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The Terra Nova Laser Competition Tent Tested
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Price:
£235.00
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Weight: 960 grammes
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Features: Ultra-lightweight 3 season backpacking and mountain marathon tent.
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Extremely Lightweight.
A bit cramped for two people.
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The Concept Terra Nova already had an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the lightest tent in the world, but that wasn't enough. They wanted to cut more weight to help out adventure racers and KIMM contestants.
FeaturesThe Laser Competition is an evolution of the award winning Laser and Laserlite. Weighing in at 960gm fully packed, or 858gm minimum packed weight, it must surely take the new lightweight title. To make these weight reductions Terra Nova have gone for 8.55mm DAC Featherlight poles using 7001 alloy (10% lighter then on the Laserlite), and their new Watershed SL fabric. This innovative mix of silicone coatings and high tenacity nylon substrate helps give the Laser Competition an impressive space to weight ratio.
To improve waterproofing while decreasing weight the men from Derbyshire, where they know a thing or two about rain, have reduced the number of seams while incorporating their Weather Shield System over the centre seam. The groundsheet fabric is Waterbloc SL (lightweight polyurethane coated nylon) with a hydrostatic head of 5000mm. To finish the weight saving Terra Nova ship the Laser Competition with carbon fibre pegs, weighing in at a measly 4.5 gm each.
In Action In Action We tested the Laser Competition over the last few days, while Britain was in the grip of a nationwide torrential downpour and despite initial appearances it actually stood up to the test pretty well. There's something a little off-putting about unpacking a tent and having to check it's all there because it just doesn't seem substantial enough.
The first thing you notice with this tent is the colour - it's bright Arctic red! Once you get over the initial shock it's actually pretty easy to put up. You can either set it up outer first or all in one, which is ideal for British weather. A single pole slides easily through the channel running across the centre of the tent, and the whole thing can be erected with as few as 6 pegs. We found the best way to keep the outer taught and the ends vertical was to loosen the strap at the top of the short carbon fibre rods located at each end until the inner was tensioned, then tighten them to achieve a near vertical wall at each end.
Although the Laser Competition is marketed as a 2 man tent we reckon you'd have to be pretty good friends to fit two inside it, and even then you wouldn't wanted a prolonged stay. Sleeping head to tail you could get a couple of people inside, but it's a bit of a squeeze.
In reality we'd have to put this tent in the 1 / 2 man category rather than an out and out 2 man. Head room is adequate for anyone under 6ft, and the porch gives ample space for storage. Storage pockets and an assortment of hanging points inside the tent improve the amount of useable space.
Ventilation is covered by mesh patches at each end of the inner to allow air to pass through, but with two people inside on a cold wet night there is a little condensation on the inside of the fly. Luckily the design of the tent keeps the fly well away from the inner so condensation doesn't cause any real problems, and the silicon elastomer coating on the inside of the flysheet soon moves any surface water.
We were a bit dubious about how this tent would stand up to strong winds, and the weekend certainly gave us ample opportunity to put it to the test. Although the pole flexed back and forth in the strong gusts it coped admirably and never actually looked like collapsing. The pegs, although tiny and lightweight, held OK even in slowly water-logging ground. Despite the performance we think this tent is best suited to 3 season use as it seemed close to its limits, and we wouldn't be confident in using it in a high level Scottish winter for example.
Without a doubt the lightest tent we've ever used. It's ideal for the new ultra lightweight revolution taking place in British backpacking, and will no doubt become a firm favourite of the mountain marathoners and adventure racers. Stability and performance won't match the likes of the Hilleberg Akto, but it's a fair compromise between performance and weight. While the price may seem a bit high it's the premium you pay for cutting edge technology.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
New ultra lightweight 1 / 2 man from the market leaders. Decent performance in all but the worst British weather but at a premium price. Good space to weight ratio but a bit of a squeeze for 2 people and headroom a little low for anyone 6ft or over. Set to become a mountain marathoners classic.
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