Crux or Hilleberg?

This is driving me insane! I'm trying to decide on a tent that can handle winter a few hundred miles inside the arctic circle in Norway & the Alaskan interior. I have narrowed this down to 3 tents and please don't suggest any others because I might just hang myself. So the options are:

Crux X2 Storm (just under 3kg) £350

Lightwave t2 Arctic (just over 3kg) £450 

Hilleberg Nammatj 2 (just under 3kg) £525 (inc footprint)

Bit more info: I'll be solo and I won't be pitching it on the side of any mountains. Price is a pretty big issue (but not dying is also pretty important too). Weight is also pretty big issue and means the Lightwave is the heaviest I'm willing to go for at around 3.2kg.

I'm leaning towards the Crux X2 Storm but just what can it handle? I've ruled the Crux X2 Bomb out because of weight.

The Crux can handle almost anything that's likely to be thrown at it.  As can the other 2.

My usual issue with it is it's a bit small for 2, but if there's just the one of you that's something of a moot point.

No need to get a footprint for the Nammatj.  The groundsheet is already pretty heavy duty, very probably more so than the Crux.

The Nammatj is easier to pitch, especially in a blow and on your own, than either of the others. Another nice thing about it is you can dismount the inner for a lot more cooking/sorting dirty gear space without having to worry about the inner getting manky.

But bottom line is any of these tents are good choices and up to the job.  Or you could save some weight with a Soulo... (sorry!)

I owned a X2 Storm for 2 years and it a great tent but if I was to buy again the porch on the t2 artic would swing it for me for longers trips with the X2 storm fine for a couple of nights.

As  Pete syas the Soulo would be a fantastic tent

If money wasnt an issue at all I'd pick the Nammatj but with a saving of £175 I'd go for the Crux, although I agree with Peter as well, you wouldn't really need a footprint and do you really need all that space, the soulo would be a great tent...

There is a very in depth video review of it on the Hilleberg website.

The Nammatj will be easiest to pitch in bad weather, being out first or simultaneous. Hillies are also designed to be easy to put up on your own with impared dexterity (eg, mittens, cold hands, whatever). My Soulo is dead simple to put up even in atrocious weather, but it isn't the most roomy tent ever devised. You presumably run the risk of being tent-bound for a period of time for weather reasons; you don't want to be slotted into the smallest space possible if that happens.

The Lightwave has the advantage that it has a huge porch into which you could stick all manner of stuff. It also has 3 poles on the accomodation section, so it'll be slightly sturdier under some circumstances than the Nammatj which even in its GT form only has 2 there, so it'll suffer a little more from flapping or snow loading. Inner pitch first though, so it loses to the Nammatj there, but on the flip side an inner-first tent is often less flappy than an outer-first one.

The Crux will be really sturdy under strong winds, and it'll flap a whole lot less. It'll be harder to pitch or strike in bad weather though, especially on your own. I also suspect that geodesics are easier to damage when pitching or striking in bad weather, which may be a more serious concern. Tunnels also tend to withstand really nasty weather well by flexing and compressing and a geodesic is less able to do that without failing... feel free to file that little factoid under FUD though!

In terms of size, the Lightwave appears to have a substantially bigger acccomodation section... 150cm wide, vs 130 for the Nammatj and 120 for the Crux, and 120cm high vs 100cm fr the Crux and 95cm for the Nammatj. How accurate or even relevant those figures are the in real world, I don't know. But if you're going to be stuck for a while, or you brought a friend, or you needed to provide emergency accomodation, that extra space might be well worth it...

I have a t2 xt (not the arctic version) and it has the same footprint. The tent is spacious and the vestibule is an excellent space. If you do get a ground sheet protector for the main tent it is roughly the same size and shape as the vestibule so I use one as a ground sheet for the vestibule.  I also have the standard t2 flysheet. You could check with Carol McDermott at crux/lw about whether the t2 arctic interior can be combined with a standard flysheet to give you a modular system for year-round use.

I've not owned a hille but I suspect that they are somewhat easier to pitch solo. I've never had any trouble with the t2 but that seems partly due to it's magical ability to scare off foul weather . Or maybe it's because I've mostly used it in Southern France ???!

I've not owned a hille but I suspect that they are somewhat easier to pitch solo

Before we settled on a Kaitum we had a side-by-side test pitch of a t2xt and a Nallo 2 GT in Tiso's.  I'd say the LW was the nicer tent once pitched but the Hillie was far, far easier than to set up.  It went up all in one, very straightforward while the LW you had to get the inner first, then get a large sheet of very slippery nylon over the top and then you had to get the porch-pole inside said large sheet of very slippry nylong where it flopped over the front.  That was with 3 of us working together in a walm, windless shop, admittedly the first time 2 of us had seen it but none involved were exactly new to tents.

Pete.

A slightly silly comparison: putting tents up in strong, turbulent wind as found behind a light aircraft.

• Lightwave t2 ultra
• Hilleberg Nammatj 2

The Hille gets slightly stronger wind (70km/h vs 60) and it looks an awful lot like the Lightwave is pitched with rather more skill. I'm sure I've seen a video of one of the extended Lightwave tunnels being pitched in similar circumstances and looking an awful lot worse, but I can't find it.

A Youtube search for 'zeltaufbau im sturm' will turn up a few more of these Fliegfix videos. The one of the Soulo is in stronger wind still, and looks twice as easy

I only know the Nammatj of the three. Weighs about 2,8-2,9 kg I'd say. You can get no lower than 2,6 kg even if you cut of the zipper "handles" and replace with string. Still heavy, but as bombproof a tent can be. You're completely secure no matter what, if you pegged it down properly of course. Very easy to set and strike camp, even when tired and with numb cold fingers. Dry and snug. Very good ventilation. Easy to take away inner tent and make absid/porch larger when cooking inside tent. I would actually consider the GT version in snowy/wet condition, you tend to need the extra space if nothing els so for cooking out of the wind and being able have everything "inside" without getting wet in the innertent.But it seems a bit "overweigth" for one of course.

Serriadh,

you'd hope that Carol McDermott could put the tent up with skill given he designed it...

Peter,

I've only used the t2 xt car camping. I put the porch pole into the flysheet before trying to drape it over the inner. If it was raining, I'd put start with putting the porch pole in the flysheet and then try to thread the inner poles underneath. Undoubtedly inner-fly pitching together of the Hille is preferrable but ... ahem... I only paid (a small pile of beans) for my t2 so I've been delighted with it.

John

Hi John,

It is possible to pitch Lightwaves as one, takes a bit pf pricatice but can be done

aceofspades wrote (see)

there's still enough time for me to change my mind about 3 million times.

Whilst you're sitting around twiddling your thumbs, you could pay a visit to Exped's website and take a look at some of their stuff... reasonable price and weight, unconventional geometries, outer first/simultaneous pitch, that sort of thing. 

aceofspades wrote (see)

please don't suggest any other

Muhahahaha.

I know you asked for no other tents but was reading a mag in a doctors waiting room today, i believe it was a spring edition that was doing comparison reviews of a load of 2 birth tents and a Jack Wolfskin came second, a hilleberg came first (not the nammatj). I thought it worth a mention cause there tents are so much cheaper, there was about 6 - 7 in the group test. Its minor failing was weight.  Sorry I can't be more precise, it really was a very quick flick.