Black Diamond Mega Light Tent Review

I recently purchased the Black Diamond Mega Light from REI. I chose to purchase from REI because I was unsure if I would like the tent and REI let's you return things no questions asked. I wanted the Mega Light which is a pyramid style tent because of it's light weight, and low packing volume. I figured it would be easy to pack on my BMW.

I asked around and some people had good things to say about them, most of the people that panned the pyramid style tents had never actually used one.

The floor does not come with it and it is optional. The floor is billed as being completely waterproof.

The tent as packaged. Weight without poles in 1 lb 14 oz. Weight with carbon fiber pole is 2 lbs 9 3/4 oz.


This picture puts in perspective how small it really is.


The optional floor next to the tent. The floor weighs 1 lb and 13 oz as packed. Total weight is 3 lbs 6 3/4 oz. Pretty light!!


I actually managed to pack both the tent and the floor into the floor stuff sack so it's extremely compact. I set it up in my yard for the first time and this is not on level ground.


Here is an inside view.


As you can see there is a small gap around the bottom of the tent even when it's pitched to the ground if the floor is not tied to the tent.



The tent is not seam sealed from the factory which is kind of lame considering how much this thing costs. Black Diamond recommends using SilNet and it takes two tubes. I read an article on BackPackingLight about how it can be thinned 1-1 with mineral spirits to make it go farther and has the added benefit of it flowing better. Well I used this method and it worked great. You could really see the sealer seeping into the threads and seams.

Well this past weekend I took it out for it's maiden voyage when I went camping.

Here is the tent set up in the wild.


Here is the inside with my Big Agnes bag thrown inside.


After a weekend of using it in mixed conditions that ranged from the 50's and calm to the 20's and windy/cold the tent has some pluses and some minuses.
I like that you can walk right in. It's super small packed. Thanks to the small pack size, I fit all my camping gear in the top case on my RT. It's fairly easy to set up. There is some adjusting of the stakes here and there once you put the center pole up. I did end up fiddling around quite a bit repeatedly trying to get the tent more taunt. It was pretty stable though. Bugs were not a problem but it was cold so I guess they were dead. I suppose they might be in the summer. It was huge inside with plenty of room for me and my gear, and then some. This tent could easily sleep three. Of course it just led to me not being as careful with putting things away and stuff so I still hogged tons of room. I had it staked right to the ground so obviously I lost about 10 inches of head room. If you wanted to sleep two people on the same side, say with your spouse next to you, one person would be right up against the wall and would be chilly in a scenario like this weekend because the walls are sloped. The floor ties to the sides of the tent about 8 inches up maybe in 8 different places and the floor is bath tub style. It is for sure 100% waterproof. However it was windy at night so the side would get blown and the wind would come in between the gaps of where the tent was tied. If it had been raining I probably would have gotten a little wet with the way the wind was blowing.

I can thing of at least 3 different things I could change to make it better.
One thing I could do with my tent is sew a piece of Velcro around the perimeter of the tent and then one around the floor. That would pretty much seal it. Then you could also make a piece of no-see-um netting say about 10 inches high with Velcro top and bottom. Then you could have this between floor and tent for those hot summer night. Another would be to install adjustable stake points instead of the fixed ones. Finally a way to tension the sides better perhaps by adding more stake points. All these things would not always be needed. If the weather was nice, the way it is would be perfectly fine.

So, the thing I need to decide is, do I go ahead and modify the tent to my liking, or return it and keep looking for something similar that is light weight but offers better protection? I shouldn't say weight, it's more about volume for me? I got the Hilleberg catalog , over the weekend in the mail. I forgot I ordered that before I made my decision on a tent. I will have to think about it. Overall I like the tent I guess but I am not 100% sure.