As a person who loves solo backpacking, I’m always on the prowl for what single-person (1P) backpacking tent has the best bang-for-its-buck. I came across the UL Obsidian 1P by Featherstone Outdoor Gear, decided to give it a test run, and I was quite surprised with the results. Read the full review below and check out the full specs at feathersttoneoutdoors.com.
In this review, I cover:
Overview Specs
Seasons: 3-season
Sleeping Capacity: 1 person (See our review of the two-person tent here.)
Floor Dimensions: 81 x 38.5 inches / 205 x 98 cm
Peak Height: 45 inches / 114 cm
Vestibule Area: 25.6 in / 65 cm
Pack Size: 17.87 x 4.3 in / 20 x 11.1 cm
Pack Weight: 3 lbs 12 oz (1.69 kg)
Trail Weight: 2 lbs 12.5 oz (1.27 kg)
The Test
A set-up test in the backyard and then an overnight backpacking trip in the Box-Death Hollow Wilderness in southern Utah.
The Backyard Test
Trying to go backpacking without first setting up your new tent is like trying to run a marathon without first trying on your running shoes. Sure it might work out, but that’s a heck of a gamble to make, isn’t it? So, I took one hot early spring afternoon to set it up in my backyard to see how I liked it and also how my dogs, Riley and Carson, liked it since I would be taking Carson with me on an upcoming backpacking trip.
The Backpacking Test
I loaded the tent up in my backpack, hopped in my truck with Carson, and we headed down to the Box-Death Hollow Wilderness (charming and inviting name, huh?) near Escalante, Utah, where we did an out-and-back backpacking trip on the Pine Creek Box Trail. The weather was beautiful and sunny, but very windy with light snow flurries in the forecast for that evening.
Despite getting cold and wet from a lot of small stream crossings, Carson and I were able to find a nice stealth camping spot in the late afternoon, set up the tent in swirling snow flurries (OK, I set up the tent, Carson isn’t that well-trained yet), and settle in for the night. It was definitely cold and the wind whipped through the canyon all night, but we stayed warm, dry, and comfortable, and had a nice, easy hike out the following morning under blue skies and (finally) calm winds.
The Full Review of the UL Obsidian Backpacking Tent
Set up and tear down
For starters, I really liked the color scheme of the tent. Black and yellow is a color scheme I haven’t seen before on a backpacking tent, and I thought it was really cool. Everything was packed nicely in the bag that the tent came in, so it was very quick and easy to tell what part of the tent was what. And I really like how the footprint comes with the tent (several tents, you have to order the footprint separately, which just adds to the total bill).
Then it came time to actually set up, and here was where I ran into one of two things I would change about this tent.
First, the Obsidian requires more stakes than a typical 1-person backpacking tent. This is because at the foot of the tent, the loops for the tent body extend further than the footprint and so you have to stake both the tent body and the footprint separately.
Overall, you need 11 stakes just to do a normal stake-down of the tent:
- 2 stakes for the head of the tent
- 5 stakes for the foot of the tent
- 4 stakes for the rainfly
This means if it’s windy, you’ll need to use even more stakes and the guy lines to fully secure the tent. And if the ground you’re camping on is sandy (which was the case on my backpacking trip) or rocky, you’ll have to use lots of rocks to secure the tent since staking isn’t an option.
This could also be remedied by manually adjusting the length of the loops.
The other issue I ran into is that the door zipper is down by the foot of the tent. Normally on other 1P backpacking tents, the zipper is near your head so it’s quick and easy to get in and out of the tent (like if you get the call of nature in the middle of the night…or a dog that’s about to throw up after eating too many sticks).
But aside from these issues with excessive staking and the zipper at the foot, the tent was easy to figure out how to put together with color-coded poles and directions. And my dogs approved of it immediately as soon as it was done!
Durability
This was the thing I was initially the most skeptical about with this tent, but turned out to be quite impressed. Durability and cost tend to go hand-in-hand with tents, and since this tent was on the cheaper side, I was really curious how it would hold up against rain, wind, and normal wear-and-tear.
Like I said, I was pretty impressed. For starters, the floor of the tent was thick and solid. With the footprint, the floor stayed dry, even though I set up on a damp patch of ground next to a creek in the wilderness.
Also, the rain fly, when staked down correctly, did a great job of completely covering the tent. As I mentioned, it was really windy in the canyon that Carson and I camped in (windy the entire hike in and all night), but I never felt a draft because of the fly. Overall, Carson and I stayed nice and toasty!
I would presume because of how well the rain fly did against the wind that it would do a nice job in rain, as well, but being totally honest, I’ve had no experience with rain in this tent, so I can’t make a complete judgment call.
I’ll say the same thing with overall durability of the tent over time. Since I’ve only taken it out on a one-night backpacking trip, and the material seemed to do fine, I don’t know how well it will hold up long-term. I’d be really curious to see how it holds up on a longer backpacking trip (7 nights+) in various weather conditions.
Comfort
I was very impressed with the comfort level. The Obsidian is wide for a single-person tent at 38.5 inches. That means you have some flexibility in your travels. You can bring your pack into the tent with you, and if you’re camping with a reasonably sized dog, he can fit in there all nice and cozy! My dog Carson is a pretty big boy at 80 pounds, but he curled up into a nice ball. After I put a quilt over him, we slept nice and cozy together all through the night without being (too much) up in each other’s space.
The trade-off for the tent being wider than other 1P backpacking tents is that it’s a little short. I’m a pretty tall guy at 6 foot, so factoring in my dog, the small bits of housekeeping items I had in the tent (I left my pack out under the vestibule), and my sleeping pad, I was pretty much occupying the entire length of the tent. If I was any taller, I’d need to keep my knees bent.
One other thing on comfort, I like having access to pockets on the sides of the inside of the tent for storing items like my headlamp, contacts case, phone, etc. However, this tent didn’t have that. Instead, you only have a small gear net on the ceiling which didn’t work out that well. I was able to put my headlamp and a couple other items up there, but it took a couple efforts because they kept sliding off since I didn’t put them exactly in the center.
Packability
I have a lot of experience with long-distance backpacking and something I’ve learned is how important of a factor weight is. For a one-person backpacking tent, this is a bit on the heavy side (60 oz; 3 lbs 12 oz). Since I’m not huge on ultralight backpacking, that wasn’t a big deal for me nor was it really noticeable on this one-night trip. If you’re a backpacker concerned about weight, be wary of this.
The bigger issue I had was with consolidation. I’m really big on being able to pack everything down as small as possible into only one stuff sack. When I thru-hiked the AT in 2019, I used the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 and I loved how I could fit everything (footprint, tent body, rainfly, poles, and stakes) all into one bag. Not this tent. The storage bag it came with seemed a flimsy in its design (like it would rip after a few outings where you’re stuffing everything into it) and it wasn’t big enough to pack everything together to make travel simpler. At the very least, the poles had to be packed separately.
Overall Sentiment: UL Obsidian 1P as a Backpacking Tent or Camping Tent
Featherstone Outdoor Gear’s motto is to make the outdoors accessible to all. Considering how much less this costs than many other UL 1P backpacking tents (only about 25% the cost of the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 1P), I’d say they live up to their motto. However, the problem is that I always thought the rule with tents that it’s truly “you get what you pay for.” High cost—usually a pretty darn-good tent. Low cost—usually a pretty crappy tent.
However, the Obsidian 1P ultralight backpacking tent broke that paradigm. Despite being cheap in cost, it’s not cheap in overall quality. A surprisingly good bang for the buck. Yes, there are a few small things about the tent that I didn’t like, but I can be a pretty picky backpacker and these were indeed just small things. In terms of the big issues, this tent will do just fine!
Overall, I don’t think you’ll be able to find a better 1P backpacking tent without having to pay at least three times more money. It’s not a tent I would recommend for long-distance backpacking because of its weight and because I don’t know about its durability, but for your weekend warrior who goes three-season backpacking or camping for a few nights, this is a great tent you can get for yourself without making your bank account cry.
Ready to check the UL Obsidian 1P out?