six Moon is having me send it back to them so they can fix it. But I may just ask for a refund. I've been very letdown by this tent. I'm concerned that Six Moon has made upgrades in this "generation" of the tent that have really impacted the quality and there may even be some design flaws. The fact that the toggle came unattached with no instructions is really, really frustrating. Just based on my correspondence with them, I have a feeling they are going to fight me on the refund.
Awesome review man ! Glad I found your channel, I have a Luna Solo from about five years ago, and have always enjoyed using it. I am sort of a gear junkie. I am intrigued by the new sil poly material. Again great review ! Thanks for taking the time, it’s great to see a fellow New Englander ! Cheers
Cragdwella Thank you and thanks for the sub! It sounds like you have had some great adventures with your Lunar Solo. It's a nice little tent! The sil-poly definitely helps mitigate sag. It looks like SMD just changed the top vent material to a sil-poly too. Thanks for watching. Always great to hear from a fellow gear enthusiast, added bonus being a fellow New Englander. Maybe we'll cross paths on a trail somewhere in the future.
Mat Jobin Another thing regarding this tent. On a budget or not , its a great tent ! I think I might pick up another one now. It is sil- poly now like you said. And the new green is just fantastic for stealth camping ! Cheers
I have had one ( older model ) for more years then I care to admit. I use the end tie offs and it gives me a little more heed room when laying down. I use a 32 carbon fiber pole and some trekking pole cups from Zpacks to pull the line up and out from the tent. I cheat when I can and hang a tarp over a part of the tent and out to the front as a porch set up. It gives me a dry place to stay and even leave the doors open during the night for additional ventilation. Florida has a lot of humidity to contend with.
Great video. I also love my lunar solo. I've been thinking about using some seam seal to reduce pad slippage. Is there a particular advantage to applying it to the tent floor rather than the underside of the pad?
Thanks martinlively! It's an awesome tent! The seam seal can be messy, but it has helped me a lot. Good campsite selection always helps. Steeper pitches might benefit from seam seal on the floor and sleeping pad. There's not much of a benefit of applying one to the other, except the tent floor might be a bit cleaner if the seal is painted to the pad. I had silicone sealer which wouldn't hold well and would peel off the pad, but it worked with the tent floor due to the material so that was my deciding factor.
@MAXCOBRALAZERFACE Nice! It's a great tent! I honestly haven't used a freestanding tent in quite a few years (aside from my MHW Direct 2 on winter backpacking trips or a much larger 6 person tent on car camping trips with my partner). I'm always either using a trekking pole tent or a tarp. The last freestanding tent I had used was a semi-freestanding Big Agnes Fly Creek where the foot area still needed to be staked out for max livable space.
Thanks Mat for the great review. I have had the SMD Lunar Solo LE for about two years now and basically love the tent. My only issue is that the bath tub floor is very low and while it has not caused a problem it just bugs me. The good new for me was that your bathtub was low also. Thanks Again
Warren Davidson, I totally get that, but can confirm it hasn't given me any problems either. Not much has changed with the Lunar Solo aside from the material no being a sil-poly. Happy to hear you've been enjoying your tent. Thanks for watching!
Great video! What do you think about using thicker pad like the qcore slx in this? Do you think there would be any clearance issues? How much of a difference do you think the head and foot tie outs would make in this regard?
That Guy, Thanks! A thicker pad like the 4" Qcore SLX shouldn't affect the performance too much if you choose to rest the pad at the back end of the tent like I have in this video. There should still be enough clearance to offer breathability to reduce condensation and prevent absorption on your quilt/bag. The guy-outs will increase livable space, but that will be marginal. Good campsite selection will help mitigate the moisture, but there will be some in any tent used. Especially in humid environments or around rain storms.
@20Hikecdt23 For the lunar solo in this video, I’ve always stuffed it into a stuff sack. I haven’t had any trouble with packing it that way. If I’m packing a shelter made of DCF, I’ve always folded and roll it up each morning to help prevent damage to the fibers.
Hey, Great video. I just got my Lunar Solo. Mine didn't come with belt lines like yours. Instead, all the guy lines were made of string. Will this be ok? Or do you think I should invest in belts for the tent. Thanks!
FLUZAH Thanks! That is awesome! The webbing on mine has worked great in varying conditions. I'm not sure what guy line yours has, but in my experience and the locations I would use it in I would go with at least 2mm. It would depend on your intended use and location.
I am an experienced backpacker, camper and tent user and an ex Lunar Solo user. After using the Lunar Solo in windy desert conditions about 10 times I can say this tent is the most finicky, aggravating, touchy tent to put up no matter how you try to do it. Not for me, but good luck to you.
I've been looking at picking one of these up for bikepacking. For backpacking I have been using the Dan Durston X-Mid which is great but needs two poles. This seems like a good compromise to only have to carry one pole on the trail instead. Dos your sleeping bag ever touch the walls?
Alex, which X-Mid are you using? 1P or 2P? How do you like it? The Lunar Solo is a great tent and definitely a good compromise if you are looking for a single pole tent. I haven't had any trouble with my quilts or bags touching the walls in the tent. I even find I have enough room to keep my pack in there with me too. It's pretty spacious inside, but it does slope a bit along the back wall of the tent. It's been a great tent for my height which is 5'10."
Teddy1093, That could work but I see there being a possibility of tent stakes launching out of the ground. What's your experience been using that method?
You've got me wondering how likely it would be for accumulating water on the inner tent wall to run down on to the mesh and then eventually into the bathtub. I know on tents like Zpacks Duplex this kind of drainage eventually gets to the outside of the tent unless your foot or whatever shifts things around. Can you speak to this a little? High wind and spin drift coming under the walls also makes me imagine that sideways rain could dump additional water into the bathtub unless you really pin the tent to the ground, but you can't really pin the front doors down right, so if the wind direction changes and comes at you from the front in the middle of the night, what's your best approach at that point? Keep moping every few minutes? : )
Austin, It sounds like you are asking about condensation in the tent? If so, yes I have had condensation in this tent. It's unfortunately unavoidable with single wall tents and will vary per tent. I usually have a light packable microfiber cloth or towel in my pack (and I always have a BUFF on me) so I'll just wipe it down in the morning before packing it up. If it is soaked from being out in the rain, I'll do what I can to dry it and then I'll take advantage of any breaks in the weather to let me tent air out and dry during the day (even on a thru hike). I've never had an issue with rain getting in this tent. The bathtub is fairly high enough to mitigate that. The vestibule can be raised or lowered to preference to help with air flow or rain protection too.
@@matjobin I think the motivation behind part 1 of Austin's Qs may have been that the mesh around the bathtub floor looks to be vertical vs, in his example, the Duplex where the mesh is closer to horizontal or even sloping downwards, so any condensation that does roll down the ceiling would fall thru the mesh and drain to the outside; the mesh on the Lunar Solo looks to just be just for ventilation. Anyway, it sounds like condensation ending up on the floor that way hasn't been an issue for you?
@@jimdouble3869 I caught that after reading through it again. Thanks for bringing the comment back! A lot of thought went into the type of designs that Joe has for reducing condensation. I have a Hexamid and it works surisingly well with the full mesh sides and floor (though it is different from a Duplex in many ways). That is correct in that I haven't had much in the form of condensation on the floor in the Lunar Solo. There will most likely be some in the tent though even with good campsite selection, due to it being a single wall tent.
Thanks for watching! If they are regular length, two will fit but it will be a tight fit. Also whoever is on the side furthest from the door will most likely hit the wall of the canopy.
Ernest Chaney Awesome! It's a great tent! I went with a precut sheet of Tyvek SMD sold on their website for the Lunar Solo which is in this video. The size is 96" long x 40" wide. Just don't go over the measurements of the tent floor dimensions and you shouldn't have any trouble. Enjoy the tent!
So you can buy an unfinished tent or pay extra for them to finish the job right, what kind of dumb arrangement is that? When I buy a tent I would expect to have it built/complete, ready for use. Would you buy an expensive new car sold to you from the factory to be told you can pay extra for wheels.
Kev, Most likely due to increased cost in materials, labor and other influences. Agreed that it is still lower in cost than DCF and very reasonable for what you get. I haven't tried any of the alternatives, and prefer to support the small businesses and original creators of tents like this one. It's been a solid tent!
Super clear, just got the tent, to go hiking outside of Paris. Make sure you contact for a free stand up comedy show when you're in town. Laughinmuseums.com. Take care Amigo.
Mat, your videos are always so informative, down to the smallest detail. I like that. You let me know what I need to be aware of and how to go about my adventure or journey in the best possible way. On a wider scale, watching your videos is like watching Bob Ross paint a painting or Father Brown solve a mystery. I mean that in the nicest possible way, which is to suggest that you do your art in a quiet but knowledgeable, thorough, and kind manner. Hope to see you on the trail sometime.
Michael Hayes, Happy trees with a happy little tent. I greatly appreciate your viewership and compliments. I'm glad you find the videos informative and look forward to possibly seeing you on the trail.
Thank you for the review.
That's a great review, thank you. Very informative and it's interesting to see the differences between this and the Lanshan 1 Pro. I wish they'd designed the trekking pole sleeve like the Lanshan, just for extra stability.
Very cool review. If it were me, I'd put the adhesive dots on the sleeping pad, and that way you can put it anywhere and not be tied to one side or the other.
I have a couple year old model. I noticed you have the front guy on the inside of the vestibule. I just changed mine to go thru the top vent which holds it open so I expect to get much better air flow. Have you tried this? I also noticed it is much easier to open & close the vestibule zipper now.
I'm just losing my mind with this tent. It seems nice, but I can't get the bathtub to stand up at all. And the ceiling of the tent doesn't seem to be very high. Also the "toggle" you mentioned at 12:39 came unattached from that drawstring line out of the box. I"m not sure how to attach it or what to do.
I'm confused about what to do next and how to fix these problems. I found Six Moon's instruction pamphlet to be very unhelpful. Do you have any suggestions or could you help? Thank you!
I was in the same boat. Make sure the tent is on a level surface to get maximum bathtub depth. Also, as noted in the video, have the adjustable straps where the stakes attach all the way out (maximum slack) and tighten as needed after staking everything. I stupidly unattached the toggle at first and had to learn a Prusik knot to reattach it. If you’re not familiar, a Prusik knot is like the most common climbing knot and used for its ability to tighten under tension. This means the tension between the vestibule door flap and the front guy line will provide rigidity to the vestibule as the knot will not move up the guy line under tension-instead, it will actually tighten and become more rigid (in a sense). I was confused too but this was the best video guide I found to pitching this tent. Something I gleaned from watching other reviews and how tos on this tent is the importance of the angle of the pole on ceiling height. I would keep this in mind when attaching the front guy line. It may benefit you to have your pole past ninety degrees away from the inside of the tent when pitching so that under tension from the opposite side it returns to 90 degrees and maximizes the height accordingly. Alternatively, you could use a slightly longer pole.
@@madwelshacre Thanks for the response. I will try all these suggestions. However, I recently was trying to perfect setting this tent up in my backyard before a hiking trip I went on and I had the vestibule zipper come off the zipper line. I emailed Six Moon and they sent me instructions for a quick fix. I had to unstitch the top part of the tent to access the top zipper runs and then reattach the zipper with pliers - it was a pain and the zipper teeth didn't stay "locked" and would ungrip under any level of tension, so I am lucky it never rained when I was out on my backpacking trip. Six Moon is having me send it back to them so they can fix it. But I may just ask for a refund. I've been very letdown by this tent. I'm concerned that Six Moon has made upgrades in this "generation" of the tent that have really impacted the quality and there may even be some design flaws. The fact that the toggle came unattached with no instructions is really, really frustrating. Just based on my correspondence with them, I have a feeling they are going to fight me on the refund.
Were you ever able to get this sorted out?
well done review ... to the point and objective ... thanks
Excellent video. How would you say this tent compares overall to the Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL tent? Would you recommend one over the other?
Good review thanks for sharing.👍
Awesome review man ! Glad I found your channel, I have a Luna Solo from about five years ago, and have always enjoyed using it. I am sort of a gear junkie. I am intrigued by the new sil poly material. Again great review ! Thanks for taking the time, it’s great to see a fellow New Englander ! Cheers
Cragdwella Thank you and thanks for the sub! It sounds like you have had some great adventures with your Lunar Solo. It's a nice little tent! The sil-poly definitely helps mitigate sag. It looks like SMD just changed the top vent material to a sil-poly too. Thanks for watching. Always great to hear from a fellow gear enthusiast, added bonus being a fellow New Englander. Maybe we'll cross paths on a trail somewhere in the future.
Mat Jobin For sure, I’m heading up to the White mountains this coming weekend or maybe Vermont to do some backpacking !
@@MeetMeOutside Enjoy the snow!
Mat Jobin I know right ! Looks like maybe Sunday night there might be a little. Cheers
Mat Jobin Another thing regarding this tent. On a budget or not , its a great tent ! I think I might pick up another one now. It is sil- poly now like you said. And the new green is just fantastic for stealth camping ! Cheers
Nice review, I recently come back from a 19 day backpack with this tent - loved it! :-)
snowy matrix, Awesome! Sounds like a great trip. Happy to hear the tent enhanced the adventure.
I have had one ( older model ) for more years then I care to admit. I use the end tie offs and it gives me a little more heed room when laying down. I use a 32 carbon fiber pole and some trekking pole cups from Zpacks to pull the line up and out from the tent. I cheat when I can and hang a tarp over a part of the tent and out to the front as a porch set up. It gives me a dry place to stay and even leave the doors open during the night for additional ventilation. Florida has a lot of humidity to contend with.
How's the humidity go in FL being a single wall tent?
Great video. I also love my lunar solo. I've been thinking about using some seam seal to reduce pad slippage. Is there a particular advantage to applying it to the tent floor rather than the underside of the pad?
Thanks martinlively! It's an awesome tent! The seam seal can be messy, but it has helped me a lot. Good campsite selection always helps. Steeper pitches might benefit from seam seal on the floor and sleeping pad. There's not much of a benefit of applying one to the other, except the tent floor might be a bit cleaner if the seal is painted to the pad. I had silicone sealer which wouldn't hold well and would peel off the pad, but it worked with the tent floor due to the material so that was my deciding factor.
That’s the tent I rock. Do you have a suggestion for a freestanding tent 🏕??
@MAXCOBRALAZERFACE Nice! It's a great tent! I honestly haven't used a freestanding tent in quite a few years (aside from my MHW Direct 2 on winter backpacking trips or a much larger 6 person tent on car camping trips with my partner). I'm always either using a trekking pole tent or a tarp. The last freestanding tent I had used was a semi-freestanding Big Agnes Fly Creek where the foot area still needed to be staked out for max livable space.
Thanks Mat for the great review. I have had the SMD Lunar Solo LE for about two years now and basically love the tent. My only issue is that the bath tub floor is very low and while it has not caused a problem it just bugs me. The good new for me was that your bathtub was low also. Thanks Again
Warren Davidson, I totally get that, but can confirm it hasn't given me any problems either. Not much has changed with the Lunar Solo aside from the material no being a sil-poly. Happy to hear you've been enjoying your tent. Thanks for watching!
Bugs you because water can splash up?
Great video! What do you think about using thicker pad like the qcore slx in this? Do you think there would be any clearance issues? How much of a difference do you think the head and foot tie outs would make in this regard?
That Guy, Thanks! A thicker pad like the 4" Qcore SLX shouldn't affect the performance too much if you choose to rest the pad at the back end of the tent like I have in this video. There should still be enough clearance to offer breathability to reduce condensation and prevent absorption on your quilt/bag. The guy-outs will increase livable space, but that will be marginal. Good campsite selection will help mitigate the moisture, but there will be some in any tent used. Especially in humid environments or around rain storms.
That Guy FYI , I use a 4” BA Q core in my SMD Luna Solo and it works out fine. I do guy out the tie out on the head end. Best of luck !
Dear Mat, RE Lunar Solo, do you fold it up or roll it up to put in its bag or just stuff it in? Thanks.
@20Hikecdt23 For the lunar solo in this video, I’ve always stuffed it into a stuff sack. I haven’t had any trouble with packing it that way. If I’m packing a shelter made of DCF, I’ve always folded and roll it up each morning to help prevent damage to the fibers.
@@matjobin Thanks, Mat.
Hey, Great video. I just got my Lunar Solo. Mine didn't come with belt lines like yours. Instead, all the guy lines were made of string. Will this be ok? Or do you think I should invest in belts for the tent.
Thanks!
FLUZAH Thanks! That is awesome! The webbing on mine has worked great in varying conditions. I'm not sure what guy line yours has, but in my experience and the locations I would use it in I would go with at least 2mm. It would depend on your intended use and location.
I am an experienced backpacker, camper and tent user and an ex Lunar Solo user. After using the Lunar Solo in windy desert conditions about 10 times I can say this tent is the most finicky, aggravating, touchy tent to put up no matter how you try to do it. Not for me, but good luck to you.
A bit late but I'm interested to know what you're using now ?
I've been looking at picking one of these up for bikepacking. For backpacking I have been using the Dan Durston X-Mid which is great but needs two poles. This seems like a good compromise to only have to carry one pole on the trail instead. Dos your sleeping bag ever touch the walls?
Alex, which X-Mid are you using? 1P or 2P? How do you like it? The Lunar Solo is a great tent and definitely a good compromise if you are looking for a single pole tent. I haven't had any trouble with my quilts or bags touching the walls in the tent. I even find I have enough room to keep my pack in there with me too. It's pretty spacious inside, but it does slope a bit along the back wall of the tent. It's been a great tent for my height which is 5'10."
With adjustable poles,in the middle of the night you can raise the tent if you get a little sag. Instead of getting out and tightening all guy line’s.
Teddy1093, That could work but I see there being a possibility of tent stakes launching out of the ground. What's your experience been using that method?
@@matjobin I use mini ground hogs. I never had a problem
Came upon your channel by looking for reviews of the Lunar Solo. Nice review. Great videos on your channel, subscribed. ✌️
AS THE CROW FLIES HIKING Thanks for watching and subscribing. I appreciate it. All the best.
You've got me wondering how likely it would be for accumulating water on the inner tent wall to run down on to the mesh and then eventually into the bathtub. I know on tents like Zpacks Duplex this kind of drainage eventually gets to the outside of the tent unless your foot or whatever shifts things around. Can you speak to this a little? High wind and spin drift coming under the walls also makes me imagine that sideways rain could dump additional water into the bathtub unless you really pin the tent to the ground, but you can't really pin the front doors down right, so if the wind direction changes and comes at you from the front in the middle of the night, what's your best approach at that point? Keep moping every few minutes? : )
Austin, It sounds like you are asking about condensation in the tent? If so, yes I have had condensation in this tent. It's unfortunately unavoidable with single wall tents and will vary per tent. I usually have a light packable microfiber cloth or towel in my pack (and I always have a BUFF on me) so I'll just wipe it down in the morning before packing it up. If it is soaked from being out in the rain, I'll do what I can to dry it and then I'll take advantage of any breaks in the weather to let me tent air out and dry during the day (even on a thru hike). I've never had an issue with rain getting in this tent. The bathtub is fairly high enough to mitigate that. The vestibule can be raised or lowered to preference to help with air flow or rain protection too.
@@matjobin I think the motivation behind part 1 of Austin's Qs may have been that the mesh around the bathtub floor looks to be vertical vs, in his example, the Duplex where the mesh is closer to horizontal or even sloping downwards, so any condensation that does roll down the ceiling would fall thru the mesh and drain to the outside; the mesh on the Lunar Solo looks to just be just for ventilation. Anyway, it sounds like condensation ending up on the floor that way hasn't been an issue for you?
@@jimdouble3869 I caught that after reading through it again. Thanks for bringing the comment back! A lot of thought went into the type of designs that Joe has for reducing condensation. I have a Hexamid and it works surisingly well with the full mesh sides and floor (though it is different from a Duplex in many ways). That is correct in that I haven't had much in the form of condensation on the floor in the Lunar Solo. There will most likely be some in the tent though even with good campsite selection, due to it being a single wall tent.
thanks for the review! is that possible to put two thermarest neoair pads inside?
Thanks for watching! If they are regular length, two will fit but it will be a tight fit. Also whoever is on the side furthest from the door will most likely hit the wall of the canopy.
I just bought a lunar solo. What size ground sheet should I buy?
Ernest Chaney Awesome! It's a great tent! I went with a precut sheet of Tyvek SMD sold on their website for the Lunar Solo which is in this video. The size is 96" long x 40" wide. Just don't go over the measurements of the tent floor dimensions and you shouldn't have any trouble. Enjoy the tent!
Thanks for detailed review.
Vitaliy Andreev, No worries. Thanks for watching.
So you can buy an unfinished tent or pay extra for them to finish the job right, what kind of dumb arrangement is that? When I buy a tent I would expect to have it built/complete, ready for use. Would you buy an expensive new car sold to you from the factory to be told you can pay extra for wheels.
Actually, what they do is offer you a savings if you're willing to do some of the work yourself.
hmm.... i see a flaw in this design.....the mesh is too low which could bring in water when it rains...
Wow they raised the price $50 in 2 years. Oh well, it's still cheaper than dyneema and way better than any no name Chinese knock off.
Kev, Most likely due to increased cost in materials, labor and other influences. Agreed that it is still lower in cost than DCF and very reasonable for what you get. I haven't tried any of the alternatives, and prefer to support the small businesses and original creators of tents like this one. It's been a solid tent!
Super clear, just got the tent, to go hiking outside of Paris. Make sure you contact for a free stand up comedy show when you're in town. Laughinmuseums.com. Take care Amigo.
Awesome! Thanks Cedrik! Enjoy the tent!