Review of Terra Nova Voyager Superlite Tent

Update: We no longer stock the Voyager Superlite and instead recommend The North Face Triarch tent which has similar specifications.

About Terra Nova

Terra Nova is a UK company, based in Derbyshire specialising in ultra lightweight and mountain tents.

The drive to surpass even our most exacting customers’ expectations leads to new developments being made throughout Terra Nova. Most recently we beat our own Guinness World Record for the lightest tent in the world with the Laser Competition, weighing just 940g complete or 860g at its’ minimum weight.
At Terra Nova our aim is to continually extend our horizons and our outdoor product range in order for us to achieve our mission to be ‘Best in Class’.

Terra Nova Voyager Superlite Technical Spec

The classic geodesic design remains, but the weight has been stripped away by using pole clips on the inner and lighter materials.

Terra Nova Voyager Superlite Tent

This Superlite version saves weight over its classic brother, without reducing internal or porch space.A minimum weight of 1.7Kg brings the benefits of a geodesic structure to the superlite range. Ventilation is improved by using clips instead of pole sleeves and introducing a large mesh panel to the inner door.

Destined to become a firm favourite with anyone who is likely to come across unstable ground, especially sandy or loose soils.

  • Packed Size: 14cm x 52cm
  • Weight: Minimum 1.7Kg / Packed 1.86Kg
  • Person: 2
  • Season Rating: 3 Season Backpacking
  • Note: Due to the nature of the silicon fabrics used in this tent, the seams are not factory sealed
  • User range: Ultra lightweight backpacking, Trekking, Cycle Touring
  • Pitching: Inner first
  • Titanium pegs, 5.5g each
  • 8.55mm DAC Featherlite pole

Trail’s Review of the Terra Nova Voyager Superlite Tent:

Overall ratings on the Live for the Outdoors website, suggest that both users and professional outdoor gear reviewers regard it as the number one tent of choice…

This 2-person sub-2kg tent is a lightened version of the Voyager, a classic 3-pole geodesic that defines its class. By lightening the fabrics to those used in the brand’s Laser range, Terra Nova has reduced the weight by 400g (18 per cent). The beauty of the tent is that you still get an inner and outer, a three-pole geodesic design and a superb porch and front entrance with double zips for venting. The geodesic design is incredibly stable.

The pegs are the wire skewer type which do not hurt your hands and they are made from titanium to keep the weight down. But the outer doors do not get external stormflaps and the zips are particularly small, so you will need to treat them with a little care. To save weight the poles are held in place with clips rather than sleeves. Also this is an inner-pitched-first design, so it’s not ideal for pitching in heavy rain.

…this all makes it sound perfect as a 2 person backpacking tent or lightweight trans-European cycling tent even!

Outdoors magic Review of the Terra Nova Superlite

Another heavyweight reviewer of the outdoor gear world is Outdoorsmagic, here’s what they had to say:

The low weight – a mere 1.85kg when packed – doesn’t cost you too much in terms of comfort. This isn’t a minimalist adventure racer’s shelter with the canvas hovering millimetres above your nose. There’s plenty of space for two people and the stability of the geodesic three pole structure.

There’s a lot of attention to detail in this tent, to make sure that every possible gram has been stripped away. The outer feels like tracing paper and you need to pick up a few pegs at once to notice them, but neither was lacking when it came to keeping the tent in place in high winds.

…a positive review of the Voyager Superlite tent again, scoring 4/5 for value and 4.5/5 for performance.  Read for the full review here.

Our thoughts…

A nice summary is that the Terra Nova brand is one of the best we feel for serving backpackers in a way of complete trust.  When you’re away from civilisation and exposed to a variety of conditions, you simply want to know that your geodesic tent is one that keeps you protected and away from the weather!

Top 10 Tents

As you can see, according to LFTO, the Terra Nova Voyager is the number one choice of their visitors.   And to be frank, readers of LFTO and Trail are certainly guys that know their stuff (we read both – hehe!).  It’s also worth noting that Terra Nova are the only tent manufacturers to get 2 tents into the top ten tents category……although I was suprised not to see the MSR Hubba Hubba HP up there or the Terra Nova Laser Competition.

LFTO: Top 10 Tents

Terra Nova Laser Competition has had a number of awards thrown at it including such as the following statements from gear tester, Chris Townsend, in July:
The laser Competiton is quick and easy to pitch…the amazingly low weight of the Laser Competition – less than half that of the similar sized [Hilleberg] Akto…I had no concerns about it collapsing in 40mph winds.

Conclusion

Terra Nova really design and manufacture a range of quality tents, and are certainly one of the best for lightweight backpacking tents…If you’re looking at buying a Terra Nova tent not many people serious about outdoor gear are going to put you off, that’s for sure!

But make sure you take a look at our full range of superlight tents to find out what tents are available from other top brands, such as MSR, The North Face and Vango so that you can choose the best tent for your camping and backpacking requirements!

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4 thoughts on “Review of Terra Nova Voyager Superlite Tent

  1. Don’t know what they were measuring, or is it a measure of the constituency? But, as you say, no Laser Comp, or Akto? Don’t believe it.

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  2. Totally in agreement! The Laser Competition is a phenomenal tent…one of the best sellers for us (maybe helped somewhat by the price I might add) but even so it’s incredibly popular across the forums and other blogs for adventure racing, lightweight backpacking and outdoor sports.

    I sometimes toy with the idea of embarking on a trip across some distant land with everything in my pack or panniers and this would an awesome ultra-lightweight tent to take!

    Interestingly too, if that were to get into the top 10 it would put 3 Terra Nova tents in LFTO’s top 10 tents chart…I bet Terra Nova would be smiling ear-to-ear with that kind of news! 🙂

    Thanks for commenting Phil!

    Ben

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