Alpkit Soloist XL tent | Tested and reviewed

Solo adventurers need a tent that balances weight, durability and weather resistance without breaking the bank. The Alpkit Soloist XL aims to do just that, offering a freestanding, three-season shelter at an attractive price.

It promises easy pitching, solid wind resistance and reliable waterproofing. During my tests in the UK hills, I put it through its paces in real world conditions to see how it holds up. From setup quirks to liveability concerns, here’s my honest take on whether the Soloist XL is the right tent for your next adventure.

Shape, structure, pitching and internal liveability

The Soloist XL is a freestanding, three-season, one person tent designed for multi-day solo adventures. It uses a pole hub system to create its semi-geodesic structure and I found that pitching was mostly a doddle. Simply snap the poles into place, pop the tips into the eyelets and hook the inner tent to the alloy skeleton, suspending it in place.

I found that the pole hub was heavier and chunkier than on some freestanding tents, giving it less of a premium feel – that is despite Alpkit opting for a suggestive golden hue on the poles (nice try!). Nevertheless, the slightly cheaper feel is unsurprising given the Soloist’s bargain price.

Inner assembled, all that’s left to do is peg the flysheet over the top – the four eyelets in each corner match up with the pole corners, while there are somewhat fiddly Velcro tabs to secure the flysheet to the structure beneath.

Tension straps are then tightened to make the flysheet taut and I was able to bring it flush to the ground for additional waterproof protection – though it’s worth leaving a gap on dry, summer nights for ventilation. Two guylines help further to secure everything for windy conditions.

There are a few pitching options: on warm nights you could simply erect the inner on its own, or you can use the Soloist Footprint and pitch the outer first. The footprint is sold separately at £26.99 and is a great option if you want to extend the lifespan of your tent.

The shape of the tent resembles a fabric version of Tryfan – a long, narrow spine that rises to a small but well-defined apex. Like the Welsh mountain, it’s also rather pleasing on the eye, though the only scrambling you’ll be doing here is your breakfast eggs.

The shape is designed to effectively shed gusts when orientated correctly, though the sides can act as sails if there’s a sudden change in wind direction. Its narrow profile means that there’s only a small amount of liveable headroom. Speaking of which…

One-person tents rarely win prizes for liveability, and I found that the Soloist XL was found wanting more than most. As you’d expect, it’s larger than the standard Soloist, providing an additional 20cm of interior length, bringing the total to 220cm.

However, length wasn’t the main issue with the original. The XL still has the same 95cm internal height and its tapered floor is 77cm at its narrowest.

Based on my tests and research, I felt the interior of the Alpkit XL was a little cramped, particularly in terms of the width. There was a lack of headroom and, for me at least, as a camper used to dome-style tents, the heavily-tapered side walls felt like they were too close and hemming me in.

Ultimately if the XL version could’ve extended the width of the tent, as well as the length, the sensation of narrowness would’ve been avoided.

Despite Alpkit’s efforts to provide usable space with the hubbed pole design, as well as the extra 20cm of the XL version, it still doesn’t provide anywhere near as much palatial liveability and internal comfort as dome-style shelters like Sea to Summit’s Alto or Telos tents, or MSR’s Hubba.

Waterproofing

Any one-person tent worth its salt must bat away rain with ease if it’s to make a mark on the British market. The Soloist XL copes with Lakeland drizzle and North Welsh downpours very well thanks to its fabrics and design.

The flysheet is a 15-denier ripstop nylon complete with the tried and tested combination of a silicone coat and polyurethane backer. While 15-denier isn’t the thickest or most durable of yarns, it’s pretty common in these kinds of backpacking tents – products designed with keeping weight down rather than for rugged qualities. Just keep your crampon spikes well away and you should be fine.

The flysheet fabric has a hydrostatic head (HH) rating of 3,000mm. Hydrostatic head is a measure of how much water pressure the fabric can take before giving up the ghost and letting water seep through.

A 3,000mm rating should provide a strong level of protection and that’s exactly what I found on test, though I’d be interested to see whether these performance levels are maintained over time.

The groundsheet features a bathtub design, meaning it rises up at the sides, protecting the inner tent from wet terrain. The 20-denier fabric used here is, as usual, more robust than in the flysheet, featuring a HH rating of 5,000mm – although it’s not the thickest, sturdiest groundsheet I’ve ever seen.

For added peace of mind, utilising the footprint alongside the groundsheet will significantly improve the robustness of the tent’s floor.

As is standard (but by no means universal) all the seams are taped to reinforce these potential chinks in the waterproof armour.

Condensation

A tent’s ability to ventilate is crucial to avoid condensation, particularly in a one-person tent. This is because all that radiated body heat has a much smaller space to conquer than in larger shelters.

The Soloist XL’s inner features plenty of mesh to provide airflow and keep biting insects at bay. However, the design of the flysheet, with only one vent above the door, isn’t the best, so it’s perhaps not the best option for humid summer nights.

I’ve always found condensation difficult to avoid in the wet, humid UK climate, and there was no exception from that rule with the Alpkit Soloist XL.

Wind protection

As mentioned, the Soloist’s ridged shape, which (as well as Tryfan) puts me in mind of track cycling helmets, makes it very aerodynamic, meaning that it copes well if you set it up in parallel to the wind direction.

It’s a bit of an all-or-nothing approach from Alpkit, as this is only a strength if there’s no change in the prevailing wind direction during the night – something that can happen when wild camping up high. In these cases, there’s an inherent risk that the high walls will “catch” side-on gusts like a sail.

However, I had the Alpkit Soloist XL pitched for three nights in some very disgusting Cumbrian weather, with the Met Office forecasting up to 40-50mph gusts. The wind was swirling and quite chaotic, and definitely strong, although I didn’t have an anemometer to measure the exact speeds encountered.

Even so, I was very impressed with the way the Soloist XL held firm against the onslaught, remaining undamaged, upright and stable. Wind protection is definitely a strong point of the Soloist XL, it would seem.

Weight and packed size

You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find a backpacking tent this light at this kind of price point. At just 1,383g (on my scales), the Soloist XL punches way above its impressively low weight – a quality that’s partly to thank for its enduring popularity.

Packed down, it measures 45x14cm (by my measurements), which is fairly compact but not quite in the same league as the Vango Helium F10 UL1, a shelter designed with bikepackers in mind that cleverly makes use of shorter poles. However, most will be content with the way the stuff sack stashes into a backpack.

To break things down further, on my scales the Alpkit Soloist XL clocks in at 1,383g, including: flysheet (420g), inner (380g), 11 V-shaped pegs with pull tabs (109g), peg bag (8g), repair kit including pole splint and flysheet rip patches (12g), poles (416g), pole bag (14g) and main storage bag (24g).

Features

For internal storage, the Soloist features both a hanging loop and a small, triangular mesh pocket. The latter is pretty small – only really big enough for a head torch and one or two small personal items.

The porch between the flysheet and inner tent is also a little on the narrow side, fine for keeping muddy walking boots dry but not really adequate for dumping a sopping wet expedition pack.

There’s one entrance, featuring a large, zippered opening. I found it quite awkward to get in and out of and the door shape and orientation aren’t the best – the door fabric can flap around on your head and you almost have to crouch and crawl to get inside. I’d describe the door design as rather poor, although it might just be a personal gripe.

Verdict

The Alpkit Soloist XL is a distinctively-shaped, ridge-like tent that has impressive HH stats and solid all-round performance at a phenomenal price – but the interior is narrow and slightly cramped.

Planning some multi-day hiking? See our reviews of the best wild camping tents.

About the author

James Forrest is one of our key freelance writers and gear testers. He has undertaken many long-distance hiking trips around the UK and Europe, and is one of the most knowledgeable experts around on backpacking tents.

James regularly conducts many of our tent and camping gear tests.