DownTo1 Packs

The engine's answer

Best ultralight backpack for one person on a week in mild summer nights, under €700

Alpkit

Gourdon 30

A waterproof roll-top sack with straps, and cheerfully nothing else.

  • Genuinely waterproof for very little money
  • Only 600 g
  • Simple to the point of having nothing to break
  • Frameless with no hip belt worth the name
  • Only sensible with a very light kit

Find it at Bergfreunde · Trekkinn · Decathlon · Alpinetrek · eBay (used)

Why it wins, in numbers

Alpkit Gourdon 30 is the backpack the engine picked for this trip: €60 and 600 g, Capacity 30 L, a 88% match on the questions asked. The kit around it comes to €640 of the €700 ceiling, leaving €60.

What the engine asked for: a sleeping bag rated to 6 °C or lower, a mat with an R-value of at least 1.5, a pack of at least 30 L, and €700 for all four; anything that falls short of these is flagged beside the item.

The kit it belongs to

Four items chosen together, not four separate winners. Swapping one moves the others.

2.35 kg on your back · €640 of a budget of €700

Tent
Naturehike VIK 1: €180, 900 g, Season rating 3, 92% match. Strongest on: Grams.
Sleeping bag
Alpkit Cloud Cover: €180, 600 g, Comfort rating 2 °C, 90% match. Strongest on: Grams.
Sleeping mat
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir UberLite: €220, 250 g, R-value 2.3, 93% match. Strongest on: Grams.
Backpack
Alpkit Gourdon 30: €60, 600 g, Capacity 30 L, 88% match. Strongest on: Grams.

What the runners-up gave up

Each of these still leaves a kit that closes — the budget holds and the pack shuts. This is where each one lost.

  • Alpkit Airlok Xtra 50A waterproof fifty-litre sack for people who hate pack liners.Alpkit Airlok Xtra 50 — €120, 950 g — gives up Price: €120 against the winner's €60. It scores 84% to the winner's 88%.
  • Alpkit Koulin Trail 45Light, cheap and enough pack for a summer week.Alpkit Koulin Trail 45 — €120, 1.20 kg — gives up Empty weight: 1.20 kg against the winner's 600 g. It scores 70% to the winner's 88%.
  • Karrimor Airspace 35A cheap British day-and-overnight pack from a long-running range.Karrimor Airspace 35 — €70, 1.20 kg — gives up Empty weight: 1.20 kg against the winner's 600 g. It scores 68% to the winner's 88%.

Questions this trip raises

How much does the whole kit cost?
€640 for all four items, €60 under the €700 ceiling. Prices are indicative euro list prices; the shops set their own.
How much does it weigh?
2.35 kg base weight — tent, sleeping bag, mat and pack together, before food, water and clothes. The pack is rated to carry 10 kg comfortably.
Is the pack big enough for 5 nights?
The tent, bag and mat plus food and clothes for 5 nights pack to about 30 L; Alpkit Gourdon 30 holds 30 L.

Change an assumption

This page answers one trip. Yours is not that trip — adjust the nights, the budget or the company and watch all four re-rank.

Build my kit

Specifications are manufacturers’ own published figures and prices are indicative, not live. Comfort ratings and R-values are comparable across brands but describe a standardised sleeper on standardised ground — neither is a promise about you on a particular night. Check the current spec and price with the retailer before buying.