Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Black Diamond MegaLight > Owner Review by James Bertil Warberg Jr

OR - BLACK DIAMOND MEGA LIGHT TENT
BY JAMES WARBERG
OWNER REVIEW
January 03, 2007

TESTER INFORMATION

I have 11 years of backpacking experience. I enjoy hiking the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the winter, spring, and fall. For summer hikes I prefer cooler destinations, mainly the North Cascades in Washington State. I have also hiked Great Basin National Park in Nevada and Rocky Mountains National Park in Colorado as summer destinations. I typically carry a 45 lb (20.4 kg) pack when hiking with my eleven year old son and a 40 lb (18.1 kg) pack when hiking by myself. I have hiked portions of the AT and PCT and I like to peak bag.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Product Tested:.................. Mega Light Tent
COLOR..............................Sangria & Silver
DIMENSIONS.....................L x W x H 86 x 86 x 57 inches (218 x 218 x 145 centimeters)
MATERIALS......................SilNylon
WEIGHT .........................TENT (W/Pole): 1.05 kilograms (2 pounds 5 ounces)
Manufacturer......................Black Diamond Equipment, LTD
Year of Manufacture..........2005
Manufacturer web site: http://www.bdel.com
MSRP..................................$229.50 (US)

Note: Product was returned to Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) for refund without recording actual weight and dimensions (Tent was purchased at REI).

BASIC OVERVIEW

I bought this tent because I needed something that would hold 3-4 people and yet be lightweight. The Mega Light Tent sleeps 3 adults comfortably, which was large enough for me and my two sons. The tent utilizes a tepee design with a lightweight fiberglass pole that supports the apex of the tent from the inside, The edges are secured by tent stakes. The fiberglass pole can be replaced with trekking poles. A pole support is not needed at all if the top is pulled up taut with a rope. The floor space for this tent is huge and the tent is tall enough to allow for moving about without hitting your head on the ceiling of the tent. At a weight of 2.3 lbs (1.05 kg) the tent delivers a lot of room; I added the optional floor attachment for waterproofing reasons that added another 1.5 lbs (.68 kg). The SilNylon material that the walls are made out of appears to be a type of weaved nylon. I have logged six trips (15 nights) with this tent in all weather conditions and have found it to be a rugged performer in all but the last of the field tests.

FIELD INFORMATION

Test 1 (Smoky Mountains National Park -Tennessee/USA, Campsite 26, March 17 -19, 2005 )
I pitched the tent for two nights at campsite 26; the site was under tree cover and on soil mostly free of rocks. Temperatures were in the 20's F (-6 to -2 C) and 30's F (-1 to 4 C) with intermittent snow and strong winds at night (elevation 4,400 ft / 1341m). The tent slept me and my two sons (ages 10 & 12) comfortably. For my first setup; it went smoothly; about 20 minutes to get it ready. The tent uses eight stakes to anchor it and four to anchor the optional floor, which made it very stable when the winds picked up at night. I used the fiberglass pole that installs in the center of the tent; there was enough room for me on one side of the tent and my two sons on the other. The pole option is a bit inconvenient compared to the no-pole option I employed on Test 2. That said, the tent was roomy enough that we could play cards inside before going to sleep at night. The optional bathtub floor is nice to convert this shelter from a tarp to a tent; the floor snugs up nicely to the top to make a comfortable abode. The tent stayed reasonably warm and had plenty of room. All in all an excellent lightweight tent for three. I did not have any problems with the zippers or tightening straps and the setup was obvious without instructions. We did not have rain this trip.

Test 2 (Horseshoe Basin / Pasayten Wilderness / Washington State / USA , July 18-20, 2005)
This was the "something different" test for this tent. Horseshoe Basin is at 7000 ft (2134 m) elevation and in a semi-arid part of Washington State. The nights were warm and calm with no adverse weather. We pitched the tent in an area marked as Sunny Pass on my map for the area. We pitched the tent under short fir trees (as we were nearly at the treeline) and the soil was rocky. The tent slept me and my two sons nicely again side-by-side. We used a rope to hold the top up tight, rather than the center pole; the apex of the tent has a loop to attach a rope that holds the tent up, rather than the fiberglass pole inside the tent. This really opened up the sleeping area inside the tent. It was this trip that I tested the "what to do about the insects" feature of this tent. I did not buy the insect net with it, because I didn't want to carry the extra weight. I used insect repellent and a face net to protect against the mosquitoes and flies that got into the tent. What was interesting was that most of the insects stayed on the walls several feet above where we slept, so they weren't that big of a problem. The bug population was also kept at bay by just zipping the door up and tightening the floor up to the walls.

Test 3 (Enchantment Lakes / Alpine Lakes Wilderness / Washington State/USA, September 9-11, 2005)
I pitched the tent for two nights and gave this tent a good workout. Temperatures were, like the Smokies, in the 20's and 30's F (-6 to 4 C) with intermittent snow and strong winds at night; the winds were stronger, I estimate 50+ mph (81 kph), and the snow was intense on the second night. I pitched the tent at Snow Lake the first night at elevation 5414 ft (1650 m); we were in old growth fir and the soil was full of roots and was rocky. Instead of using the single tent pole, I used the rope loop on the top to pull it up tight to the trees at the campsite. Taking the pole out of the middle of the tent made it easy to sleep three adult men the first night. Lots of wind on night 1, but no precipitation. Once again the stake down design (and roped up top) did a great job of holding this tent securely in place and the inside was comfortable. The tent has no windows, but does have an air vent at the top. Temperatures were good in the tent and the night's sleep was good. Setup time was about 20 minutes. The second night was the real test for this tent; the winds were steady with an estimated windspeed of 40 to 50 mph (64 to 81 kph) with gusts that must have been 70 to 80 mph (113 to 129 kph) ; the gusts were so strong that some of the free standing tents around were trying to tip over with people in them! It was the worst storm that I have ever encountered since I have started hiking.The Mega Light Tent stood firm on the plot of ground we found near Perfection Lake in the Lower Enchantment Basin. It was this trip that I found a shortcoming of this tent...you have to have soil to drive stakes into to set it up. The Enchantment Lakes Basin has a lot of places where you would have to step on solid rock; only a freestanding tent works in that circumstance. With a lack of trees at 7100 ft elevation (2134 m), I once again used the center pole to support the tepee design. We couldn't sleep three men side-by-side this time, because the pole sets in the exact middle of the tent floor (see sleeping plan diagram below). The night before we had slept three side-by-side. This night we were able to just sleep two men side by side and one man crossways at the feet of the first two men. There just isn't enough floor space to get two men side-by-side on either side of where the pole hits the floor. The second night brought four inches of snow along with the strong winds. The tent stood firm even with snow piling up on the outside. Very little moisture dripped into the tent, even with the copious quantities of snow gathering on the outside of the tent. I was concerned that the no rainfly design would mean a lot of wetness inside if it rained (let alone snow as it did on this trip). My fear proved unfounded, as we stayed quite comfortable and dry until the storm broke. I do think that if one of us had had to sleep in contact with a tent wall that the wall would have given up some water and gotten us wet. When packing up the tent during the break in the snow storm, I could not squeeze out much excess water from the wall material as it had frozen on the fabric and I ended up carrying a couple extra pounds of water that was still on the tent material. I had to dry it out once I was back to civilization.

Sleeping Plan for Adults

Test 4 (Great Basin National Park, Nevada - Baker Lake Johnson Lake Loop/ June 30 to July 2, 2006)
Conditions were dry and dusty; temperatures ranged from 35 to 75 F (2 to 24 C). Elevations ranged from 8000 to 11295 ft (2438 to 3443 m). I Set up the tent in with the inside pole both nights. The soil conditions were very rocky in minimal tree cover. The trip was comfortable with results not differing from the first three tests.

Test 5 (Upper Lena Lake / Olympic National Park / Washington State / USA, July 31 to August 2, 2006)
Conditions were cool and damp (no rain, just fog, mist, and morning dew). Temperatures ranged from 30 to 55 F (-1 to 13 C). Elevations ranged from 900 to 4100 ft (274 to 1250 m). I set up the tent with the pole inside both nights for my two sons and me. We set up under old growth fir trees and the soil conditions were ideal with soft dirt and minimal rocks. The trip was comfortable.

Test 6 (North Inlet -Tonahutu Creek Loop / Rocky Mountains National Park / Colorado / USA, August 27 to September 1, 2006)
Conditions varied from hot and dusty, to cold and rainy, to hot with a thunderstorm. Night-time temperatures were consistently around 30 degrees F (-1 C), while day time temperatures ranged from 45 to 80 degrees F (7 to 27 C). Elevations ranged from 8000 to 12300 ft (2438 to 3749 m). Campsite conditions were in very rocky soil with moderate tree cover.This trip the tent (using the inside pole option) slept two adults comfortably; when sleeping two people there is a nice amount of space to store some things in the tent with you. It was on this trip that the leak developed. The weave of the tent wall material began to separate near the seam at the apex of the tent. My hiking partner noticed that we were getting some water in the tent during the two periods of rain we had on this trip; just drips, but enough that it made me curious. On closer inspection, I could see the nylon fibers separating and that water could leak into the tent. I remedied the leak by strapping a plastic bag over the apex of the tent to divert the water below the hole.

Test 6 Update (December 14, 2006) I have contacted both Black Diamond and REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) by email about the leak. REI has a 100% lifetime guarantee on all items they sell and they responded within an hour of the email and told me that I could bring the tent back in without the original packaging, which I had thrown away, for a full refund or exchange; additionally, they offered to take back the undamaged floor and refund my purchase price on it. Black Diamond responded within two hours of my email and said that they would evaluate the damage to the tent and then decide either to repair it or send me a new tent, even though the tent was 6 months past its warrantee period. I decided to return the tent and floor to REI for a refund; as they claimed, they refunded my money no questions asked. In the correspondence from Black Diamond, they assured me that customer satisfaction was their first concern and that they would resolve my problem, if REI did not take the tent back.

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE TENT

The positives of this tent are floor space, head room, and wind/weather durability. I love utilizing the no-pole option (holding the top up by rope); it offers an incredible amount of floor space. The tent did extremely well in the snowstorm I encountered; the steep pitch of the pyramid design let the thick wet snow slide off the tent with just a few taps on the material from the inside; we never had to get out of the tent to clear off the snow.

The floor is a super option to purchase with this tent; it is completely waterproof, yet only weighs ~1.5 lbs (~ 680 g). When considering buying this tent, I emailed the manufacturer about how waterproof the floor was. Black Diamond responded within hours to my email and claimed that the floor is essentially impervious to water and mud. I believe it after the wet snow I got caught in on my trips to the Smoky Mountains and the Enchantment Lakes Basin areas. We were comfortably dry even with all the snow melting on and around the tent.

I also liked the breakdown time for the tent. Drop the pole and pull the stakes and stuff it in a bag in under 2 minutes. It is great with the optional floor, because once I pulled the top off I had ready access to all of my gear, still on the floor, without the tent getting in the way.

THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE TENT

The setup time of 20 minutes for the tent is too long, in my opinion. Part of the problem on setup is adjusting and readjusting the tent stakes. I had to keep setting and resetting them until the tent walls were taut.

The fiberglass pole option is not good when sleeping three or four adults; by being right in the middle of the floor you lose valuable space in the center of your tent; When setting up sleeping bags, I noticed that the pole forced the bags closer to the walls and the caused me to lose space in the middle of the tent that I wanted to use to store gear.

I reluctantly add the bit about the material wearing out; I was disappointed, because I was eager to write an outstanding review of this tent. Instead, I am reluctantly noting a premature failure of the material.

After returning the tent, I purchased a tent with a bug net and that is just little heavier. I would say that keeping the bugs out and a fear of premature material failure kept me from replacing the tent with another Mega Light.

SIGNATURE

James B Warberg, Jr.
jimwarberg@juno.com

Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Black Diamond MegaLight > Owner Review by James Bertil Warberg Jr