Hilleberg Unna 1 man tent – a review

Right,

I did mention that I would write a review after using the Unna and a couple of short trips later here it is.

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I bought the Unna as a multi-use tent for the majority of my camping and backapcking needs based on its strength and flexibility as I saw it. I wanted a tent that was outer first, free-standing, good headroom and able to put up with severe weather. The only trade off I could see at the time was the weight (The Unna weighs in at 2.1kg all in).

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The pitching of the Unna doesnt take very long, a couple of minutes, but there are a few caveats. Pitching is easier if the guylines are neatly banded up when the tent is packed away so that prior to the next pitching, they dont interfere with the spreading of the fly and the insertion of the poles. A small point but it does actually help (as with any tent), especially since Hillebergs do seem to have a lot of buckles, toggles, cinch straps and the like contained about their tents! Secondly, the tent is definitely quicker to pitch if the inner is not already connected to the outer. The outer fly goes up much smoother if pitched alone and then the inner can be inserted underneath and attached after. I guess the packing away of the inner/outer will very much dictate how easy it is to pitch all in one. Never really thought about this aspect with the laser Competition as there wasnt really the option to separate the inner and the fly. Here the Unna is very easily separated into inner and outer. Weather will influence my decision to pitch all in one or not as very wet weather will definitely see me opting for the outer first option.

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To erect the outer, the two poles of equal length feed through a continuous sleeve on the fly. There is then a short section of reinforced material in two corners on one of the fly side edges that receives the poles. Taking the free end of one pole, it is inserted into one of the plastic pole “cup” on the corner of the opposite fly side edge. The second pole is then inserted into its receiving plastic pole cup and in this action the shape of the fly fully erects into a dome. The poles are cinched down by the adjustment straps on the fly connecting the plastic receiving pole cups. At this stage the tent is taut and freestanding and it takes a few seconds to peg down the tent body. If it isnt windy there is no real requirement to peg out the guylines although as a habit I always do on mine.

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The inner is attached to the outer by a series of toggles and loops including the ground corners. This is easy to do hence my preference to separate the inner and outer for packing and pitching. The inner is the normal bright cheerful “Hilleberg yellow” and the groundsheet feels reassuringly tough and waterproof. One thing that I failed to notice until I was climbing in and out of the tent was that the entrance of the inner/outer is orientated for a left side sleeper. I am not sure of the %age split of side entrance tents on the market with reagrds to left or right handed sleeping but it is opposite to the Laser Competition I was so used to for the past few years. Its not a problem but did have me trying to work out why my sleeping position felt slightly odd to begin with!

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On the performance side of things I have had the tent in wet and windy conditions and very cold/still conditions so far. The Unna copes, as you would expect, very well with wind and rain. The inner dimensions of the Unna are bigger than the Laser Comp. and so this might affect the inner warmth on cold nights perhaps as there is more airspace to heat up. Its probably negligible and in fact the latest trip had the temperature down at -6 deg C and I was comfy inside the tent (the exped down mat did help :D). I will have to take the tent out a few more times and probably do a few exposed pitches to fully test out the capabilities and fathom out any quirks and best techniques for pitching it.

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The quality of the materials is as good as you would expect from Hilleberg. The pegs are solid and functional although I may replace one or two with larger V-pegs for the guylines and the corner ones with skewers to lighten the weight a bit. The guylines are extremely robust and solid and the poles too. As mentioned above the inner floor material is top notch and the inner body material water resistent. The outer fly material is strong and oozes quality.

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Overall, I have been pleased with the Unna but as with any tent there are a couple of very minor quibbles. The first of these is the lack of porch which was known prior to buying. The simplest answer is to unpeg one of the corners, peel back and create a “virtual” porch. This is ok but I feel that I might indulge myself and either make or commission a bespoke inner that is shallower than the supplied inner to create a better porch. The inside dimensions are quite generous for one person and so the loss of some of this space will not unduly affect the livability of the tent. I’ll have a think on that one to see if its an annoyance or not long term. Having said all that there is in fact a little bit of porch (about 6 inches of outer and inner separation) which is large enough to put your shoes in overnight which when the outside is very wet is quite handy to reduce dirt ingress. The other small thing to note is that the inner hangs quite loosely from the out fly attachement toggles and this actually makes the inner feel smaller than it should. Its easily fixed as I can shorten the elastic connectors or replace with 2mm line/line-loks. Again, I will use the tent a few times to see if this is an annoyance I can live with or not long-term.

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The last thing is to compare it with the Hilleberg Soulo which is a similar tent and one I have owned previously. I think all things considered, the Soulo is probably a slightly better designed tent with some clever features. The Soulo fly clips onto the poles rather than feeding through a fly sleeve like on the Unna. This might be a better bet in cold and windy weather. Secondly the presence of a porch and nicely fitting inner is also slightly better than the Unna’s arrangement (for the reasons stated in the previous paragraph). Having said that, I think the Unna is slightly more versatile than the Soulo because it the fly can be opened fully along the front edge giving superb access and views (the Soulo’s third pole slightly obstructs the access and views to/from the tent). Also the Unna has better headroom and is slightly lighter. I think where the Unna will score well in my eyes is the option to use it as a tarp tent (outer only) and then the improved access and room within will really tell.

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So to summarise, the Unna is a very well made, 4-5 season tent that is easy to put up and take down and has the flexibility to enable it to be used in a variety of ways. Its has a few niggles (what tent doesnt) but these arent showstoppers and can be solved in a variety of ways if it warrants it after more usage and testing. I look forward to using this in the spring and summer and especially when the opportunity arises to use a bug net or bivvy to lighten the overall weight.  The signs are good and I hope I will learn to love this as much as the Laser Competition.