One Planet Goondie 1 Tent – Reviewed & Tested

Lachie headed out to some of the most scrumptious campsites in Sydney’s surrounds to review the One Planet Goondie 1 Mesh 30D.

 

First up, what’s One Planet?

Three Australian companies – Aiking, J and H, Adventure Designs – each known for the highest quality packs, sleeping bags, and downwear and tents respectively became one in 1997 – One Planet. Fast forward to the present and One Planet continues to manufacture a lot of these products from their home base in Melbourne.

Even if the brand doesn’t ring any bells you’ve probably seen a bunch of their gear without knowing it as they supplied Australia Post, Ski Patrol, and various outdoor education programs.

Why am I the right person to do this review?

I’ve accumulated many months where my tent is my home – whilst riding through the Victorian and New South Welsh high country, adventure in Tasmania, or hiking abroad on top of Munros and skirting the edges of Mont Blanc. I love the harder-to-get-to nooks and crannies and I’m a real sucker for good design and kit that lasts.

Here I am in New Zealand wearing my five-year-old One Planet Extrovert in exactly the same outfit that you’ll see me in most days.

Quick Specifications

Capacity: 1 person
Vestibules: 1.5 (one entrance and one storage hatch)
Entrances: 1
Weight: 1655g (1490g minimum)

Fly material: Nylon 7D ultralight: factory seam-sealed nylon with 1200mm waterhead and sil/PU coating
Polyester 30D: Factory seam-sealed with 1500mm waterhead and sil/PU coating
Wall material: Micromesh and 15D nylon skirt with DWR, non-PFC
Floor material: 70D PeU-coated nylon with a waterhead in excess of 20,000+ (ISO 811), non-PFC

Floor configuration: Single piece, tapered rectangular shape
Freestanding: Yes
Pitch versatility: Yes (fly and inner, inner only)
Poles: DAC Featherlite 9mm
RRP: $779

Buy Now

‘Goondie’ is an Aboriginal word for a hut or shelter

Performance

Durability

noun

/ˌdʒʊə.rəˈbɪl.ə.ti/

Definition: the quality of being able to last a long time without becoming damaged. For example, the One Planet Goondie Series tent.

If that was actually how the Cambridge Dictionary read, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. The build quality on this mobile home is no joke. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Goondie will live up to the task of keeping anyone protected whilst out in the elements. As someone who doesn’t want to spend any more time than necessary caring for their kit, this is also a huge plus.

The Goondie’s poles and fabric prioritise durability and strength

On top of that you can do away with having to remember a groundsheet as the Goondie’s 70D PeU-coated nylon flooring allows you to be a little less precious than some of the other tents in this weight category.

Looking at the waterproofing specifically the numbers are right up there with the best on the market. The polyester fly has a 1500mm hydrostatic head and the nylon tub boasts 20,000mm+. This allows for the interior to remain dry even if you find yourself upon a heavily saturated surface.

Read more: 7 Tips for Rainy Day Hiking

Design

Set-up

Like a lot of the modern tents in this lightweight bracket the set-up is just as easy. One Planet opted for DAC poles which is essentially an industry standard but preferred the poles being separate rather than the one- or two-piece design that other brands use to avoid the potential of the junction point failing.

The Goondie avoids the junction points that are known to fail in ‘single pole’ designs

From the Outside

The One Planet Goondie 1 comes in 30D and 7D fly variants (D stands for denier, a measure of fibre thickness). The 30D is a thicker, polyester fly that’s more UV resistant and made to last, at a weight penalty of 190g, while the 7D $90 more expensive and made of much lighter weight sil/PU nylon.

The 30D fly comes in a bold orange colour whilst the 7D is a vibrant lime. So it goes without saying neither option is exactly setting you up to chameleon your way through adventuretime.

Having said that, the orange does match my gravel bike so I’m not mad. Moving beyond the colour, my facial sensory gadgets picked up on some interesting little treats. The fly, once rolled and fastened, has a natural curvature which acts as a gutter if the outer is wet – neat! The guylines have little tents of their own too – cute and tangle-free!

Guylines that tuck away, neat!

Inside

Stitched next to the entrance is what One Planet anointed ‘The Doorman’. This is the kind of small detail that I love. In essence it bypasses the faff factor of trying to get that toggle through the loop which is never as easy as it should be, you simply pull the tail of the door through and hey presto!

‘The Doorman’ is super easy to use

Comfort and Livability

There are a few design elements/features that are pretty obvious straight out of the gate. Here are some that I love and some that didn’t leave me humming.

Love: It’s hardly palatial, as you would expect with a 1P tent. Despite this, One Planet’s Goondie Series has double vestibule action throughout the entire lineup. So you can store your belongings on one side and enter, clutter-free on the other. Again in this category of light, 1P tents other brands often don’t provide two vestibules. It was a major gripe for Tim in his review of the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1.

The mesh inner will keep you comfortable down to 0° and potentially beyond with the right combo of mat and sleeping pad so I would hate to know how snug their nylon inner for alpine conditions would be (love-heart eyes).

Not so love: Storage, or lack thereof. I had three direct comparisons during the testing process and all of those had substantially more internal storage. Honestly, I thought this would be standard. The Goondie 1P has two internal pockets, one near the main door that can fit a medium book and phone, and the other in the ceiling that can fit a head lamp or some other very small object.

The pockets were fairly minimalist

It appears One Planet tries to goosestep this by providing an optional extra – the tent mesh loft. I installed it and initially it looked the goods… until I got inside. Some describe me as a towering specimen of a human but really I have more in common with a bonsai than a Mountain Ash.

At 5’7″ I was surprised that I was not just scraping my head on the ‘loft’ but smacking square into its contents, which careened out the other side – bummer!

$20 mesh loft, good in theory, but needs a bit of work

Sustainability

One Planet is a rare breed in the gear space. They’re an Australian owned and operated company but the clincher is that they still manufacture a lot of their products in-house in Melbourne. This doesn’t include the Goondie Series in particular but they are still created by trusted partners in Asia. However, as a result of domestic manufacturing it means that One Planet is the most capable brand when it comes to offering lifetime repairs on your beloved kit.

The company’s tagline – Make it Good, Make it Work, Make it Last – is the beating heart of their sustainability efforts and ties directly back to the praise given on durability. The products that get dished up by One Planet will be the very last to enter landfill, possessing a greater zeal for adventure than their owners.

When we’re keeping our footprint light, we expect the brands behind our gear to as well

Price

The One Planet Goondie 1 with mesh inner and 30D polyester fly that I reviewed, costs $779. Now, this is not cheap and will not suit everyone’s budget.  It’s on par with a handful of the most popular one-person double-walled tents – such as the $790 Mont Moondance 1 (2 person reviewed here), $770 Big Agnes Copper Spur, but far more expensive than something like the $420-with-membership Macpac Sololight.

However, I argue that unlike the vast majority of the ultralight kit short-circuiting your attention span on the socials, this tent is an investment. The Goondie really seems like it will stand the test of time and even if it does have a little accident you have the safety net of One Planet’s repair service to catch you. Buy it for life very much applies here.

Final Thoughts

To wrap it all up with a cute bow, who should buy this tent? The One Planet Goondie 1 Mesh 30D is for the curious cat who relies on their gear stepping up when it’s time to bunker down in less than ideal conditions. Whether that’s an unreasonably rocky campsite or the heavens doing their best to send you back to the comfort of the car. It’s not for those blessed with height, the weight-weenies or those that lust over storage space.