I wish I could afford an MLD TrailStar but what with it's high price and rubbish $ to £ I stood no chance.

So after a search around on here and a PM chat with a couple of you - Thanks

The postman dropped off my £38.50 Ali Express TrailStar copy today.

Here are some photos, my electronic scales battery are dead but it it feels light enough to be classed as light weight once the cheap tent pegs that came with it were ditched and now I've used Stuarts cord to a few more grams.
http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/s ... -line-sets
Once I've seam sealed it (yes even that comes with that too) I'll weigh it for you and post up here



First view and the material is just what we would expect for a quality tent or tarp, so a great result at this price.


Size comparison - small cuben fibre tap, Borah bivi bag, Ali Express TrailStar and my uncompressed Six Moons Lunar solo tarp tent
Underneath the little bag has 14 of Stuarts poles in their bag. 8 for the middle and 6 for the door in this test pitch,
http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/s ... n-pole-set
But using these poles it will be easy to lower it down a short pole or two in the middle and front if the wind it high.


As above but with the luna solo compressed, in a hand test the new tarp weighs about the same as the Lunar Solo

First test pitch just before it got dark



Inside it's massive in comparison to the Lunar Solo and my small tarp



Other things to note.

It comes with adjustable buckle things on each contact point


The quality of the stitching and strength look up to the job

Addition that fits in the top of the little pole bag
I've inverted a trekking pole bottom cap (the bit just above the spike) and fixed to a spare cut down piece of one of Stuarts carbon poles



And on the pole top to hopefully avoid it damaging the inside of the tarp, where it is double thickness to add to it's strength

And I've bought some of this of Stuart for extra comfort and dryness if the bivi bag isn't needed http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/s ... =permavent

TrailStar copy Ali Express link
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/550G-Ca ... 48389.html
I got mine for £38.50 something and waited around 3 weeks for it to arrive.

Hopefully I'll be able to test it next weekend, if not it will be just into November as part of my Bivi a Month and I'm really looking forward to trying it out

What will you do with all the extra space JC?

In Reverse wrote:What will you do with all the extra space JC?

Spread out and sleep with my bike ;-)

Just beware that my Dyneema cord might (but it might not) slip in those line-locks ... they're usually designed for 2mm and above cord.

I tried some thinner guys on mine and had to put some thicker in as it kept slipping with the thinner cordage.

JohnClimber wrote:

In Reverse wrote:What will you do with all the extra space JC?

Spread out and sleep with my bike ;-)

Any pics of that yet?

What pole lengths are you using JC? And I'd you fix your scales, some weights would be cool

Zippy wrote:What pole lengths are you using JC? And I'd you fix your scales, some weights would be cool

8 sections and the top for the middle. Around 1.2m
6 sections on the door. Around 1m

You’ve just reminded me, I’ve not seam sealed mine yet..
Pretty sure others advised it wasn’t needed?
Glad you like it, and Andy going off at you? Bang out of order imho..

I wouldn't bother seam sealing ... especially if you're planning to use it with a bivvy bag. Just adds weight and (even done well) never looks good.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I wouldn't bother seam sealing ... especially if you're planning to use it with a bivvy bag. Just adds weight and (even done well) never looks good.

I will only bivi bag with it if there are midges. So I'll seam seal the top and halfway down each seam when I can set it up in dry daylight sometime

Teetosugars wrote:Andy going off at you? Bang out of order imho..

People, glass houses and stones comes to mind.
I just deleted the thread as I knew I'd never win with people like that.
Never argue with a narrow minded fool, people watching may not be able to spot the difference......

Have I missed a STW'esque spat?

Spent a prettywet night in my unsealed Ali Trailstar a few weeks back and it was fine.

UPDATE
I've seam sealed it, removed the larger string buckles in favour of Stuart's guy lines and mini lineloc's.

I dropped it on the scales and it weighs in at just 597g in it's stuff sack.
I've got the option of a good sized permavent ground sheet in the spare stuff sack (that the pegs came in) and that weighs 233g.

So for the money I'm very happy with the weight / size of coverage / pack size.

Test to follow in a week or two

Interested in the groundsheet you mention John..

Teetosugars wrote:Interested in the groundsheet you mention John..

Got it from Stuart
http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/s ... =permavent

I've got the Rab solo for putting in mine - just to sheet out the half where my bivvy isn't, if that makes sense.

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/shelt ... WB101.html