Very occasionally we receive an excellence of service that really deserves a special accolade, and here one must definitely go to Scottish Mountain Gear (SMG). I sent off my Akto inner by courier on Tuesday and paid the extra tariff for next-day delivery, but it still didn’t arrive until Thursday lunchtime according to the courier’s tracking website, and I phoned SMG to check that it had indeed arrived.
Having examined the inner, they phoned back mid Thursday afternoon to confirm that my instructions were ok and to quote a price, at which point I gave my card details for payment. At 09:45 Friday morning I was gobsmacked to be holding the modified inner in my hands!. A fine job it is too, the work is so good I can’t tell that it wasn’t designed like that in the first place. Custom mods sometimes have a ‘grafted-on’ appearance but not here, I have a pristine ventilated Akto MkII to try out and I’m sure it will be a big improvement for me.
The price was £47.50, including return to me by next-day delivery.
6 Comments
Hi Geoff,very much looking forward to reading your next report on the modified inner.Is it all mesh at each end or can you velcro on additional material just like the mesh window on the side?
Jeff,
The new panels are just mesh. The solid nylon was simply cut out, I saw no need to retain it as a hinged flap like the side-panel arrangement: the Voyager has a lot more mesh and we have never needed to block that off.
I hope to try it out soon.
Hi Geoff,
Very interested to read of your modification, very creative, if I may say so.
I’ve had my Akto for about 12 months, and I’m seriously thinking I may have made a mistake. I like the room and stability, but the condensation is beginning to annoy me.
Keen to hear your results, hoping you’ve found a solution ! Or mine might appear on eBay.
Regards
Rich
Rich,
I’m hoping to get out on Thursday this week for 2 or 3 days. The forecast is for bright days and cold nights which is a good condensation scenario, I’m just hoping for a good breeze to give the mesh mod a good test. I’m sure it will be a significant improvement simply because a steady throughput of air is now possible.
Dear Geoff,
Referring to your mesh adjustment of the Akto does it work as intended? Unfortunately I can’t find a remark on your site regarding your findings.
Thanks greatly in advance for your reply.
Best regards,
Guy
Guy,
The results of the Akto trials are on the main website review.
Basically I find the mesh panel mod to be a great improvement and it does work, but due to the design and shape of this type of tent, it will never work nearly as well as the Voyager or similar tents which have large mesh panels and doors. Well worth having though, I find:- the Akto would be intolerable to me without it.