OWNER REVIEW

Hilleberg Unna Mountaineering Tent
Richard Lyon
January 30, 2007

Personal Details and Backpacking Background

Male, 60 years old
Height: 6' 4" (1.93 m)
Weight: 200 lb (91 kg)
Email address: rlyon AT gibsondunn DOT com
Home: Dallas, Texas USA

I've been backpacking for 45 years on and off, and regularly in the Rockies since 1986.  I do a week long trip every summer, and often take three-day trips.  I'm usually camping in alpine terrain, at altitudes 5000 to 13000 ft (1500 - 4000 m).  I prefer base camp backpacking, a long hike in with day trips from camp, but I do my share of forced marches too.  Though always looking for ways to reduce weight, I'm not yet a lightweight hiker and I usually choose a bit more weight over foregoing camp conveniences I've come to expect.

Product Details

Unna, which means "small" in Sami, a native Scandinavian language, is a double-wall, single-door, exo-skeletal, freestanding, dome-style, one-person tent from the Swedish manufacturer Hilleberg the Tentmaker.  Hilleberg describes the Unna as "A fully free standing ultralight solo tent that can be pitched anywhere, anytime."

Manufacturer: Hilleberg the Tentmaker AB, Frösön, Sweden

Websites: www.hilleberg.com (North American site); www.hilleberg.se (European site).
Year of manufacture: 2003 or 2004
Year of Purchase: 2005 (I bought it used.)
MSRP: $405 US; €499 (See Company note below.)
Length, listed 91 in/230 cm*; measured 90.5 in/230 cm*
Width, listed and measured 44 in/110 cm
Height, listed 40 in/100 cm; measured (at peak) 40.5 in/103 cm
Floor area, listed 27.0 ft^2/2.5 m^2

"Minimum weight" (inner and outer tents + poles), listed 4 lb/1.8 kg, measured 4 lb 2 oz/1.9 kg 
"Packed weight" (tents, poles, stakes, stuff sacks, instructions), listed 4 lb 7 oz/2.0 kg; measured 4 lb 8 oz/2.0 kg  
Packed size, measured: 19 x 7 x 6.5 in/48 x 18 x 17 cm
          (*Note: All metric conversions in listed sizes and weights come from Hilleberg's website, all conversions in measured units from me.)
Colors: Red outer tent; also available in dark green.  Yellow inner tent with black sewn-in floor.
Materials: Kerlon 1200 outer tent; DWR-treated 30 d high tenacity rip-stop nylon inner tent.
Includes: Tent, two shock-corded poles, six viper pegs, six square pegs, separate stuff sacks for poles, stakes, and entire tent, instruction manual (in English, Swedish, and German).
Warranty (from the North American website): "All items are covered by a lifetime warranty. Damages from accidents, inappropriate handling or lack of care are not covered under the warranty. All repairs not covered by the warranty will be carried out at a minimal cost.
You can never buy the 'wrong' tent from us. You have the right to return the product to us within 15 days provided it is in new condition (not pitched outside). As soon as we have received and approved the returned goods, you will be credited within a few days."

Company Note

Hilleberg is a family business that is much better known in Europe than in the United States.  The children of founder Bo Hilleberg are now in charge of operations, with Rolf Hilleberg running the company's European operation and Petra Hilleberg the United States subsidiary Hilleberg USA, based in Seattle, Washington.  The Hilleberg.com website has separate pages, with different formats (and different prices) but comparable product information, for North America and Europe; the European site is accessible in Swedish and German as well as English.  Each site includes a large amount of helpful information (fun reading, too) about Hilleberg's history, design, manufacture, materials, and philosophy; additional information about tents in general; and photo galleries of the tents in various field locations around the world.

The North American website lists twenty-two dealers in fifteen states, and notes that Hilleberg will ship any tent free to any US location.  Elsewhere Hilleberg will ship (not free) to any country in which it does not have a dealer.  Today that's any country except Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Hilleberg manufactures all its tents in its own factory in Estonia. 

Product Description

The Unna is the only shelter designed as a one-person tent that I now own.  For several reasons – preference for base camp backpacking, mild claustrophobia, high satisfaction with my Bibler Ahwahnee two-person tent, and force of habit – I'll often pack a larger tent even when camping solo.  Though I've owned double-wall ("twin-skin" in Imperial parlance) tents in the past, the Unna is also the only such shelter now in my gear closet, a direct consequence of my experience with Bibler's Todd-Tex fabric.  I had seen Hilleberg tents occasionally while sailing in the Stockholm Archipelago some years ago, and decided to augment my roster of shelters when I found one for sale online.

The Unna, like almost all Hilleberg tents, employs an exo-skeletal design.  Instead of a tent body over which a lightweight fly is stretched an exo-skeletal tent takes its shape from a floorless "outer tent" made of heavy-duty waterproof material that is clipped to a slightly smaller, identically shaped "inner tent" made of lighter-weight breathable fabric with a sewn-in floor.  The ripstop fabric Hilleberg uses for the inner tent is DWR-treated to repel condensation that may build up between the tents, but is not claimed to be waterproof.  The two tents are connected by means of toggle-and-loop connectors; the Unna has three of these on each corner wall, along the underside of the pole sleeves. 

In my opinion the greatest advantage of an exo-skeletal tent is ease of set-up.  When I have packed the Unna with the inner and outer clipped together, all I have to do is lay the tent out flat, insert a pole into the open end of a pole sleeve (these are located in the two right corners of the outer tent), pull the fabric over the pole until the pole is seated in the closed end in the diagonally opposite corner, and repeat with the second pole.  If it's windy I'll stake out a tent corner first.  After I've set both poles, I adjust them with another Hilleberg innovation, the pole tensioners.  Small bucket-shaped plastic pockets are attached to the outer tent body at the open ends of the pole sleeves with a ribbon that can be pulled (one-handed) through a guide to lighten or add to the tension of the poles.  Stick the end of the pole into the pocket and I can a micro-adjust the tension to take account of variations in the ground.  I complete the pitching process by staking out the corners and guy lines.  Even in rough weather this entire process doesn't take much longer than a couple of minutes, I can accomplish all steps without taking my mittens off, and with the two tents clipped together I can set my shelter up in the rain without getting the inside of either tent wet.  As Hilleberg claims, "supremely easy to pitch." 

If it isn't wet the tent is similarly easy to strike and pack: I just push the poles out of their sleeves and fold up the tent.  Tents, poles in their stuff sack, and stakes in their stuff sack all fit easily into the large stuff sack supplied by Hilleberg.

The Unna has no vestibule.  I can improvise a small one by unclipping the two tents in a corner by the door, making a small area adjacent to the door that is large enough to store wet boots or camp shoes. 

Hilleberg advertises that either the inner or outer tent may be used separately as a very lightweight shelter.  After unclipping the inner entirely I can pitch the outer as above for a floorless tarp, or by using four pole holders (an accessory not included with the tent) pitch the inner as a fully floored but not waterproof single-wall tent.  I've only practiced this at home – it is very easy to pitch either - and so can't comment on field performance of either such standalone shelter. 

Each of the inner and outer tents has a large door with double zippers and a tie-off to allow the doors to be rolled up in good weather.  Standard equipment on the inner is a top third of no-see-um mesh with a zippered fabric panel on the inside.  The previous owner of my tent replaced most of the lower (fabric) portion with a panel of tulle fabric, a mesh so fine as to appear transparent, certainly better visibility than any no-see-um I've ever seen in a tent.  This also has a zippered fabric panel on the inside. 

A rectangular protective cover in Kerlon 1200 attaches to the dome of the outer tent.  Zipping or unzipping the doors is the only direct ventilation adjustment, but I can unclip the two tents at the top in the rear to increase the dead air space between the two tents, which aids evaporation somewhat.  The protective cover serves as a small awning over the front door – not large enough to keep out blowing rain when the doors are open but enough to divert rain falling on the tent down the front and sides when the doors are closed.

Field Use

I've taken my Hilleberg to the Rockies in every season but spring: a winter overnighter in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming last March (camp at about 8000 ft/2500 m); three-day trips in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming in September and October 2005 (7000 ft/2200 m), and a two-night trip in the Belly River area of Glacier National Park, Montana in July 2005 (5500 ft/1700 m).  Clear weather in July and October, a foot of snow overnight in March, and rain squalls and one spectacular but brief thunderstorm in September.  Temperatures ranged from 0 F (-18 C) at night in winter to 85 F (30 C) during the day in Glacier in July.  Nighttime temperatures on the autumn trips dipped slightly below freezing. 

I've never used a ground cloth with my Unna.  Hilleberg sells one as an accessory but when I called Hilleberg USA to inquire if it was necessary the friendly customer service representative informed me that none of the company's employees ever uses one.

Observations and Comments

Durability.  Hilleberg makes tough tents.  The company prides itself on its Kerlon fabrics, offering samples to allow prospective customers to try to tear them apart.  While the 1200 grade used in the Unna is the lightest weight and least strong of these, I've found it completely adequate for bad weather camping.  I had no sagging from that foot of snow last winter even though it fell after I fell asleep and before first light, meaning that I didn't get up to brush it off during the night.  I've not owned this tent long enough to subject it to serious abuse, but the man from whom I bought it had used it on two extended solo expeditions in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada, and the tent looked almost like new when I received it.  Hilleberg notes in its catalog that the pole sleeves on the Unna are wide enough for double-poling if that's needed for extra stability, something I haven't found necessary. 

Design.  I rate ventilation in this tent as adequate but not great.  On my winter trip I awoke to considerable frozen condensation on the ceiling, heavier near my head but visible throughout, despite the insulating snow on top of the tent.  I had a small amount of condensation in September, somewhat more in October, in the dry climate of Yellowstone.  As noted, the only adjustable "vents" are the tops of the tent doors, which I must keep almost completely closed when the temperature approaches freezing.  The small overhang of the outer tent and dome cover mean a risk of rain if I leave more than a few inches of both doors open at the top. 

Once I'm out of the tent, however, the condensation evaporates quickly, including condensation that's built up between the two tents.  If it's rained on a morning when I'm breaking camp, I'll unclip the two tents and carry the outer on the outside of my pack where, if it's not still raining, it dries quickly.

On fair days I really like the almost full-side door for views and breezes.  I like it for ingress and egress anytime, as I'm a big guy who's at his clumsiest when crawling into or out of a small tent.  I think I've mastered a technique for slipping in and out when it's raining so that only a few drops get inside. 

Twenty-seven square feet (2.5 m^2) make the Unna a very spacious solo cabin.  I selected the Unna over Hilleberg's other solo tent, the Atko, for the extra room and because I can sit up comfortably inside.  With its generous sizing, high side angles, and large doors, it's the least confining solo tent I've seen, perfect for a claustrophobe like me.

The trade-off of more inside space at the expense of a vestibule suits my own preference and experience.  Most of my summer hiking is in grizzly country, so I usually hang my pack, and with two large Bibler tents I've gotten used to storing things in the tent.  A vestibule in which to brew coffee on that cold winter morning would have been nice, though, and the "virtual vestibule" (Hilleberg's term) I describe above is too small to do that safely. 

The Unna hasn't erased my preference for single-wall tents but it has reminded me that a double-wall tent has advantages, most notably warmth in winter.  The exo-skeletal design greatly reduces two single-wall advantages, an easy pitch and easy storage.

Details.  Hilleberg also prides itself on details, as evidenced by a holdover custom from its pre-factory days.  Each tent includes a small tag with the individual tentmaker's name.  Silje Hansen, who sewed mine, has a right to be proud; all her stitching and workmanship is first-rate. 

Functional details abound.  I've mentioned the pole tensioners; I can't understand why all other tentmakers haven't copied this simple, really useful feature.  Double guy lines (one on each corner and one at the center of the front and rear walls) are sewn in and each has a small plastic slider for easy tension adjustment.  Each stake has a small loop of twine to facilitate pulling it out.  The floor of the inner tent comes up four inches (10 cm), enough to keep dew out but not so high that I trip over it. 

Details are not static at Hilleberg.  The website and 2006 catalog illustrate several improvements, including a zipper to permit opening or closing the vent on the outer tent and small clips on the outer tent sleeve to add stability to the poles. 

Weight.  Using titanium stakes I can get the weight of my Unna down to just over four pounds (1.8 kg).  That's perhaps "ultralight" in comparison with other Hilleberg tents, and not bad for a fully-floored winter tent by any standards. 

What I Like

Plenty of room

Big door

Easy to pitch and take down

Small footprint and freestanding – I can pitch it almost anywhere.

Stable and sturdy

The mesh layers are on the outside, so I don't have to open the screen to close up the tent as I do on my Biblers.

Possible Improvement

The no-see-um panel on the inner tent door is almost opaque.  (Compare it to the tulle panel in the photo above.) Without that tulle addition I'd have difficulty seeing out.

Adjustable vents on the outer tent might help ventilation.  As noted, Hilleberg has addressed this on newer models.

The viper (V-shaped) stakes bend easily.  No longer a problem for me, however, as I've replaced the standard issue with my own preferred stakes all around.

I've had to add reflectors on the corners and guy lines.  Hilleberg has fixed this too; according to the 2006 catalog reflectors are now standard on all tents.

Hilleberg sells the pole holders for the inner tent for sixty cents (US) each, so it strikes me as a bit cheap not to include them as standard issue.

The Unna is not an inexpensive tent.  Price is only one component of value, however; I believe I got my money's worth and would have had I purchased it new.

Bottom Line

An excellent all-season solo shelter.  I really like my little red tent.