Hilleberg Tent thread
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I own two Hilleberg tents, a Staika and a Soulo (although the Soulo is probably going away—too many tents), and I've reviewed several more for various magazines. I've found them to be right at the pinnacle of modern tent design and construction. In particular their silicone-impregnated fly material is hugely superior to polyurethane-coated flies, and justifies much of the extra cost.
I had the Soulo pitched on a ledge on the North Rim of Marble Canyon a couple of years ago, during a really weird windstorm that kept changing directions every few minutes. The Soulo was rock-solid no matter which way it was being pummelled. The extra guylines can sometimes be annoyingly in the way when pitching, but it's sure nice to have them.
The Nammatjs replacement arrived today. It will be mainly for winter trips when a crap load of snow is forecast or above treeline and canoe camping.
" The Enan requires less stakes than the Akto, and you like the Akto?"
yes well… on the surface akto does appear like it takes a boatload of them. but ! in one is clever, one can combine the end ones into … ohhh phooy, hold on… i'll go find a picture of it.
the orig way akto came rigged was so silly, that i literally modified it as i was setting it up the very first time.
i grant you that, yes, if you follow the directions, it's frikk'n ridiculous.
bottom line is that unless it is quite windy, akto needs only four. and they are not at all picky as to position or elevation.
much wind will want six, and there's another level above that which is not really what bpl is about, but suffice it that one splays dual side lines and tri-rigs those corner lines to use the end-center hard points.
so, as far was we are concerned, any normal condition = four anchors.
so.. yeah, i love my little akto. that dear thing has NEVER let me down.
(know that the farther north you go, quite literally, the better akto works. it is uncanny. just the same with such as Bultaco trials bike, they are Wet Soggy Cow in a parking lot, but magic up on the rocks)the akto and my McHale pack are alike in regards to looking quite the unsophisticated slob of a kit. but then, once you take them where they were meant to be, and they come alive with virtue. (much like the Lincoln Electric LN-8 series of wire feeders)
their elegance of design is in how they work, not how they look.
" I doubt if they could use Tarptent's patented design with the Moment's 2captive CF rods at each end. "ahh ! well , that explains it.
how somebody could patent a bipod remains a mystery to me, but good for Henry ! he got there first.
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you can see the combined functions of upper and lower corner anchor in the lines. what is not shown is the overhand-knot and loop which is looped around a small rock that is held securely under those Very Nice anchor stones. that knot/loop feature keeps any slack from transferring from top-to-bottom as things flap in the night.
note : considering where that picture was taken, and what can happen at night, those anchors are not excessive.Here are a couple of pics of a campsite visitor when out in the Colorado High Country about a month ago. Since before his fourth birthday my son has been clambering up and down steep trails, so we call him the mountain goat. He got to meet a real one up close and personal this trip. What a magnificent animal, it hung out at our campsite munching on breakfast for over 1/2 hour.
A few weeks ago I wrote about Hilleberg USA's customer service. Last week they came through for me in a big way. I bought the Kaitum 3 based on the dimensions listed in the catalogue, but it turned out that the taper from the maximum width in the centre to the doors was so significant that three adults would fit, but only if the outer two had the inner tent draping over their sleeping bags. Hilleberg sent me a replacement inner, in case there were manufacturing flaws in mine. There were none – the two fit identically. Long story short, they very graciously agreed to swap out my Kaitum 3 for another tent, for any difference in current retail price and a nominal cleaning fee. I spent some time on the phone with them discussing options, and am now the very happy owner of a Keron 3. On paper the inner tent's square footage is smaller, but in reality the inner tent walls are taut and three adults fit in there with ease on 20" wide pads. Kudos to Petra for empowering her employees to make sure that customers are satisfied, and many thanks to both Shannon and Stuart for working through the options with me.
During this process, I had a chance to look at a few models at Neptune Mountaineering, and I noticed a couple of changes that might be of interest. These may only apply to the Black Series (Kerlon 1800) tents, I'm not sure, so take it for what it's worth. Firstly, the Y pegs have changed in very much the same way that MSR Groundhogs changed a year or two ago. The formerly straight blades are now curved. Weight difference is minimal – on my scales we're talking 1.5g per peg (the new pegs are ~13.5g; the old were ~15g). Old model on top, new model below:
Secondly, and perhaps more significantly for some, the colour of the green outer tent has darkened significantly. What used to be best described as a Hunter Green is now a deep Olive Green. In artificial lighting it almost looks black. My initial reaction is that, in many settings, the new shade is stealthier. My Keron 3 appears to be from an older production run, as it is Hunter Green. A friend's Nammatj 3GT that he brought over to compare today, is Olive Green. I'm not sure whether the photo of the pole bag does it justice, but you can see a distinct difference in colour. As before, old colour on top, new colour below:
Once pitched, the outer tent stops looking black and the deep olive becomes dominant. I haven't seen it in direct sunlight yet, but this should give an idea:
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