PDA

View Full Version : Eureka Solitaire Tent Users



SunnyWalker
04-24-2014, 11:50
For all you Eureka Solitaire tent users. Please describe your most enjoyable hike/camp when you used your Eureka Solitaire tent. No I am not a sales rep for Eureka! Ha, ha! Just wish to hear some good stories. Maybe the tent really stood up good in a wind storm or rain storm, etc. :) Fond memories of experiences with your Solitaire tent?

chall
04-24-2014, 11:56
My fondest memory was when I mistakenly set my Solitaire up in a horrible spot - packed down soil, slightly depressed ground - and woke up in a one-man pool at 6am. Spent the rest of the morning shivering while sitting under our camp kitchen area's tarp. Everyone else was sound asleep.

rafe
04-24-2014, 12:40
I dunno, there were quite a few memorable stays in that tent. It never let me down. The pic below is from somewhere on the ascent of Roan (northbound) pretty much right on the trail. The day had been an emotional roller-coaster for me, but the sunset made it all well. No rain to worry about, so I set up with the fly rolled up.

26831

SunnyWalker
04-25-2014, 12:59
Chall, I thought it had a "bathroom floor"?
Rafe, nice photo and nice story. Thanks.

Nick P
04-25-2014, 17:19
My ex and I were finishing a week on the Pinhoti Trail at Cheaha SP, heading up the Stairway to Heaven with everyone else scrambling off the mountain, due to an approaching thunderstorm. (It's July in AL, after all.) There was no way we weren't finishing the next day, and had no idea of how bad the forecasts were, so we go up. We barely set up the eureka in time, in a slight saddle on the ridge, to see the valley west of us blacken, and then the ridge light up with lightning. Surrounded only by 30' pines, oak, hickory, and a thicket of man laurel, and on an exposed ridge line maybe 100' wide, we were pummeled for 15 mins or so by the most intense lightning storm I have ever seen up-close. (It seemed like a lot longer than that, of course.) It was strobing inside our tent, for some of that time, as we tried to yell reassuring words to our friend on her own in a nearby tent. We emerged to an absolute tangle of downed limbs and trees. Nearest to death I have come. I will not be taking the tent on my AT thru, as I hate entering/exiting the thing, but it remains my reserve. With sealed seams, a great tent for the price.

SunnyWalker
04-26-2014, 09:59
Two people in a Eureka Solitaire? I think I read this wrong. Nice story though.

Bronk
04-26-2014, 12:37
I was just at Dick's Sporting Goods the other day and they had the Eureka Spitfire 1 (Clip Flashlight clone) on sale for 59.97, which is like half price. I just checked their website and the regular price is listed so this may be an in store deal.

rafe
04-26-2014, 12:58
Two people in a Eureka Solitaire? I think I read this wrong. Nice story though.

I was thinking the same thing. Man, that's hard core.

Nick P
04-26-2014, 13:02
Two people in a Eureka Solitaire? I think I read this wrong. Nice story though.

LOL...we were young, and in love...enough said.

johnnycakes
04-26-2014, 13:47
Hi,

Enjoyed my Eureka Solitaire for the last 10 years. But my recent problem is that my longer Eureka Solitaire shock pole is now cracked in several places and I need a new one. The Eureka Co. say they no longer carry the older pin type shock pole for my Solitaire tent. The newer Eureka Solitaire models still use a shock pole but it now plugs into a peg and not a ring. Anyone have any older Eureka Solitaire poles or know where I can get a replacement Solitaire ring type pole or any other ideas?

thanks.

Nick P
04-26-2014, 13:50
Hi,

Enjoyed my Eureka Solitaire for the last 10 years. But my recent problem is that my longer Eureka Solitaire shock pole is now cracked in several places and I need a new one. The Eureka Co. say they no longer carry the older pin type shock pole for my Solitaire tent. The newer Eureka Solitaire models still use a shock pole but it now plugs into a peg and not a ring. Anyone have any older Eureka Solitaire poles or know where I can get a replacement Solitaire ring type pole or any other ideas?

thanks.

Give them a call: http://tentpoletechnologies.com

SunnyWalker
04-26-2014, 15:07
Thanks Nick. Good info to have.

maddi
04-28-2014, 10:07
johnnycakes,
i have a solitaire that i have not used in a couple of years, still in great shape, and not likely to see any more use in the foreseeable future. if you are willing to pay the shipping, i'll send you the whole tent.

johnnycakes
05-05-2014, 15:09
Thanks Maddi. I sent you an e-mail via WhiteBlaze.net.

Grampie
05-05-2014, 20:30
Great tent. Used it for 1/2 of my thru. Slept in it around 75 nights. Enjoyed the tent once I started to bring a piece of plastic to place on the ground to prevent bringing dirt and stuff into the tent.

Tipi Walter
05-05-2014, 22:48
I've seen a few Solitaires and Clip Flashlights---

http://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2011/Cranbrook-School-Backpacking/i-N8dVxNP/0/L/TRIP%20120%20111-L.jpg
Here's my buddy Chris pulling a winter trip with his Eureka. Back in the '80's we called these kind of things Bivy Tents. Remember the North Face June Bug? Way too small for me.

http://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2006/Meeting-Silverwing-and-Tulip/i-Pbcq2GS/0/L/58-5%20%20Ken%20Jones%20and%20the%20BMTA%20camp-L.jpg
I know Sierra Designs makes the Clip Flashlight so what the heck is this Eureka??

http://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2009/With-the-Chattanooga-Hiking/i-bWCWxzh/0/L/TRIP%2094%20034-L.jpg
And while we're at it, what the heck is this yellow thing?

SunnyWalker
05-06-2014, 15:44
Hmmmmm Tipi. The first photo sure looks like a Eureka Solitaire. The other two though . . . Is one a Clip Flashlight?

show me the monkey
05-07-2014, 18:03
I know Sierra Designs makes the Clip Flashlight so what the heck is this Eureka??



That's a Eureka Cirrus. Clip flashlight clone from way back I stil have mine and used it from 1991 to about 2007. Never seam seled it and never had a leak

Tipi Walter
05-07-2014, 19:25
That's a Eureka Cirrus. Clip flashlight clone from way back I stil have mine and used it from 1991 to about 2007. Never seam seled it and never had a leak

Thanks for the head's up.

SunnyWalker
05-08-2014, 12:02
Yes. I still have a Clip Flashlight also. Still works great.

rafe
05-08-2014, 12:03
Yes. I still have a Clip Flashlight also. Still works great.

It was a very popular thru-hiking tent in the '90s.