Hilleberg Staika review

We needed an alternative for the failing Vango Tempest 300 and looked at Hilleberg again, but as we 'only' needed a smaller tent for Mike we also looked at alternatives. In the end we decided to go for the Hilleberg Staika as we still had a long way to go and didn't want to change tents every couple of months...

The Staika is with us now for a week or two as I'm writing this, so I can't say anything about long term use, other than that it feels every inch a Hilleberg and thus a high quality tent. It has had it work cut out though as we received it just before Idaho and Utah experienced unbelievable rainfall that caused flash flooding, landslides and damaging winds. The Staika took it all without a problem. It's totally different from the Keron but very well thought out, very roomy (a two person tent that actually has room for two persons plus camping gear) and again easy to pitch in adverse conditions. It has opening doors on either side, allowing you to open the other side if the wind changes and great for ventilation when it's hot.

1st update: The Staika has proven to be a Hilleberg through and through. It's extremely easy to pitch and a tent we have all come to like very much. It has been through torrential rains and heavy storms without giving even a hint of being tested by it all. It just performs day in day out!

2nd update: After just months of use the Staika developed the same problem as the Keron: the fabric had been weakened by UV radiation to a point where it simply tore open. It had shown a couple of design faults too, like water dripping in when we opened the inner tent in the morning and being unable to ventilate when it rains, causing bad condensation problems. The floor is leaking at the seams and both inner and outer tent had to be replaced due to material degradation. All in all we are unhappy with this tent, which in the end performed only marginally better than the Vango Tempest it replaced while being 3x more expensive...

For a more detailed report on the Hilleberg issues look at our Hilleberg Keron 4GT post here