I bought an Akto from US in 2003, and used during 3 alpine trips in Switzerland. I loved the light weight and very smart design, but fund the height above my head when sleeping is somehow too low in my opinion. During a winter trip, my face was just 20cm or 30cm below the inner tent. Condensation was not an issue for me. And the Akto was well made. I sold this Akto in 2004, and “upgraded” to an Unna, much more room for just 450 g more. In my experience, Hilleberg tents weight around 30 to 50 g LESS than What they descript on website. The grade of 3 is due to the customer service. The pole of my Unna was broken last month during a winter trip. After checked with the shop, I discovered my pole was actually a 2002 or older model, these poles are no more in production(they have the tendency to damage the tent channel because the junctions are salient). The shop want to sell me a new pair of pole, unhappy, I wrote to Hilleberg as my 2004 tent is under guarantee, and want a pair of 2004 poles. To be fair, The customer service of Hillberg (Kenneth ) was quite reactive. But after 3 mails, they ask me to deal with the shop because they think it was the fault of the shop… What’s a shame! considering a friend of mine(an European origin customer) have a VE25 (TNF) tent, when the poles were broken, the customer service of TNF had replaced it without any hassle. and generally speaking, TNF wasn’t renown for their service quality.

Customer Service

could be better

Similar Products Used:

Unna, Bibler, terra-nova

I have used the Akto on 4 different trips... Gila Wilderness Area, Big Bend Nat'l Park & Ouachita Nat'l Forest (X2) and it definitely lives up to its hype. The tent with pole, stakes (I have subbed Ti stakes over the factory stakes), footprint & stuff sacks weigh in at just 4.4 lbs. and it stows in your pack in a fairly small area. Set up & tear down time is quick & overall construction is excellent. Once it's set up it has ample space for you inside with plenty of room head to toe, side to side as well as plenty of overhaed room to change clothes and move around. The vestible provides adequate room for your gear or dog. I've only had a problem with condensation once but it wasn't too bad... cetainly nothing to cry about. I haven't been in any really bad weather but I am certain that it will handle just about anything mother nature can conjure up short of a bolt of lightning. Overall Hilleberg makes a great product and I would highly recommend this tent for anyone interested in a 4 season solo tent. It doesn't get any better than this.

Customer Service

Quick response & friendly

Product information: Manufacturer: Hilleberg the tentmaker Model: Akto Year manufactured: 2000 Web site: www.hilleberg.com Manufacturers listed weight: 3lb., 13oz/ 1.36kg Delivered weight: 3lb., 13oz./1.36kg Price: $340.00 Occupancy: 1+ Gear Color options: Green and red Poles: 1-115.4”/293cm. X 8.8mm aluminum 5 section pole w/bag, extra pole section & repair sleeve Stakes: 10- 7”/17.5cm aluminum V-shaped w/stake bag Dimensions, interior tent: length: 86.5”/220cm, height: 35.5”/90cm, end width: 25”/63.5cm, center width: 40”/ 101.5cm exterior tent: length: 93”/236cm, height: 38”/96.5cm, end width: 29”/ 73.5cm, center width: 86”/218.5cm packed: 21”/53cm X 8”/20cm. Field conditions: I tested the Akto for 158 consecutive nights during my 2001 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Elevations varied from 200’ near the Hudson River in New York, to nearly 5,000’ in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina/ Tennessee, and in The White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire. The weather varied wildly over the six-month test. Cold & fog in Georgia, Sub freezing and 6” of snow in the smokys, heat, humidity, violent thunderstorms, driving rain, high winds, and hoards of mosquitoes in Virginia. This little tent performed admirably throughout! About the tent: This is a single pole exoskeletal design, meaning that the tent structure is in the flysheet rather than the interior tent body. This means that the whole tent can be pitched at the same time enabling you to keep the interior dry when erecting the tent in the rain. The 18.3sq.ft. / 1.7sq. m. interior is made of lightweight 1.1oz ripstop nylon and is water repellent and breathable and is so tightly woven that you can carry water in it. Droplets of condensation that drip from underside of the roof bead up and roll right off. The inner tent attaches to the flysheet with elasticized toggles and rings. Any section of the interior can therefore be unbuttoned and shoved into a corner to provide bare floor space (and a bit more headroom) for going through your gear, taking off wet rain gear or muddy boots, or for cooking. (be very careful). The 3.5oz floor is multiple polyurethane coated and seamless. It extends to 4“/ 10cm. above the ground. The interior door is on the long side of the tent and opens about 2/3’s of the tent. Two single slider zippers, one along the floor and one along the roofline access it. The door can be rolled and secured out of the way with a loop & toggle. It has a small, closable triangular no-see-um netting window. The fabric is a very pleasant bright yellow. Two clothesline loops and a gear pocket round out the interior features. The interior tent can be set up by itself with the addition of two separate pole holders (not included). The exterior tent is made of Kerlon 1500ä, a 2.3 oz silicon treated ripstop nylon with a 33psi. tear strenth....Strong!! This material absorbs no moisture, water droplets will shake right off. So far the fabric has shown no rips but the tent bag of the same material shows abrassion. Both ends of the flysheet are outward sloping to avoid entry of rain and are made of tightly woven mesh and include a rainbow shaped double slider zippered opening. These zippers are difficult to operate from inside the interior tent, especially at the foot end! To my surprise I have experienced no problem with moisture blowing in through the mesh ends. The four corners of the tent have 14“/35.5cm. long plastic stays to retain the shape, but require that you roll the tent rather that stuff it. I’ve been experimenting with other more flexable materials but so far have not come up with a workable alternative. (I prerfer to stuff and compress a shelter whenever possible). The tent exterior has six double V guy-out lines, two at each end (required), and one on each side along the pole sleeve for added stability in the wind. All guy lines come already attached to the tent and include a nifty tension adjuster . Each guy-out stake then puts tension on the fabric at two points. Once all staked out the tent is very taunt and experinced very little flapping in the wind. I never seam sealed the tent at all and would only get a single drop of water through the threads at the loop & toggle used to hold the exterior door open. A few drops of Sil-netä has permanently sloved that little problem. Should you wish to seam seal this tent please note that you will need both a silicon sealer and a polyurethane sealer as the pole sleeve is made of PU coated fabric and neither sealer will work well on the other fabric. The exterior door is a double slider zipper along the pole sleeve. The outer tent fits snuggly agaist the ground, virtualy excluding the weather and most flying insects but also restricting ventalation somewhat. Condensation was only a minor problem when using both interior and exterior due to the water repelancy of the inner tent, but more of a problem when using the outer tent alone. Leavi

Customer Service

Ordering was fast and simple on Hilleberg's web site. The tent has held up so well I've had no need to contact the company further.

I took my 2002 Akto on a Mt. Rainier climb in July of 2002. Gusty winds of over 70 mph destroyed a Mt Hardwear (4 season, model unknown - flattened), Sierra Designs Stretch Dome (broken pole), SD Prelude (imploded) and a North Face 4 season (mtn 25?- fly ripped in two). Two of us had Hilleberg Aktos that we had just purchased. Neither had any problems other than sleeping through all of the noise! Bulletproof.

Similar Products Used:

SD stretch dome expedition, Hilleberg Nammatj

After exhaustive comparisons and hours of research, I am convinced that the akto is the best 1 man 4 season tent on the market. Its size to weight ratio is unsurpassed. The design is nothing short of superb and the craftsmanship used to assemble the tent is second to none. Each tent has the individual makers name sewn directly on the inside. The tent design has won awards in Europe for its engineering superiority. All that being said, what sold me the was durability of the materials the craftsmanship and the use of space/weight ratio. The tent is basically separated in 2 spheres one being the sleeping compartment, the other the vestibule. The vestibule is bigger then alot of 2 man tents and easily holds a pack, boots and a stove for cooking. I have only had the tent for about 2 months, but its has been tested on 2 separate 3 days trips, where it kept me bone dry in a day of driving rain. I have encountered one perceived flaw. Because of the location of the vents,( very low, about ground level), the tent does tend to gather alot of condensation. I recommend sleeping with the door of fly open. Even so, I highly recommend this tent. I feel this tent will out live my days in the backcountry, and I look forward to passing in on to my children.

Similar Products Used:

None

I bought an Akto from Sweden about two years ago. Have used it extensively in the Japan Alps, the French Alps, and in the alpine mountains of Taiwan, where I live. It's excellent and makes camp a real pleasure. You have a great inner tent space with room for gear and sitting up (in one place only), as well as a vestibule with room for all your gear and a place to cook--all this at a super low weight that doesn't sacrifice reliability.

The real key to it is the fly fabric, three-times silicone coated both sides ripstop nylon. It is similar to sil-nylon now being used for tarps (such as Integral Designs), but is a much beefier version. Hilleberg states the tear strength is six times conventional fly fabric. And the fly fabric is treated twice for UV resistance.

In France the Akto weathered extremely high winds (over 40m/s) and here in Taiwan it has been through torrential sub-tropical downpours. It's a tent that makes you feel secure, especially important, I think, when you're going solo in deep backcountry.

I outfitted the Akto with a hefty .433 pole, recommended for winter use (That, plus a ground sheet for the inner, which I don't always use, and one for the vestibule, adding $40 above the cost). Given the possibility of a sneak typhoon here, I thought it would be best. I once sat out a typhoon in a Marmot Bastille--a true bomb shelter but with a trail weight of 4.5 kg, too much.

Condensation in the Akto: even with the vents open, or again, even with the vestibule door open, there is always some condensation. Sometimes when I sit up in the tent my head would brush against the inner and touch the fly, but the water doesn't pass through the inner. Hilleberg says that you could carry water in the permeable inner fabric. So condensation has never been a
problem. I just like to wipe the inside of the fly with a cloth before packing so that I don't carry a little extra water weight.

Inner: The fabric quality and gold color of the inner make a pleasant place to lounge around in. With the exoskeleton design (one pole in the outer fly running across your waist), you can set up the tent without getting the inner wet. In addition, the inner can easily be quickly detached to create a little more temp space or air if you need. (If it's a very warm day, the inside is hot).

Vestibule: Now this is one of the real luxuries that'll make you miss those solo trips. The Akto's vestibule is big enough for all your gear and cooking. and if you want more temp room, just undo the inner. With the optional vestibule footprint, you can kiss mud goodbye.

I modified the tent by adding a small rain flap over the outside door. Hilleberg people balked and said it was unnecessary, but I find it allows me to keep the outer door zipped open at the top, allowing for a bit more ventilation in the tent since the two vents are both placed low. In addition, I changed all the zipper pulls, taking off the metal pulls that come with the tent and putting on triptease pulls that look nice with the gold of the inner and don't jingle.

You can use the outer alone as a low weight reliable tarp for two, but there wouldn't be room for gear.

Since i go alone in some occasionally nasty country, i want a tent that is reliable and weatherproof.(This is why I shy away from tarps). Akto gives me that PLUS a low weight. I think if you take confidence from your shelter, this is a great one to have.

Friends, I want reliability and durability, not just excellent space-to-weight ratios. I wonder who agrees with that?

Tents are one thing that make a real difference to my backcountry trips (I like 'em extended, as long as I can get away from work). I trash just about everything else, but a high quality tent that is comfortable and fun and made

Liked this tent so much that I bought their Nallo 2 (net weight 4 lbs. 3oz.) and the luxuriously spacious Nammatj 2GT (6 lbs.3 oz with a huge hooped vestibule that is almost the size of the inner tent). Everybody who has seen the Akto--except frustrated mosquitoes--has been impressed by its function, light weight, and reliability.

Akto compresses to a very small size, something like 5" x 15" or less.

Customer Service

Responsive and responsible. Hilleberg's service is excellent and your tent bears the name of the person who sewed it. Plus, now you can order directly on-line. It means a company that takes real interest in the experience you have, not just the product you buy.

Similar Products Used:

Before I bought this tent I considered and/or tried other solo tents, including
the Moss Superfly (forget it in a real storm), the Garuda/Dana Designs Jalan-Jalan (single walls and really wet rainy rainy weather haven't worked for me), the Mountain Hardwear Solitude and Microswift (really just roomy bivies), as well as the various single pole solo tents (Moss Helix and TNF Canyonlands).

Exped Equipment in Switzerland (www.exped.com) makes a very light bivy style solo tent called "solestar" that looks like Eureka's "solitaire gossamer" better made and coul even sleep two. But the Akto offers more "livable space" since you can sit up. And unlike TNF Canyonlands and other one pole solo tents, it could be much more reliably weatherproof and *durable*. Plus, Akto is a real four season tent.

The only lightweight solo tent I'd consider other than Akto is the single wall Integral Designs MK1 Lite, or perhaps the Spacepacker from Robert Saunders (UK: www.robertsaunders.co.uk). John Macri, whose experience and opinions I trust a lot, has great things to say about the ID tent (check www.backpacking.net)

If the Akto's price is too steep: if the weather is good, go for a Canyonlands or a Eureka Zephyr XT. If the weather is gonna be bad, go for the MH solitude. If you're expecting a little of both, go for the exped solestar.

But you might just consider that the Akto will probably outlast any of these tents, making it worth it in the end.