Winter 4 season tent

[kcscout]

Looking for options of 4 season tents I really liked the look / construction of the North Face Bastion 4 tent, but have heard great reviews of the Hilleberg tents. I picked up a Hilleberg catalog today and it has some great information, but looks like their tents are really expensive. For me it wouldn't be practical to have a canvas tent and stove, etc.. That's not an option... (in case that came up)

Need a minimum of 2 person tent, preferably 3 person, and maximum of 4 person tent.

Did some recent 'freezing cold' weather camping and so I need something with less mesh than my 3 season tent.

[MacGyver]

Re: Winter 4 season tent

If you have the money, go with a Hilleberg. I've been looking at tents for years, mostly reading and comparing reviews online. The only con I've ever seen written about the Hillebergs is the price. Evidently, they're "all that".

[hwc1954]

Re: Winter 4 season tent

I think the question on the Hillebergs is whether or not you prefer the pitch from the outside fly design. That is surely the better approach if you will be pitching in storms and rain and wind. However, the more typical freestanding two wall tent with the poles supporting the inner, covered by a fly, may be a little easier to deal with if it's just cold.

If you like the North Face design and can live with a slightly smaller 3 person tent, Moontrail still has the Marmot Thor 3P for $460:

http://www.moontrail.com/marmot-thor-3p.php

This is a very robust free-standing two-wall tent with 6 poles. Same materials as the North Face. Not quite as fancy as the Hillenberg fabrics, but very strong and very substantial. I picked one up for cool weather camping because all of the mesh vents (doors and ceiling) have zip covers to seal everything up. It was comfy camping with temps in the mid 30s. It'll handle much more snow and wind than I can.

The difference in fabrics is that Marmot and the North Face use silicone nylon with a PU coating on the inside for their 4 season tents. Hillenberg uses nylon treated with more silicone treatments and no PU coating. The Hillenberg silnylon has stronger tear strength, however the PU coating allows factory seam sealing. In gale force winds the stronger fabric is a plus. In more normal conditions (winds <60 mph), it probably doesn't matter.

Here's mine, set up the first time:



Here's one on Everest. I can't tell if it's the 2P or the 3P. They are identical:

[kcscout]

Re: Winter 4 season tent

I have to admit that I'm a big advocate of the Marmot tents. I own 3 tents.. one coleman collecting dust in the garage that is a very doable nice weather tent, a 3p limelight which for me means enough room for me and my gear to be on the inside versus the vestibule. It always feels hard getting in and out of the tent, but once I'm in things are comfy. and then got a marmot capstone 6p tent for possibly family camp outs... It has gotten less use.

The last campout I had ice on the inside of the fly and it was very cold and windy. I stayed warm, (for the most part) with a very good sleeping bag, but I want a way to close up the mesh. My preference would be one where I can have mesh and fabric to cover up so I could choose how much ventilation to get or if I was not going to have any. The thing I liked about the north face was the dome shape, extra room, extra strong, and I could find it a lot cheaper on one of the web sites. I think a comparable Hilleberg might be pushing between $1k-1,500

I'm not sure how much I like the idea of pitching a tent from the inside, but on the other hand, if it is pouring down rain then it makes a lot more sense to keep your inside tent dry. I was cold pitching my tent recently and it was extremely windy, but found a good cover of trees to help block some of the wind.

[MacGyver]

Re: Winter 4 season tent

Before I went canvas, I kept looking at the Hillebergs and the Marmot Thor 3P. Didn't like the price of the Hillebergs or the number of poles to deal with on the Marmot. The pole issue is why I ruled out the Saivo from Hilleberg. But I definitely liked the idea of the tunnel tents Hillebergs for the ease of setup. The Keron, the Nammatj and the Kaitum tents just look so easy to put up. Having the fly attached to the inner tent seems like something more companies would be doing. But, after all of that and had I not gone to a canvas cabin tent, I probably would have gone with the Thor. That's a lot of tent for the money.

Just throwing all that out so kcscout can agonize over the decision like I did.:p