Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Black Diamond Lighthouse Tent > Stephanie Martin > Initial Report

Initial Report: Black Diamond Lighthouse and Vestibule

Contents

- Product Arrival

- Product Features and Construction

- Initial Impressions

    -Pitching the Lighthouse

    -Attaching and Pitching the Vestibule

    -Breaking it all Down

    -Sealing the Seams

- Test Strategy

It's Here! The Black Diamond Lighthouse Arrives!
The Black Diamond Lighthouse arrived safely via the UPS nicely packaged inside a small brown box.  The tent came in its own grey SilNylon stuff sack.  Attached to this stuff sack via a pair of one-inch sewn-in elastic loops was another SilNylon stuff sack with three poles, six stakes, some cord to make guylines, instructions, a tube of McNett SilNet seam sealer and a Monojet irrigation syringe.  The vestibule and its accompanying pole, stakes (two), seam sealer and hangtag/instructions came in a separate SilNylon stuff sack.  The tent also had an attached product hangtag for the Black Diamond Superlight tent family, which like the instructions, is printed in four languages including English, French, German, and Japanese.  The hangtag provides descriptions for the various tents included in the Superlight family including the Lighthouse, the Firstlight, the Lightsabre Bivy and the Winter Bivy.  In addition, the hangtag provides information about the use and care of the tent and Black Diamond's one year limited warranty.
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Initial Impressions and Construction
The Black Diamond Lighthouse is the largest in Black Diamond's Superlight Tent family and features an Epic by Nextec canopy, 30 denier SilNylon floor (and optional vestibule), and 8.84mm (0.35 inch) outer diameter DAC Featherlite aluminum poles.  The tent is freestanding and of single wall design, and has a full side-door opening with netting and a small window to aid in ventilation.  This tent is marketed towards climbers and minimalist travelers who follow the "light is right" philosophy.

Having been fortunate enough to be able to beta test the pre-production version of the Lighthouse, I was eager to set it up and see how it looked.  As my backyard is landscaped with desert landscaping and is not friendly towards SilNylon tent floors (think lots of sharp, pokey objects like rocks and cacti), I chose to pitch the tent inside my living room to the great amusement of my cats.  With some creative use of the provided cord, I was able to anchor the tent to my furniture and tension out the vestibule.  I'm pleased to report that the Lighthouse is as large and roomy as I remember - some nice additions include some loops inside the tent near the ceiling that allows an optional attic loft to be installed and a pair of small 11 1/2" x 3 1/2" (29.2 x 8.9 cm) pockets at the head and foot of the tent that will prove to be handy to keep small items like my glasses, watch, and headlamp near at hand and relatively organized.  I was surprised to find that the tent does not come seam taped and requires a full seam sealing.  I was also disappointed to find that Black Diamond moved the netting door from the outside of the tent to inside the tent.  I much preferred the pre-production version with the netting door on the outside for two reasons: first, it allows me to adjust the ventilation of the tent without having to let bugs in and second, it keeps my tent door out of the dirt when it's unzipped. 

Pitching the Lighthouse:  Setting up the tent is a relatively simple affair.  First, I spread out the tent with its door fully open (this is an area for concern when pitching the tent in inclement weather).  I then expanded the three shock corded DAC Poles.  One of the poles, the awning pole, is considerably shorter than the other two (39 inches (99 cm) across vs. 142 inches (360.7 cm)) and has a slight bend in the middle.  This pole is inserted into and through the top of the tent via a pair of small reinforced grommets just below the awning.  The pole tended to stick a bit in this process where the pole sections joined one another, but it was easily coaxed through.  Each end of the awning pole is secured in grommets attached to the edges of the awning, tensioning it out to form small beaks over the door and window of the tent.  Once this is accomplished, the two long poles are inserted into the tent, crossing at the awning pole and making an "x".  Because the poles are rather long, this can prove to be rather unwieldy - especially when pitching the tent in limited confines.  The corners of the Lighthouse are nicely reinforced with heaver material, and the poles themselves are seated into snaps in each of the four corners of the tent body.  Once the poles are in place, final set up is finished by securing the twelve (yes, twelve - six along each pole) 1 1/2-inch (3.8 cm) hook and loop fasteners around the poles to hold them as close to the seams of the tent as possible.  At this point, I should note that the tent is pitched tight as a drum, and the fabric makes an interesting "thonk" noise when tapped.  The provided instructions state that the tent must be anchored securely to the ground immediately, as "the slightest breeze can blow it away, causing severe damage."  This is another area of concern, as I am often out camping where the wind can be quite brisk and stakes can be impossible to sink into the ground.  While the 43 inch (109 cm) ceiling height is very nice indeed while inside the tent, it makes for a very high non-aerodynamic profile.

  Attaching and Pitching the Vestibule:  In this test, Black Diamond was kind enough to include the optional clip-on 30 denier SilNylon vestibule for evaluation.  Pitching the vestibule is similar to pitching the tent body, and starts by spreading out the vestibule, ensuring that the black strap that the pole connects to is untwisted.  The pole  is secured to the black nylon strap via a pair of grommets.  Once the pole is flexed into position, it is secured to the vestibule by a small strip of hook and loop fastener.  With the tent firmly anchored, attaching the vestibule is a simple activity, accomplished by connecting it to the Lighthouse via the mating of the metal hooks (think really big front closure bra-strap hooks) on the vestibule with the web loops sewn under the Lighthouse awning.  Once connected to the tent, the vestibule is staked out at the ends of the door.  The Black Diamond vestibule is roomy, and has a double ended zipper for its door closure.  At first I didn't understand the reasoning, but if you look closely at the image to the left, you will notice a small beak protruding from the top of the vestibule - this beak allows the user to vent the vestibule by opening one end of the zipper underneath this sheltered region while leaving the rest of the door closed.

Breaking it all Down:  Taking down the vestibule and tent is just as simple as putting it up.  All actions are completed in reverse.  The stuff sacks are large enough to simply stuff the various items inside, and are not overly loose or tight.  I'm not sure why there is a separate pole and stake bag for the Lighthouse, but there is - and it is well designed with a small section for the stakes segregated from the main body of the pole bag.  This small pouch keeps the stakes segregated towards the opening of the stuff sack, rather than floundering around in the depths of the bag.

Sealing the Seams: As I mention above, neither the tent nor the vestibule come seam taped or sealed.  This fun and enjoyable activity is reserved for the consumer.  Seam sealing the tent is relatively straight forward, though time consuming.  Because the tent needs to remain pitched while the sealer cures, it is recommended that the tent is pitched in a location with adequate ventilation out of the sun to prevent inhalation damage to the user and ultraviolet damage to the tent.  I easily spent the good portion of an afternoon in the garage becoming intimately familiar with the process of how best to apply seam sealer to minimize mess while completing this task.  While I can't say I enjoyed myself, I have to commend Black Diamond for providing a unique and effective method for completing this activity.  Instead of painting the seam sealer onto the tent with a small ill designed brush, Black Diamond has provided a small irrigation syringe (a syringe with a short curved and tapered nozzle used for irrigating wounds) to apply the seam sealer.  Based on my experience, it is much easier to remove the plunger from the syringe, filling the barrel of the syringe with the seam sealer, then replacing the plunger than it is to fill the syringe with seam sealer via the nozzle.  Once filled, the syringe is used to neatly (assuming a steady hand) apply thin beads of the seam sealer to the seams of the tent.  I found I was able to seam seal both my tent and vestibule using one tube of McNett SilNet.   
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Testing Strategy
The Lighthouse and vestibule will accompany me on multiple trips in the desert southwest as well as on an extended trekking trip to Europe and the GR11 in the Pyrenees.  I expect the weather to be hot and arid in the southwestern United States - later in the summer, the testing period will cross the southwest monsoon, and I will be expecting plenty of later afternoon thundershowers along with strong winds.  The weather in the Pyrenees is unknown, though I expect it to be relatively cool and more humid than here in the Sonoran Desert.  Most of the ground conditions will be rocky or sandy,  with little protection for the SilNylon floor - though every once in a while, we're lucky to be able to make camp in a grassy meadow or on top of duff in a wooded area.  The Lighthouse will be evaluated with the following items in mind:

Durability - While I am not rough on my gear, the environment can be.  I will be checking the floor to see if it springs any leaks.  In addition, with the tent walls being stretched taut, I wonder if the constant rubbing of the poles will result in pinholing of the canopy fabric.

Weatherproofness & Ventilation - Epic by Nextec is a breathable, highly water resistant fabric - I hope to find that it is sufficient to keep me dry and happy when the weather is inclement.  I also hope to find that it breathes well and doesn't have excessive condensation issues.  I will evaluate the ventilation and weatherproofness of the Lighthouse with and without the vestibule attached and noting differences in performance.

Ease of Setup - I anticipate that the pitching of the tent and vestibule become faster over time, or I fear I (and the interior of the tent) will be getting quite wet if I ever have to set up the Lighthouse in the rain.  I plan to evaluate for myself how much of an advantage this free-standing style of tent is over my existing non-freestanding shelter options.  It seems to me that if the tent must be staked out, it negates its main advantage over my other shelters.

Ease of Care - while all pieces of equipment require some level of maintenance, I will evaluate how much care and cleaning the Lighthouse requires.  I've never owned anything made of Epic by Nextec fabric, and am curious to find out if it attracts and holds onto dust at the same ridiculous rate as my SilNylon tarps.

Tent Flap - getting a sound nights sleep is important in the field, and the high profile of this tent makes it very non-aerodynamic.  I hope to find that the tension on the walls is sufficient to prevent noisy flapping that can keep me up at night. I also hope that the tent doesn't blow in on me in higher winds!

Overall Design - I always hike with my husband, so I will be evaluating the tent for general design, and pack-ability (already I note this shelter is going to occupy more volume in our packs as our more recent choice of shelters) as well as its roominess, ease of entry and exit and available storage space with and without the vestibule.

Over the six month test period, I expect that numerous nights in the field will allow me to fully evaluate the Lighthouse in the above aspects.  I'm really looking forward to it!
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My thanks to BackpackGearTest.org and Black Diamond for this testing opportunity.

Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Black Diamond Lighthouse Tent > Stephanie Martin > Initial Report