Review ~ Hilleberg Enan
- Heather Mackins
- Jul 23
- 6 min read
Hilleberg Enan ~ My thoughts one year on....
Last spring, I became the very proud owner of a Hilleberg tent!!! A monumental moment in my hiking career, since I had lusted over this brand of tents for many years before buying one! The brand had previously felt out of reach because of their astronomical cost but, the day had finally arrived, I had saved enough to purchase my first ever Hilleberg! I mean, I laugh at myself in retrospect ~ I have no pension or any other savings but at least I had enough to buy a Hilleberg tent! Hilarious, just about sums me up! Regardless, the joy was real - I was now the proud owner of a Hilleberg tent!
In terms of the model, I opted for the Enan which is a 3 season tent but modelled on their flagship 4 season Akto. I had chosen this model based largely on its weight and packability, since I use my tents heavily on long distance trails, where my pack weight is important. Of course, I wasted no time in putting this tent to the test and have gone on to use the tent on many an adventure! My first big adventure with the tent was my hike of the Alder Trail with Jim last spring where we hiked 101 miles from Fort William, through the mountains, eventually ending in Aviemore, this trail was a true test in itself as we were treat to plenty of rain and wind whilst on the trail and lots of rough ground to contend with too! Since then I have continued to use the tent lots including trips to the mountains of the Lake District and more recently I used the tent to hike the Cairn Toul Traverse in the Cairngorms and as my basecamp in Glencoe whilst I was guiding earlier in the season, I even used the Enan for the expedition part of my Mountain Leader assessment & well , are my final thoughts after one year of owing the Enan...
What Hilleberg say about the tent...
"We modelled the Enan after our award-winning, best-selling Akto, with the goal of making a three season version that was as light as possible while still having the strength we require from a Hilleberg tent. We knew that we could have made the Enan even lighter, but we also knew that doing so would yield less than “true Hilleberg” durability and function. We used the Akto’s proven single pole design and its single-ended full pole sleeve system, then reduced weight by using lighter, Kerlon 1000 in the outer tent and a very light inner tent fabric. At the same time, we kept the same 9 mm DAC NSL pole the Akto uses, because the weight savings of a smaller diameter pole is quite negligible, while the loss in strength is significant.
As with our other Yellow Label tents, the Enan’s venting system is built into its construction: a full mesh inner tent door, in combination with outer tent head and foot ends of tough mesh, both allows and encourages constant air flow. For very windy and rainy conditions, Kerlon 1000 fabric panels can be rolled down and secured to cover the outer tent’s mesh ends. When not in use, these panels roll up and stuff into integrated pockets.
During development, our testers used the Enan for everything from adventure travel in Southeast Asia, to backpacking trips in Europe and the US. All praised how easy it was to pitch, its roominess and its comfort, and all were quite impressed with its strength – and, of course, with its very pleasing light weight!"
Features
• Kerlon 1000 outer tent fabric and 9 mm poles make for a very lightweight yet strong tent.
• 3 season design: ventilation is built into the construction, and the inner tent mesh areas have no backing fabric panels.
• Single pole construction offers excellent space to weight ratio and is an outstanding choice for mobile journeys.
• Plenty of room for one occupant and his or her gear.
• Linked but separable inner and outer tent for simultaneous pitching.
• Basic pitching requires six pegs: two in the corners of both the head and foot ends, and one each in the head and foot end guy lines. The simple, single-opening, continuous pole sleeve and tensioner system is quick to pitch and remarkably stable.
• The single entrance/single vestibule configuration affords easy access as well as storage space.
• An optional footprint covers the entire area of the outer tent, including the vestibules. It connects directly to the tent, and can be left attached during pitching.
• The inner tent can be replaced with a Mesh Inner tent (sold separately).
• The outer and inner tents can be used separately. Pitching the inner tent alone requires optional pole holders (sold separately).
Specifications
Weight Specs
• Flysheet & inner weighs: 884g
• Poles weigh: 166g
• Total weight: 1050g
• Pegs x8 weigh: 76g
Construction + Materials
• Inner tent area: 1.7 m2/18.3 ft2
• Vestibule area: 0.8 m2/8.6 ft2
• Fly fabric: Kerlon 1000, 20 D High Tenacity Ripstop Nylon 66
• Fly treatment: Coated on both sides with a total of 3 layers of 100% silicone, and treated for UV resistance during dyeing and coating
• Fly hydrostatic head: 5000 mm/49 kPa (ISO 811)
• Fly tear strength: min. 8 kg (ISO 13937-4)
• Inner tent fabric: 10 denier Ripstop Nylon
• Inner tent treatment: Durable Water Repellent (DWR)
• Floor fabric: 50 denier Nylon
• Floor treatment: Double-coated polyurethane
• Floor hydrostatic head: 12000 mm/118 kPa (ISO 811)
• Floor miscellaneous: Highly puncture & abrasion resistant
• Poles (9mm): 1 x 293 cm / 1 x 115.4 in
• Pegs: 8 Y-Peg UL
My final thoughts
Firstly and most importantly, this tent made me feel safe! It is a 'bomber' and I trust it completely in bad or stormy weather. I have used the tent in gusts of up to gale force and it withstood those with ease...
The Enan is incredibly easy to pitch thanks to the fact it pitches both inner and outer together (meaning you dont need to worry about getting the inner wet whilst pitching in the rain) and also thanks to the single pole system. It is tricky to get a taught pitch on uneven ground but despite this I didnt feel that this altered the integrity of the tent...
There is plenty of space in the vestibule area for storing your backpack and cooking equipment. The head room I would say is lacking slightly, it certainly seems less than my MSR Hubba NX1 but the Enan benefits from more room inside the tent itself in terms of width and space generally...
The tent seems very durable, I have noticed no signs and wear and tear at all really after one year or substantial use on some pretty challenging and tough terrain...
My one and only issue with this tent is the condensation and unfortunately it is a pretty big issue too, to the point that the condensation, on a bad day, can literally drip onto my sleeping bag or my head which is pretty miserable to wake up to but also, quite dangerous, especially when using the tent on longer expeditions where it is important to be able to keep your sleeping bag dry for multiple days on the trot... This to me is hugely disappointing, to the point that I did reach out to Hilleberg to express my concern and to see if they had any advice, however, they only appeared to minimise the issue and suggested I keep the vents open to reduce condensation, however, I already had the vents open on each use for this reason so the vents are absolutely not enough to stop this tent from suffering a significant amount of condensation for this reason, I have recently reverted back to using my MSR, although I am sad to report that my old beloved MSR is nearing the of its life.... Condensation is a very common issue with Hilleberg tents and has been much reported about on other blogs, this seems to be a common issue regardless of the model of tent, I can only assume that this is due to the fact that Hilleberg use thicker and more robust fabrics that create more condensation than say my MSR Hubba NX1 but I expect that the Enan will last longer than my MSR Hubba NX1 and so I guess, you just can't have it all when it comes to tents...
Thank you for reading - happy hiking xxx
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