I thought I'd go ahead and try to keep this thread alive. I looked through all the pages and read almost all of this and found it to be very interesting. I have been considering the purchase of my 1st freestanding tent for about 6 months now. I just sold my 2nd Tarptent in the contrail, used to have a cloudburst w/o floor, golite poncho tarp before that, and an msr tent somewhere in there, also non-freestanding. Anyway, it seems I have been making the move towards a very sturdy shelter that I can take on every trip and depend on for years vs a bare bones UL shelter. I ended up purchasing a hilleberg staika, and it should be here in about a week or so. I will go ahead and give you a review of my 1st impressions if you'd like Bob.. It seems pretty similar to the allak and a couple other hillebergs you were/are considering.
Anyway, I had one last "poke" to give this thread unless someone already mentioned it.. There have been multiple times I've been backpacking w/ my tarptent and had perfect ground to stake out on, and good weather.. but simply wanted to move my tent to a different location. ie.. root/sharp large rock poking my back or uneven whatever. It was such a hassle to unstake my tent and restake it and then to get proper tension etc just to move it a small distance. I'm looking forward to being freestanding, although not looking forward to an extra 6 lbs in my pack… oh well
