With an almost cult-like following among UK wildcampers, the original OEX Bobcat has long been a staple of our hills. But with this latest ‘Ultralite’ iteration promising the same performance for almost half the weight and a fraction of the pack size, could it be about to get even more popular?

OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite

Ideal for: Ultralightweight backpacking overnighters, fastpacking, bikepacking

Not suitable for: Winter camping, mountaineering

Weighing just under a kilo and packing down to the size of a bottle of wine, the new Ultralite version of the OEX Bobcat 1 does exactly what it says on the tin: It’s small and light enough to use on practically any camping trip, be it a fastpacking overnighter, a thru-hike or a long-distance bikepacking trip — and it comes in at an incredible £189.

The Good

Surprisingly good performance in the wind

Easy to pitch

Tiny pack size

Very lightweight

You can sit up inside

The Bad

Very small interior

Tiny vestibule

Material is fragile

OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite review

If you head to any notable wildcamping spot on a Saturday night, the chances are high that you’ll spot a Bobcat. And, no, we’re not talking about the Beast of Bodmin or any of the other elusive big cat sightings UK wildcampers love to talk about around a campfire. We’re talking about the OEX Bobcat 1, a popular and surprisingly decent budget wildcamping tent sold through the likes of Go Outdoors, Blacks and Millets. This little shelter is loved and loathed in equal measure amongst our hills, with the only major complaint being that the pack size and weight are simply too much for the space you get inside. Well, not any more. Say hello to the Bobcat 1 Ultralite.

Costing £79 more than the original iteration of the OEX Bobcat 1, (£189 versus £110) the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite comes with a slightly tweaked design and optimised materials, all to result in a substantially smaller and lighter shelter. These simple design changes (and an extra £79) have halved the weight of the original version, with the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite weighing in at 958 grams. And that’s not all: The tent’s pack size has also been cut in half, with the latest iteration taking up about 50% of the space as the Bobcat OG. And all for an extra £79. Released alongside an ultralightweight version of the already popular Phoxx line, as well as new additions in the Pantha and the Bandicoot, this bold new step represents the Go Outdoors-owned brand’s first moves in the world of ultralight backpacking. And costing more than half the price of many alternative ultralight lines, the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite represents incredible value, too.

What’s up with the prices at Go Outdoors?

If you’re looking into buying an OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite, you might stumble when you see the two prices displayed at Go Outdoors. Right now, ‘members’ can get the tent for £189, whereas the RRP is £350. But don’t worry, this is simply crafty marketing. To become a member of Go Outdoors, you merely need to sign up in-store and pay £5 for a 12-month membership. This then gives you access to the membership price for all products listed in-store (so you can ignore the inflated ‘retail prices’ listed on the products).

Our experience using the OEX Bobcat 1 UL

As is the case with our recent review of the OEX Phoxx 1 Ultralite, we were able to get out and test the Bobcat UL shortly after they hit shelves in May. As we were loaned a sample by the good folks at Go Outdoors (for free, by the way. Find out how we test products here), we only had a 5-day window to test this shelter before we had to send it back on its merry way to Lancashire. That being said, as is often the case in the UK in May, our brief testing window delivered a ton of wind and rain, with only a few short moments of sunshine, so we were still able to put it up against it — even if we can’t speak to the tent’s long-term performance. These are our thoughts.

Weight and pack size

The first thing that we really appreciated about the all-new OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite is its pack size and weight, which both outperform the tent’s £189 price tag. Out of the box, the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite weighs in at 958 g, which is roughly the same weight as two normal-sized footballs. When packed away in its bag, this tent is also laughably small. When you remove the pole, you can easily squash it down to something that resembles a small loaf of bread or a bunch of bananas, or you can roll it up to get it even smaller than a bottle of wine. This means you can easily toss this tent into your panniers when bikepacking, or slip it into the bottom of a saddlebag if you’re just out for a short overnighter. On our testing trip, we had it at the bottom of a 40-litre pack, and we barely even noticed it in there. Excellent work, OEX. 

Pitching and packing away

Pitching the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite is also super easy. In fact, we found it even easier than the original iteration of the OEX Bobcat, possibly because the flexible silnylon fly allows you to more easily manoeuvre the material into place. 

To get it up, all you need to do is slide through the central pole which serves as the Bobcat UL’s spine and peg out the corners. In still conditions, four pegs is all you need — just be prepared to be tossed about like a brick in a washing machine should the wind roll in in the night. To batten down the hatches, the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite comes with 5 guy lines that allow you to strengthen the shelter against winds from all directions. Two extra peg-out points along the bases of the spinal pole allow you to pull things tighter still. Unlike the original OEX Bobcat 1, we found that it was really easy to pull the fly sheet tight to avoid it flapping about in the wind, and were pleased to see that it was easy to fully set up in around 7 minutes. What’s more, the inner and the outer can be clipped together, meaning you don’t need to fiddle around with any lashings or corner clips with the OEX Bobcat Ultralite. And you can put it up without the inner getting wet even in the rain. 

Livability

The livability of the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite is the only feature of this tent we were not blown away by. Inside, you really don’t have much room; about the same as you got in the original Bobcat 1 from OEX. In fact, despite online measurements stating that the tent is 20 cm longer than the Bobcat OG, we certainly didn’t feel like we had more room. What’s more, due to the aggressive angle at which the back side of the tent rises up, it was impossible to prevent our sleeping bag from touching the inner (and occasionally the outer) on all 3 occasions we slept in this tent. Due to it being early May in the UK (and a trip on which we tested multiple products), however, it’s worth noting that we slept in this tent in the 10°F Zenbivy Ultralite Bed, which is a very lofty and thick sleep system — thicker than any normal 3-season sleep system, at least.

Next to the sleeping compartment, the Bobcat 1 UL also comes with a small vestibule that’s more than big enough for a lightweight backpacking set-up. In it, we were easily able to store boots, wet kit and stash our pack, and we had plenty of room left over to cook. Which brings us on to what might be our favourite feature of the whole tent: The window. During cooking, the door can be opened fully from the top down, which gives you a little window that you can enjoy the view from. As is the case with the original Bobcat 1, this is covered by a flap that acts like a rain cover to keep the weather out of your tent. 

How the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite performs in wind and rain

As noted during our intro, we only test this tents for 3 days and nights out on Dartmoor National Park. And while that’s not normally as intense as we usually try and test kit here at the GBAC (read our full testing protocol here), we had to work with the timeframes we had as the tents were on loan. Thankfully, during that 3-day window which was punctuated on both ends by glorious sunshine and warm summer weather, we had relentless rain and constant wind — which was perfect for our testing purposes. Therefore, though we can’t speak to how this tent will perform in driving wind and rain over multiple seasons, we feel reasonably informed about how it will do on most adventures. 

The first thing to be aware of with the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite is that the flysheet comprises silnylon. That means that, unlike on tents with a polyester flysheet, seam tape won’t stick to the material. For that reason, you often have to ‘seam seal’ silnylon tents yourself — and the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite is no exception. To do so, OEX supplies a tube of seam sealer in the box with the tent so you can do this at home before you head out. As we were testing a sample of the tent on loan, however, we’re happy to say that we tested it ‘unsealed’ (i.e. as it comes out of the factory). Despite this, we didn’t notice any water ingress at any point during the two nights where it rained round the clock and observed that this tent does a provably good job at keeping you dry out of the box. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seam seal it. In this regard, we mirror the manufacturer’s advice and would encourage you to seam seal this tent before you take it out. This way, you’re better protected for the long term and don’t ever need to worry about the seams leaking during super heavy rain. 

What’s the deal with seam sealing?

Seam sealing a process you will often have to go through every time you buy a tent with a silnylon flysheet. In a move to keep the price affordable (something that many brands have now instituted), you have to go over all of the permeable seams with the seam sealant provided by the manufacturer. This process can be a bit messy and can take a bit of time, but it does render the shelter 100% waterproof and extends the life of your tent. And it only needs to be done once.

When it comes to the Bobcat 1 UL’s performance in the wind, this is another marker that impressed us. It held up really well in gusts of 30 mph, and despite the outer pressing into the inner when the wind hit the back wall of the tent, the shelter remained strong and intact and was remarkably quiet all night. That being said, due to this tent being so light and small, we would err on the side of caution and only continue to pitch it in sheltered locations reliably out of the wind.

Durability

Lastly, let’s talk about the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite’s durability. The flysheet is made from a 10D N-Liten Sil/Nylo with a 1,500 mm hydrostatic head rating. In layman’s terms, it’s thin. Very thin. And even though we didn’t experience any damage ourselves, we’re under no illusion that this tent will put up with years of abuse on the trail if you treat it like you might a heavier tent. If you pull the fly too much or pitch it in a rosebush, you’re almost certainly going to cause some damage. 

Inside, the inner is manufactured from a similarly 15D nylon mesh, and the groundsheet is a 10D nylon ripstop material with a 3,000 mm hydrostatic head. Therefore, even though the tent doesn’t come with one, you may consider pairing it with a polycro groundsheet for added protection, especially if you’re pitching this in woodland or anywhere where the ground isn’t just soft, flat grass.

OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite FAQs

Conclusion

In a nutshell, we really like the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite. Weighing in below 1 kilo and packing down to a tiny size, it’s a phenomenal option for anybody who is heading out on an adventure where weight takes precedence over luxury. And that’s before you consider the price: For £189, there are not a lot of other options out there that deliver the weight, pack size and performance of the OEX Bobcat 1 Ultralite, with equivalent shelters (such as the Big Agnes Flycreek or the Robens Chaser 1) costing up to two or even three times as much. Coming with a small narrow inner that rises aggressively over you from the backside, however, this tent is definitely not for the claustrophobic and is perhaps more suitable for people who are comfortable sleeping in smaller shelters, such as tiny 1-man tents and bivvy bags. In fact, its only true competitor outside of trekking pole tents right now might be OEX’s other ultralight shelter, the OEX Phoxx 1 Ultralite, which comes in at a similar size, price and weight.