Hilleberg tents

[mmorgan]

I am looking for a new tent. The Akto from Hilleberg has caught my eye but it is much more expensive than other tents out there. Is this tent worth the extra bucks. Any opinions on this tent?

[RevLee]

I've heard great things about their tents, but never seen one in the wild. Compared to more common tents, they are heavy and expensive. You can get tarptents at half the weight for half the price. The Contrail or Moment (http://tarptent.com/allproducts.html) are good solo alternatives.

[Tipi Walter]

I have owned several Hillebergs and have spent several nights in the Akto---here's a forum post from Trailspace of mine which I'll include below:
Hillebergs have a lot going for them, namely:
** The best floors on the market(1800 Kerlon models)---100 denier, triple urethane coated. I've been in many a rainstorm with pooling ground water (i.e. the lake effect) and have never had a drop of water come in from the floor. Good on wet snow too.
** They do not have the flame retardant stink so common in other tents.
** Quick set up with integrated fly makes for a dry tent during rainstorm setup.
** Great beefy 10mm tent poles and well-thought out zippers and all the rest. I like the golden yellow canopies and both the green or the red flys.
But they are not perfect, and here are some thoughts:
** The elastic inner connectors are weak points for the Hillebergs as over time the elastic stretches permanently and causes the inner tent to sag and get slightly smaller.
** Many Hillebergs have the nagging tendency to be too short whereby the foot of the nice down bag touches the wet condensated inners, especially when you are perched up high on a thick Thermarest or 3.5 inch Exped downmat. This is most noticeable with the Akto, Nallo, Nammatj and Staika. The Keron is my favorite as it has vertical end walls fore and aft.
** Condensation is a bit more of a problem due to their full length flys which hug the ground all around---even though they have fancy venting systems.
** In stiff blows the Hillebergs tend to shake, slap, and deform more than other tents with their inners supported by poles with the fly thrown over. This can take time getting used to.
All I used for years was the Staika 3-pole wedge/dome but my favorite is the Keron 3 as it is huge inside (36 sq feet) and sets up fast and is a real joy to stay in during hellish blizzards or torrential rainstorms, even though its footprint is pretty long. But there are other brands out there that are lighter, longer, and give you the option of having two tents, an unflyed one on nice nights and a flyed one during rain (the usual double walls).
For my last two trips I've been using an MSR tent called the Fury which is apparently bombproof, waterproof, and easy to set up. I like it---read my review here on Trailspace. But I miss carrying my Hilleberg and may at any time return to it.

[kanga]

After lusting over a friend of mine's hilleberg rajd for several years, I saved my pennies and bought one. My tarptent is now in the gear cave and may very well not see the light of day again. The rajd is 2 lbs 2 ozs, has a dog proof floor and sets up in seconds. When mine finally dies (Which won't be anytime this decade I'm pretty sure). I will immediately go buy another one. I haven't seen the akto in use though so I can't speak for that one.

[Tipi Walter]

Repeated post.

[q-tip]

I am a HappyTarp Tent Customer, and use them exslusively on the AT--I have a 1P Contrail and a 2P Cloudburst---super tents IMO...