Need help choosing a Solo Shelter

I decided on this tent last year and have had mostly good success with it. If I was expecting really bad weather I;d take something a little more bulletproof, nut for normal backpacking in most locations I would use it. And I know you don't currently use trekking poles, but maybe you'll find them helpful while hiking anyway so that you don't have to just carry 1 to pitch a tent like this.

Based on others replies I thought I would throw my 2 cents in. I have two Tarptents (original Squall and Double Rainbow) and an Akto. I also have indirect experience with a Big Sky tent (my main hiking bud has one, so I have seen it in action).

For the record I am 6'-5", and hike primarily in 3 season conditions in the SE. I normally use the DR in 3 season weather, and the Akto in winter and inclement weather. I'm not going to regurgitate everything I said in a couple of recent posts on the Tarptents, so look up those posts for more info. In a nutshell, they rock but they are light weight single wall shelters and have some inherent issues (such as condensation).

As for the Akto, I simply love it. It is a perfect 4 season tent for me. I typically use it in winter and inclement weather as that is what I bought it for. It is a double wall tent where the inner tent is attached to the outer tent. So when you throw it down to pitch it, the whole thing goes up at once, which is really nice in the rain. You cannot detach the outer tent from the inner as the pole sleeve and stake rings are attached to the outer tent. You can however detach the inner tent from the outer one. Length wise the Akto is adequate for me. It also has a huge vestibule that is fairly easy to get in and out of without rain getting in the inner tent. Condensation is an issue, but I normally only get condensation on the outer tent. If it's really bad it will sometimes condense on the inside of the inner tent, but this is easily resolved with a quick wipe down using a pack towel (same thing I do in my single wall shelters). The only downside to the Akto is you will most likely not be able to sit up straight inside of it. For me this isn't an issue cause I don't care about sitting up in it. I can detach part of the inner tent from the outer tent and sit up inside the outer tent though.

The only comment I have on the Big Sky is that my buddy really likes it. He has a two person version (can't remember the model). The only thing I don't like about it is that it is too short length wise. My buddy is about 6'-3", and he sleeps in it diagonally. He doesn't mind it, but I have some weird thing where I have to sleep parallel to the tent walls so that would annoy the crap out of me.

I agree with Matt in regard to the Hilleberg Akto. I'm under 6' and the fit for me was great. The quality is of the highest standard and the tent performs as well or better than most solo shelters in foul weather. A good place to see great photo's of this shelter set up in varius modes is Moontrail.com under four season or mountaineering tents. Its not the lightest tent and does require some space to setup but overall you can not go wrong with this little tent.

3lb 5 ounces, change the aluminium pegs to titanium 6 and 1 gram skewers, take off some hilleberg badges, remove some excess guyline and I can think of some tensioners you dont totally need. Leave the tent bags behind, you will get close to 3 pounds.
Anyway I thought you said "I must say that if weight were my only concern, I would have bought a new tent long ago. It's been very clear to me since day 1 of researching a solo ultralight shelter, that there are definitely trade-offs when you shed weight".
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The Akto is a popular tent in one of the hiking clubs on the west coast of BC. (clubtread.com). It's not uncommon to see 4 or 5 pitched inline.

Since we can get some amazing dumps of snow, (it's a rainforest in the summer,) I think that several members have upgraded to the 10mm pole.

You can make it even more winter-worthy by double-poling it; i.e. ordering the 10mm pole and using it *together* with the 9mm. From what I understand (having never owned on) this will give you a very tough little winter shelter.

I have both a Hilleberg Akto and a Tarptent Virga. The Virga was used in a rainstorm in the Canadian Rockies in cool weather with no wind. In the Virga, I could feel a misting that was mentioned by Henry Shires as a possible effect and woke up to quite a bit of condensation. At about 2 lbs, the Virga was quite cool given the mesh around the bottom of the tent.

The Akto was used in the Canadian Rockies as well, with temps in the low to mid 20s, again with no wind, and no precipitation. My dog was inside the tent with me. I did experience significant condensation, but my friend using a North Face Canyonlands (mesh inner tent) experienced the same problem. The Hilleberg inner tent is easily detached from the fly and significantly aids in the drying of condensation. I am 6' tall and have more than enough room in the Akto. By using titanium stakes and leaving the extra pole sleeve behind, I have my total weight, including a Gossamer Gear polycro groundsheet at 3.5 pounds, not much more than my Big Agnes SL Seedhouse, in which I feel much too confined.

Regarding Matt's observation that the Akto inner tent cannot be pitched without the outer tent because, "You cannot detach the [Akto's] outer tent from the inner as the pole sleeve and stake rings are attached to the outer tent" — it appears that Hilleberg does provide the option of pitching the Akto inner tent without the outer tent.

As described in the Akto's pitching instrucions at the Hilleberg website:

"Use of inner or outer separately

"It is easy to use the inner tent separately. All you need are two pole holders.

"Thread the pole through the elastic loops and place the ends of the pole into the pole holders. Use a guy line to hold the top elastic loop in place. Tie the loop and
wrap the guy line around the pole to prevent it from sliding down the pole.

"The tension of the pole spreads the inner tent
with the help of the line on the gound. Apply
lines at the upper corners of the inner to lift
these.

"Also the outer tent can be used by itself. With
the inner taken out the shape of the tent is
retained with the line on the ground.

"Pitch the outer as with the complete tent."

Quoted from instructions for the Akto found at the following link: http://www.hilleberg.com/Akto-gb.pdf

Hilleberg sells the pole holders that allow the Akto's inner tent to be pitched without the outer tent. See the following link to see the optional pole holder, priced @ $0.60 each, with two of the holders required to enable the single Akto pole to support the Akto inner tent:

http://estore.websitepros.com/1764795/-strse-129/Pole-holder-for-use/Detail.bok

JRS

As I've stated before a person can view pictures of the Akto setup on the Moontrail.com site. They show the Akto in every designed setup option. I've owned this tent in the past and it performs as described on the Hilleberg online site.

Wow, a lot of fans for the Akto!

Since Spring and Summer are on the way, I'm still leaning towards the single wall super-ultralight shelters from Tarptent and Gossamer Gear. I'm waiting to hear more on The One as it looks promising and I am very happy with my GG pack.

I'm going to have to make a decision at some point, and I'm thinking that experiencing the limitations of a super-light single wall is a good place to start with ultralight shelters. I can try it out, sell it if I don't like it, and then try something else. That seems to be what a lot of folks do anyway.

I think the Akto could be a late Fall purchase for me, but the killer for me would be not being able to sit up in it. I'll have to recheck heights on all shelters I'm considering because that is a huge negative for me.

Regarding the weight of the Akto — even with the mods that were suggested, an Akto at 3 lbs 5 oz (plus a groundsheet) would still make me strongly consider a Big Sky double wall.

But I want to say thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to post. Hopefully, this thread will be helpful to others searching for their first solo ultralight shelter as well.

I'm now going to revisit the thread on GG's The One and see if any of the owners have any updates…

I forgot to ask about this in my last post, but someone above suggested that that you can add a pole to the Akto for added support. Does this solve the "collapsing under moderate snow load" problem that I've read about?

Thanks

Ok, you caught me…I should not have made that statement. I knew that the inner tent can be pitched separately, but I just don't know why anyone would want to do it. The inner tent is made out of a thin nylon material with a DWR on it I believe. This nylon is not anywhere near the toughness of the Kerlon material that the outer tent is made of, and would probably wet out in the rain. The only time I could see pitching the inner tent by itself is if you knew it was not going to rain. But in that case you would have to detach it from the outer tent, so you are still carrying the outer tent (i.e. unnecessary weight). Just leave the outer tent door open if it's not going to rain. And there is definitely no reason to ever carry just the inner tent. There are many larger/lighter/more storm worthy options if you were thinking of doing that on a regular basis.