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Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Black Diamond Oasis Tent > Test Report by Chuck CarnesBlack Diamond O A S I S T E N T Initial Report: October 7, 2008 Field Report: January 6, 2009 Long Term Report: February 12, 2009 Picture courtesy of Black Diamond
Picture courtesy of Black Diamond
I N I T I A L R E P O
R T October 7, 2008 Manufacturer: Black Diamond Equipment Model: Oasis Persons: 3 Season: 3 Color: Marigold and Grey Floor Area: 42 sq ft (12 sq m) Vestibule Area: 14 sq ft (4 sq m) Peak Height: 44 in (112 cm) Year of manufacture: 2008 URL: http://www.bdel.com Listed Packaged Weight: 6 lb 2 oz (2.8 kg) (tent body, poles, stakes, stuff sack, repair kit) Listed Minimum Weight: 5 lb 11 oz (2.6 kg) (tent body with poles) Actual Weights of Separate Items: Tent Body and Fly: 4 lbs 1 oz (1.84 kg) Tent Stuff Sack: 2 oz (57 g) Pole(s): 20 oz (567 g) Stakes: 0.5 oz (14 g) [per stake] x 10 stakes = 5.0 oz (140 g) Repair Kit: 2.0 oz (57 g) Actual Packaged Weight Total: 5 lbs 14 oz (2.66 kg) Listed Packed Size: 8 in x 19 in (20 cm x 48 cm) Actual Packed Size: 9 in x 25 in (22 cm x 64 cm) MSRP: $329.95 USD PRODUCT
DESCRIPTION The Oasis has a mesh upper, from about half way up the wall, and a nylon ripstop lower. This gives plenty of viewing outside the tent but still gives some privacy. The Oasis has two doors that are unique in placement; this gives the user(s) separate doors to enter and exit from and room in the vestibule for gear. The large 'D' style doors give plenty of room for entering and exiting. INITIAL IMPRESSIONS I pulled the tent body from the sack and spread it out on the ground.
I allowed the poles to snap together to make this one big skeletal frame.
One thing that has to be made sure of is the 'buttons' on the pole
hubs, at the intersection of the poles, are facing down. This allows
the 'H' clips on the tent to attach to the 'buttons' on the hubs. I
placed the pole ends into the respective grommets to form the frame.
Lastly, went around and clipped the tent body to the poles and the 'H'
clips to the hubs. All done in under two minutes. At this point I took measurements and noted some features of the tent before I put the rain fly on. I first noticed how small it seemed inside for it to be labeled as a three-person tent. I did some measuring and came up with the width being slightly smaller than what the web site states. Although the measurements I took were with the tent deployed. I am very curious to see if three people will be able to fit, or even sleep, in this tent comfortably. I included these dimensions, as see in 'Product Information', and a layout of two people occupying the tent on somewhat standard pads and bags. I found that even in this layout, the two heads and feet are still very close to the tent walls but plenty of room for gear beside and above each person. I found the head height to be very generous at 44 in. to 46 in. (112 cm. to 117 cm.) at most of the head space and then sloping steeply down to 30 in. (76 cm.) at the foot of the tent. ------------------------------------------------------- 3 Corner Pockets --------------------------------------------------------- As seen in the pictures above, the Oasis has three very nice sized corner pockets. The pockets are made of mesh material and are conveniently located in the front three corners of the tent right at the opening of the doors. At the peak head height, there is a gear loop to hang things from which is also nice to have. The zippers in the two 'D' style doors are nice and big and open very smoothly. I found that not having the tent staked down made unzipping and zipping the doors a little difficult. When pulling the zipper across the bottom towards the corner and making the upward motion, the force on the zipper also lifts the corner of the tent which makes one have to use two hands. Otherwise if the tent is staked down, it's easy to use just one hand to open and close the doors. View under Rain Fly Pole Connectors View between Fly and Mesh Wall After
inspecting the tent, I decided to attach the fly. I unfolded it,
shook it out and threw it over the tent. After getting the four corners
buckled to the respective corner buckle, I noticed these little hook
and loop fasteners on the outside of the tent. It was then that I
realized I had the fly on inside out. I unbuckled, flipped the fly over
and re-buckled. As you can see from the picture 'View under Rain Fly'
and 'View between Fly and Mesh Wall' that there is substantial room
between the fly and the mesh roof and walls. This will help with
condensation and not letting the mesh wall touch the wet rain
fly. Also along the front ridge pole area under the fly, there are
'Pole Connectors' which are hook and loop fasteners that hold the fly
in place to the frame. They are accompanied by a pull tab to be able to
unfasten them. Rear Vent in Fly Front Vents in Fly The Rain Fly has three vents,
one at the back and two on the front. All three are high and should
allow any heat build up to be able to escape through these vents. The
vents are held open by a stiff plastic, bendable material that retains
its arc shape even after unstuffing it. There are two guy-out loops,
one on each side of the fly at the base of the fly and one in the
center at the rear of the fly. There are no lines attached but some are
provided and can be cut to one's desired length. The Oasis comes with
ten stakes and with this many stakes and multiple guy out options, it
seems as if it will hold up to very windy conditions. Overall I am very pleased with the Black Diamond Oasis. Although I'm a little skeptical about whether three people could sleep in it comfortably I do believe it would be fine in a pinch. The floor seams are well sealed and it appears that the fly will provide great protection in harsh elements. I am looking forward to many nights in it possibly by myself but for sure with me and my kids. F I E L D R E P O
R T January 6, 2009 The
Black Diamond Oasis tent has been a great shelter for me and my son on
our past two trips. We took it on a trip to Shining Rock Wilderness
area. It was a
two night trip where the elevation was around 5,000 ft (1,524 km) and
the temperatures ranged from 30's F (1 C) at night to 60 F to 70 F
(33 C to 38 C) during the day. This was a good trip that I could let my
son carry half of the tent so I let him carry the rain fly and stakes.
Before I decided to split the tent up I noticed how big the packed size
was compared to the area it was supposed to fit in my pack. It was quit
a large package at 9 in x 25 in
(22 cm x 64 cm).
It would have taken up most of the room in my pack. I understand that
it is labeled as a three person tent but as I found out later, the true
interior size is more for a two person. So basically I'm carrying the
size of a three man tent for two people to sleep comfortably. But that
is not an issue, it was just an observation. Later I would like to see
about getting the packed size smaller by using some type of compression
sack. As we got to hiking, it had been raining in this area prior to this trip so the ground was pretty wet and soggy. I did not bring any type of ground cloth so I was concerned about the wetness seeping into the floor of the tent. Once we got to camp my son and I set the Oasis up and placed our pad and bag in the tent. This is when I truly realized that it would not sleep three people comfortably. This is not to say that three people would not fit, I just don't think they would be comfortable and not feel crammed, but that is just my opinion. There was just enough room for both of us to have a little space on each side of us to where we were not touching each other or touching the walls of the tent. The corner mesh pockets were great for us to put our small items and my son liked having his own little pocket for his stuff. It was really nice having two separate doors as we both felt like we had our own entrance, which we did and we didn't have to crawl over each other's stuff either. I felt like the tent 'breathed' very well. As cold as it was we did not experience any condensation. I left the rear vent open and the front ones open as well. We did have frost on the tent both mornings but after the sun came out the frost quickly melted and dried up. The rain fly had plenty of room between it and the mesh tent body, so I didn't have to worry about any wicking action from the moist rain fly entering into the tent. My tightening of the guy lines before we turned in for bed help tremendously. My concern with the floor getting wet inside because of the wet ground was what I had expected. The area where our pads were placed is the only area that was wet to the touch, everywhere else was dry on the inside of the floor. Our other trip was for a two night trip to a Camporee for my sons Boy Scout troop. It was in a huge field on private property so we didn't have to 'pack' it in, we just drove up to the site and unloaded, like a camping trip. The temperature then was around 40 F to 45 F (22 C to 25 C) at night with periods of rain during the night. We were set up much like our other trip but this time we actually got rained on at night. The rain fly did a wonderful job keeping the rain out. We both experienced some rain dripping into the front edge of the tent when we were opening the fly door to get in. It would drip from the edge of the vent opening down to the front edge of the inside of the tent. It wasn't that bad as I would just wipe it up with a towel. It was really nice to have such a big opening to sort of jump into to quickly get out of the rain. Overall, I have been very happy with the Black Diamond Oasis tent. It has performed as expected and it is a great little tent for me and my son. I will however see about getting the pack size down a little smaller on future trips. L O N G T E R M R E P O
R T February 12, 2009 I
have really enjoyed having the Black Diamond Oasis as my shelter for
these past few months. I was able to take it on a two night weekend
right before Christmas. My son and I took a short trip to Jones Gap
where we took a short jaunt to the camp site. It was only about 1.5
miles (2.4 km) in from the parking lot. We decided to stay at this
campsite for both nights as we worked on some Boy Scout related items.
The temperature for the weekend was around 30 F to 40 F (-1 C to 4 C) at night.
We did not experience any rain on this trip or much wind. The elevation
was 1,215 ft. (370 m) according to my altimeter on my watch. This concludes this test series Not much was different on this trip than it was on our previous trips with concern to the tent. Again, we split up the tent as he carried the fly and stakes and I carried the poles and tent body. I actually let him set the tent up himself and he did a great job at doing it and it seemed very easy for him. I truly like the way the poles are connected together with the shock cord. There is no worry about losing parts of the poles and it just makes it easy to be able to lay out the poles and they pretty much snap together to form the full tent frame. It is a great size for both of us and we have plenty of room for our gear beside us inside the tent. I still feel like it would be very close quarters for three people but again, it's feasable in a pinch or an emergency. I have been impressed with the quality of the fabrics, zippers and stitching. I have not seen any loose threads or unravels. The zippers have worked flawlessly and only a couple of times during the whole test series did the zipper catch on the fabric while un-zipping the fly door. The corner pockets have come in very handy to put small items in and they are very easy to reach even outside of the tent. They are just inside the door and it makes it easy just to reach inside the door to retrieve an item. Overall the Black Diamond Oasis Tent has been one of my favorite tents that I have spent my nights sleeping in. It's a great size for two people and it has plenty of room for gear to the side or in the middle. I do not see myself using it as a three man tent because of the width not being wide enough for people and gear but it can certainly be used as such and the gear can be placed in the vestibule or outside. The condensation has been very minimal and I find the vents are placed very well for cross ventilation. This may not be the case for someone else but I found it to breathe very well. The ease of set up is what stands out for me and when I get to a site and ready to put up the tent, I want it to be quick and that is what I have found in the Oasis. Thank you Black Diamond and BackpackGearTest.org for this opportunity. Read more reviews of Black Diamond gear Read more gear reviews by Chuck Carnes Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Black Diamond Oasis Tent > Test Report by Chuck Carnes |