Hilleberg Akto Review: The best stand -alone tent

Hilberg, small, The unstable Swedish company, quietly explodes some of the healthiest, the most difficult, the most resistant to the wind and the atmospheric, the best made background shelters that you can buy for decades. Akto was first launched in 1995 and has observed only one design change throughout these years. That is why Hilberg has something like a cult studies. Hilberg’s pants are also very expensive, which has always left me wondering: “Is it worth it?”

To find out, I had Hilberg to send me his iconic four seasons, a tent with one person, a hoop -kto. With a retail price of $ 740 (although you can find it less on sale), it’s not cheap, but after using it for almost two weeks this fall and in winter, I think it’s absolutely worth the money. Akto is The best tent I have ever used With a very wide margin. It’s not perfect but it’s the best solo tent you can buy, and I’m almost sure it’s the only thing made by nylon Buy it for Life GuideS

Think of different

Photo: Scott Gilbertson

Akto was an innovative tent when it arrived on stage in 1995 (for reference, the name means “alone” in the language of Sami, the indigenous population of northern Scandinavia.) At that time, almost no one was doing four or four tents of one season, no one He used silicone nylon-now the standard fabric for light tents-and no one was making tents on the hoop. Quickly ahead to this day and while a significant part of the outdoor industry now does such things (eg. Scarp on TarpTent 1), Akto remains more or less the same tent. When something works, do not mess with it. (Although Technical Hilberg added Little Vent Hood through the fly door at some point and I’m glad they did it. This may be my favorite feature.)

Enough story, let’s get into the tent. Unless you have used ultra -light Cottage Industry tents, this is probably very different from most backpack tents you used.

There are two things that divide Akto into Hilberg. The first is the hoop -style design. The other thing that makes this tent different is the fabric, which is more difficult and easier (though it may not be over -light) than most other tents I have tested. More about it below.

Akto is not freely standing. The design consists of a curved pillar in the middle of the tent, like the hoop of a covered wagon. The edges are then bets on this curved central pole, with two stakes at each end. There are some benefits of free -standing design, such as being able to easily move the tent after it is installed. But after spending time with Akto and other non-frustrated designs, I found out that I was fine with compromises. Jumping the free-standing design gives you a lighter tent, with a large low-end wind profile, while remains strong enough if the wind is shifted at night. In addition, it is easier to put.

Photo: Scott Gilbertson