Looking at the list trying to organize for next weekend and thought I should talk a little bit about my tent of choice because it's lightweight on a budget. Definitely not UL territory like a tarptent or other single wall shelter, but for my region (mostly humid southern climate) I felt like a double wall tent made the most sense. I did a single wall tent on a motorcycle trip camping in Alabama and the condensation was intense. Plus, bugs are usually a guarantee here, so a fully mesh structure vs. a bivy plus a headnet or something like that is kind of nice.

Anyhow, it's the Eureka Spitfire 1, and for the price to weight ratio, it's pretty unbeatable. It retails for 130, but can be found for usually around 100 bucks online. At this price, I don't even bother with the extra weight/bulk of a ground cloth. Plus, if one floor wears out, buy a second tent and suddenly, you have spares in case a pole breaks or something. Setting up is a snap with clips rather than sleeve poles. And the poles are the nice aluminum DAC featherlite poles, not cheapie fiberglass.

Ditch the something like 8 heavy steel stakes they provide, replace them with 4 MSR needle stakes and you'll bet set. You only need 2 stakes to pitch the body as the tent poles do a good enough job of making the floor taught side to side. 2 more stakes to pitch the fly taught and you're good to go. (Note: Obviously, in heavy wind situations, more stakes are better, especially for guy lines). Also, I understand why people tend to lean toward freestanding tents for convenience, which sometimes limit your options. Worst case scenario, with this design I could tie one end to the bike and another to a rock/log and have a pretty solid pitch for the body.

The fly is fully taped from the factory, but I did turn it inside out and find a few weak spots to touch up with some liquid seam sealer. It survived a nearly night long rain storm without a leak.

Advertised minimum weight is 2 pounds 12 ounces, which I believe is the fly, body and poles only. With my fly, body and poles plus a compression sack and the MSR needle stakes, mine comes in right at three pounds. As far as packability goes, look at the picture a couple of posts up with the orange compression sack hanging on the back of my Specialized Roubaix. Obviously, you'll have to store the poles separately, But they're not super long (see picture above for relative scale). They should be able to fit underneath most top tubes in the supplied pole bag.

Interior size is great. I'm 6'2" and I can lay down without my head or feet touching on either end. I can also sit up, change clothes, read a book/check the weather on the phone, etc. They also make a 2 person tent for a little over a pound more. Same design that should only require 2 stakes for the body.

All in all, I can find some lighter options, but very very few of them are double wall tents and all of them are at least double the price for a relatively insignificant weight savings. Another friend of mine did a multi month (about 3 I think?) tour and pretty much lived in the same model tent. I asked him how it held up over heavy use and he said it was perfect. Knowing his style, I seriously doubt he used a ground cloth, either.

So anyhow, thought that might be helpful for anyone looking for a budget shelter option to lighten the load.