Six Moon Designs - Lunar Solo
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Last updated: Dec 23, 2025 Scoring
I have a six moons lunar 1 that I love. Your budget would be helpful here but the lanshan is also pretty well regarded. Hope that helps
r/backpacking • Trekking pole tent ->As someone who has exclusively used X-Mids for years now (OG, Pro 1, Pro 2+) I'd recommend going with none of them. The Lunar Solo is going to provide you with enough space for your dog, and save you $400. I love my Pro 1 but it will not fit a dog comfortably, and the Pro 2 is too big for the PCT.
r/PacificCrestTrail • Help Choosing Between X-Mid Pro Tents (or Alternatives) ->I've liked mine. Echoing what others have said: does take some practice to get a feel for how to set up. Pole height and angle really affects the bathtub floor. Condensation (though it is a single wall tent. Gonna have that with any single wall.). I always use my second trekking pole to pull out the head end and if I'm feeling motivated find a stick to pull out the foot end. Interior space is good for a one person tent. For me it's my fair-weather tent. If I were going somewhere with a lot of rain and/or wind I'd use something different. I have a xmid 1P but for me it's too small.
r/Ultralight • Lunar solo advice ->I enjoyed using it a lot more in California than in the Midwest, just for the condensation issues. Definitely need to leave the door open whenever possible to air out if you're in a more humid place.
r/Ultralight • Lunar solo advice ->Got one this year and can't recommend it enough. And this was after purchasing the most hyped tent in history, the Durston X-Dome 1+. My tent purchases were always conditioned by the typical anxiety of thinking I needed a freestanding tent. Then finally did a retrospection of all my wild camps and realised that not even once I really needed a freestanding tent. Ordered a SMD Lunar Solo with their collapsible pole and couldn't be happier. Much faster to pitch than any other tent I ever tried, super compact, light enough, very robust floor (40D), and as simple as it gets. Big enough inside that I already spent 2 night in it with a 5 year old and even one night at altitude with my wife (wouldn't recommend it as a dedicated 2p tent, obviously, but it does the job for 1 night here and there). I had some hardcore UL friends telling me for years to try pole tents, and I now feel a bit dumb for not doing so sooner
r/bikepacking • Oh look, another "what tent?" post ->Front Ortlieb Handlebar Roll. I have a Six Moon Lunar solo. This is really small and light. The pole i put at the frame pack
r/bikepacking • Where on your bike do you carry your tent? ->I second this. I also took mine on the AT in 22 and the only problem with it now is a hole in the mesh that a mouse chewed through. You have tons of space for your pack or an additional person if they're small (trust me I fit another person in it for 3 months - you just have to like them a lot lol). There were some campsites I couldn't use because of it, but I never really had a problem finding a spot for it.
r/AppalachianTrail • Best cheap through hiking tent ->I've had my lunar solo since 2019 and I've always set it up with the pointy end of the trekking pole down. I wasn't aware that it was supposed to be otherwise. I'm not in love with the tent, but it has met my needs.
r/Ultralight • Six moons lunar solo disappointment ->I've had one for about 5 years. It might take a little practice to pitch well if you haven't used trekking poles tents before, but I don't think it's very hard. I ended up switching to an xmid1 just because my head and quilt foot box would touch the sides if I didn't use the extra tie out points (I'm 6'1" for reference). The only other downside I noticed is that ventilation wasn't great with the door closed, so condensation built up easily in wetter conditions.
r/Ultralight • Lunar solo advice ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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Yep. It really is a great tent. I have yet to find any of the "UL" makers with one that has as much to offer as the SMD. Roomy, huge vestibule, very forgiving set up, and over all price. One thing I really appreciate about it that I didnt know until I got the Aeon.. there are no supports in it. It is just a large piece of material. That is nice because you can just stuff it and go. The TT Aeon and others have carbon support rods that you have to be aware of. The only thing better than the SMD would probably the MLD Deschutes. Very similar in design, but slightly different. As a matter of fact, the owner of six moons, and the owner of Mount Laurel are close friends, and both through hikers from what I understand. Either way, whatever you choose of the models you mentioned you can't go wrong 🙂
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I've tried to set it up different ways in an effort to get the walls of the bathtub up further from the ground but never had any luck.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I've had one for about 5 years. It might take a little practice to pitch well if you haven't used trekking poles tents before, but I don't think it's very hard. I ended up switching to an xmid1 just because my head and quilt foot box would touch the sides if I didn't use the extra tie out points (I'm 6'1" for reference). The only other downside I noticed is that ventilation wasn't great with the door closed, so condensation built up easily in wetter conditions.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I love mine, it took me a while to get on board because I had the SMD deschutes tarp + inner net combo, and the deschutes plus with perimeter netting (still have that actually). But finally realized that if you really need to seal out the bugs sometimes, the lunar solo is ideal for me. The tarp + inner combo was too tight, the inner shaves off a lot of interior space, I really like having that extra space in the inner when I have the netting. I'm short (5'3) and I never have issues feeling claustrophobic, even when I have my 6 year old daughter sleep in there with me. I did break the zipper during a heavy rain, I was used to the stretchy silnylon deschutes plus. I stretched the solo too tight and when I went to unzip it, the zipper stretched completely apart from the tension. It was covered by SMD warranty and they repaired it. A lot of people have issues with the pitch, I think working with the silnylon versions from SMD helped me get the hang of it, and i always have at least some of the bathtub in tact. It does get a little wonky on a slope but most tents I've worked with do 🤷♀ï¸
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Have it and like it a lot. I've lent it out to people with less experience pitching a tent and they've all figured it out easily. My wife took it to Accadia on a solo trip and came back glowing about how easy it was to dial in after the first couple of practice pitches. The build quality is fine - no stitching issues and the zippers work well. Floor of the tent is extra tough so no need for a groundsheet.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →It depends is the answer to your question, which I know is no help so I will offer advice on the three tents I have used, Firstly they are all trekking pole tents, so if you're not a fan or don't fancy single skin tents skip this post. They all have the advantage of being light but can without some care suffer condensation and without the second skin this is easier to come in contact with. On to the tents: Six Moon Lunar Solo, cheaper, great tent, very stealth, green and compact. Ultimately too small for my six foot frame and kit, Zpacks duplex, 100% waterproof, great tent, never failed, loads of room, stupid light. Cons PRICE, large foot print and not stealth colours (always a bit concerned about being moved on, although in three years I never have). MLD Duomid, space, colour (I have green) adaptability for pitching,size. Bomb proof, modular Cons for me I can't really think of any, Hope this helps, my thoughts are my own.
r/wildcampingintheuk • View on Reddit →I definitely struggled to get a proper pitch. It's easier with a trekking pole or adjustable carbon pole (the SMD pole is absolutely not the right choice it's too flimsy). I've had to reattach the front guyline, it tore off and the zippers seem pretty flimsy but that's par for the course with tents like this. The bathtub invariably lies flat at the back of the tent so I imagine you could get some water in there if it really poured but maybe that's to do with pitch. It's shape gives you some extra room but in practice it's fairly negligible because the back and side walls are sloped more than a typical mid. I thought it would be good for camping with a dog but the back wall is so sloped that there isn't really a lot of space for my medium sized dog (she pushes the back wall up with her back even curled in a ball). I don't think it's bad but by the time you include all the stakes it needs, and add up all the downsides I tend to just take my freelite (it only weighs a bit more and is way more comfortable/drier) or a dyneema mid.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Not quite the exact parameters but the lunar solo is an amazing tent for the price
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I like the Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo as a tarp tent that is fully enclosed and provides bug protection. 26oz though. But affordable. Definitely worth looking into. https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/products/lunar-solo-tent
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I've had mine for about 5 years and have no complaints. It's not too hard to get a good pitch - just requires a bit of practice. Would love to switch to a DCF shelter to cut weight but for the money I don't think there's a better shelter out there.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Make sure you're looking a silpoly and not DCF. Silpoly will weight more but be far more compact than DCF. Also make sure you're looking at single wall tents. Most backpackers are using trekking pole supported tents and my recommendation would be the Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo. The Gossamer Gear The One is also small and light. Also, simple flat tarps are very light if they are a consideration.
r/CampingGear • View on Reddit →Others have mentioned it, but the Six Moon Design tents all have great shelter packability. The Lunar Solo and the Deschutes are great. I personally own the Deschutes and I can squish that thing down to fit in my hand! I think they're also pretty affordable both new and used.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Came here to say that. I have had the LS for years. It's my go-to dog hiking tent. Plenty of room for 1.5 people and solidly made. Can stuff it without much thought, no folding etc. Without dog and for thru hiking I use DCF.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo has been my favorite tent for years. I tried the super expensive Zpacks tent but didn't care for the noisy material and how much light it let in. The Lunar Solo is a great tent at a reasonable price in my opinion. https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/products/lunar-solo-tent
r/bikepacking • View on Reddit →I always struggle with the posts I read about this tent because I've owned mine a while now and have slept in it at least a month over various trips. It does have condensation but it's a single wall tent and I don't see how that isn't kind of a constant in all of them. The one thing I one hundred percent feel is user error is the people who have flattened bathtub floors or baggy wrinkly pitches. This never happens to me, watch the setup video six moon sends you that explains the proper procedure as it works. Another thing most don't seem to do is use the head and foot tie outs. At six foot tall if I use those I don't have too many problems with wet quilt foot box. Overall I think it's a great tent that checks a lot of boxes, mine is 24oz. If I have one beef with it that would be its storm worthiness. Wind blown rain from the front of it can be a problem.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →21 nights in the field this summer. No problems finding space to pitch in the Sierras. I echo that with the door closed it's quite vulnerable to condensation. Also, my head and/or foot (I'm 6') had tendency to touch by morning. However I got great pitch by end of my trip, with happy bathtub; it's just practice.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I've had my Six Moon Designs Lunar solo since 2017 and have taken it to multiple continents on many bikepacking trips. I've pitched it hundreds of times in all sorts of weather (never snow, though. I hate the cold.) and it has held up in some pretty gnarly winds and torrential downpours. I had it professionally seam sealed by SMD when I got it during a Black Friday sale all those years ago, would recommend doing so. The pros: 26ish oz total weight and packs down to a fatter Nalgene size in a compression sack; fits in my saddle bag with its one pole along with the rest of my sleep system perfectly; very roomy! I like to bring all my bags inside at night (except food while in bear country) and it even functioned as a 2p tent when my stubborn friend insisted on bringing a hammock to our bike tour around Sicily which she couldn't hang most places. The cons: single walled so when I was camping around Taiwan for a month it would get very WET inside; not freestanding at all!; pitching it in general just kinda sucks and has a high learning curve. At this point the pros outweigh the cons and after this many years with it I've finally nailed down a good pitch. I tried my partners Big Agnes whatever and honestly didn't like it, so I guess I'm stuck with my trusty Lunar Solo until something really catches my eye because I'll likely get a minimum of 10 more years out of this thing based on its condition after eight years of pretty consistent use.
r/CampingGear • View on Reddit →i sold mine mainly because i went all-in on a hammock setup. the lunar solo isn't hard to set up, but i did think it was a little short lengthwise. i always woke up with either a damp head or footbox of my quilt because even at 5'10", i couldn't lay straight and not hit one end or both. i loved the fly setup, and being able to use the single pole i hike with to pitch it. honestly i don't know if i would have committed to a hammock without the intermediate step of a small interior tent with a big vestibule like the lunar solo. it was my gateway drug out of ground sleeping, ha
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I thru'd with a six moon designs lunar solo. $260, lightweight, kept me dry. Cons: slightly bigger footprint than some UL tents. Pros: Don't feel like you're sleeping in a coffin, like some UL tents Mine's still going strong 2.5 years after the AT, but if it wore out I'd buy it again
r/AppalachianTrail • View on Reddit →I brought my Six Moon Designs on a PCT thru hike and absolutely loved it. If you plan on backpacking and use trekking poles, it's a great choice. If you're doing more car camping, I have a cheap pop-up tent from Amazon for that and it sets up in about 1 minute. For car camping, the easier the better IMO.
r/CampingGear • View on Reddit →Second the Six Moon Designs solo. One pole. Easy to pitch.
r/bikepacking • View on Reddit →Pitching it isn't difficult. I think you need to put it up a few times to figure out how to leave it tall for air flow and tighten it down for rain. That being said, air flow isn't great. It's kind of doubly asymmetrical in that it only opens on one side and has one door. That means you have to pitch it a certain orientation if you want your head at the door. Not a deal breaker but kinda awkward. I think it's better in cooler drier climates.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I use a TT aeon Li and SMD Lunar Solo. If your on the fence about tracking pole set up shelters the Lunar Solo is a great choice. They are very affordable and fairly easy to find second hand.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →All things being equal, a single wall tent made of silnylon or silpoly will pack smaller if the denier is lower. I read in a thread earlier that the GG One uses 7d fabric so it makes sense that it's one of the smallest available options. I have a Six Moon Lunar Solo that packs pretty small as well which is why I own it. You can basically remove any DCF tent from comparison as they are far bulkier fabric.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I didn't like it. It will not fit 2 people even cuddling. Somebody would get condensation on them and won't be able to sit up, for your occasional use case. The walls have a fairly low slope so isn't as good for gear storage. I also found it awkward to set up so it was taught. Even with practice.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Did a 4 month LASH on the PCT with it. Great tent, especially considering the price. Absolutely storm worthy. Only thing that I had to replace was the main guiline. Used a trekking pole to pitch it. The main thing that really improved the pitch was adjusting the trekking pole to 125 cm instead of 120 as recommend in the instructions.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I didn't like mine very much. I found it to be hard to pitch mostly because it was too big and a little unwieldy. Always has problems finding a spot with enough good space for it to fit easily, and had to resort to securing the guy lines to logs, tree branches, etc. And I don't think I ever got the floor to be a bathtub (just a sad groundsheet). That said, it is very roomy inside and I never had a bad night in it. I never had it in much rain though, only high-ish winds, which when secured properly, did just fine (except for dirt blowing in, due to my inability to get the bathtub going). And while I realize all trekking pole tents involve more hassles, I think the Lunar Solo is at the higher end of that scale. I now have a Plex Solo. Which still comes with "problems," but at least it's about half the weight, so I'm willing to put up with them. The Lunar didn't weight much less than my Nemo Hornet 1P, so I found myself just using that instead (before the Plex Solo). Edit: I should practice what I preach, that tent review/opinions should include where they've been used. In my case, it was summertime, in the Sierra Nevada, CA.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I have the lunar solo and love it for the weight and pack size. Just personally id have them do the seam sealing cause I thought I did mine well even with testing at home. 3rd night out we got some good rain and I quickly found out there was a small spot that wasn't perfectly sealed
r/WildernessBackpacking • View on Reddit →Nice to see my old SMD Lunar Solo still hanging in there.
r/CampingGear • View on Reddit →Loved my Lunar Solo. You won't get a more spacious 1p tent in terms of ground space. Not sure about poor build quality; mine worked immaculately from the time I bought until the time I gave it to a friend years later. I finally upgraded to an XMid Pro 2 when my girlfriend started coming on trips with me, but my friend continues to use my Lunar Solo to this day. Pitching is not hard, just requires some practice and some knowhow. I don't think it's any harder to pitch than my XMid.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →\+1 for Lunar Solo! Packs really small and has a smaller footprint than The One.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I got one in the mail a few days ago. First impressions are: I'm super happy with it! Have pitched it in the backyard a few times and so far I'm pretty impressed. While I haven't actually taken it out on an adventure, I can't see any obvious issues that I could run into. Seam sealing was a chore, but I just put a podcast on and took my time and did it. I am extremely financially irresponsible, and would have no problems buying a dcf tent. But I was mainly looking for a smaller packed size, rather than super lightweight. Seems like everyone agrees that you should loosely fold and roll dyneema, whereas silpoly is able to be compressed. I put the lunar solo in a 5 liter sea to summit compression sack and it packed down ridiculously small. On pitching it, just watch a few YouTube videos. There's a couple good ones. I got the hang of it pretty quick. One thing though, if you're using a trekking pole, I would definitely pitch it higher than the recommended 125 cm. I'll mainly be using it for bikepacking/ bike touring so I've got 125 cm poles that I use with my Lanshan 2. Bathtub floor kind of lays on the ground. I can get it up on one side of the tent, but then it will be down on the other. I think it's less to do with my pitching skills and more to do with the fact that I need a longer pole. So I ordered a durston z flick pole to give me an extra inch or two. If you get it, definitely add guylines to the two side pullouts. It will give you some more room inside. Especially if you prop a stick under the lines. Aside from the bathtub floor not wanting to be raised up, my only real complaint is no magnetic door toggles. I didn't really think of that when I ordered the tent and when I set it up the first time I was like "oh God not these fucking things again" with the loop and toggle mechanism. It's such a petty and minor complaint but after using my Lanshan 2 for the past few years I'm about sick of that design haha. Ordered a pack of small magnetic cable management clips from Amazon and I'm going to try to rig up my own magnetic toggle. We'll see how it works out. But yeah, I think you'll be happy with it. I was worried about space because it's my first one-person tent but there is plenty of room inside for me and all my junk.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →One just needs to practice. Anything new takes a little time to learn the little details of. It's a solid design and I don't think you're going to have any buyer's regret. There are certainly similar tents to the Lunar Solo with garbage build quality, but my feeling is they're all copies of SMD's design (many of their tents are variations of it). Just do a good job with seam sealing if it's not already done.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →Front Ortlieb Handlebar Roll. I have a Six Moon Lunar solo. This is really small and light. The pole i put at the frame pack
r/bikepacking • View on Reddit →I used one on the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way and it did great in the Scottish weather. It was sometimes annoying to pitch but not in a dealbreaking way. I didn't have issues with condensation or wind. The bathtub floor worked fine on my tent and moisture never got inside. The only issue I had with it was on a different trip where the knot that lets you slide the vestibule up and down came undone and I had to try to fix it in the dark.
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →I have it and used it much. I'm 6'4" and had little issues with touching the sides while sleeping. It took some time to learn how to get up in the morning though without touching the fly and develop the routine of cleaning condensation first. All of these tents have condensation (like all tents) it's just that you see it. Pitching is fine once you master it. My sequence is two back corners, front pole &guy line, back corner and door corners. Once you learn to leave some slack on the perimeter guy lines you're perfect. Pull out the mid panel guylines too, the head end outwards using the other trekking pole. Build quality excellent on mine. Front guy line I replaced because it wasn't up to the job for me. All in all can't complain. I moved to a tarp setup + bivvy if needed because I prefer the versatility. 3ful is releasing a polyester lanshan currently, might want to check that too
r/Ultralight • View on Reddit →