VIK 1P

Nature hike cycling tent. Cheap and waterproof and awesome.

I second the nature hike… I got the 1 person bike packing version.. and the quality is great for the price. The weight is good enough.. this is the way to go.. also maybe get some outdoor research 3 pack of dry bags and use the big one for the tent and ditch the big cluncky sack it comes with..

I have a nature hike solo tent. Looking forward to doing some solo backpacking before it gets too cold.  Did you enjoy soloing?

You can. Build quality will be more suspect, but there are good budget tents. I might expand my budget to $120-130, but I bought a Naturehike 1 person self standing tent for $79 on sale that is 3.5lbs and pretty bombproof. The issue is functionality and weight. Cheap tents tend to use cheap materials, which are durable but heavier. They can sometimes skimp on waterproofing. Getting light materials that are also durable costs more money. There are a few good examples of reasonable Amazon products that are both light and durable. The Lanshan tents, for example, are often promoted by weight weenies on a budget. But if you push much beyond $200, you can get great lightweight tents from cottage companies here in the US. I just bought a Tarptent ProTrek for like $250. It is an amazing piece of engineering and weighs little more than a tarp/bivy system. Six Moon Designs and Durston also offer very light trekking pole tents in this price range. The Outdoor Gear Review on YouTube covers a lot of this cheap Amazon gear. The dude that runs the channel seems a little weird, but he doesn't do ads and he focuses on cheaper gear accessible to everyone. Go through the archives. But paying like $600 for a 5lb tent at REI makes no sense to me. I'm sure the build quality is amazing, but they seem over engineered. I think this makes sense for a bigger tent, as the family car camping tent space has become very unreliable for budget products (the reported seam fail rates on Coleman tents makes me very sad).

Naturehike Mongar 2P. Pretty good budget tent! I think even some Naturehike 1P tent are good if you don’t need tons of space.

Look at Naturehikes. I have a 1P tent from them that cost me £85 and weighs 1.5kg. Size wise it's basically a bivvy "with a bit extra" but it's enough to sit up in and store your bag either in its (tiny) vestibule or just next to your sleep mat.

I have to disagree with all these trekking pole people. I don't dislike those tents but I do really enjoy a freestanding tent! It has a lot of advantages.... Super easy to pitch and does not need to be staked down which can be hard to do in some places. I use both just depends on my trip. For a freestanding tent I have had good luck with Naturehike and Alps Mountaineering and one tigris. I don't spend big on my tents I accept the slight weight penalty and spend the money on other things like a good sleep system and backpack