Initial Report - March 19, 2007Field Report - June 9, 2007Long Term Report - August 14, 2007
Tester Biographical Information
Name: |
Andrew Buskov |
Age: |
32 |
Gender: |
Male |
Height: |
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Weight: |
216 lbs (98 kg) |
Email: |
Rescue(at)Corridor9(dot)net |
City, State Zip |
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431 |
Backpacking Background:
I started backpacking and became
hooked on the outdoors.
I realized that I enjoyed the colder weather and solitude of
deep
backcountry, and have hiked various environments from the green
mountains of
the Appalachians to the barren desert of Arizona.
My hiking season starts early September and ends early
June. I’m
usually a moderate weight hiker, but as an Emergency Medical Technician
I’m
trained to be prepared, so my pack usually weighs between 30 to 40 lbs
(13 and
18 kg) while solo, to 60 lbs (27 kg) when leading. Information about
the author
can be found at http://www.corridor9.net.
Product Information:
Item: |
Black Diamond Mesa Tent |
Manufacturer: |
Black Diamond |
Website |
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/ |
Year of Manufacture: |
2007 |
MSRP: |
$298.95 USD
|
Packaged Weight: |
5 lb 2 oz (2.32 kg) Listed; 5
lb 5.5 oz (2.42 kg) Actual |
Tent & Poles: |
4 lb 9 oz (2.08 kg)
Listed; 4 lb 15.7 oz (2.25 kg) Actual |
Ground Cloth: |
10 oz (275 g) Listed:
9.7 oz (276 g) Actual |
Packed Size: |
8 x 19 in (20 x 48 cm) Listed; 7
x 22 in (18 x 56 cm) Actual |
Tent Dimensions: |
92 x 58 x 44 x 44 in (234 x 147 x 112 x 112
cm) Listed |
Product Description:
(from packaging)
"With an amazing amount
of head room
and floor space, along with 360 degree views, the Mesa provides
five-star outdoor accommodation. Its unique pole bundle system
incorporates the entire frame structure into a single unit, making
pitching incredibly easy. Whether the destination is a spring-season
trek in the desert, a trail-breaking ski trip in winter, or just base
camp at the crags, these tents provide the built-in versatility you
need."
(Paraphrased from website
)
- This single hub system, coupled with variable diameter
poles, steepens the tent walls for incredible interior space.
- The star-shaped central hub creates a taut pitch every time
by automatically tensioning the tent where it needs it.
- Two doors make for easy access and four corner organizer
pockets keep small things where you can find them.
Initial Impression:
This
tent arrived straight to my door in a plain brown shipping box.
Inside I
found the tent sealed inside a plastic bag that provided protection to
the
stuffsack. I also found a ground cloth that Black Diamond had included
for the testers to use. Within the stuffsack I found a complete and
intact tent that included: 1 Mesh Tent, 1 Rainfly, 1 Pole system, 8
Stakes & Lashing Cord in small Stuffsack, 4 4 x 4 in
(10 x 10
cm) pieces of material (1 of every fabric type), 1 Retail
Hang tag, and 1 Pitching Instruction manual.
Black Diamond's warranty information is also listed in the manual:
"We
warrant for one year from purchase date and only to the original retail
buyer (Buyer) that our products (Products) are free from defects in
material and workmanship. If Buyer discovers a covered defect, Buyer
should deliver the Product to us at the address provided. We will
replace such Product free of charge. That is the extent of our
liability under this Warranty and, upon expiration of the applicable
warranty period, all such liability shall terminate."

After removing this tent from the box, I
immediately weighed all items
individually and as a whole to get some of the logistical stuff out of
the way. After that, and since I was planning on going out that night,
I took the tent out into the front yard to set it up and check for
completeness, manufacturing defects, or damages that may have occurred
during shipping. I found the tent to be in excellent condition and
found
no problems at all. I snapped a number of pictures to help document
some of the tent's features so that I can more easily describe them
throughout this report.
Throughout the entire initial setup one thought kept running through my
mind; this tent is BIG! It's between 1-2 lbs (.45-.91kg) heavier than
my other 2 person tent, but the additional weight can be seen in the
dramatic size difference. The Mesa is approximately 5 sq ft (.46 sq m)
larger. While it may be hard to see 5 sq ft in one's mind, I can easily
equate that to the size of my 6 year old daughter. On a couple of
camping trips, my wife, my daughter, and myself stayed in my other
two-person tent. Having this additional room will make it that much
more comfortable for all of us.

There is also a lot
more headroom due
to the way
the poles are attached
to the tent. The center hub, which connects all 6 poles, has 2 short
poles that connect to the sides of the tent above the doors. This
causes the tent to stretch outward like an arch rather than creating a
straight pitch like a pup tent. Again, I quickly noticed this
additional headroom when I was able to sit inside the tent with my wife
and neither of us were hitting our heads on the top of the tent.
I was exceptionally pleased with the heavy duty construction around the
pole clips. Over the years I've had a couple of other tents with pole
clips on them and I've never cared for the way they attached to the
tent. They were all weak and I'd ripped a few of them out over time in
windy conditions or simply from the constant pressure from being
attached to the poles. It will be good to see how well this additional
reinforcement holds up over the testing period.

The ties that hold the fly or the doors
open are
different than any
other design I've seen. There is a single strap with a quick release
slider that allows the user to pin the door back loosely or firmly.
These ties are all over the tent. While the uses for most of them are
apparent, there were 2 sets of ties that I simply couldn't figure out a
use for. I emailed them with my questions and waited for a reply. I
didn't expect a response for a couple of days and was surprised when I
received a response within 6 hours. They apparently took the tent and
set it up in their showroom to try and figure out exactly what I was
asking. To me this shows exceptional customer service.
This tent will be my primary shelter
throughout
this testing period.
I've already scheduled backpacking trips to Mammoth Cave National Park,
Land Between the Lakes Recreational Area, as well as a canoe camping
trip along the Buffalo National River. I will document my experiences
with this tent, any problems I have found, as well as items I feel
could be improved for the end user.
I would like to thank Black Diamond and BackpackGearTest.org for
allowing me the opportunity to test the Mesa tent.
Field Report - June 9, 2007
Field Locations:

During
the past 2 months I have been able to use the Mesa on a couple of my
trips for a total of 4 nights.These areas were in a forest area behind
my house and campground close by. The other area was the South
Cumbarland Recreational Area. The elevations of these areas were
roughly 475 ft (145 m) and
1825 ft (556 m) respectively with all three being fairly dense forests.
There was no precipitation during the two outings, and
little to no wind.
Performance:
Unfortunately I have not
been able to use this tent with another person throughout this testing
period. I will be using this extensively with my wife the next two
months while camping out at the lake, but situations at the fire
department have hindered my camping the last 5 weeks. That being said,
I have used this a few times as a solo tent and absolutely love the
extra room this larger two person tent gives me. I now have the ability
to roll, scoot, and sprawl all over the floor of the Black Diamond Mesa
without kicking or rolling into the gear stowed alongside me. This is
such a wonderful feeling, and definitely something I have not had in my
other two person tent.
I have found that while not
impossible, the fact that the poles have a tendency to slip out of the
grommets make setting up this tent a pain. I would have one pole in
both grommets and then try to insert the other pole into the first
grommet only to have one end of the first pole slip out of its
corresponding grommet. Because of this, setup time remains around seven
to eight minutes. I do love the fact that I don't have to stake the
tent out to achieve a good deal of floor space like my other model. The
Mesa is so big that the space lost by not staking it out fully isn't
really noticeable to me. While it hasn't been exposed to a great deal
of wind, the tent was fairly stable with the breezes it did receive
even when not staked down. The fly is also easy to attach with the four
clips on the corners and the only stakes I absolutely have to place are
at the bottom of the vestibule. This is great when I want to keep all
my options open during a bright starry night, and even with the fly
closed up I've not had a problem with condensation yet.

Even
though the tent didn't ship with a pole repair section, I don't have
any fear of getting stuck with a broken pole. The design of the
variable pole is exceptionally strong and doesn't have any weak points
that I thought it might when first looking at it. The poles are a bit
hard to get together and apart in their stock condition. There are such
tight tolerances between the two poles that they have to be jiggled at
times to fully seat. More than once I've found myself trying to
assemble the tent without having a pole fully pieced together. I may
try to put a bit of soap on these prior to the next trip out to see if
that handles it.
I'm still very pleased with the way the tent
clips to the poles and have not found any tearing or stretching of the
fabric around the clips. The clips are a bit narrow though and are hard
to get onto the poles at times. This is especially true because the
pole clips happen to be placed right at the joints between two pole
sections in a number of places. Since the pole joints are larger in
diameter than the rest of the pole, it's even that much more difficult
to get the clips over the poles.
The zippers slide nice and easy
throughout their full range of motion and don't grab on any fabric
throughout their journey. However, as with my other tents, sliding the
zippers singlehandedly is still a problem. The fabric bunches up in
front of the zipper and doesn't allow the teeth to slide easily through
the pull. This happens when sliding the zipper in both directions,
although it is more noticeable when sliding the zipper from the bottom
to the top. It hasn't become a problem for me yet as I usually have 2
free hands, but I've run into problems in the past when sharing a tent with
someone else. I'll definitely keep an eye on this throughout the LTR
phase.

Long Term Report - August 14, 2007
Field Locations:
Unfortunately
with this extreme heat wave we've been having the last month, anything
but day trips were out of the question. It's simply too hot to safely
take any sort of long distance hike. I was able to use this tent during
another family outing in the Pennyrile State Forest though. The
elevation for the area is between 400 -700 ft (122 - 213 m) with slow
rolling hills and steep cliffs in some areas.
The temperature was roughly 85 F (29 C). While there were a few
sprinkles during the nights, there wasn't even enough precipitation to
wet the fabric completely. I didn't even have to put the fly in place.
Performance:

Over
the life of the test I have been able to experience the full effect of
a tent this size in both its positive and negative aspects. I've been
able to keep all my stuff from potential rain but still have the room
to stretch out and relax. I've had wonderful views during the nights
that were dry, and I've been able to fit 3 people in the Mesa during an
outing with my kids. In all, I've been exceptionally pleased with the
Black Diamond Mesa tent.
When I first received this tent one of
the things that struck me as peculiar was the number of ties located
all over the tent. While it's easy to understand how the standard door
ties are used, I found a number of them on the fly that I was unable to
fully understand how they were supposed to function. In the IR phase I
contacted Black Diamond trying to get information on exactly how the
designers expected these ties to be used. As I stated above, the email
came back quickly, but I decided to leave out the information I
received from them. While they took the time to setup the tent, the
information they sent me left a bit to be desired. I was told that the
various ties located on the fly were there to allow the user to
figure out various configurations. This seemed a bit cryptic to me; I
wanted to know how they were supposed to be used.

Without
a clear answer I set out to try different configurations over the test
period. I wanted to see which ones work While I'm sure I haven't found
all the configurations possible, I was able to find three that worked
really well for me during my outings. The first one, and the one that
I've found myself using the most, is to leave the guy lines at the
bottom of the doors on the tent stakes and remove the clips from the
four corners of the tent. This allows me to have the fly running
crossway along the top of the tent which gives me great circulation,
wonderful views, but quick and easy conversion if the rain comes. All I
need to do is clip the four corners together again then back in the
tent for a dry night.
The other way that really worked
well for me was to leave one side clipped and remove the other side.
This provided quick access if the rain came, but also provided me with
a bit of wind protection. And lastly, I removed only a single corner
clip, allowing the fly to drape diagonally across the tent. While this
was the quickest to setup in the event of rain, I wasn't pleased with
the ventilation or the views from this configuration.

In
addition to the various ways of connecting the fly, I also tried
various ways to connect the footprint. Because it's longer and wider
than the tent, it has more slack when connected to the poles with the
tent. One of the problems I have is that it would almost always
fall off due to this extra slack. I found that the best way to
connect the footprint to the poles was to connect it first. This seems
contradictory, but it really works. Because the footprint is meant to
be used in conjunction with the poles as a tarp, it's designed to fit
over the pole ends just like the tent is. If I began setting up the
tent like I would a tarp, the poles gave enough tension to hold the
footprint in place. All I had to do to complete the setup was lay out
the tent on top of the footprint, connect the corners to the ends
beneath the footprint, and connect the clips to the poles. It's a bit
hard to understand but the picture shows what I'm talking about.

As
I mentioned above I was able to take my two girls, age 6 and 11, out a
couple of nights with the mesa. While I did have to stake out the tent
for maximum floor space, we had a good deal of room and I didn't feel
confined at all throughout the night. This was surprising due to the
weather. Even though the temperature that night had been 85 F (29 C),
the humidity was high and I was sticking to my sleeping bag. I don't
like feeling sticky, much less feeling sticky and confined. Around 2 am
the temperature finally dropped enough that I felt comfortable, but as
I stated above, there was enough room that I wasn't miserable.
While
I've used this on a number of occasions as a solo tent, I don't think
I'll be using this as a solo tent anytime in the near future. I loved
the space that I had. However, the setup was more difficult for one
person, and the weight of the tent makes it hard to justify during solo
outings. I'll definitely be using this during car camping trips and two
person hiking trips due to the mass amount of space for relatively
little weight, but for solo trips I'll definitely be looking for a
lighter tent.
I'd like to thank Black Diamond and Backpackgeartest.org for allowing me to participate in testing the Mesa tent.