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Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Black Diamond One Shot Tent > Test Report by Ralph Ditton

Recent Update: 20th July,2007

INITIAL REPORT
Black Diamond OneShot Tent
Review by Ralph Ditton
Date: 29th March, 2007

Personal Information
Name: Ralph Ditton
Age: 55
Gender: male
Height: 1. 76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight: 71 kg (156.5 lb)
Email: rdassetts at optusnet dot com dot au
City: Perth. Western Australia. Australia

Backpacking Background
Mt playgrounds are the Bibbulmun Track and the Coastal Plain Trail. I aim to become an end-to-end walker of the Bibbulmun Track. I am nearly there as it is 964 km (603 mi) long. My pack weight including food and water tends to hover around 18 kg (40 lb) but I am trying to get lighter. My trips range from overnighters to five days duration.
OneShot Tent
                        OneShot Tent
                        (Courtesy of Black Diamond)
Product Information
Manufacturer: Black Diamond
Manufacturer's URL: http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com
Year of Manufacturer: 2007
Made in: China
Model: OneShot
Sleeping capacity: 1
Number of poles: 2½
Type of poles: DAC featherlite
Pole diameter: 9 mm (0.35 in)
Fabric of tent:  Water resistant Epic
Colour: Maize
Fabric of floor: Double silicone coated nylon ripstop
Colour: Light olive green
Fabric of windows/vents: No-see-um mesh
Door configuration: 1
Factory seam sealed: No
Zips: YKK
Number of tent pegs: 6
Tent peg material: Aluminium
Tent peg style: "V" cross section, triangular
MSRP: USD $289.95

Manufacturer's listed weights and measurements
Listed weight of tent and poles: 1.04 kg (2 lb 5 oz)
Listed weight of Ground cloth: 200 g (7 oz)
Packaged weight: 1.28 kg (2 lb 13 oz) This includes tent, poles, stuff sacks, tent pegs, guyline,Seam Grip, Monoject syringe applicator and instruction manual.
Tent area: 2 m² (21.25 sq ft)
Dimensions of tent: 216 x 91 x 91 cm (85 x 36 x 36 in)
Packed size: 15 x 23 cm (6 x 9 in)

My weights and measurements
(I used my "Salter" electronic scales)
Tent: 698 g (1.54 lb)
Tent stuff sack: 24 g (0.85 oz)
Tent poles: 388 g (13.7 oz)
Tent pole bag: 20 g (0.7 oz)
6 tent pegs: 78 g (2.75 oz)
Guyline: 44 g (1.55 oz)
Ground cloth: 174 g (6.14 oz)
In my backpack : 1,388 g (3.06 lb) This is made up of the tent, poles, stuff sacks, tent pegs, guyline and ground cloth.
Dimensions of tent: 2 m 10 cm x 81.5 cm (6 ft 10¾ in x 2 ft 8 in)
Height inside tent: 85.6 cm (2 ft 9¾ in)
Tent area: 1.71 m² (18.4 sq ft)

Expectations from the web site
I was very curious as to what to expect as I was unsure because the picture on the web page for OneShot comes up as the "Guiding Light Tent" when I held my cursor over the picture. In addition, I was also unsure as to how many tent poles I would receive. In the blurb next to the photo of the tent, it states that the tent uses two-and-a-half poles but in the "Compare" section it only mentions two poles. With regards to the vestibule, the manufacturer states that it is a clip on. To me that means an extra which could be an optional extra that clips onto the main body of the tent. Upon receipt, there were two-and-a-half poles, the awning/vestibule is stitched to the body of the tent and does not clip onto it and the photo on the web site is in fact the OneShot, not the Guiding Light. I could not find anything that appeared to be anchor points for a clip-on vestibule if it is an optional extra.

Product Description
The manufacturer states that the OneShot (hereinafter known as the tent) is a three season, freestanding solo shelter that is roomy enough to sit up in. It has one full side-opening door with a built in window and another window on the opposite side with awnings over both. The canopy is constructed with highly water-resistant and breathable Epic fabric and the trapezoidal floor is made out of double silicone coated nylon ripstop. There are two interior pockets in addition to four loops in the ceiling to attach a gear loft.
The tent came in a stuff sack made out of silnylon. Sewn to one of the side seams are two elastic loops which house the tent pole stuff sack that contains the tent poles, tent pegs, guyline, seam seal and applicator. A very neat arrangement. Inside the tent pole bag, there is another pocket that contains the tent pegs, guyline, seam seal and applicator. I found the fit very tight to extract the packet containing the above.
Both stuff sacks are closed by way of a drawcord with a spring loaded toggle.

As far as information goes, there were two "booklet"  type documents. One with a picture of a hiker wading through water with his poles is all about Black Diamond's superlight tents with a section on "Use, Care and Maintenance". There are three languages in the "booklet", English, French and German. The other "booklet" which when unfolded is very close to an "A3" sheet of paper. This document contains the magic pitching instructions with diagrams and it comes in six languages, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. There is a "Here's How" section on how to seal the exterior stitching and it is made to sound so easy. Quite frankly, I am very hesitant to undertake the seam sealing as I have never done this before and I have visions of a botched job. In my opinion, the manufacturer should have this done in the factory even if it adds a few dollars to the purchase price.  I suspect that I would  be one in many who had never undertaken this task. Thinking outside the square, there could even be an option; for "x" price the tent is seam sealed and for "y" price the tent is a do-it-yourself seam seal.

A. Exterior of Tent
The four corners of the tent are strongly reinforced with a black synthetic patch on the outside with a pliable plastic inside. Attached to each patch is a tent stake loop which can be seen in the above photos. At the base of each patch is the base of a snap into which the tent pole sits on the inside of the tent. Along the bottom edge of the doorway are two yellow loops spaced 925 mm (3 ft) apart which are used to tie the rolled down door with the matching spring loaded toggle on the inside of the tent. On each edge seam about 370 mm (1 ft 3 in) from the bottom corner is a reflective tag making a total of four. These four points double up as guyline anchor points. The black material is of a light webbing type. The base of the tent is a double silicone coated nylon ripstop which has the feel of silnylon. The base is reasonably transparent as I can see my hand through the fabric. The fabric Epic of which the main tent body is made out of, has a soft silky feel to it, but I noticed that small bits of grass tends to cling to it after it has been laid out in readiness to erect and after it has been taken down prior to being folded up. The grass is not easily removed by a brush of the hand. It takes a number of attempts to remove the offending grass.
B. The Doorway
The tent has a full side-opening door that has two zippers with loops for easy operation when wearing gloves. The reason for the wide door soon became apparent when I first erected the tent. The two long tent poles have to be inserted through this door and if the door was any shorter in length, the poles would not fit through the doorway. Around 480 mm (1 ft 6 in) from the base of the door is a mesh panel that is crescent in shape. This is one of the windows and ventilation ports. It is 1.13 m (3 ft 9 in) long along the base and at the highest point is 20 cm (8 in). The window can be closed off from the inside by way of two zippers that are attached to a matching panel of Epic. When the Epic window panel is unzippered it can be stowed in a rolled up format and tied off by the spring loaded toggle and loop system at the base of the window which is situated at the halfway point of the window. On the opposite wall is another window with the same set up as the door window and very similar measurements.
C. The Awnings
Over the two windows are small awnings that are stretched into position by the half pole. The awnings stretch out 22 cm (8¾ in) at their furtherest point above the window. From the base of the tent where they extend out 10 cm (4 in), the awning fabric cambers to the above maximum. There is no way that these eaves form a satisfactory vestibule to store gear in out of the weather. To start the erection of the tent, the awnings must be done first and the short tent pole is inserted through the grommet above the door, passed through the grommet on the other side and out to the grommet in the eave. Lastly, the pole is locked into position by putting the end closest to the doorway into the grommet on the end of the eave. Attached to the grommet tags on the eaves are another set of black webbed loops that can be used to guy out the tent.
D. Inside the Tent
On the inside of the roof there are four little loops that can accommodate a small gear loft measuring lengthwise 40 cm x width 38 cm x 16 cm (1 ft 4 in x 1 ft 3 in x 6½ in). Sewn to a seam that is 4 cm (1½ in) from the door entrance are five hook and loop tabs that wrap around the tent poles to keep them in place. Conversely, on the other side of the tent running along the edge seam from floor to ceiling and back down to the floor, there are another five such features.
tent pole hook and loop closure
                                    tent pole hook and loop closure

Sewn to the edge of the Epic where it meets the tub floor there is a warning label written in English and French. Basically, the label states never to bring a naked flame into the tent or store flammable liquids inside the tent. Beware of carbon monoxide as it can kill you. Maintain adequate ventilation. Anchor the tent properly (it is very light and a slight breeze will take it away as I found out when practicing how to pitch it) and choose a safe spot where to pitch the tent. Last, but not least, a section on tent care. All in all, a very cheery notice.
warning label
                                                       warning label

On the same side as the warning label, but at opposite ends of the tent, are two mesh pockets with a yellow tape border. They measure 25 cm x 10 cm (10 in x 4 in). They will be handy to store small items in so that they are readily to hand like a small torch.
pocket
                                                               pocket

The final items inside the tent are the four corner snaps, one in each corner. They have the appearance of the cup part of a press stud. These are the bedrock that the tent poles sit upon when the tent is erected. Getting the tent pole to stay there when trying to erect the tent is a different matter. This will be covered in the erection of the tent section.
reinforced corner with snap and pole
                                      reinforced corner with snap and pole

The highest point of the tent is 85.6 cm (2 ft 9¾ in) and I find that when I sit upright at the highest point, my head does brush against the roof. I will have to be careful when condensation is present.
This completes the tour of the tent.
E. Tent Poles
The tent poles came in their own designer stuff sack. There is an additional internal sleeve that contains the tent pegs, one guyline that is 9 m (29 ft 6 in) long, the silicone tube of 42.5 g (1.5 oz) and applicator. No guyline runners are provided. Logic tells me that I have to cut the guyline to the appropriate lengths to help guy out the tent. There is no mention of this in the instructions.
Ok. The poles. Well there are three of them. Two of equal length supposedly, but one is shorter than the other by 5 mm (¼ in). The third pole is horizontally challenged as it is only 92 cm (3 ft ¼ in) long when assembled whereas the longer poles when assembled are 3m (10 ft) long. The short pole is for the awnings and when assembled has a gradual curve to it. The poles are basically a male and female set up. The male end of the pole section is reduced in diameter as there is a noticeable gradient from the original diameter to the narrower diameter. This gradient acts as a block for the female section of the next pole from slipping up the shaft of the male pole too far, The three pole section is shock corded to give a nice tight pole assembly.

When I erected the tent a couple of times at home to see how it went up, I was most assiduous in ensuring that the curvature was right when I positioned the pole. Another time I just put the sections together and inserted the pole. By itself the pole sections self corrected themselves into the correct position. Mind you, they were not too far out of correct curvature when I inserted it. The same story applies to the longer poles as they have a curvature to them when assembled. They are also shock corded and have the same male/female characteristics so that the sections can be inserted into one another. There are nine pole sections to the longer poles. Oh, the poles are black in colour and there is no coding on them for order of installation as it is not necessary.
F. Erecting the Tent
It took me the first time around twenty minutes to erect the tent as I was assiduously trying to keep the tent poles in the correct curvature, keep the end of the tent pole in the snap inside the tent in the rear far corner, as it had a mind of its own and wanted to poke the base of the floor away from the reinforced corner. The first step I found very easy, the insertion of the short pole into and through the respective grommets. After that things got interesting.

I read up on the instructions and placed the end of the first long pole into the snap at the far left rear corner, did up the first hook and loop closure and it stayed there for a short time while I watched it. I then proceeded to bring the other end into the tent through the very wide door, but in this exercise I thought that the door wasn't wide enough to get the other end in. My problem was that I did not bend the pole up far enough to allow the end to ease past the edge of the door. I had to put a good bit of bend on the pole to get it through the door. When I took my eyes off the far left corner to guide and work the other end through the door, the far rear left hand snap decided that it did not want to play ball and let the pole end slip out onto the base of the floor away from the reinforced corner. When I got the right hand end in through the door I had a quick check on the other end of the pole before attempting to place it into the front right hand snap. Noticing that the left hand end was not where it should have been I quickly brought the right hand end back out through the door and dropped the pole to go to the end causing problems.

I married the two recalcitrants and retried again and I successfully erected the pole into the respective snaps. I was feeling a bit elated because one pole was in position and there was no hole punched through the floor. I then moved onto inserting the second pole and it behaved itself also to a point. When I got inside the tent to attach the hook and loop closures, I found that the tent poles had other ideas as to where they wanted to be and it was not near the correct hook and loop closure to give me the beautiful symmetry as shown in the instructions. I had to push/shove the poles into position so that I could attach the closures. I found that trying to hold the tent pole in position after pushing it there with one hand and fumbling in trying to open the closure with the other hand and then wrap it around the pole an exercise in frustration. The main reason was that the closure wanted to snap close before the pole was inside the arrangement. The closure has a memory and any slip of the fingers it will snap closed and the pole is left outside its warm embrace.

The next practice erection was relatively incident free except for the position of the poles versus the closures. A lot of pushing and shoving to get the poles into position so that I could lock them away. Same as before, the closures wanted to be difficult as possible and would snap shut at every opportunity before the pole was inside its curvature. I won in the end. Conclusion, this is not an easy tent to erect and haste will be in vain.

This OneShot tent is so different in its pitching system to other tents that I have. I have to bring a pole inside the tent through the doorway putting it under stress by forming a good curve, so as to get it past the far edge of the door and ensure that the other end behaves itself and stays inside the snap. I would recommend that two of  the snaps be adapted to accommodate a screw- in centre pole of a few millimetres ( for a better word) for the tent pole to sit over when placed onto the snap so that it will not slip off when trying to place the other end into position. Why screw in? The item would have to be removed when stowing the tent away as this would avoid any possible damage to the fabric when rolling the tent up. There may be other materials that are robust enough but supple so as to not cause damage to the fabric such as rubber which possibly does not have to be a screw-in.
Ground Cloth
Black Diamond was kind enough to supply a ground cloth to protect the floor of the tent. The ground cloth is made specifically for the OneShot tent. The dimensions of the ground cloth are 2.06 m x 79 cm (6 ft 9 in x 2 ft 7 in). In each corner and half way along each side is an eyelet to secure the ground cloth to the tent. Each eyelet is reinforced by a triangular patch. At one end there is an elastic cord looped and tied off through one eyelet only. At this stage I haven't worked out why this is so. In the testing phase I hope to find out. Having said that, I have just discovered another three elastic cords that fell out of the package that contained the ground cloth. They each measure 405 mm (1 ft 4 in) long. Taking a guess, they go into the other three eyelets and the tent pegs catch onto the elastic when pegging the tent. I will confirm this in the Field Report.
Testing Strategy
I will bite the bullet and seam seal the tent with the supplied silicone and comment on how easy/difficult the procedure is. The OneShot will be my main means of shelter when walking the Bibbulmun and Coastal Plains Tracks for the next four months in lieu of the shelters provided. I prefer to sleep away from other hikers as I am not fond of snorers, being one myself. Overall, I will be looking at the roominess or lack thereof, set-up after a bit of practice and conversely the dismantling which to date has been incident free, packing, ventilation, sunlight/uv effect on the fabric, sturdiness of the floor material, how easy is it to clean the tent and stability in winds.
At this stage I will not comment on "Likes" and "Dislikes" as I have not had a genuine field test. Mind you, I did have some initial thoughts which have been discussed above, but I want to be fair and accurate over the long term.
End Piece
This concludes my Initial Report. The Field Report will be amended to this report in approximately two months from the date of this report. Please check back then for further information.

 

FIELD REPORT
DATE: 24th May, 2007
Prior to my first field trip, I seam sealed the tent. This is the first time that I had ever seam sealed a tent. The job is not perfect as the brush did drip the solution in places and my strokes were not the smoothest. The brush having a mind of its own wandered off the seam in a few spots. I mixed up a solution of Coleman camp stove fuel and some of the silicone provided by Black Diamond. I stirred this mixture up and I painted the solution to the fabric. The fuel evaporated in a short time leaving a thin film of silicone along the seam. The process took about an hour to do. I left the tent outside for two days to make sure that the silicone had cured before dismantling the tent and stowing it away.
When I was seam sealing the tent I noticed that some of the stitching on the outside edge had come undone on the top where the pole presses against a seam. It is about 28 mm (1 in) long. I gave this spot a few applications of seam seal to prevent any further unravelling.
To date with further pitching of the tent the gap has not got any larger but I will watch it carefully. I did not notice this before when I was testing the pitching process.
showing seam sealing and condensation
                                            showing seam sealing and condensation

The first field test was two nights on the Coastal Plain Trail. Overnight temperatures ranged from a low of  14 C (57 F) to a high of 19 C (66 F) for the first night. Relative humidity  averaged 86% during the night with a dew point of 12 C (53 F). The next night the temperature ranged from a low of 16 C (60 F) to a high of 20 C (68 F). Relative humidity averaged 89% during the night with a dew point of 15 C (59 F). I experienced condensation both inside and outside the tent.  When I sat up in the tent to exit it during the night my head bumped the roof and my hair got wet from the condensation. I cannot sit upright on top of my self-inflating mattress without my head touching the roof. Condensation pooled on the floor near my head at the end of my self-inflating mat. I mopped it up with a few tissues that became very soggy. Condensation also got under the floor between the groundsheet and the tent floor.
condensation on the inside and under the floor
                                       condensation on the inside and under the floor

Fortunately silnylon is water-resistant so it did not come through the floor. I was woken by my friend around 7.30 am when he whacked the outside of the tent. This action gave encouragement to some of the condensation on the inside of the tent to part company with the roof and walls and land on me, my sleeping bag and mat. The effect was immediate. I woke up in a malevolent mood but my friend thought it was high comedy.

The tent fabric attracts dirt to adhere to it very easily, especially when I am erecting or dismantling the tent. I can readily brush it off with a slightly damp cloth. It would appear that static electricity is the main culprit although I am not getting any zaps from the fabric. The dirt does not seem to be getting into the weave or marking the fabric in any way. As we were staying put for the day and were going to spend the following night at the campsite I let the sun dry off the condensation on the outside walls before I tipped the tent onto its side so that the sun could dry the floor. I had both windows open so that the heat could evaporate the condensation on the inside also. It took around three hours for the tent to dry out in the sun. The temperature only got up to 24 C (75 F) in the drying process.
drying the floor in the sun
                                                        drying the floor in the sun

During the course of the day I tried to sit up in the tent and read a book. This was not successful as my head was up against the roof. If I tried leaning forward I became uncomfortable in a very short time and I cannot sit cross legged and bent over. I tried to lay down on my back and read without much luck. In the end I had to get out of the tent and read elsewhere. I could not get comfortable when I tried to read. On a different tack, I had no trouble getting changed inside the tent. I could remove a shirt over my head by leaning forward and my pants by laying on my back with my legs raised slightly. The same process was repeated for putting my clothes on. Exiting the tent is slightly difficult. I sit on the floor/mat and put my legs outside so that I can put my footwear on. When the shoes are in place I lean forward and push myself out placing my hands on the ground in front of me. Invariably I hit my head on the tip of the short pole. It does not hurt at all, just annoying. I have no problem getting into the tent. I just crawl in on hands and knees, turn over so that my legs are still outside so that I can take my shoes off outside. If I brought my feet with the shoes on I would be bringing a lot of sand/dirt inside the tent which I do not want.
To give the readers an indication of the height of the tent against me I had my friend take this photo.
the author standing next to the tent
                                                     the author standing next to the tent

Although the door is very wide, the height is impacted by the eave that has to be negotiated to gain entry and exit.
My next trip was to Mt. Pingerup in the D'Entrecasteaux National Park. This trip was for two days and nights. On the Friday night, I had to pitch the tent in the dark using my headlamp as it was around 9.30 pm when we arrived at the camp site. I had the usual problem with the poles in that they do not align themselves near the hook and loop fasteners. The two poles where they cross over want to meet over at the far window on the non door side and try and push it out. What this means is that when I let go of the tent after getting the poles inside and the tips in their respective corner snaps, the tent falls over away from me with the short pole end resting on the ground. I have to hop inside, lay on my back and cause a divorce by pulling the poles apart and align them near the hook and loop closures. When I get them roughly into position I then wrap the hook and loop closures around the two poles. Well, it sometimes takes a few attempts as the hook and loop closures have a mind of their own and want to snap shut before the pole is resting comfortably in its embrace. This occurs because I am trying to line the pole up against the closure with one hand and trying to open the closure up with the other hand and invariably something slips out of my fingers, usually the closure. After a bit of a stern lecture to the miscreants I manage to do three closures on each side from the centre down towards my head when laying on my back. To do the other four closures at my feet end I get onto my hands and knees and secure the poles. Why? Because when I sit up inside the tent my head hits the roof and poles and I have to hunch over making it awkward for me to secure the poles. The same thing happened again the following evening when erecting the tent with the only difference being that there was daylight when I set the tent up. This process and outcomes of inserting the poles when erecting the tent seems to be the norm.I am gaining more confidence with the placement of the end of the pole in the corner snaps because I have not had a repeat of them trying to punch a hole through the floor by vacating the reinforced corners. Additionally, I am less hesitant in giving the poles a good bit of bend  to get the second end of the pole through the door to place in the corner snap nearest the door. The poles appear to be very flexible. Sometimes this results in the top of the arch of the first long pole being exposed outside the door. I then have to pull the top of the doorway fabric over the pole to get it inside and push it over towards the opposite window.
setting up tent in the dark
                                                           setting up tent in the dark

During the first night the temperature averaged 10 C (50 F) with a humidity of 82% and it was very still. Yes, I got a lot of condensation inside the tent. Prior to packing the tent up in the morning, I shook as much dew off as possible but the tent was still wet when I put it inside its stuff sack.
condensation
                                                                    condensation
trying to air a wet tent
                                                                 trying to air a wet tent

Needless to say, the Saturday afternoon when I repitched the tent it was still wet inside it. After it was pitched, I wiped off as much as I could with my travel towel. Overnight the temperature was relatively warm, around 16 C (61 F) with a high humidity around 92% but windy. It did rain intermittently from around 2.30 am till we packed up around 6.30 am. I did not get any condensation inside the tent due to the strong wind during the night and the tent did not leak from the rain. The ground sheet got very dirty from the wet sand sticking to it and it did not want to come off easily so in the end I just rolled it up sand and all and put it away in my pack. I hung the ground sheet and tent over the clothes line when I got home and gave both items a good wash down with slightly soapy warm water.
One thing that became apparent very quickly is that the elastic loops on the ground sheet do not match the tent peg stake out loops at each corner. I am able to match two at one end but at the other end the two remaining loops on the tent are beyond the elastic loops on the ground sheet. It is not a big deal, just annoying that they do not match.
This concludes my Field Report. The Long - Term Report should be completed by  August 2007. Please check back then for further information.

LONG TERM REPORT
DATE: 20th July, 2007

The first field test in this phase of the test was an overnighter to the Mt. Cook campsite on the Bibbulmun Track in late June. It is located at S 32° 24.1583 E 116° 17.708 and sits at an elevation of 380 metres (1,246 ft).
The weather was very wet on the Saturday with occasional showers on the Sunday.
Our group arrived in the dark using our headlamps at around 6.30 pm. As there was a break in the rain I pitched the tent using my headlamp. This time I did not have any problems in erecting the tent. I placed the footprint down, laid the tent upon that, unzipped the door and inserted the short pole first, then the first of the two long poles. I just placed one end in the far reinforced corner without trying to place the pole tip in the snap. I then gave the pole a good bend to get the other end in through the door and placed the tip into the corner snap. I then replaced the other end into the snap and this was not hard to manoeuvre into position even though the pole had to push up against the roof material. I only had to move the pole about 6 mm (0.2 in) sideways and lift it up about 5 mm (0.19 in) to clear the lip of the snap. I then fastened the pole with a hook and loop closure nearest to each end of the pole and the centre one to make sure that the pole was in the correct position and not move when I inserted the second long pole. I repeated the same action with this second long pole. It was just then a matter of doing up the remaining hook and loop closures. The tent did not fall over this time onto the end of the short pole after I inserted the second long pole. I was quite pleased with myself. It is definitely a case of practice makes perfect.
Whilst having my evening meal, the rain started again and continued on and off till around 10 pm. Around 10.30 pm I went to bed inside the tent. I took a snapshot of the weather conditions with my Kestrel  3500 Pocket Weather Meter. The temperature was 11.4 C (52.5 F),  Dewpoint 8.6 C (47.5 F), Wet Bulb 10 C (50 F), Humidity 82.7%, Barometric Pressure 975.1 hPa and rising. There was no wind at all and no further rain fell during the night. Prior to unzipping the door, I gave the awning over the door a few hits with my hand to remove as much water as possible because I always bump the top of the doorway and awning when getting into the tent due to its small height. I have been caught before with my back getting an unwanted shower. When I got into the tent to go to sleep, I had a look at the interior with my headlamp and saw that there was condensation already covering the inside. The moisture was very fine in size and covered the fabric like a thin film. The outside of the fabric had big beads of rain all over it. I thought to myself, this is going to be darn lovely, I am going to get a wet beanie from hitting the roof when I sit up. During the night I got up twice and both times I got my beanie wet from the roof and when I opened up the door, moisture dripped  down to the inside of the tent. I had obviously disturbed the raindrops and condensation that were lurking above.
I arose at 7 am just as daylight was breaking and I examined the situation inside the tent. At my feet end, condensation had been brushed off the wall by my sleeping bag and the outside of it was wet, but the moisture did not penetrate into the bag. The underside of my self- inflating mat was wet for about 500 mm (18 in) from the end, and the top of the mat was wet from the sleeping bag that had collected the moisture from the wall. My head end was ok as I made sure that my head did not come into contact with the wall. It was a case of either my head or feet got wet due to the laying down length inside the tent when taking into account the bulk of a sleeping bag, the raised height of my head on a camping pillow, and I am an average person in height, some 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in). Right at ground level the dimension is 216 cm (85 in) long but the walls curve up very quickly from the floor. I always sleep on my side so when taking that profile into consideration with my box like sleeping bag, pillow and sleeping mat, the actual sleeping area is reduced. It would appear that my seam sealing was well done as there was no seepage through the seams. That was a big plus as I had never seam sealed before.
The temperature when I arose was 3.8 C (38.8 F).
Packing up the tent was not a pleasant experience. I shook as much water off as possible but I had to stow it away wet into the stuff sack with muddy stakes. I wiped off most of the mud but some red mud still stuck.
One good thing about the size of the tent. It hangs well over the clothes line and does not take up much space. I gave it a good hose down to clean it up. I am not fighting for space on the line with my wife's washing.

My next trip into the field was for four days and three nights along the Coastal Plain Trail where the elevation ranged between 60 m to 80 m (197 ft to 263 ft). The weather was fine, overcast with a brief evening shower on the first night. I took the temperatures and weather conditions for the first two days and didn't bother with the other two days as they were all similar. Using my Kestrel 3500 Pocket Weather Meter I recorded the following:
Time                                 6.42 pm                  6.55 am               6.05 pm                   5.39 am
Wind speed                7.4 km (4.5 mph)       5 km (3 mph)       2 km (1 mph)         1.4 km (0.8 mph)
Wind chill                   16.5 C (62 F)            13.5 C (56 F)       16.8 C (62 F)          16.9 C (62 F)
Temperature             15.9 C (61 F)            13.5 C (56 F)       16.8 C (62 F)           17 C (62 F)
Humidity                     62.5%                        64%                      52.9%                       49.4%
Heat Stress Index     15.9 C (61 F)            13.1 C (55 F)       16.1 C (61 F)           15.8 C (60 F)
Dewpoint                     9.4 C (49 F)              6.7 C (44 F)          7.2 C (45 F)             5.9 C (43 F)
Wet Bulb                     12.4 C (54 F)             9.9 C (50 F)         11.6 C (53 F)          10.8 C (51 F)
Barometric Pressure 1011.3 hPa              1013.5 hPa         1015 hPa                  1015.8 hPa
                                      steady                      steady                   steady                       steady
The rain on the first evening lasted about ten minutes and it was very light. The outer surface of the tent was wet but had no water dripping off over the doorway. By the time I went to bed around 11 pm, the surface of the tent had dried from the constant breeze. Over the three nights I did not suffer from any condensation problems inside the tent which was very welcome. On the first two nights I had the windows open fully but to vary it on the last night I had one window open about halfway facing away from the direction of the breeze and the other window only open about a quarter facing into the breeze. I spent three very comfortable nights sleeping inside the tent as my sleeping mat and bag were dry for a change. There was no dew on the outside of the tent either. Sitting up still is a small bugbear as I have to bend my head forward. But for the amount of time in this position relative to laying down it is negligible in the scheme of things. I only sit up to put my shoes on or off when getting into or out of the tent.
Ridges campsite
                                          Ridges campsite

Pitching the tent has become easier the more times that I do it. I am not having the disasters of earlier times. In fact I am enjoying the challenge of erecting the tent without poles misbehaving and the tent wanting to collapse onto the short pole tip. The key, in my opinion, is my confidence in giving the long poles a good bend to get the last tip on each pole through the doorway and immediately doing up at least three hook-and-loop fasteners when each pole is inserted, one at each end and one at the top. This lines the pole up with the other hook-and-loop fasteners which can be done up after the two longer poles are set in their corner snaps. The outcome is that I do not have to fight the poles into position.
Only once did I have a blond moment when I went to dismantle the tent. I tried to lift the end of the pole tip out through the doorway without first unclipping the hook-and-loop fasteners. The pole did not want to go anywhere. I quickly woke up to the errors of my way.

Summary
The OneShot tent and I developed a love/hate relationship very early on. It loved to annoy me when trying to pitch it. By the fifth occasion when I used the tent I was starting to master the art in pole bending without fear of snapping them and on the last three occasions the relationship was love/love as I became very familiar with the quirks in trying to set the poles into the corner snaps (don't until both ends are in the reinforced pockets, then lift into position) and getting the tips through the doorway.
Being a single skin tent, there will always be issues with condensation if the evening/night is relatively still with a high humidity. This is something that I have to live with. The manufacturer should have a look at the height of the tent as I am unable to sit upright to say read or put my boots on or off. In dry conditions this is an inconvenience, but with condensation on the inside, I get a wet head.
The texture of the fabric attracts dirt to it, especially in sandy soil. The good thing is that the dirt brushes off easily.
dirt clinging to the fabric
                                                            dirt clinging to the fabric

Will I be taking this tent on further bushwalks? Yes, because the total weight in my backpack of 1,388 g (3.06 lb) is light enough to warrant its place.

Thank you Black Diamond for the opportunity to test this product.

This completes my Long Term Report.                            




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Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Black Diamond One Shot Tent > Test Report by Ralph Ditton



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