It seems like it’s been a long time since a truly novel idea in tents came along. There are endless amounts of great tents on the market, but not many that make you think, huh, that’s interesting. But now there’s the Helinox Tactical Cot Tent. Basically, it’s a small, one-person tent that uses a Helinox cot as a platform to stand on. 

If you’re into it, act quick, these are in very limited edition quantities in the North American market. There are two versions, neither of which ship with a fly, and, wouldn’t you know it, the fly is already sold out, though they were just released on Monday. 

The options they have available are the Tactical Cot Mesh and the Tactical Cot Fabric. Both run $280. They both weigh about 3.5 pounds, not including the required Helinox cot, so you’re probably going to be using these exclusively while car camping. 

The poles hook right into tabs at the bast of the tent body, and the tent ties to the corners of the cot. Setup looks intuitive and simple. There are doors on both sides, and four internal pockets. J-stakes pin the tent to the ground. Pretty basic tent, in other words. 

So, what’s the point? Well, sleeping on a cot is simply better than sleeping on a mat that's on the ground. But typically, you’d put a cot inside a tent that’s on the ground. With this setup, you can put a tent on ground you wouldn’t normally put a tent directly on, covered with vegetation, rocks, damp soil, etc. It has the potential to radically expand where you can sleep. 

Now, that $280 price is pretty good, but of course you’ll need a Helinox cot too. The tents work with the following models: Cot One Convertible, Cot One Convertible Insulated, Tactical Cot Convertible, High Cot HDB, and High Cot One.

We haven’t tried one and likely won’t because supplies are so limited, but it’s a cool idea and worth trying out. 

BUY • $280

Words by Justin Housman