NEWS: World exclusive review of World's lightest tent

It's official. The lightest two person tent in the world is the Terra Nova Laser Photon. This is the suped up version of the Terra Nova Laser Competition, that held the Guiness World Record in 2006 for being the 'lightest tent in the World'. As far as we know there is only one sample of this tent in the Europe and we have had it in our sweaty palms! We had it just for a week, before it was sent back and shown at the OutDoor 2007 trade show in Germany.

The Photon shaves 110grams of the weight of the Laser Competition. The weight saving comes from a lighter groundsheet fabric, a tweak in the design to reduce weighty seems, a lighter main pole and a set of titanium pegs that tip the scales at 1gram per peg!

Is this tent ideal for your average backpacker? I suspect not, but then it is not designed to be. I found the thin wire pegs were easily lost and also that they tended to ping out more easily than more substantial pegs. Like the Laser Competition, this tent is not as stable as heavier tents either and while it is rated as being spacious enough for two, you'd need to enjoy sharing body sweat! But if weight saving is on the agenda, then the Photon could be ideal.

If you are heading for the OMM event, then you are in luck as Terra Nova have ensured a small stock of the tents are available from the end of August 2007 (ready for the OMM), from Field and Trek www.fieldandtrek.com and Up and Running www.upandrunning.co.uk

Read the Trail review of the Terra Nova Laser Photon in the September issue of Trail

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