When you wait ages for a tent and then two come along ...

[Polar Bear]

Having now become car campers and seeing the worn out state of our Nammatj 3GT we decided to buy a larger tent as it was a bit of a good deal.  I have bought a few bits for it and then ...

I have found a very good deal on a Hilleberg used for less than a week.  I'm sorely tempted not least because if we do eventually join the ALC we could use this tent for those trips and other camping trips.

Oh, what to do...   🤔

[Feanor]

Which Hilleberg is it?

On our South American supported ride where the tents were transported for us, 50% of the tents were Hilleberg, the exception being the USAsians who favoured MSR huba hubbas which proved to be less than equal to the tent shattering winds of Patagonia.

[Polar Bear]

It's a Keron 3GT.  Slightly longer than the Nammatj 3GT that we have been using since 2010 and crucially with a rear entrance as well as a front entrance for massively improved ventilation.

I am trying to sit on my hands but surely there is an n+1 rule for tents too?

[Feanor]

Ok, don't have any experience of that model.
Mine is the Staika, which is specced for robust weather.
As such, it's fairly heavy beast, but well suited to car camping.

As a brand, I'd reccomend them.

[Polar Bear]

I am a Hilleberg fan.  I have had an Akto, a Nallo 3GT and a Nammatj 3GT.

The Nallo retired hurt after a week of battering storms whilst cycle touring in Shetland in 2010.  We had used it extensively for ten years and it was looking the worse for wear.  The Nammatj 3GT replaced that and has been similar used and abused over 12 plus years.  It is looking dog-eared with a faded and lightly holed flysheet, saggy elastics struggling to hold the inner tent in place, a couple of repairs in the footprint and now the pole elastics have groaned and expired.  Nothing perhaps beyond fettling but also I have to decide if I want to throw time and money at it.

The pole sections will I believe be useful spares if I jump for the Keron as will the guy lines and runners as well as the pegs. 

It's a tough decision.

[Paul H]

If you're a Hillie fan, then you'll probably talk yourself into getting it, but there is no need.  They've done a fantastic job of making livable tents that are light enough to carry.  If they made tents for car camping, they'd be different.  If you don't have to carry it, you could get something as good for a lot less money or some palace for the same money.  I can stand up in parts of my £300 car camping tent, the poles are strong enough to stand any weather I'll camp in, I can sit on a camp chair and cook on the table in the porch.  If I ever need another, I'll be tempted to get a blackout inner.  I'd choose those features in a cycle camping tent as well, if they didn't come to 6kg.

[Polar Bear]

That is the sensible answer Paul, yes. 

I need to sit on my hands ...

[andrewc]

Camp like an Egyptian….?


https://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/shelters-3/WG109-WG116.html

[Polar Bear]

That centre pole would play havoc with out plush Exped double mattress ...

[TPMB12]

Look to other brands. We have an extended porch, 3 man tunnel tent weighing 3.1kg with poles and pegs from Helsport. They do more upright and car camping tents too. As big as you'd want at that.

Tamarack outdoors used to be the UK distributor and virtually the only place to buy them in the UK. A good family retailer too.

We used our tent cycle touring aftera wild country tent with a similar size and a more basic version of the 3 pole extended 3 man tunnel tent design failed after 1 week of use. Got our money back and added 200 notes more for this much better tent. A lot cheaper but only slightly less well designed version of a Hilleberg tent.

Just an idea,  look to other scandi brands of tent for competitors to hilleberg but less cost new.1<a href="http://" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://</a>

[Canardly]

What is the general opinion of air frame tents? I am having increasing difficulty in getting in and out of small form factor tents due to my knees not being up to it.

[Wowbagger]

Do you have any specific models in mind, Bob?

I have no specific knowledge - at least, I doubt I know any more than you do about them - but they don't seem to come in a size which is compatible with cycle camping.

How does an air frame tent help you get up to a standing position from lying down in a tent?

[Canardly]

Not for cycle camping no. For car camping being able to walk in and out and stand up would be a huge improvement over crawling in on hands and knees as is the case atm with my lighter tent, which has an inner sleeping compartment. Simpler access and egress may be worth looking at. The air frame tents seem to be increasingly popular atm. I think that Kim and Barakta now use something similar to this...
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15982377/eurohike-genus-400-air-tent-15982377
Getting up from the mat is ok at least initially. Its the getting in and out that is the major barrier atm as it tends to be on hands and knees via two doors which can be incredibly uncomfortable, although standing up from a crawling position is also becoming more problematic over time. I am also looking at other camping chairs which could help in winching myself up. Its also possible a small carpet would help. I also tend to suffer nightime cramps which does not improve matters at all.
Of course I could always just buy some knee pads. (for Polar Bear).
Being more organised with kit and its location will also help so as to not have to access the tent's internal spaces multiple times a day.

[Kim]

Not for cycle camping no. For car camping being able to walk in and out and stand up would be a huge improvement over crawling in on hands and knees as is the case atm with my lighter tent, which has an inner sleeping compartment. Simpler access and egress may be worth looking at. The air frame tents seem to be increasingly popular atm. I think that Kim and Barakta now use something similar to this...
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15982377/eurohike-genus-400-air-tent-15982377

'tis this one, bought last week, debuted at the York Rally this weekend:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/4-man-inflatable-blackout-tent-air-second-4-1-f-b/_/R-p-302837

This is an upgrade on our now rather tired Quechua car-camping tent (the closest current model would be https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/4-man-tent-with-poles-arpenaz-4-1/_/R-p-4123 but $generic_poo_colour and with a side rather than end door).

Instant review:
- It's about double the packed volume and a few kg heavier than the older tent.
- End-opening is a better layout for living in, but means managing a wet door is more complicated and it's less convenient as a bike garage.
- I'm broadly sceptical about the whole inflatable thing (not least because you need yet another type of pump^[1]), but the risk of barakta suffering a nasty dislocation while pole-wrangling has become substantial, the technology seems reasonably mature now, and this tent at least succeeds in achieving the headline feature of being easy and quick to (all-in-one) pitch single-handedly.
- Fresh&Black technology prevented us from baking to death or reaching audax levels of sleep-deprivation at the rally, which was Too Hot.
- The integrated groundsheet is good at excluding draughts and reducing beastie ingress, but I can see it being a pain if things get really wet inside.  White is a silly colour for a groundsheet, but it does make finding things in the dark easier.
- Some shortsighted, bordering on idiotic, design decisions with regard to zip direction on the sleeping compartment door (double zipper, but opens at the ends not middle, as if they've used one designed for a sleeping bag) and groundsheet (attaches to sides of fly with zips that start at the front end of the tent, which means you can't partially unzip it and fold it back to expose a bit of bare ground for your muddy boots and the inevitable door drips).
- It survived a proper downpour and its first earwig with no ill effects.


_{[1] The poles on this one at least should be inflated to 7PSI.  That's way more pressure than a typical airbed type inflator can achieve, and way more volume than any sane tyre pump will manage in a timely manner.}

[andrewc]

It's a very shiny tent & Kim intends to keep it that way.

[Kim]

I had some help from convenient tall people...




(See that cloud in the background?  It appeared and did its thing about 5 minutes before I was going to take the tent down.)