![]() ![]() The manufacturing quality is excellent, as you’d expect from Vango, and we loved the abundant clever design features (see our pictures below).Īfter using the Solaris, we are absolute converts to AirBeam tents, and certainly won’t be sad to see the back of pole tents (apart from our beloved bell tent of course!). It’s also a great place to retreat to away from the hot sun, and from rain showers too and we experienced some real extremes in weather over the weekend, and were incredibly grateful to have a covered outdoor area. The addition of the front porch provided extra living space, perfect for summer evenings. The addition of the front porch is brilliant, and effectively added to the amount of overall usable living space, and the height of the tent is great too, helping it to feel nice and big. I previously owned a Vango Icarus 500, with an additional extension, which I used happily for many years, and the Solaris is an ideal, slightly bigger replacement. The tent worked very well for us, and even with our usual furniture, camp kitchen and so on, the tent never felt at all cramped. We were pleasantly surprised however and found the tent extremely spacious. Having looked at the dimensions, we weren’t convinced the Solaris would be big enough for our usual needs, and expected it to only be suitable for short weekend trips. You pay a high price for this, but rightly so.We tend to go for very large tents usually as a result of our hobby, because we have a lot of costume, props and accessories to take along with us when we camp at events. It's liveable (just), offers full protection from the elements and is almost impossibly lightweight. This puts the F10 Project Hydrogen into an exclusive subset of ultralight tents. They are all similarly tight on space and usually a good few hundred grams heavier. The weight is truly excellent, genuine alternatives to the Project Hydrogen will often need trekking poles to pitch, lack seam taping or feature full mesh inners. While some elements of the Project Hydrogen feel gimmicky, we applaud Vango F10 for their gutsy design. It’s important to note that the Project Hydrogen isn’t the only capacity challenged ultralight tent out there, it’s simply the price you pay for true ultralight wild camping. On a more positive note, the inner features a couple of gear storage pockets, as well as a gear line running along the top. I also found the vestibule lacking in width, meaning backpacks need to be propped on their side to fit in the thin slither of space available. At 90cm internal height I can’t quite sit up straight either, so the Project Hydrogen really is a sleeping only tent. The length is only just enough for my 6ft 2” frame and the overall feeling is not one of spaciousness. ![]() ![]() The shape tapers out where the arms lie and back in towards the feet, both in width and height. Crawl through the door and you’ll find a mummy shaped interior just big enough to accommodate a sleeping human body. Arguably the Airbeam is also easier to repair in the field using simple repair tape.Īs with the other options mentioned, the F10 Project Hydrogen lacks liveable space inside. Of course, an Airbeam also has a certain amount of give, where a pole might snap given a certain amount of pressure the Airbeam will simple spring back into position. Once pitched, the Project Hydrogen forms a stable structure, quite a surprise given the Airbeam hoop, but Vango claim that this is actually more resistant to deformation than a regular pole. Erecting the single carbon pole at the foot end, inflating the Airbeam hoop and pegging out is achievable in about 10 minutes. Pitching is intuitive once you have the hang of the Airbeam. Although innovative and usable in a pinch, these are so thin and bendy that they’re worth replacing with proper pegs straight away. The Project Hydrogen is supplied with a mixture of ‘Y-beam’ tent stakes and really weird pin like pegs. While this is great for ventilation in predominantly hot climates, it lacks wind protection for a typical UK wild camp. We were impressed to see a mostly solid inner most ultralight tent manufacturers opt for mesh to save weight. The floor is 10D PU coated ripstop nylon that might need an additional footprint in tricky conditions, and the inner is 7D. It’s fully seam taped – unusual for ultralight tents – and has an excellent 5000mm hydrostatic head. ![]() The flysheet is 7D ProTex 70 SRN with a ripstop weave for strength and durability. Materials are predictably thin but strong, with a high spec considering the weight. ![]()
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