User Review: Hilleberg Staika

Reviewed January 11, 2008 by Tipi Walter

Rating: rated 4.5 of 5 stars

Here is a follow up report of the Hilleberg Staika after extensive use and many winter backpacking trips.

The main problem I found with this green dome 3 pole tent is the umbrella fly's attachment points. The fly connects to the tent using 6 plastic toggles which insert into 6 plastic rings, all beefy and strong. The toggle is connected to a short piece of webbing which is adjustable with a plastic ladder buckle. In warm weather this system works great, in ice-cold rain that freezes solid, this system is pitiful and nearly impossible to use.

The webbing freezes stiff so the ladder buckle won't allow adjustment, that's one problem. The other is that the webbing behind the toggle won't bend enough to let the toggle pass out of the ring. It's all one big complicated mess. And as far as I can tell, the umbrella fly must detach in order to remove the poles from their short bottom sleeves in the process of taking down the tent.

I emailed Hilleberg about this several weeks ago but have not gotten a reply. The only solution is to warm each point IN THE MOUTH to thaw enough to detach, or to use hot water in some way. I find such a problem to be ironic in a tent purported to be at home in the Arctic. I would be interested to see how the owners of other Hilleberg tents that use this system respond (Jannu/Saivo/Allak/Soulo).

Don't get me wrong, this is still a great tent and I'll continue to use it wholeheartedly as my main shelter.

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