Big Sky Chinook 1P vs Hilleberg Akto?

A Scarp 1 is a better option than either in my opinion. Roomier, better ventilation and quicker/easier to pitch than the Akto.    I’ve had one for 10 years.  I’ve used an Akto before and camped alongside them many many times. Though Hilleberg is best quality.

We just did 8 nights out in our new Chinook 2 in Northern Scotland.

As you say, bomber in the wind. No worries there at all.  And freestanding is good.

But a major disadvantage is that, due to the design, it lets rain and drips into the inner when you open the outer doors more than ⅔. So a pain to enter/exit in bad weather. And you can’t tie the doors back in this ⅔ open position, so it’s hard to use a stove safely in the vestibule in rain.

Not a great tent for wet weather unless all you want to do is batten down the hatches.

And despite the claims of  factory sealing where needed, we had dripping through 2 places. Luckily we have the solid inner.

Also, the inner floor fabric has the worst quality coating I’ve seen in any tent or Bivi. Even those 1/4 of the price.  Needs a footprint if you want to stay dry.

As a 2 person tent it ticks a lot of boxes for exposed windy camps.

I think we’d have been happier with a Scarp2.

I guess if winter camping (snow rather than rain) I’d consider a Chinook.   But really, with the extra crossing poles, I think I’d stick with the Scarp1.

Akto has no struts or option for crossing poles, so less versatile.

Mole J,  Thanks for the insights into the Chinook.  Hadn’t realized.

Thanks for the insights!

I had a Tarptent Moment before, but realized that with frozen hands, those are quite difficult to handle. I love my notch though for everything else.

A freestanding tent would offer a lot of benefits in these kinds of conditions. I’m still unsure whether I should give the Chinook 1p a try over the Akto…