Hello, I'm thinking about investing in some hiking gear and would like some advice. What would you recommend as a reasonably comfortable one-person tent, mat and sleeping bag, for no more than let's say £300 in total? Ta.
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 It would depend on where & when you'll be camping. For a Scottish winter your needs will be greater than for a summer camp on the south coast.
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Hm probably not too extreme at the moment
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Try looking at the Argos Proaction one man tent (known as the Tigerpaw)....much better in practice than one would believe. As for mat...depends....closed cell foam or inflatable type...sleeping bag...depends on how cold you sleep, the conditions etc etc etc. Tell us more of your plans - are you male/female (females sleep colder, in general, than males) your size and build, what time of year...where...how high...car based, carrying it, wild camping?
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It also depends on whether you will be carrying it and such. But Ill chuck in a few options, assuming you will be carrying it (a lot is just based on reviews and specs, I havent used all of these):
Tents:
MSR Hubba HP - £180 (theoutdoorshop, normally £230). Meant to have a spacious inner and vestible and pretty reliable and only weighs 1.4kg
Macpac Microlight - Can be found for about £150. Slightly heavy for one at about 2kg. But it should be more durable than other lightweight tents and also it pretty stormworthy
Big Agnes Seedhouse 1 - ABout £160, weighs about 2kg. But the full mesh inner can get cold at some point.
Sleeping Bag:
Alpkit Bags - £85 - £180 depending on what warmth and weight you want. They are all down bags. (I won't recommend any others as I've only had experience with Cumulus and they a bit expensive and I dont know anything about synthetic bags, except for the old buffalo bags, which most people find much to heavy for carrying)
Mats:
Depends a lot on your use. I use a Big angus Clearview throughout summer (it has no insulation but is very comfy for the weight and costs about £30. If you want comfort and warmth I would look at Exped Downmats, but at around £100 they might not fit in your budget.
If you don't mind not haveing the extra comfort of an inflatable mat, you can get just a closed cell foam mat which will be warm, durable and cheap.
Other mats such as pacific outdoor and big agnes with insulation could be a good choice.
Personally I would take a Macpac Microlight (£150) (I like long lasting gear, although I have yet to have a tent die on me yet) and a Alpkit Skyhigh 600 Bag (£85) and for the mat I am not sure (it depends a lot on how much comfort you like and how much you weight you will to have for it)
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 I would higly recommend alpkit pipedream 400 at £130 (400g top ranfge 750 fill down) , Multimat adventure air for £30, and that leaves £140 for a very good vango one person tent or a wnd hand mountain tent such as the Terra Nova Laser comp. If you went with the Laser comp would have a sleeping and shelter system for just over 2kg for near enough your budget
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  Welcome to the forum on OM there Mango. Plenty of good bargains about to be had, on good kit out there, so happy hunting! Watch the forum bargains thread and the clearance/sale sections of the big kit dealers too ok like Field and Trek, Cotswold etc. There are always good deals to be had, often on brand new kit items, in the OM classifieds here as well ok.
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 I always buy hiking and camping related products from www.hikinghelp.com they are very good at quality and price. you gotta try them
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 What stage are you at with hiking? If you've not done much to date I'd get going with day-hikes in the first instance, and then try a day hike with a heavier pack to see how you like it (many, many hikers never carry camping gear). If you like it at that point, then that's the time to start worrying about camping gear, rather than straight away (if you've been a day-hiker for years, ignore the above!) Pete.
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Thanks all for the recommendations. I've done quite a lot of 1-day and overnight hikes and had enough of carrying a heavy pack on the overnights so decided to cut the weight down. Also have done cycling trips with a goretex bivi but found it too uncomfortable with the hood flopped over my head and the mosquitoes. I also want to have lightweight gear for the odd rough camp when hitch-hiking. Will make me a lot more mobile. After hours on ebay and looking at the reviews here, I went for Vango Ultralight 100 @ £99, Snugpak Softie 3 Elite @ £60 (I'm vegan so no down for me!) and Vango Ultralight full-length mat @ £27, which leaves me some money for new waterproofs. I will let you know how I get on with them!
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