Buying Helsport products?

[Stew63]

Does anyone know from where I can purchase HelSport products online?
I contacted a UK seller (Wardstones) but they said that they won't ship to Australia due to excessively high postage charges.

[helsport]

Hello,
you can order Helsport products at this shop: http://www.outdoor-fair.de/default.aspx
I can really recommend this shop.

Bernward Elsel
Sales Helsport Europe

[Stew63]

I am impressed so far!

I just want to say that although I haven not yet bought my HelSport tent all my email questions sent to Bernward Elsel of Helsport Europe - after he initially contacted me through my query here last week, have literally been answered within minutes of me pressing the Send button, answered by Bernward! He has since posted me a HelSport catalogue in English. Now that is service.

Now how do I decide Hilleberg or HelSport?

That is all.

Last edited by Stew63 on Fri 20 Apr, 2012 11:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Ent]

Hi

Great to read the the service is up to standard. Not familiar with your brand but with Hilleberg you can not go too wrong.

Lot of good gear out there and real challenge to work out what works best for you.

Also nothing like seeing it first hand. Specifications are only part if the story. I have a Nallo and MSR Nook. Both are remarkably similar in size but totally different in approach. Both are well made but Hilleberg comes with every guy line and peg while MSR you add to what you need. This means stated weights are comparing apples and pears.

Cheers

[Stew63]

Ent,

HelSport (Norway) is Hilleberg's (Sweden) rival in tents/gear in Europe with of course a similar price tags unfortunately.
HelSport is also a family business dating back to ~1950s producing/developing gear for extreme climate expeditions.
They even have double shell sleeping bags rated to -62C!

Last edited by Stew63 on Fri 20 Apr, 2012 11:46 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[Ent]

Hi

When I was in Norway, now a few year back, I did not spot them but it could be just the cost. Actually the quality of gear in most outdoor shops was pretty average over there. I suppose the same thing is now happening here.

There are lot if great brands out there so if you do get one looking forward to the report.

Most of my gear is now coming from specialist makers. Select the best of breed is my approach nowadays as most if the single brand store stuff is mediocre by comparison and often dearer.

Cheers


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[Franco]

My recommendation is always to buy the product not the brand...
The wrong product from the "right" brand remains the wrong product...
So for example if the "best" tent is too short for you, well it is too short for you...
Or if the right size comes in at 3kg and that is too heavy for you, well again....
Franco

[DonQx]

Helsport makes very good gear, same level of quality as Hilleberg methinks.

I've got one of their tents, details here http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6858 if you're interested.

http://fliegfix.com is a good Austrian tent selling site.

Some of their specials are good, also ask them to take GST off the price (17% from memory), plus as a final bonus Austrian postal charges are much lower than everyone else in Europe, but it can take a month or so.

Last time I used them their online selling system couldn't cope with Australia. They will quote & sell to you if you email them (bestellung@fliegfix.com). Their English skills are OK.

[johnrs]

You could try Tamarack in the UK for online sales.
My Ringstind 2 came from there, happy with the tent and the online service
John

[Stew63]

Thanks for the replies everybody!

Still waiting for the HelSport catalogue and still can't decide between Hillenberg or Helsport - but for the $$$ it's too bad I can't see the tents in the flesh here in Australia. I'm wanting a solid 4 season tent for 3-4 people that can cope with blizzard conditions in the backcountry (ie. Main Range in winter) and ample storage space for gear out of the weather.

At the moment the Hillenberg Saitaris, Keron GT or the Helsport Svalbard 3 tick all the boxes - whatever I choose will probably have to sell a kidney to pay for it though!