I am having real difficulty in choosing a new lightweight 3 season tent for backpacking, travel, camping for 10 days and the odd over night stay on the North Yorkshire moors in winter!
The tent must be under 2kg. And have enough head room and be able to sleep 1 in comfort or 2 at a push and have a lot of porch space. I have recently looked at the Terra Nova lasers range,
but there porch areas were just to small.
So I am now considering either the discontinued Terra Nova Solar or the Terra Nova Laserlarge 1, both retailing at under £200.
I wondered if anyone has had any experience of either of these 2 tents because any information would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks...Michiko.
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 I had the Laserlight but felt it was to cramped so i brought the Laser Large 1. Its an excellent tent with loads of room. The porch is big enough for all your gear and the living space is more than enough with bags of head room.
Pitching is fairly straight forward if you keep the inner attached to the outer.The tent has a strange little device at the rear of the tent. From within you have a couple of cords that if you tug on one of them it lifts the outer up so you can see outside from witin your tent. And when you have finished looking at the weather conditions if you pull the other cord it lowers the outer back to its original position.
One tip if you decide to buy this tent. Make sure you master the pitching of the tent because this cord system thingy will give you a headache if you dont know what you are doing.
But this tent is excellent and has withstood all weather conditions i have put it through. Hope this helps!
PS The tent pegs that come with this are not great. You may want to purchase some stronger ones.
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 I've the old Terra Nova Solar, it's perfectly good tent. Room for two, loads of room for one and does indeed have a big porch.
That said TN have replaced the Solar ramge with the minor for a reason, it's mainly weight. The Solar I've got weighs in at 1.75kg, the Laser version is some what lighter.
The only weakness I've found with the Laser (not got one, but shared one a couple of times) is that it is more prone to condensation.
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 michiko. the terra nova solar is a wicked tent! absolutely bombproof much like its older brother the quasar. the solar has so much space and is fantastic for views.....sitting half in/out with the massive porch open and a brew, cant beat it. The porch is huge for storing kit in, and cooking even when closed if you're careful. well worth a purchase as it packs down tiny and is very lightweight.for picturews of it in action go to www.huntertraining.zoomshare.com
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If you decide to buy the Solar (which i agree is a great tent) Can I suggest you buy Wild Country Version. Its pretty much exactly the same and i have never had any problems with Wild Country Tents.
And at a third of the cost you cant go wrong. Its in a sale right now
http://www.gear-zone.co.uk/eshop/Wild-Country-Solace.html
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As far as I was aware the Wild Country Tents were not the same models.
TN's own branded tents are made in the UK, but they source the Wild Country ones overseas, hence the cheaper prices.
That link though certainly looks like the old Solar, if only a tad heavier. But at that price it would be difficult to beat.
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There the same model apart from slightly different fabric.And it has a small window so you can see out the tent without opening up. I belive it has exactly the same size specs aswell.
Hence the name of the tent Wild Country Solace
I have had a couple of Wild Country tents and I really recommend them. There the best for value of money
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Thanks for all the information, it is really appreciated and a great help!
Yeh...I agree with you both...the Wild Country Solace is really tempting at only £65! I phoned up Terra Nova and they told me the tent has the same dimensions as the Solar, except they have used slightly heavier and cheaper materials. It weighs around 2.5 kg. So I think that it is slightly to much for me.
though I agree, the Wild Country range is good value for money. I have a 2 person (2 door)Wildcountry Tempest tent from the mid 1990`s and it is still in superb condition! Its built like a rock. And it weighs in at a reasonable 3.5 kg. Though to carry it around on my own is becoming to difficult. After hearing the positive review about the Laserlarge 1, I have to say that I am very tempted by it, especially considering it only weighs 1.79 kg. Though I know that the Solar is a great tent and probably slightly tougher, the extra room in the Laserlarge does seem very tempting especially on longer trips.
I have found 2 shops which have the laserlarge 1 and the Wild Country Solace on display and I shall see what I think.
So thanks again for all the info, it is really appreciated!
PS- If any one is looking for a really solid 2 person tent, with loads of space and 2 entrances, I really would recommend the Wild Country Tempest which I have seen at Chevintrek in Otley for £199.
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Just wondered...I recently heard that the condensation can be a problem with the Solar? Considering the size, I can understand. However, would anyone know what its like in the Laserlarge 1. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
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 robens stardust how about this tent being sold at gooutdoors in coventry for £99.99. was told by salesperson its a 3 to 4 season tent
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Thanks for that...yeh it looks like a great deal, especially ay £99! But I just could not imagine living in it for 10 days or on extended trips especially if there were two people. I just think that it would be to small.
But thanks anyway!
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Just a word of warning about Terra Nova. This summer, my Quasar broke a pole, not under load or duress, it just snapped overnight. By checking forums I've found this is not uncommon. One of the reasons I bought Terra Nova was their lifetime guarantee, so I wasn't too bothered and send off the dud pole. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by the Terra Nova customer service. Their answer to me was that they would not replace the pole as they denied any maunufacturing defect. In essence they were saying that a failure after 3 years light use was to be expected. My Black's tent's poles are still going after 12 years. Just a cautionary note....
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Wild Country version of 2.5kg seems a bid weight penalty for their version of the old Solar I, which was circa 1.75kg.
That sounds to me like the weight of the old Solar II, which would be positively palatial for 2 people.
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I have been using the Laserlarge 1 for a while now on many trips and i have never had any problems with condensation.
With regards to the Solace weighing in at 2.5kg? On all the website I have checked it says 1.7kg minimum, 1.95kg maximum!
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Yeh...I agree, the weight of the Wild Country Solace does seem a little heavy doesn`t it, considering the official weight claims to be from 1.85kg-2.kg. However, it was the guy`s at TGO magazine who did a product review on this tent and they said that the weight was 2.5 kg when they did there own test. And considering Terra Nova themselves said that this tent was heavier than the previous Terra Nova Solar, I assumed that this weight must be about right. I guess all we can do is lift it up ourselves and see how heavy it feels. I remember comparing the Macpac microlight with the Terra Nova Solar. The solar seemed much lighter. It really does make you question the manufacturers official figures doesn`t it? And even one big company called Springfield Camping told me yesterday that they have started to weigh the tents themselves because they felt that they could not rely on the manufacturers figures to be accurate and therefore it made them look as though they were providing misleading information to the customers.
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And cheers for that Ross...its good to hear that you had no condensation problems. I have never had that problem with my Wild Country tent either, so its been comfortable camping for me over the years, despite lugging 3.5 kg around! So thats another extra point for the laserlarge I think!
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