ALPS Mountaineering Lynx 1-Person Tent Review (Tested!)
This is my Alps Mountaineering Lynx 1 review. It served me well for years, and though it’s in pretty bad shape now, I’ll still do my best to give you all the info that you will need.
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Recommendation
The Alps Mountaineering Lynx 1 is perhaps the most popular budget tent on the market, thanks to its insane price point. I bought mine for less than $100, and I found the quality to be surprisingly good, much better than other budget tents (like Coleman, and others).
Here’s the bottom line – I think this Lynx 1 is a great budget pick if you’re regularly camping in the shoulder season. But if you’re a summer camper, skip this tent. There are better tents out there.
I’ll show you exactly what I mean as I test the Lynx in this detailed review.
Pros
Very inexpensive: Goes for less than $100, sometimes you can get even better deals on Amazon.
Great value for money: Better than average quality, lifetime warranty.
A very spacious tent: Interior space of 18.9 square feet, vestibule space of 8.5 square feet, total base area of 27.5 square feet.
Easy setup: 2 poles, 13 pole clips, and 1 rainfly. It doesn’t get simpler than this.
Cons
Requires waterproofing prep work: Seams need to be sealed for heavy rain use. Not all seams came factory sealed.
Rainfly can’t be pulled away at the widths: Bigger models of this Lynx can be pulled away at the width though.
Check out the Alps Lynx 1:
RELATED: The 6 Best Tents Under $100 (Bought & Tested!)
Set Up
The Alps Mountaineering Lynx 1 has a very simple and very easy assembly. Here’s the gist of it.
There are only 2 tent poles (both orange), these poles cross over the tent body, and then there are 12 pole clips to be clipped onto the poles, and 1 last huge pole clip at the top.
After that, the rainfly goes over the tent body, with the vestibule zip over the door, the rainfly has user-friendly quick buckles for securing it, and then we’ve got to just stake down the entire tent and use the guy ropes too.
This tent has a free standing design though, so you don’t necessarily have to stake and guy it out, if you’re not expecting high winds.
It usually takes me just 4.5 to 5 minutes to set up this entire tent, and for more details on this set up process, you can watch my YouTube video embedded here.
Pack Away
Taking down and packing away this Lynx 1-Person tent is just the opposite of the set-up, and it usually takes me about 5.5 to 6 minutes to take down the entire tent, as well as to pack it back into the carry bag.
To do so, I just fold the tent body in half twice, and then the rainfly in half about 5-6 times. Then I put everything on the tent body, and roll everything up while squeezing air out.
It took a little longer than I expected to pack away, because the provided stuff sack was a little bit small for my liking. It could have been a bit bigger for an easier pack away.
Windows
The Lynx 1-Person tent I have here is a really old version (I bought it quite a few years ago), and it has these peek-out windows, 1 at each width of the tent.
It’s covered in plastic, it feels cheap, and I hate that it just completely falls apart after a few years.
Thankfully, the newer version of the Lynx doesn’t come with these ridiculous windows. I bought a much newer Lynx 2 recently to review it here (see full Lynx 2 review here), and I can confirm that Alps Mountaineering got rid of the windows. So, for this review, just ignore these windows.
Peak Height
The center height inside this 1-Person Lynx is about 37 inches. I’m not very tall at just 5’3 (or 160cm tall), so I was able to use a 1.5-inch thick Sea to Summit pad, no problem at all, with inches of headroom leftover.
The peak height is only at the center though, and the walls slope downwards towards the sides of the tent, like every other dome tent.
Base Area
The length inside this 1-Person Lynx is about 88 inches, and the width comes in at about 31 inches.
It’s a pretty nice length, taking about 20% off as some buffer, I think this could fit anyone that’s up to 6 feet, maybe even slightly more, if you’re using a thin enough pad like my 1.5-inch thick pad (above).
I read some reviews where folks up to 6’1 or even 6’2 were able to use this tent, but sadly I couldn’t get anyone tall enough to test this out for me.
As for the width, this can fit a regular pad (20 inches wide) no problem at all, with some leftover space, and it can even fit wider pads of 25 inches too.
This comes down to a base area of about 18.9 square feet – a very spacious interior for a single person tent.
Vestibule
Moving on to the single vestibule of this Lynx 1, I found the zipping experience to be pretty good, with no snags at all. I found the words ‘B8’ engraved on the zipper, and I think it’s because this is a #8 zipper, which is a larger size zipper.
The vestibule area is actually pretty big, and the longest width of this vestibule is about 28 inches. This was more than enough room to fit my sneakers and my tripod, with a decent amount of leftover room. It’s also easy to get in and out of the vestibule whenever you need to.
The vestibule also comes with 2 different loops at the bottom, so you can stake down either loop, either the left or the right, and this allows you to open either side of the vestibule.
Or, if it’s not raining, and if you want easier access into your tent, you can un-stake the vestibule completely, and tie it up with the 2 vestibule-specific toggles.
Door
Behind the vestibule, there’s the single door of this 1-Person Lynx.
The zipping experience is pretty good, with hardly any snags, although I did find that I had to hold the vestibule fabric up with one hand while zipping with the other hand. Otherwise, the vestibule could get in the way of the zippers.
Here are more details for this door:
Zippers are also #8
Only half the door is made of micro mesh
Comes with 2 door-specific toggles
Longest length of 36 inches and longest width of 27 inches
Pockets
Moving on to gear storage, this 1-Person Lynx has 2 pre-attached storage pockets inside the tent, 1 on each width of the tent. Each of these pockets measure about 9 by 6 inches.
Gear Loft
There’s actually 1 additional removable pocket inside this tent, and you can call it a gear loft, but this actually doesn’t go on the top of the tent like you’d expect. It goes on the side of the tent, which I thought was really cool.
This removable pocket measures about 12 by 6 inches, so a little bigger, and it comes with 4 S-hooks to hang it up on the side of the tent for extra storage space and extra gear.
Loops
On top of the 3 pockets, there’s also 1 lantern loop right at the top of the tent for some lighting at night. And if you’re wondering, there’s no power port or e-port inside this tent.
Rain Protection
I didn’t rain test this Lynx one-person tent because of the broken peek-out windows, but I tested the 2-Person Lynx against heavy rains, which I bought brand new from Amazon recently, and I’ll embed my YouTube rain test video here for you.
I highly recommend watching the rain test before buying this Lynx, if you’re expecting any kind of heavy rain, and to keep your gear dry. This test goes through everything you need to know, including:
Seam taping (floor seams, door seams, vertical seams, etc.)
Rainfly length
Tub floors
Heavy rain test
Test results
Vents
There are 2 small vents in this 1-Person Lynx, which are right at the top of the tent, and these are accessible only from the outside of the tent.
Now, the question is – can these vents be left open in the heavy rain? Again, you’re going to want to watch that rain test.
Rainfly
What about the ventilation from the rainfly design?
The rainfly doesn’t extend all the way down to the ground, so I got a couple inches of ventilation from the bottom.
But what I like to look for, on top of this, is whether the rainfly can be pulled away from the tent body at all 4 sides.
And unfortunately, this Lynx 1 can’t do that.
Notice that at the 2 short widths of the tent, there’s no stake loop there for you to guy it out. This is not great for rain protection, ventilation, and condensation. The rainfly is right up close to the tent body, at most 2.5 inches away.
Thankfully, at least there’s the vestibule that’s pulled away at the front length, and the back length of the tent can be pulled away as well. I used a separate guyline for the back of the tent, and when I guyed it out, this gives me a bottom ‘vent’ of about 12 inches.
Mesh
With the rain fly taken off, this Lynx 1-Person Tent has some mesh, but honestly not the most that I’ve seen.
The mesh walls at the sides and back of the tent are OK, and about half of these walls are covered in mesh.
However, at the front of the tent, there’s a lot more fabric than mesh, which definitely decreases cross ventilation in the tent.
The mesh of this Lynx 1 is micro mesh, and not regular mosquito netting. I like that it feels soft and silky, although I did wish that there’ll be more mesh for more ventilation.
Recommended Use #1: Which Season?
But this is the single most important reason why the Lynx 1 is great for shoulder-season camping, or 3+ season camping. The lack of mesh actually manages to keep the heat in the tent.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend using this tent for hot days in the summer. It’s not a three-season tent with good ventilation. Otherwise, you’re going to be in for a lot of hot and stuffy nights. Trust me, I tried it overnight, for quite a few nights. It wasn’t the most comfy, for sure.
Quality
As for quality, I started by looking at the materials that the Lynx 1 is made of:
Rainfly: 75D polyester (1,500-millimeter coating)
Tent body: 75D polyester
Flooring: 75D poly taffeta (2,000-millimeter coating)
Mesh: Micro mesh (exact mesh not specified)
Poles: 7,000 series aluminum poles
Zippers: #8 (size), not branded
Also, the stitching around the tent is pretty decent and consistent.
However, not all seams in the tent were factory taped, and I went through that in the rain test video.
Portability
This 1-Person Lynx has a packed size of about 19.5 by 7 by 5 inches.
As for the weight, my 1-Person Lynx has a total weight of about 4.0lbs.
For a size comparison, here’s what it looks like beside a Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent, as well as a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle.
Recommended Use #2: Car Camping or Backpacking Tent?
Other Backpacking Tents
This Lynx 1 is also a little heavy for a backpacking tent, and I wouldn’t classify it along with other lightweight tents (think: MSR, NEMO, Big Agnes, etc.).
Bear in mind that this Lynx is very budget-friendly, so it’s unlikely that you’d get ultralight materials, and this tent isn’t going to shed too much weight for you.
Other Car Camping Tents
In fact, I bought and weighed both my Lynx 2 and my Coleman Sundome 2. And surprise, they both come in at exactly the same weight:
Alps Mountaineering Lynx 2: 6.4lbs.
Coleman Sundome 2: 6.4lbs.
The Lynx is not even slightly lighter than the Coleman.
So, this tent is a much more solid car camping tent, rather than a lightweight tent or backpacking tent.
Comparison to other Budget Tents
One of the best things about the Alps Mountaineering’s Lynx 1 is the price. It has a very low price tag, I paid less than $100 for it, and this was the tent that inspired this whole ‘Best Budget Tent under $100’ series.
Materials Comparison
For the price, I thought that I actually got a very good quality tent out of it. This tent is at least 75D polyester all around, two aluminum poles, quality micro mesh, and waterproof coatings of between 1,500 to 2,000 millimeters. These coatings also resist UV damage.
On the other hand, in most other budget tents, usually the flooring is made of polyethylene, the poles are fiberglass, the holes in the mesh are much bigger, and there’s actually not much of a waterproof coating.
Dimensions Comparison
I also really like that the marketed dimensions of this tent are pretty accurate. In other tents, I usually get them a lot smaller than what the brand says I would get.
Alternatives
If you’ve decided the Lynx 1 isn’t for you, because you’re a summer camper looking for a three-seasons tent, then I highly recommend you check out this post right here, where I bought and tested 6 of the best budget tents under $100. See you there!
Alternatively, if you want to get this tent, check it out here:
