Lightwave Zr0 Cylq

I bought a Lightwave Zr0 Cylq tent a few years ago when the time came to invest in a tent that didn't weigh 5kg, it nearly put my back out when backpacking with a heavier tent.

Through a previous job, I'd been introduced to one of the company founders, who talked me through one of a small range of super specialist tents that he and his friend had designed. I was handed a package that wasn't much bigger than a bivvy bag and weighed less than my fabric hiking boots. I was impressed - I thought it might be useful to invest in a bivvy bag for emergencies.

He then opened the tent out and pitched it, unassisted, in about two minutes. I was surprised that it was a double-skin tent, with two carbon-fibre poles that were segmented, with a full set of 10 metal pegs.

The tent itself is a low-profile, semi geodesic design. When pitched with all guy-lines secured, I was assured that it could survive even quite strong storms. The flysheet is siliconized nylon, and the weave is extremely strong. I was given a small sample of the material, myself and a colleague grabbed one side each and tried to rip it, we didn't succeed, even when we both put our full body-weight into it!

The tent itself weights only 1.3kg, and that includes all poles and pegs. The pegs themselves are aluminium lightning pegs. They weigh only a few grams each and are strong enough to be hammered into hard rocky ground and come out undamaged. Over the years I've destroyed many metal tent pegs in this way.

My tent has been used plenty of times and I cannot fault it at all. Despite Lightwave being a little known brand, I admit they are one of the best if you're after high quality, functional equipment that omits bells and whistles in favour of reducing weight.