I was looking for a new backpacking tent online and ran across the Eureka Amari Pass Solo on Backcountry and liked the features and the price. It had everything I needed and was not extremely expensive like many of the other solo tents. I find that in the outdoor world sometimes you really are not getting what you paid for – you just pay more for certain names even when they don’t have anything better to offer over the competitors. In this case the reviews were decent, the features I wanted were all there and the price was at the lower end of my scale.
To start here is the basic information about the size and weight.
Floor Size – 82 in x 36 in
Interior Peak Height – 3 ft 2 in
Minimum Weight – 3 lb 10 oz
Pack Size – 5 in x 16 in
Floor Area – 18.2 ft²
For an ultralight backpacker this tent may be a bit heavy, but I tend to skimp on some items so that I can carry more weight in other places. For example I run hot temperature wise so I take less layers and a lighter sleeping bag than some other backpackers may use, affording me some weight tradeoff for a tent that weights a bit more or I can carry more camera gear. This tent is not the heaviest of the options I had and I don’t find its weight to be that much of an issue.
When packed down the tent is a little longer than I would like, I feel that if one more section was added to the tent poles you could narrow the total length of the packed tent and would allow it to ride under my pack a bit better. I tend to sling my tent under my bag so I can get a second camera tripod or carry a spare camelback bladder inside the pack. This also allows me to just pop the clips and drop the tent without digging through my bag when I arrive at my campsite. Below was my load out in Patagonia.
My style of carry is purely a preference though. I know some people that put the poles in their bag on one side and fold their tent up and put it on the top of their gear for easy setup when arriving to their site for the night. In that case the few inches of extra length that I don’t like is not an issue.
One thing I did do was go to harbor freight and get a tarp that I cut down to make a footprint for the tent. I spent about 9 bucks and then cut the tarp down to size, then folded and glued the cut edge. I spent a lot less money on the tarp than I would a true dedicated footprint and as a bonus have a small tarp that I leave folded in my truck that doubles as a quick shade awning.
The durability of the floor has so far been very good. I was looking so save weight / room when backpacking in Patagonia so I forwent the footprint and was a little more careful where I set the tent up making sure I didn’t have any sharp sticks or rocks that could tear the tent. After 5 nights I did not poke any holes in the bottom. The floor is also decently waterproof; when I packed up every morning in Patagonia I had a wet rectangle in the dirt where the tent was – none of the moisture ever made it inside the tent or on my gear. I do not know how it would hold up sitting in a puddle but it holds up against the normal wetness that is encountered on sand and dirt in moist climates.
The vestibule area is big enough to hold a large backpack and boots with plenty of room to spare. It makes it easy to get your boots on and off without dragging dirt into the tent and also allows your gear a little more security than just sitting out next to a tent. One of my complaints with a lot of tents is lack of privacy when the rainfly is up – the entry way on the Eureka allows for you to position the tent and get the privacy of the rain fly but still gets good airflow – especially with a breeze. The vestibule cover folds open about halfway and allows the breeze to come in but will still keep anyone sleeping inside visually out of sight if you have a natural feature like a bush or tree to turn the tent towards. This is nice for some of the more popular campgrounds or in places where use of a specific campground is mandatory. Not so much of an issue in the back country though.
Because of the vestibule ventilation is excellent. It helps keep the dampness that accumulates inside tents down and fresh air flowing in. Even if the flap is closed all the way the tie downs work with the tent spikes and allow the rainfly to be pulled off the tent screen a few inches and lets airflow inside. The air flows in from the bottom and exit from the top vent on the tent which helps keep you cool on the warm summer nights. The only time this system is a problem is in sandy environments when it’s very windy. Some of the finer sand can make its way in, but that is an issue for most – if not all tents.
I am 5’11 and about 200 pounds and I fit in the tent with enough room at the foot area that I have brought my boots inside and had my half full pack tucked against the sidewall and still had enough room to stretch-out and roll myself over without too much trouble. It’s also tall enough that you can sit up without touching the top, although it’s not tall enough to stand at all. So if you do not sleep in your clothes and you’re in a camp site where you cannot get out to get dressed without flashing everyone, you have a choice. You can sit in the tent door with the vestibule closed and kind of scoot into your pants or lay on your back and wiggling into them. When you in the back country and don’t have to worry about neighbors it is much easier to get dressed. That’s a feature of most backpacking type tents though; there is never enough room to stand. The vestibule makes it a bit easier to get dressed than some of the other tents that are on the market though. A look at a messy tent after a night.
For interior storage there is a gear loft included and it makes having a light in the tent very convenient. Even if you don’t use the loft it gives you a few attachment points for hanging lanterns or LEDs so that you can see what you’re doing. I like it because then I can toss my glasses and a flashlight up there together in case I need to get up in the middle of the night. This lets me avoid fumbling around looking for a flashlight that rolled under my sleeping bag somewhere. The loft is also is mesh and takes up no room in the tents storage bag and weights next to nothing so two positives there.
I would buy this tent again if I lost or destroyed it. The features make it a good fit for my gear load out and so far it has done everything I needed it to. Again, I would like to see shorter poles with more sections to them because I feel like the packed down size could be better. The bag the tent comes with is baggy and snags of a lot of sticks and brush so maybe a carry bag made of something stretchy would help alleviate that. Those are preferences though, not really issues. The floor has held up to abuse, none of the mesh has snagged or had a hole in it even though I carry the tent slung under my bag and constantly drop the pack on it, or rucksack flop on it. It’s a very solid tent and for the price would be a good addition to a load out for solo camping or taking on an airline for travel camping.
