Niak 2 Person

Which tent are you talking about? My 2P Allak weighs a smidge over 3kg and is a geodesic, not a dome tent (a dome has two poles, hence a geodesic weighs slightly more). Yeah it’s too heavy for me to do solo hiking trips with, but when I’m with my partner, or when I’m kayak camping, it’s fine. It’s definitely overkill for summer camping though. But Hilleberg do “summer” (their Yellow Label) tents, of which there’s two dome tents: the Niak (1.6kg, but only one entrance so tricky for two people, but possible) and the Rogen (1.8kg) which are fine for almost all British weather, all year round. But the OP’s budget wouldn’t extend to a new Hilleberg anyway, so it’s not really relevant anyway 🙂 Hillebergs are worth considering if you camp a _lot_, otherwise there are plenty of more suitable options. Edit: as usual, I cannot fathom why I’m getting downvoted when I’ve posted a few basic facts here.

I own a few Hillebergs and swear by them. It’s very reassuring to know your tent is going to keep you safe when the weather gets really rough. I’ve camped all over the UK with them. I’m also a photographer/videographer so am always hauling gear around. My favourite Hillebergs are the Niak and the Nallo. The Niak is technically a three season tent but I’ll handle most British weather all year round. The Nallo is brilliant because it’s very spacious, has a large vestibule and is really quick to pitch. The Niak pitches very quickly too. The Niak is very similar to the Unna, but has a vestibule. The Soulo is amazing but frankly overbuilt for most British weather. I use mine during the winter for mountain camping but only when I’m feeling unsure about the weather, as it’s bulky and heavy for its size, and takes at least ten minutes to pitch. It is very cosy though; I was in some pretty poor weather this past weekend and it shrugs off wind like nothing else. Some drawbacks to Hillebergs, apart from them being relatively heavy (compared to all the ultralight tents out there), is that the silnylon they’re made from sags a bit when wet, and they’re also not as well ventilated as a lot of newer, especially American tents. Even their three season tents lack apex vents and such, so they’re a little more prone to condensation in our humid climate. And of course they’re very expensive. But they’ll last a lifetime if you take care of them. I know people who’ve got 20+ year old Hillebergs that still look great. Not many tents last that long. Oh and yeah, ignore the YouTubers. They’re either getting loads of free tents and giving them positive reviews because they’re the flavour of the month, or they’re giving glowing reviews because they’re trying to get free tents. The only person who does tent reviews that I really trust is Matti on the Jokkmokkguiderna channel.

I have the standard Nallo. I did agonise over whether to get the GT or the standard and in the end I simply chose the lighter option. I do sometimes still wonder if I should have gone for the GT though, especially in very bad weather. But the vestibule on the standard is quite spacious too; it’s overtaken my Allak as my primary choice for sea kayaking trips as the vestibule is actually big enough to get easily changed out of wet gear in. Bonus! And that very quick two pole pitching is brilliant. I’ve never owned an Unna but as mentioned, my Niak is very similar and I absolutely love that tent. Dome tents, like geodesics, are very versatile as you can essentially put them together and then find an optimal place to peg them down. The Unna, unlike the Niak, doesn’t have a vestibule but I know most people just unclip the inner to make one when needed. I can certainly see the attraction of a very storm worthy tent than pitches faster than the Soulo, and I guess that’s the Unna’s strength. I believe the Soulo can comfortably fit people your height. I’m only 5’5” so I find the Soulo quite spacious and generally keep all my gear with me inside the tent, instead of storing any in the vestibule. I’m not sure whether you’ll be able to do that at your height, but the inner does have a slightly triangular shape to it, so there’s a space alongside where your mat goes where you could store camera gear. Your backpack would probably have to go in the vestibule though. I wouldn’t bother getting any of Hilleberg’s Black Label tents for UK camping. Their Red Label tents will handle pretty much all of our weather (their Black Label tents are basically made for arctic expedition use, and I honestly don’t understand why anyone would carry around that kind of weight when they don’t need it!).

While I don’t have experience with the specific tents you’re looking at, my advice would be to go with Hilleberg if price isn’t a differentiating factor. I’m sure either would work great for you - beautiful products from both companies.  I have a Slingfun Portal and I absolutely love it, but Hilleberg design is in their own class. I’ve spent probably 40-50 nights in a friend’s Hilleberg, vs. maybe 30 in my newer Slingfin, and the small details of the Hilleberg win the day. Slingfin’s design is top notch and they have great attention to detail, but Hilleberg takes the same care, attention, and no holds barred approach to quality but you know that every detail has been refined through an order of magnitude more cycles of use and abuse in absurd conditions. All the cool details that sound like a great idea on paper but don’t fully pan out in the real world have been weeded out by Hilleberg leaving an absurdly refined design.  A hardware product developer by trade, I can only aspire to that level of design quality. 

Hilleberg is solid but damn those prices hurt. If you're not doing serious mountaineering the MSR Hubba series is way more reasonable and still built like a tank

People shit on hilleberg prices till they use a hilleberg in less than ideal weather. I’ll tolerate the price for the long life and ability to handle some nasty weather. Most places in the states below tree line don’t need one though.

Came here to say this… I get the ultralight thing, but if I’m going somewhere that’s a possibility I’m just gonna take my Hilleberg.

That can happen in any tent. Happens in both of my Hillebergs.