I've been leading outdoor trips for years and was glad to have a chance to test this tent on a 10 back-country ski trip in northern Sweden. I was sorely disappointed to say the least. The materials are great, but the design is poor. In high winds the fly on top of the tent creates snow drifts which caused problems for us, and it was a very low design. Marketed as an expedition tent I wouldn't take it with me again. In general i have really enjoyed the Hilleberg tents I've used, but this particular model is a disappointment. Check out the Macpac Olympus, or its bigger brother, the Macpac Hemisphere - both outstanding. For lighter weight and better characteristics in wind try the Hilleberg Kaitum - a much better design

Customer Service

Hilleberg is a solid company with good support

Similar Products Used:

Many--- Macpac, Hilleberg, Vaude, Exped, TNF, OR, Fjällräven,

I agree with : The tent can double as a bomb-shelter.I only used it for a spot of winter-camping so far and not in any 'extreme' conditions, but what i've seen so far i'm impressed.Even without being fully fastend down it stands steadier than my Eureka Autumn Wind.I had little precipitation/condensation inside the inner tent even with the vent fully closed (but i was alone).The apsides are roomy enough for a fully packed 80l rucksack without touching the 'canvas'.The inner tent is quite spacy as well, due to its almost vertical walls and one is even able to sit comfortably when one is longer than 1,90m. The lenght of the inner tent is, somewhat surprising, only 2,2m ;which i think is a bit on the short side.A nifty detail: an attached clothes-line comes with the tent.
The only complaint i got: The pins that come with the tent break quite easily.All in all: I'm happy with the tent.

Customer Service

Awesome: I planned to buy a somewhat used tent from Hillebergs outlet, but appearantly the tent i looked at got sold to somebody else.The guy at Hillebergs got me a completly new one for the same price.Very impressive.
Made me a customer for life.

Similar Products Used:

Eureka Autumn Wind (3-season tent)
Fjällräven tarp

'ALL SEASON CLASS LEADING DESIGN AND QUALITY AT A PRICE'

Strengths:
Will take just about any weather;
easy to pitch, even in wind and rain;
good size vestibules compared to immediate rivals;
first class materials and construction;
freestanding for marginal pitches.

Weaknesses:
More expensive than a very expensive thing;
Heavy and bulky for backpacking if you don't need a Nuclear Bunker;
a little noisier in a real blow than alternatives.

Overall:
Most bombproof storm tents available seem to pitch inner first, which has never struck me as a Cunning Plan somewhere it rains as much as a UK tent pitch... The Tarra pitches inner and outer together, so there's no faffing about trying to thread the poles with the outer laid over the top to keep your inner dry. The poles are also all the same length, so no chance to get the wrong pole in. It pitches more painlessly than any of its immediate competition that I've seen. The guying is also more flexible than the competition, as with external poles you can just clove-hitch as many extra guys on as you want to bolt the tent down better in a real blow.

Once it's pitched and you crawl inside the first thing to notice is the porches are a fair size, certainly better than most similar geodesic storm tents. The inner is quite like those you'll find in the competition.
Because the structure is held in place through the outer, rather than by the inner as with most tents in this class, it's no problem unhooking the inner and rolling it back if you want extra party space while keeping the Inner Sanctum clean. It's possible to use the outer completely alone if you want, or the inner if you buy some optional pole holders.

In a real blow it rustles a bit more than some of the alternatives, which is slightly annoying but there's no feeling you're about to take off or the tent is about to fail. You just won't sleep /quite/ as well as you might. I think the greater tendency to rustle is primarily because of the extra material that gives you decent sized vestibules.

The materials are superb, with silicone elastomer coatings both sides for the fly to give the strongest fabric at its weight you'll currently find anywhere. This precludes the use of seam taping, but since that heat ages the fabric where it's applied and the seams don't leak anyway, so what?
The poles are complete extrusions, rather than extrusions with inserts for joints. That means they're as good as you'll get.
Groundsheet looks pretty bombproof, and you can add Hilleberg's "footprint" with supplied tie-on points for even more strength straight out of the stuff bag.

It's quite bulky compared to typical backpacking tents, but no worse than others in its class, and though it's relatively heavy at ~4.0 Kg (that's including everything, including spare pole section and repair sleeve) that's again no worse than the competition in the Portable Bunker category.

I use mine from a sea kayak where weight and bulk aren't issues, but it'd have to be pretty horrible before I took it walking or cycling. I'd sooner use a different tent (though quite possibly a Hilleberg one!) for things where a lighter tent is more apposite.

It's very pricey (I found it expensive even at £425 on an end-of-stock offer, and that was £160 off!) but if you want to be as bombproof as possible while retaining maximum pitching convenience and utilitarian amounts of porch space I can't find anything else on the market that looks as if it will do it all quite as well as the Tarra.

Customer Service

never needed it, though the company give rapid response to pre-sales enquiries

Similar Products Used:

Saunders Mountain Trek personally used, TN Quasar of friends used alongside and closely compared.