Wenzel Starlite Ultralight Solo Tent

I am hearing quite a lot about one of the Wenzel Tents sometimes called the hiker/biker or ultra light solo tent. What has caught my eye is that it is advertised as a 2 man tent so how come it can also be called solo? In addition I saw one of these recently on a camping trip so lets clear up this anomaly!

What Is the Wenzel Starlite Tent?

Straight away I can tell you that this is a solo tent – definitely not for 2 people (children yes but not adults). When packed up it is really small and light so ideal for a backpacking or biking holiday.

On a recent camp I saw a biker arrive and start setting up his tent. My daughter was playing in the kids play area close by so I watched this guy set up the tent. It took minutes! Amazingly quick. I was intrigued so asked him what tent it was and yes it was the wenzel starlite! He literally got the tent out of the bag, laid it out, stacked out the 4 corners, put up some fibre glass poles and there it was – done!

I had a look online and found this YouTube video for you to see the Wenzel Starlite for yourself.

Some Tent Features

Once set up it has an A-frame entrance with a “double layer” door – the first is a screen and then the main door material. This is good because small tents can get hot inside quite quickly so having a screen is handy for air flow without allowing the bugs in.

The front entrance is quite small – about 3 feet high I think. It’s what you would expect with such a compact tent but the guy rope comes down the middle of the entrance and so gets in the way a bit. Not a major problem though.

The tent fabric and floor is made from polyurethane coated polyester which is the usual waterproofing material for tents (see below for customers comments on whether this tent is rain proof).

There are guy ropes mid way down the tent which helps to keep the inner walls away from you whilst inside. Also there are hidden vents at each end of the tent with mesh windows so you do get a small amount of natural light inside and air circulation. This is important because the starlite has a single wall only and so is more prone to condensation.

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Is the Wenzel Starlite Waterproof?

If you watched the video then you will be wondering about the waterproofing of the tent. Considering the whole tent (floor as well) is made from waterproof material it should stand up to wet weather well. So I have researched all the reviews I can for this tent and here are my conclusions about its waterproofing.

If you are in heavy prolonged rain then this tent will not stay dry inside. It is more a fair weather tent but considering it costs less than $30 I don’t think you can expect it to be up to the same standard as for example the Tera Nova Laser which is 10 times the cost! However there are some things that you can do to increase its waterproofing. Get some seam sealant and use on the seams inside and out and also spray the whole tent with silicon based tent waterproofing. It is always a good idea to do this with any new tent.

So the wenzel starlite tent is best if you are looking for a cheap priced, really lightweight tent that you can set up with ease, need room for 1 person and don’t mind a little sorting out beforehand.