The Naturehilke Mongar 1 UL
I like tents, who doesn't? And I like sleeping in them, but I find it impossible to justify the cost of a Hilleberg or Fjällräven. When my small tent collection got left behind in the UK and I found myself living in a country famous for almost unlimited access to The Great Outdoors, I had to join in and bought myself a Naturehike Mongar 2 a few years ago.
For the money, that is a very good tent which is obviously influenced by tents from other, more expensive brands. It is made well, and it is probably more than enough for most casual backpackers. Like me.
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| My Naturehike Vik1 and Mongar 2 |
Two other tents have since been added to my small collection: a fully freestanding (no pegs needed) tent from Urberg and my quite awesome 'proper' winter tent from MacPac.
And now I have a new one, the Naturehike Mongar 1UL.
The Mongar 1 UL
This is a double-wall, lightweight, one-person frame tent, it is almost freestanding, needing 2 pegs to hold the 2 vestibules in place.
If you are not into tents, then here is a glossary
Double-wall - there is an inner tent and a seperate outer called a flysheet.
Footprint - an extra optional layer of tougher material to protect the bottom of the tent
Frame tent - it comes with poles
Freestanding - a very abused term in the tent world that has multiple definitions depending on the marketing department.
Vestible - space under the flysheet, outside of the inner tent, to store stuff.
Bathtub floor - the material used to make the bottom of the inner tent that extends a bit up the sides
Guy lines - ropes invented by Guy to hold your tent down in windy conditions
Vents - holes in the flysheet to let air in for ventilation
Condensation - water where you do not want it.
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| My Mongar 2 in action in the Gothenburg archipelago |
Mongar 1 UL Tent specification
The Mongar 1 UL is a lightweight, virtually freestanding tent, that is this tent will stand up without pegs (or stakes), but you need two pegs to secure the two vestibules. Like the term 'freestanding', 'lightweight' also has different meanings in the outdoor industry, for me this is a lightweight tent at around 1,2 kg, all in.
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| Everything on the scales. This includes the packaging |
My example is very well finsihed, there were no loose threads or uneven stitching. The one issue out of the box was that one of the friction buckles that attaches the flysheet to the inner was on the wrong way round, frictionless buckles are less useful. Removing it and putting it back on properly was a simple fix that took a few mintues.
The important thing for a lightweight tent is, the weight. The weights for this tents on various websites vary considerably so here are the weights of all the parts of my tent:
Component | Weight (g) |
Tent as supplied (inc packaging) | 1485 |
Flysheet | 369 |
Inner tent | 384 |
Poles | 385 |
Pegs | 113 |
Guy lines | 23 |
Footprint | 159 |
Minimum trail weight (Fly, inner, poles + 2 pegs) | 1156 |
Minimum trail weight is a figure often headlined by manufacturers' marketing departments and reviewers, often it excludes things you would always use to pitch a tent, like poles (no trekking pole tent can stand without a pole of some sort), pegs or guy lines. Given the significance of this number, I have played along but included 2 pegs, or stakes. This allows a fully pitched tent that can be slept in.
At 1.156kg this is a very light tent.
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| If you sleep like this remember to check the morning forecast |
Naturehike’s products often have confusing translated descriptions, and this tent is no exception to that with different specifications on different websites. As far as I can tell, the specification for my tent is:
Flysheet is made from 15 denier nylon with a PU coating and a hydrostatic head of 1500mm.
Tent floor is slightly more durable, 20 denier, PU-coated nylon with a hydrostatic head measurement of 1500mm.
Footprint is much more durable, 210T polyester with a hydrostatic head measurement of 5000mm.
The flysheet and tent floor rating are a little low if you intend to use this tent in bad conditions, but for most of us, they will work fine. The floor, combined with the footprint, will withstand most wet surfaces.
Pitching The Mongar 1 UL
The Mongar 1 UL is, like its older brother, an inner pitch first tent, but if you use a bit of common sense, it is relatively easy to pitch outer first in the rain. This is even easier if you have the footprint with you. It is not as straightforward as a tent designed to be pitched all in one or outer first, but this should not be a deal breaker for most people.
The tent is usually pitched by laying out the inner on top of the footprint, assembling the poleset, putting the feet of the poles into metal grommets at the corners at one end of of the footprint or inner tent, bending the entire poleset to get the feet in at the other end and then clipping the inner tent to the frame with a series of clips. It is very easy to do.
Then sling the flysheet over the top, remembering that there is only one door which should be on the same side as the door on the inner tent for easy access, clipping the flysheet to the inner tent at the corners and putting some pegs in. There are a number of tents that pitch the same way, and hundreds of videos on YouTube. This is a very common way to pitch a tent.
The Tent Tour - The Flysheet
The flysheet is a pale Olive green colour that will blend into many landscapes, the fly does not extend to ground level, marking this out as a 3-season tent for most users. The flysheet has shaped edges to allow more air to circulate through the tent, a good idea given that there is only one vent.
The floor of the tent is extended up the sides more than the older version, which covers the area now exposed by the smaller flysheet.
There are pegging loops at each corner, one on the enclised vestibule, one for each half of the door on the other side and one in the middle of each end. None of these pegging points are adjustable, this hasn’t caused me any issues, yet, but given I have this tent to use in areas where there is little soil and getting pegs into the ground is often tricky, I might have to modify these.
There is very good seperation between the flysheet and the inner tent.
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| The extra pannel is rolled away beside the main zip |
The outer door is, I think, overly complicated and missing something important.
The complicated bit is the inclusion of an awning, an extra section of flysheet material that, when combined with two trekking poles, forms a roof for the entrance to the tent. I rarely use trekking poles, so this is extra weight that has no purpose for me, and I can see a modification in the near future, an awning delete.
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| The awning. Image from Naturehike / Amazon. |
The missing thing is that with the main zip it is one way only, leaving no option to leave a gap at the top of the door for ventilation.
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| Roll both doors away for unrestricted access. |
The BEST thing with the door arrangement is that both sides can be rolled out of the way, leaving the entire side of the tent open. This is my first tent where that can be done (as designed) and sleeping this way is fantastic, although a little damp when you forget the forecast was a misty morning!
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| When the mist started to lift I was greeted by two Northern Divers! |
The Tent Tour - Inside
The inner tent has a floor that extends up the sides to protect the user from the weather where the flysheet has been cut back for ventilation. Above the bathtub floor is a section of solid nylon material to further protect from draughts and the upper half of the tent is mesh. This is not branded but appears to be fine enough to prevent Swedish mosquitoes and 'mygga', aka flying sharks, from getting to me!
The single inner door uses two zips, one horizontal along the top of the bathtub floor and one diagonal from the bottom to (almost) the top of the tent. These are both one-way zips, the door is closed when they meet in the bottom corner at what most sleepers will use as the head end. When closed, there is no gap for insects to get through.
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| An unrestricted view |
That big inner door can be rolled away to one side and, like the outer doors this leaves the entire side of the tent open. Fantastic for easy access when inflating your sleep pad or putting away your kit in the morning, and awesome for just sitting there enjoying the view.
There are 2 pockets that are positioned off the floor at the head and foot end of the inner tent that are very useful for your bits and bobs, although not too many if you are tall like me as that pocket will hang down onto your face.
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| Drying line, pocket at the end and access to the vestibule on the left |
And there is a drying line suspended from the roof. If you look closely, you will notice this is a spare guy line, complete with a friction lock, you can see that beside my glasses in the image above. Clever. There is also a plastic hook for a light.
On the side opposite the door, there is a semi-circular zip, this is the easy access to the other vestibule, and it is large enough to pass a pair of size 46 boots through.
To store your pack there, you will need to unpeg the flysheet, lift it and slide your pack into the space, repegging after. Not that much hassle, but on the Vik1 tent, there is an adjustable pegging point on the less accessible vestibule, making it easier to store things there.
I feel that the sides of the bathtub floor are high enough to make using this tent in light snow perfectly acceptable if you have experience and the right sleep system. I have used the original Mongar in light snow at -6°C and slept OK, there were some draughts because of the entirely mesh inner tent but not enough to bother me.
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| The flysheet does not extend to ground level. There is one vent on the side opposite the door. |
Packing the tent
You can compress this tent a lot, the internet says to the size of a Nalgene bottle. I don’t have one of those to hand but I can confirm that if you remove the poles and pegs you can squash this tent into a tiny space inside your pack.
The Tent Tour - Is it big enough?
Yes. Just.
The ends of the tent are near vertical so the interior length of 2,1m is almost all usable. I am 193 tall and in the images in this blog I am using an Exped Ultra sleep pad, the mummy-shaped wide and long version. This is 197cm long and 65 cm wide, and it fits with ease. The inside is plenty big enough for one, organised, big person.
Sitting up was a surprise, even on the pad there was enough room to sit up when changing clothing.
On this night I slept with the flysheet door open all night, an overenthusiastic mistake while I enjoyed watching the wildlife on a beautiful late spring evening, forgetting that the morning would be misty. This made the inside of my tent damp when I got up.
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| Mongar UL poles on the left, original Mongar 2 poles on the right |
The Tent Hardware
All of the hardware on the Mongar 1 UL is aluminum, the poles, pegs and attachment points for the poles to the footprint / inner tent. The clips that suspend the inner tent from the poles are plastic. The zippers are unbranded, they work as expected.
The poles on the UL Mongar tents are an upgrade from the original version; they are larger diameter aluminium poles and appear to be lighter than their narrower predecessors. They have an improved hub structure over the older poles too. In use they simply work, as they should.
Comparing the poles from my new 1 UL against my older Vik1 this is the case, the poles of the 1 UL are 385g and the poles from the similar sized Vik1 are 423g. This is a guide figure only; the tent dimensions of the two tents are not identical and the Vik1 has guy out points on the poles that the 1 UL does not.
The new poles are branded *YUKSON UL’, in itself, this means nothing, but it does show confidence from the brand as they expand their market.
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| New Naturehike pegs |
The pegs with the 1 UL are great! An absolute improvement on the older style Naturehikle pegs and appear to be the the equal of aftermarket pegs I have here, time will tell of course. Mine are all straight after use, nto something that can be said of my older Naturehike pegs, and the reason I have aftermarket pegs! One drawback, they are dark grey, not easy to find in low light, but there is a reflective thread in the pull cords on each peg to help if you have a torch.
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| Inner tent clip and holder for the foot of the pole |
There are bags supplied for the entire tent, the poleset and pegs, these are lightweight and appear to be made of the same material as the tent floor. The tent bag is big enough that you do not need to roll the tent with surgical precision to get it back inside the bag. Or you can just stuff it in if that is how you pack.
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| The Mongar 1 UL will pitch in a smaller spot than any other tent I have |
Conclusion
This is a great little tent! Easy to pitch with some great features, and one feature that seems to have no use for me. For my intended use, combined with a SUP for overnight trips or longer hikes in Spring, Summer and Autumn, it seems perfect.
If you need a relatively inexpensive, lightweight, decent quality, one-person shelter it will be hard to beat this. Of course you can spend more to get something fractionally lighter made of more exotic materials or something tougher made to withstand storm-force winds or higher.
But for most people this tent will do the job .