The Tents That Came Along

Which tent do you think is most common?

The answer depends on how we count. As a brand, Durston is the largest in the 2026 answers. As a single model, the Hilleberg Enan is the most common. If we group all variants into a model family, first place goes to the Durston X-Mid. All three statements are true, but they say different things about the choices made on the fells.

That's why we show brand, model family and specific model separately. If you're choosing a tent, a well-known name can be a starting point. Only when the right model, size and version emerge does the comparison become useful.

A strong overall picture: 8.7 out of 10

The 62 answers in the 2026 Gröna Bandet data give the tents an average rating of 8.7. As many as 50 answers give a rating of 8–10, and 27 give the top rating. Only one answer is below 6. The picture is therefore predominantly positive, even though a few hikers have had considerably worse experiences.

A high average says that many were happy with their choice. It does not reveal why. The rating summarises the hiker's experience of the tent; it is not a separate test of, for example, wind resistance, condensation or pitching. We therefore need to be careful about attributing the whole explanation to a particular design.

2026: Durston and Hilleberg dominate among brands

Durston is mentioned in 26 answers with an average of 9.0. Hilleberg is mentioned in 20 answers with 8.6. They are followed by Tarptent with five answers and 8.8, Zpacks with four answers and 7.5, and Nordisk with three answers and 10.0.

Nordisk's high rating is worth noting, but three ratings should be read as three experiences. The brand average also mixes different tent models. It is useful background when getting your bearings, but to judge the tent you are considering you need to go down to model level.

The model families show the bigger picture

The Durston X-Mid gathers 24 answers in 2026 and an average of 9.1 when all stated variants are counted together. The Hilleberg Enan follows with eleven answers and 7.9. The Anjan family, the Rogen family and the Tarptent Stratospire family have three answers each.

Grouping by family helps us recognise recurring choices. But it can also hide differences. An X-Mid Pro 1 is not the same tent as an X-Mid 2 Solid, and a Stratospire Li should not disappear into a single row together with the standard models. That's why the models are reported separately below. An unclear entry about a Rogen variant is included in the family but kept out of the specific model ranking.

Top 10 tent models 2026

The ranking is sorted by number of answers, with the average rating alongside. The Hilleberg Enan is the most common, followed by the Durston X-Mid Pro 1 and X-Mid Pro 2+. The Enan's 7.9 is based on eleven ratings; the X-Mid Pro 1 gets 9.0 from eight and the Pro 2+ gets 8.5 from six.

Several models share a position. So that the table contains ten model rows, ties are broken first by the model with more answers combined over the years, then alphabetically. The Zpacks Pivot Solo also has two answers and a rating of 8.0 in 2026, but falls just outside the ten rows. The list shows the most common choices, while the ratings show how satisfied respondents have been.

What happens when we combine all years?

The three main data sets contain a total of 137 Gröna Bandet answers: 60 from 2024, 15 from 2025 and 62 from 2026. Here Hilleberg becomes the most common brand with 51 answers and an average of 8.5. Durston follows with 33 answers and 8.9, and Tarptent with 19 answers and 9.2. Fjällräven and Nordisk share fifth place with six answers each, so both are shown in the chart.

The combined 137 answers are not 137 unique people. 2024 is based on 60 answers, 2025 on 15 and 2026 on 62.

The combined average is calculated from the valid individual ratings. A year with many answers therefore weighs more than a year with few. We do not take a simple mean of three annual averages.

Brand and family rows may contain unclear variants that are not included in the specific model rankings.

At family level, too, the pictures differ: the X-Mid is the most common combined, while the Stratospire family gets 9.6 from ten ratings. The Enan has 8.6 combined compared with 7.9 in the 2026 answers. The difference raises questions, but we cannot tell whether it is due to trip conditions, expectations, the tents' condition or who responded.

Top 10 specific models – combined 2024–2026

Here too the table contains ten model rows. Several models have the same number of answers; ties are ordered alphabetically. Unclear entries about size or version remain in the brand and family summaries but are not included as reliably identified models.

A clear shift in which brands are mentioned

Durston appears in about 8 percent of answers in 2024, 13 percent in 2025 and 42 percent in 2026. Hilleberg appears in 40, 47 and 32 percent respectively. Tarptent goes from 18 and 20 percent to 8 percent.

This is a clear change within our survey data. It does not show sales or market shares among everyone who hikes Gröna Bandet. The 15 answers from 2025 in particular are a small data set. Nor can we calculate a trend in actual tent weight from brand names: that would require comparable weights and reliably identified versions.

DCF or woven fabric – what do the ratings say?

For the X-Mid, a limited comparison can be made between named Pro models with a DCF fly and named standard/Solid models in silpoly. In 2026 the Pro group gets 8.9 from 16 ratings and the silpoly group 9.3 from six. Combined over the years, both groups get 8.9. Two unclearly stated X-Mid variants in 2026 are kept out of this particular comparison.

Pro 1/2/2+ are counted as DCF fly. Named X-Mid standard/Solid 1/2 are counted as silpoly. Stratospire standard is called woven fabric because the model years are not verified. The Li is DCF and the Ultra is reported separately.

For the Stratospire, the standard models get 10.0 from two ratings in 2026 and the Li gets 9.0 from one. Combined, the standard group and the Li both have 9.5; the Ultra has 10.0 from two ratings. We call the standard group woven fabric because the model year and exact fabric are not reliably stated in the answers. The Ultra is reported separately and is not counted as DCF.

So it is not possible to name a winning material here. Different models, sizes and users are being compared, and the data set is small. The ratings concern the whole tent experience, not an isolated test of the fly fabric.

Take the questions with you when choosing a tent

The results give several good candidates to look at more closely. The next step is to think about your own use: how much space you need, how you want to pitch the tent, where your gear should go and which compromises you are willing to carry with you. A model with many satisfied users is interesting. It is still you who has to feel at home in it, night after night.

How to read the data

The years refer to our survey data sets and are not verified hiking years for each answer. The 2026 data includes both thru-hikers and section hikers. The same person may appear in several surveys; 137 answers therefore does not mean 137 unique people. A brand or family is counted once per answer, but one answer can mention several tents. If a tent was changed, the same category rating may apply to several models. Only valid ratings 1–10 are included in the averages. The survey is based on self-reported experiences and is not a comparative laboratory test.

The material information has been checked against the manufacturers Durston and Tarptent. The model years in the answers are not always known.

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