Right now this TETON Sports Outfitter XXL Quick Tent is probably my favorite cost effective backpacking tent. I've used mine about a half dozen times now and I find it to be a great value above most everything else. I call this a 'backpacking' tent, but really it's just a genuine one-person tent. It has a few key aspects to it that make it ideal for those one person adventures and it even integrates well camping cots utilizing six attachment points to lock the tent onto your camping cot. That is great for if you're setting up in a really wet area, especially, though there are other situations where it could be helpful (snow, for example). However, you will sacrifice storage when tying onto your cot unless you want to sleep with your gear, if under the max height (see below), that should not be an issue. I've done it once with my TETON Sports Outfitter Cot (should also work well enough on any cot sized 80"-85" x 35"-40") and it was pretty awesome I'll admit. I did tie my gear up into a tree for the night when doing it. Just in case you're wondering, the bottom of the tent is waterproof, so you don't have to use the cot to use the tent even though they're made to be used hand in glove.
You'll also find that this tent has a very easy setup and take down since it uses a hub system structure. It's bananas, really. I'm talking it takes no more than 60 seconds to set this up. My average time in my back yard is 45 seconds even with wind! In terms of weight, this is a pretty light little tent at 4.3 pounds. There are certainly other tents on the market that pack smaller and are lighter, but I won't go into those right now. But it kind of makes me think I need another website. I own enough tents to start doing that!
TETON Sports Outfitter XXL Quick Tent (Orange/Yellow)
It should go without saying that without using the rain fly, you're going to be very open to the elements. I can't stress this enough. Some people don't think about this when purchasing a tent, but this potential negative is also a huge positive if you camp in hot weather. Because of the open design, if you're camping in hot and dry conditions, this thing with rock your socks off. Max height for someone using this tent is probably 6'4" at the max. It lists at 82" length, but you'll want some slack as pretty much all tents curve up at the ends. In reality this is a dual purpose tent in my mind. I find it a great and cost effective backpacking tent, as well as one that can tie onto a XXL camping cot. Those two things really don't go together as XXL cots tend to be heavy. So maybe I should just call this a great and versatile one-person tent??
Price: $72
Available from Amazon