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Golite Shangri-La 3 Tent Review

Golite Shangri-La 3 Tent
Golite Shangri-La 3 Tent

The Golite Shangri-La 3 is a classic ultralight shelter that is lightweight enough that it can be pitched as a one person standalone tarp or used as a three-person double-walled tent. It’s rare to find a shelter that is so versatile, reasonably priced, and can be used for solo trips or group car camping.

Shangri-La 3 - Inner Tent (Nest)
Shangri-La 3 – Inner Tent (Nest) – Note deep bathtub  floor

Pyramid shaped tarps like the Shangri-La 3 are more wind and weather resistant than other tars shapes which makes them a popular choice for  camping in more challenging weather condition with high winds. Yet the Shangri-La 3 only requires one pole and 6 stakes to pitch, although extra guy-out point are available half-way up the sides for more extreme conditions. A trekking pole can also be used to pitch the shelter, although you’ll probably need an extender for it to reach the height of the included pole, about 70 inches.

Unlike many other ultralight pyramid shelters (see The Problem with Pyramid Shelters), the Shangri-La 3 has very steep walls which make the shelter very habitable. The walls are steep enough that you can easily sit up close to the side walls of the tent and even stand near the middle pole, provided that you bend over from the waist (handy for putting on pants in the morning). If this shelter has a weakness, it would be that center pole, which limits your ability to sleep two side by side if you want to have an intimate camping partner!

Huge Internal Space inside Shangri-La 3
Huge Internal Space inside Shangri-La 3

The Golite Shangri-La 3 comes with

  • a waterproof outer 15-denier ripstop nylon fly (25.7 ounces)
  • inner screened tent and factory taped floors (33 ounces)
  • adjustable aluminum center pole (11.3 ounces)
  • 6 aluminum stakes (2.6 onces)
  • stake sack (0.2 ounces)
  • stuff sack (1.2 ounces)

While the inner screen nest (33 oz) and fly (25.7 oz) are practical for car camping, the combined 58.7 ounces is a bit heavy to carry, even if split between two people. While the Shangri-La 3 is technically rated for hold three people, it’s better suited for two, providing better unobstructed access to the door at night for midnight pee breaks.

Shangri La 3 Sleeping Diagram
Shangri-La 3 Sleeping Diagram

Pitching the Shangri-La 3 is very easy, even for one person. Simply spread the inner tent on the ground and stake out the  six corners. Open the front door, extend the aluminum pole, and position it between the apex of the tarp and reinforced patch on the inner tent floor.

Pole rests on a reinforced potch in inner tent
Pole rests on a reinforced patch in inner tent

Walk around the inner tent and tighten the webbing straps. Next, drape the fly over the top of the inner tent so that the two door match up. loop the fly webbing straps over the same stakes that the inner nest is staked out with. Walk around the tent again and tighten each set of webbing straps or reposition them as necessary.

Inner Tent and Flysheet Guyouts can share teh same tent stake
Inner Tent and Fly Sheet Guyouts can share the same tent stake

Fly Only Pitch

After using the Shangri-La 3 with an inner nest, I was surprised by how much I liked it. But my real interest in testing this shelter out was to see how it performed as a floorless tarp without the inner nest. Most of the year, there’s no need for me to carry around a huge inner tent. Instead, I sleep in a bivy sack with bug netting over my face, with a very thin plastic sheet as a moisture barrier against the ground. I’m good enough at campsite selection that I can find places to pitch a floorless shelter at night that won’t get flooded out in the event of heavy rain.

Fly Sheet Pitch (Single Skin)
Fly Sheet Pitch (Single Skin)

No surprise, pitching the Shangri-La 3 without the inner nest results in a huge single person shelter. It’s almost too big, but I quickly got used to having all of the head room it provides. Still pitching this shelter in the heavily forested areas I backpack in is a bit challenging unless I can find fairly open forest to camp in. This can be an issue in areas that have a lot of downed wood, convoluted and rocky ground, or heavy ground cover. It’s the chief reason I prefer a flat tarp over a shaped tarp in dense forest because I only need a space large enough to lie down in. The Shangri-La 3 is much better suited in locations with relatively little forest cover, like Scotland (where I also hike), but where the winds are much fiercer.

One of the benefits of having such a huge floorless tarp, is that you can cook inside it in bad weather with a well-mannered canister style stove. Of course, you need to be very careful to ventilate your tent properly because you can suffocate from carbon monoxide or set your tent on fire around you. I try not to cook inside a shelter in the US because it can impart a food smell to your shelter, but that’s not an issue in Scotland because they’re no predatory animals like bears that you need to worry about.

Pitching the fly alone is also trivially easy: with the door zipped close, loosen the six corner straps to full and stake them out. (I replace the stakes Golite includes with longer 8″ Easton stakes because they provide a much better hold than the included stakes and the top of the head prevents the tarp’s guyline webbing from sliding off.) Once the corners are staked out, I insert my trekking pole (with an extender provided by my trekking pole manufacturer) under the tarp and position the end in the peak. Then I walk around and tighten up the webbing straps. To get more airflow or less, raise or lower the trekking pole and adjust the webbing.

Recommendation

If you are experimenting with ultralight backpacking or lightening your load, but also do a fair amount of car camping, the Golite Shangri-La 3 is a good multi-purpose shelter at a reasonable price. It’s easy to pitch and extremely livable, something you won’t find in many other comparable ultralight or lightweight shelters weighing less than 26 ounces (fly alone).

Likes

  • Two tents for the price of one: double-walled configuration for car camping and single-walled for UL backpacking
  • Steep walls provide excellent headroom and internal volume
  • Very easy to pitch by one person

Dislikes

  • Requires a large open space to pitch – can be difficult to find in heavily forested country
  • Included tent stakes are too short – replace with Easton 8″ stakes for much better holding power esp. w/ webbing straps
  • Front zipper on fly snags very easily

Manufacturer Specs:

  • Includes flysheet and inner tent
  • Three, larger peak vents optimize cross-ventilation
  • External peak loop allows shelter to be suspended without pole
  • Floorless shelter system works alone or with nest depending on conditions
  • Internal peak loop for attaching nest
  • Reflective guy points for stability and visibility
  • High internal gear loops for clothes lines and hanging items
  • Durable YKK® zippered door with snag-guard, Velcro® & snap closures
  • Reinforced cone pole seat
  • Factory-taped seams for field ready performance out of the bag
  • Upgraded adjustable aluminum center pole features lighter Green Anodizing process
  • Pitches with 6 stakes, included
  • No-See-Um Mesh body keeps the smallest bugs out and lets the air flow
  • Durable 3000mm waterproof polyurethane-coated nylon 8-inch bathtub style floor
  • Side-hanging door with two-way zipper keeps the door clean
  • Does not include guylines
  • Set up instruction video.

Disclaimer: Golite loaned Philip Werner (SectionHiker.com) a Golite Shangri-La 3 for this review.

25 comments

  1. I agree fully with your review. I use it primarliy for winter camping without the inner in the Nordic countries. Lots of space inside for one and enough even for two. Surprisingly stabile in wind.

  2. I have a fellow Scouter that just bought one and I expect she will always use the nest. I wonder if you could comment on how you might set this up in a downpour and still keep the nest dry? Perhaps the nest could semi-permanently be attached to the fly?

    • I think if you packed the tent away so that the peak of the inner is folded inside the peak of the outer fly, you could probably erect the two simulataneously without the inner getting drenched in the rain. It would help to have two people doing it though, one to hold the center pole and one to walk around and stake the inner and outer fly out. I encourage you not to sew the two together. You want to maintain an air gap between the inner and outer fly so that condensation doesn’t leak into the inner nest. Good point! Just to add, this tent is uniquely suited to be pitched like this because there is so little structure holding the inner nest up. If you look at tents that have exoskeletons between the tent and the fly, that’s a case where your inner would be flooded by the time you could get a fly pitched over it.

      • I was thinking she could either add some velcro pieces or sew some interior tie points. I guess the best thing would be to just help her pitch it and see what it looks like to know what if any mods may be helpful. :P

    • It is actually possible to pitch the fly first, crawl in with the inner tent and slide it on top of the center pole (might need to adjust the pole length a bit). I have done it this way several times in rainy conditions. It is a bit fiddly but it works well enough. Of course you will still have to protect the inner while you pitch the fly.

    • I believe that they sell half inner nets with half bath tub floors, this would reduce the inner weight by half.

  3. Footprint size is less than a Trailstar. It’s an easy to pitch Mid, and I use the midpoint tie-outs to make it very good in strong winds. For one a large shelter, but so is the Trialstar. No one bats an eyelid at that being used solo.

    I think you missed a few issues here. First the top vents need work on, so to be able to be closed (and one would do, and not three) and the material is too thin I feel longterm durability wise.

    Midpoint tie-outs need to be placed in the panels and not on the edges where the guyouts attach. There is a perfect mid to be made still, and taking the best of the SL3 would be a good starting point.

    I’m keen to know about the extender you used from Pacer Pole ? Like the sound of that. I don’t like the one I used on the Challenge. You know the SL3 makes a good Challenge shelter. Hurry back to Scotland and bring a SL3, and my choice would be in Yellow.

    • Pacerpole gave me an extender cut from an old piece of tubing. You should email them. I bet Alan would cut one for you. I like the green, but I am a forest dweller. I hear you regarding the 15 denier fly. It is thin, but it is light. I don’t mind fixing the pinholes with tenanious tape or a daub of silicone sealer. Even had to do that with my old cuben MLD. But I can see why you rave about this shelter now. HUGE! very good for a tall guy like you and impressively livable. I never believed you when you said we could all sit inside your shelter on the Challenge. Now I know.

  4. Great review..I just may take a serious look at this one. I dislike Center poles for many reasons but if used as a Solo it might be workable…Might use it as the replacement for my Eureka BackCountry I keep in my truck.

    • I have a shangri-la 5, and in one certain wintertrip, the pole just bended in two…On that moment there was quite a bit of whet snow, the pole couldn’t handel the weight.
      But i must say, i got a new pole for free from golite.
      So, good roomy tent, but i don’t deare to use it in the snow.

  5. Do you extend the pole to the maximum setting hole? Golite seems sketchy as it says “5’2” (175cm)” but 5’2” isn’t 175 cm.

    • The shorter the pole length, the closer the outer fly comes to and even contacts the ground. This provides better protection from blowing dust and snow and gives a bit more floor diameter. As you raise the center pole, a gap opens around the perimeter and the edges of the canopy are drawn upward and a bit inward in order to retain the full tension-ed pyramid shape dictated by the canopy design. Adjustment of pole height to either extreme may require re-positioning of the tent stakes.

  6. Hi I love tippis because they give this head room I like but I m just one person so im looking the lightest tippi tent out there or tarp that can be set up as tippi if you wish.

  7. If there is a loop at the very top couldn’t a person use the two pole method on each side of the tent to erect it? Another way is to suspend the tent from an overhanging sturdy branch then you could eliminate the need for an extra long pole. Another way is to suspend the tent from a guy line stretched taut between two trees, that is if there are trees in the vicinity.

  8. Where can I buy a Golite Shangri-La3 ? Thanks for the help

  9. Just happen to see this while looking at some other stuff on your site. I bought the original Golite model many years ago (which was not called Shangri-La, but is the same tent). Having used it a ton of times, I have to say your review is very accurate. It still gets some use after 15+ years of service and still no problems. The comment on the space needed to pitch is exactly what drove me to a hammock. Hiking the Northville-Placid trail proved challenging finding adequate space several nights, which led me to investigate and settle on a hammock. At that time there did not seem to be the plethora of lightweight, small footprint tents there are today.

  10. This has been my primary tent for about 15 years. The key, in winter, for this tent and anything remotely similar, is to bank snow around its edges. Failure to do this is a grave and needless error.

    A few “tarp shelter” tents have “snow flaps” for this purpose, but I’ve never used them. Works okay without.

    I concur about requirements for large tent sites. This is NOT the ideal dimensions for eager-beaver forest hikers who need to “flop” wherever they find themselves at nightfall.

    • I have a GoLite Hex3 tent. I’m thinking for about 15 years.
      I used it alot for the first 5 years or so, then it went in to storage. recently I pulled it out & set it up. It’s still in amazing condition. it has snow flaps on the bottom of the fly and the adjustable webbing straps are reflective. I lost the pole years ago. I mainly used it where there was trees and would use the outside top loop to hang it from a limb. sometimes run a guyline between trees and hang it from that. I recently retired and we’ll use it to get back into backpacking.

  11. I don’t know if you’re still monitoring this post but here goes…I’m purchasing a used Go-Lite Shangra-La 3 and would like to use my trekking poles instead of bringing the tent pole. In the comments above, you mentioned getting an extension from a company to fill the gap most trekking poles won’t cover. What I’m curious about is how long is the gap that needs to be filled and would a length of PVC pipe do the trick? If you have any other suggestions (i.e. electrical conduit, etc.), I’d love to hear them. Thanks, in advance, for your help.

  12. Never heard of a ski trap but that gives me something to go on. Thanks for your reply. Greatly appreciated.

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