OEX Bobcat 1 Review: A £59 One-Person Backpacking Tent Worth a Look

Introduction

The OEX Bobcat 1 is a one-person, double-skinned backpacking tent that keeps coming up for the same reason: price. Its list price sits somewhere near £225, yet it is regularly offered at £59, and at that figure the specification reads more like a mid-range shelter than a budget one. A 5,000 mm hydrostatic head, an outer-pitch-first layout and a built-in vestibule footprint are details you would normally expect to pay considerably more for.

That gap between list price and offer price is what makes the Bobcat 1 worth a closer look. It is not a premium tent, and it does not pretend to be. The real question is whether it handles the basics well enough to earn a place in a pack, particularly for anyone moving into solo camping or wild camping without a large budget.

Packed down, the whole tent weighs 1.94 kg, which keeps it comfortably under two kilos. It arrives in a roll-top dry sack with enough spare room that repacking on a wet morning is not the usual wrestling match. For a shelter at this price, that combination of weight and packaging is a genuinely useful starting point.

Who This Tent Is For

This is a solo shelter, and it makes most sense for a specific kind of buyer. If you are putting together your first backpacking kit, or you want a low-cost tent for occasional wild camping trips, the Bobcat 1 covers the essentials without demanding a large outlay. It suits walkers, bikepackers and anyone who wants a double-skinned tent rather than a single-skin bivvy.

It is less suited to campers who want space to spread out. The interior is compact by design, and taller users in particular should think carefully before committing. As a straightforward, weather-resistant solo shelter at an entry-level price, however, it targets its audience clearly.

Design and Build Quality

The flysheet is a 68 denier polyester with a polyurethane coating, which is heavy-duty fabric for a tent in this bracket. The seams are double stitched and taped, and the 5,000 mm hydrostatic head gives a solid waterproofing figure on paper. The design and development work was carried out in the UK, while manufacturing takes place in the Far East.

Pitching is outer first, and the single pole is 8.5 mm aluminium. It slides through a mesh pole sleeve reinforced with polyester, which makes threading noticeably easier than a plain fabric sleeve. Guy lines are lightweight rather than the thick, cheap cord often bundled with budget tents, and the tie-out points feel properly reinforced. One point to note: the inner and outer arrive separate and need clipping together, which takes a little longer the first time.

Main Strengths in Use

Once upright, the Bobcat 1 feels notably rigid. The pole can be tensioned from either side using dedicated guy lines, which limits side-to-side sway, and there are plenty of tie-out points to work with. Given the price, that sense of solidity is the most surprising thing about it. There are accounts of this design holding up well in windy conditions, though that has yet to be confirmed in genuinely severe weather.

The practical details are also better than the price suggests. The inner can be clipped in from inside the shelter, so the sleeping area stays dry if you are pitching in rain. Storm flaps cover the zip, and a small canopy above the door keeps drips away from the inner. There are pockets on the fly and on both sides of the inner, plus a dry area attached to the groundsheet that is a genuinely clever touch at this level.

Living Space and Comfort

Inside, the Bobcat 1 is snug. There is enough room for one person to sleep, with space alongside for a backpack, and the vestibule is tight but workable for light cooking in decent conditions. Headroom is limited, and anyone around six foot will likely find the interior short for comfortable lying down.

Ventilation is handled through the top of the door, and the front canopy means you can leave that opening partially unzipped without exposing the sleeping area to rain. The pockets help keep small items off the floor, and the dry section attached to the groundsheet gives you somewhere to stash damp kit without soaking everything else. For one person travelling light, the layout works.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The pegs supplied with the tent are basic, which is exactly what you would expect at this price point, and many buyers will simply swap in their own set. The single pole can also feel tight when you first thread it, though it settles once you have the sequence worked out.

The more significant point is that the fly and the inner sit very close together in places, close enough to touch. That is worth watching in cold, damp conditions, since contact between the two layers can transfer condensation to the inner. Aftermarket modifications are said to help with this, so it is worth doing a little research before your first trip.

Finally, bear in mind that this tent has not yet been tested in severe weather. Its stability is impressive for the money, but a calm first pitch does not prove performance in strong wind and heavy rain, and that is the real measure of any budget shelter. Treat the low price as an opportunity rather than a guarantee.

Buying Advice

At £59, the OEX Bobcat 1 is easy to recommend for the right buyer. That price buys a double-skinned, taped-seam, outer-pitch-first tent with a 5,000 mm hydrostatic head and a sub-two-kilo packed weight, which is a lot of tent for the money. Compared with shelters costing several times as much, the quality on show is closer than the price gap suggests.

The calculus changes at the full list price of around £225, where the competition becomes far stronger and the compromises in interior space and refinement matter much more. If you can find it at or near the offer price, it is a sensible first solo tent or a low-risk way to try wild camping. If you are paying close to full retail, it is worth comparing alternatives first. Availability at the discounted price tends to come and go, so it pays to check before you plan a trip around it.

Conclusion

The OEX Bobcat 1 is a budget tent that behaves better than its price tag implies. It pitches outer first, uses heavy-duty coated fabric with taped seams, packs down to 1.94 kg and feels reassuringly rigid once it is up. The compromises are real: a snug interior, limited headroom, basic pegs and an inner that sits close to the fly. At the offer price, those trade-offs are easy to accept. For solo campers on a tight budget who want a genuine double-skinned shelter, it is a confident place to start.