Lightweight shade tent?

July 17, 2011 9:46 PM

I need to buy a shade tent/canopy that is 1) as lightweight as possible and 2) easily erected by one person 3) who is only five feet tall. If I could, I would buy the REI Alcove Shelter, but it's out of stock. What else can you recommend?
posted by HotToddy to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

Hitting the find in store button has it showing up at various stores in California - maybe you just hit a glitch of some sort, or they got more?
posted by Ahab at 10:48 PM on July 17, 2011

Do a search for a cabana tent. My brother has a LL Bean model, the precursor to this which was incredibly easy to set up and had a little hammock hanging from the ceiling to store stuff.

Here is an online shop that specializes in them. I have one of the half shell beach shades and I can put it up alone, but mine isn't large enough to cover a picnic table, it is tall enough for me to stand in (5'7"). I bought mine thru Campmor and they don't have the exact model, but it's something like this.
posted by readery at 5:52 AM on July 18, 2011

You might want to check out E-Z up canopies. According to one reviewer it can be set up by one person, and this model comes in a wheeled bag. More info here.
posted by zoel at 5:58 AM on July 18, 2011

We have a couple of the larger ones from http://ezupdirect.com/index.html to use on the beach, but you really need 2 people to pop them up. Some of the smaller ones may only need one person. They really are sturdy, and you can get parts for them. There's a link on that page for online specials, too.
posted by JaneL at 6:01 AM on July 18, 2011

Ha! Should have previewed and would have seen zoel's message.

Just wanted to point out that both Sam's and BJ's sometimes carry the EZ-Up canopies.
posted by JaneL at 6:05 AM on July 18, 2011

If there is any chance of high winds don't even think about easy-ups unless you buy the really expensive version. Every music festival I've been to they are the first to go in a storm.

I would definitely check out REI stores for the alcove. We used ours for the first time this weekend and it was great!
posted by a22lamia at 6:56 AM on July 18, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I talked to REI and they told me that a store that was listed as being out of stock actually did have it, and they're mailing it to me free of charge! And the girl who took care of my order said she just bought that alcove and used it for the first time last weekend, setting it up herself, and it was super easy. So it looks like I'm all set.

For anyone reading this in the future, I already do have an EZ-Up and it's way too heavy and unwieldy for me to manage by myself (small middle-aged woman with a bad back). It must weigh 50 pounds, and I'm always stuck having to ask a stranger to help me, when they're busy setting up or breaking down their own canopy--thus the search for a super lightweight one.
posted by HotToddy at 1:24 PM on July 18, 2011

Response by poster: Update: I got the alcove shelter and it is SO much better than my EZ-Up. It weighs only about 12 lbs., and takes up a tiny fraction of the room in the car that the EZ-Up did. It's a bit of a problem getting the canopy over the top, but doable with some vigorous flinging. The only real drawback is that the canopy is that the shade is not very dense due to the light color of the fabric, but all in all a vast improvement.
posted by HotToddy at 9:38 PM on August 15, 2011