Tunnel tent, 2 person

[Peaksnik]

tasadam,

After reading through this thread I did some research on the Hilleberg Kaitum tent.
I've been looking for a lightweight 4 season, double wall tent for a while and after reading this article - http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... eview.html
(you need to be a BPL member to read it, if you want me to send it via pdf just PM me)
I decided to buy one yesterday from Moontrail.com for just under $800 delivered.
$800 is a fairly large amount but if you look at it as a 5-10 year investment it's not that bad.

My partner and I are off to walk the Overland in 2 weeks so i'll let you know how it goes.

Damien

Damien

I'll be looking forward to your feedback on the Kaitum with some eagerness. I'm struggling over a decision between the Kaitum or the Hilleberg Allak. I was tempted by the Nallo because of its light weight but concerned about reports about condensation.

I will be revisiting the Overland track too in early December with my son but want to use the new tent in July over in NZ - snowcamping in Tongariro NP.

For those interested in a review of the Kaitum here is the one that I found most useful:

[Peaksnik]

Sorry about that, I thought I could attach a document file.

[Son of a Beach]

ah... sorry about that. If you zip it (or gzip it, or whatever) you should be able to attach it.

(Most document types are not allowed, by default, for security reasons.)

[Peaksnik]

Okay, I've taken out a few pictures and zipped so that it is now under 1MB.

[tasadam]

I finally got around to getting a new tent.
It was a difficult choice.
As much as we love our existing tent with two vestubles, we decided to get the Hilleberg Nallo2.
The floor space is pretty similar to what we have been using, the overall vestuble space is greater than what we had but it's all in the one vestuble now, it is a true four season tent, but best of all, it is literally half the weight of our existing tent.
Much is being said about it here - http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... gination=1

They talk that the condensation is a factor - something I am sure we have all encountered in all tents - some worse than others. Its just a matter of working out the right ventillation to reduce the problem as best one can.
I haven't used it yet - we put it up in the loungeroom to see that it had no manufacturing defects. I will report back once I have used it.

Some more reviews of the tent here

Here it is in the wind

Here are some reviews of it

Here is a bit of blurb on it.

More reviews from another site

Even more reviews from yet another site

You guesses it - more reviews

Here is where I got it from - they have some photos here too.

I liked the look of the MSR Dragontail tunnel tent until I found it was single wall.

I liked the sound of the Lightwave tents - there are a number of tents here that really fitted the bill - until I discovered you had to put the inner up first. At least that was what I found on the net so I have asked them in an email, will be interesting to see what they reply with.
Regardless, I have the Nallo2 now and it looks good.
More to follow once I have used it.

[tasadam]

I just checked out the Aussie dollar and did some online checks.
If I bought this tent now I would pay over $130 more than what I paid a couple of weeks ago.

[luke_vic]

Hi Tasadam,

I'm looking at buying a tent similar to the Nallo at the moment also, I will be interested to see what you think of it once you put it to use.
Did you consider the Exped Sirius II? I'm currently swaying towards this Exped model mainly due to the long internal length of this tent (I'm over 6ft4 tall). Dual vestibule would be nice, however the Kaitum from Hilleberg appears very long externally (ie hard to find a campspace long enough). Also, what was your original tent before the Nallo?

Has anyone else had any experience with the Exped Sirius II or recommend a similar tent?

Cheers
Luke

[Tony]

While looking through the latest Kathmandu sale catalog the kathmandu Skiron Light tent caught my eye, it is a 1-2 person and weighs 1.55kg and its cost is reasonable at $299.90 (normally $449.90).

Does anyone on this forum have one or have seen one, the Kathmandu site is hopeless, it does not even have the tent on it.

From the pictures in the catalog the design looks like it might be OK in wind I am wondering if it is double skin or single skin.

Tony

[woka]

I went and had a look at the Skiron Light today. We set it up on the lawn in Salamanca Square!

Two kids might fit in it, but it's too small for two adults. Internally, it's 210cm long, 70cm wide at the foot and 100cm wide at the door and 90cm at it's highest point. The vestibule is pretty small. Great dimensions for a one person though!

Yes, it's double skin. Inner is both mesh and nylon. It seems to be quite well made, and the 1.55kg seems to be pretty accurate (the guy in the shop only had a small set of manual scales that were hard to read). The tub floor is a good one (10000mm) and seems to be well made and reinforced.

I would have bought it on the spot except the fly is quite close to the inner and, while I was in it, they were touching occassionally at the sides and end of the tent when there was a gust of wind. To complicate this, I'm 6'2" and my feet were just touching the inner while lying on my back. I could foresee my feet getting wet!

Other than that, it looks like a good tent.

[luke_vic]

Thanks Tony & Woka for your suggestions. Sounds like the Kathmandu option may be a bit short for tall timber, I might go for the Siris II after all. However it would be good to hear how it performs in the field before purchasing. Will check the web for some reviews...

[Tony]

Hi Woka,

I went and had a look at the Skiron Light today. We set it up on the lawn in Salamanca Square!

Two kids might fit in it, but it's too small for two adults. Internally, it's 210cm long, 70cm wide at the foot and 100cm wide at the door and 90cm at it's highest point. The vestibule is pretty small. Great dimensions for a one person though!

Yes, it's double skin. Inner is both mesh and nylon. It seems to be quite well made, and the 1.55kg seems to be pretty accurate (the guy in the shop only had a small set of manual scales that were hard to read). The tub floor is a good one (10000mm) and seems to be well made and reinforced.

I would have bought it on the spot except the fly is quite close to the inner and, while I was in it, they were touching occasionally at the sides and end of the tent when there was a gust of wind. To complicate this, I'm 6'2" and my feet were just touching the inner while lying on my back. I could foresee my feet getting wet!

Other than that, it looks like a good tent.

Thanks for the excellent report on the Skiron tent, it sounds like it is nearly a good tent, this is the same as my Mountain Designs Nutrino 1 (1.4kg), I have been using this tent (one person) for three years now and it is nearly a good tent, it flaps around in the wind more than I would like it to and rain pools on the lower top and it has no air vent up the top of the entrance. I have thinking about doing some modifications to it to see if I can make it into a 4 seasons tent, more guy rope points for better stability in strong wind, a two way zipper,a vent at top of zipper,a light cloth door over the fly mesh on inner, a lighter floor could be put in.

The Nutrino 2 looks like it also might make a nice tent, it is 1.8 kg.

Tony

http://www.mountaindesigns.com/Index.cf ... ductID=108



Wheelers Hut Jagungal Wilderness KNP

[GR20]

In German language only! This is a great site not price wise but good tent reviews also from a lot of people who do the round the world thing and need to use the tents for a long time. I'm not associated with this site.
http://www.globetrotter.de/

[rcaffin]

The advantages of tunnel tents are for extreme conditions such as high wind. Unlike the more rigid tents, they will flex in string wind, shedding the force more easily. A rigid tent will not move so much, and will have to stand up to the full force of the wind.

Camped on Mt Anton last winter. It was clocking over 100 kph over the ridge. Got a bit noisy in the night, but the tent just sat there. Yep, tunnel tent, pitched end-on into the wind. Silnylon and carbon fibre poles - UL, but no worries.

OK, so we shouldn't have been there ... but the weather closed in and we could barely see our feet. One of those trips...

You can read about it in the next issue (Spring 08) of The Bushwalker (NSW Confed) at http://www.bushwalking.org.au/mag.html

Cheers

Edit by Mod - link now works.

[Ent]

Content removed by poster

[sthughes]

The Kathmandu Skiron also comes in a 2 person version called the Lansan.

The 1-2 person Skiron is on sale for $250 staring tomorrow. Woka - can you pitch the fly first on this tent?

[under10kg]

I actually owned a warmlight tent 20 years ago.
They were heaps better than anything on the market at that time.
I just wished it had come with the model in the photo.
The tent worked very well till it got stolen.