I am Thomas from Germany and proud owner of a Kiwi Adventure Solo Hiking tent. I've bought it 3 years ago in New Zealand for some hiking trips there and I've been through a lot with this tent since. I did the northern circuit in the volcanic deserts around Mt. Tongariro first, which was a rather short and easy hike in good conditions.
As I gained trust into my equipment I went on longer, more challenging trails. So I started my next hike in Nelson and went all the way down to Arthur’s pass. During this trip I've been using the tent every night for two weeks straight, even in sub-zero temperatures in the mountains, knocking the ice off the tent in the morning. Due to the two layer design and the small size of the tent the thermal characteristics are actually very good, allowing relatively comfortable sleep in frosty nights.
After this trip, and a few more short hikes in NZ, I was actually quite impressed with the quality of the tent. So I decided to take it with me on my next trip, which led me through Mongolia, Siberia/Russia, Ukraine and back to Europe, using the tent every now and then on short outdoor adventures along the route.
The next bigger adventure was a kayak trip in the Masuria region, northern Poland, where I got to use the tent again for a week, with some days of heavy storms and rain. Once more I could totally rely on my equipment.
I went on north through the Baltics and took the ferry to Finland to start another one week kayak trip in the Archipelago around Turku, spending every night camping on little islands in the sea. As I went further away from the mainland into the sea the weather turned very nasty with heavy storms. One evening I sought shelter on a lonely island as a storm came up. The wind was strong and rain and hail started to rain down on me as I hastily tried to put up the tent. In the hurry somehow one of the segments of the main pole cracked. I managed to barely fix it up with tape and somehow got the tent set up in the hailstorm. Even though it was set up badly with the fly touching the inner tent and the most essential element of the tent structure being severely damaged, it kept me dry throughout the stormy, rainy night. In the morning I fixed the pole in a better way and so the tent took me through another storm the next day and the trip turned out fine eventually.
With the fixed tent I went on another 4 day trip in Northern Germany right after the Archipelago tour and the tent is still doing its job perfectly fine. Nevertheless I got in touch with the guys from Kiwi camping and they organised for Equip Outdoors to get spare parts for my tent delivered to the other side of the globe, even though this model is not even being produced anymore. (Thumbs up for that one!)
To sum it up: I am totally impressed with this tent. It’s very light weight, super small, reliable and it weathers all storms. Other outdoor fans in Europe I've met along the way sometimes smiled at it initially because it’s so tiny, but in the end everyone I showed it to fell in love with it. It’s just the perfect tent for serious outdoor activities and by far the best I've ever had.
Awesome product, good price, super helpful customer support! Thank you guys from Kiwi camping! Keep building such gear and we will keep exploring the earth.
Best wishes
Thomas
