Black Diamond Tempest Tent 2-Person 4-Season

i've had the tent for about 3 years now, used it from winter in the sierras to summer in colorado, and peru and alaska in the summer. the seam sealing is tricky, and i had to hit a couple spots that leaked a bit after the first go, but overall not that bad. there is condensation, but it's really not all that bad most of the time when the humidity is down outside. when it's humid out (raining, etc), then like anything, it doesn't breath as well, and the walls can be fairly wet/frosty in the morning, but this would happen with anything that doesn't straight up dehumidify the air. on the other hand, it kept everything almost totally dry for a couple weeks of rain in alaska with some care to help keep the water out, and snow camping with some wind with the vents cracked usually means the inside is bone dry in the morning. one night in a friend's 4 season double wall with 2 feet of blowing snow convinced me single wall is the way to go, as with a fly (even without mesh on the inside) the snow just blew underneath it and melted through. also nice at breakfast after a windy night to hear the people in the tent a few feet away talk about how they spent the entire night holding the tent together, and say, hey, what wind? if the vestibules are staked out tight, i've hardly even noticed 50+ mph wind. the only durability issue i've had was the interior spreader pole pockets coming unglued last summer, but sent it in the Black Diamond and they sewed them back on and it's good to go again. personally, i don't think the complaints about condensation are really merited, since the only times it gets bad is when it's going to be bad regardless of what you have, since if you hit the dew point, you're going to have dew/frost whether you're in a tent or outside, and i figure it's a benefit when i can determine that the water inside is all condensation, instead of just leak-through like previous tents i've had. as my friend said this past weekend backcountry skiing the eastside, he got to stay in the "best tent ever"

I bought the tempest under the assumption that it was 100% waterproof like all the ads say it is, but when I got it home and read the instructions it says in order to be 100% waterproof all the main seams need to be sealed, inside and out. And it takes about 4 passes to do it. And each time it is supposed to dry before adding another pass. I spent about 2 and a half hours on one pass on the outside alone. By my calculations it’s gonna take me a week and a lot of hours just to seal a $500 tent that is supposed to be 100% waterproof.

The tent is super warm, as it keeps a lot of body heat inside unlike "fly" tents. Unfortunately, the tent sweats a lot and my sleeping bag was completely to partially wet for nine days. Ice crystals were present every night and morning on the inside of tent’s walls no matter how much (within reason) I vented out to the vestibules. I used it for a late October Colorado hunting trip at 10K feet and stayed very warm at 15-20F lows with two bodies inside. It’s easy to set-up. I would have paid extra for the seams to be factory sealed, as it was too time consuming for my schedule. I took pictures of the ice crystals and am debating whether to return the product. It's a huge benefit to retain the body heat inside the tent and therefore may outweigh the negative condensation problem. I'm sure that it is too much to ask for both warmth and dry tent walls. This is a decent product, but the fabric technology may not be available for what I had expected to receive.

Here is my inital review, as I just purchased this tent and have only used it on two trips. I have never owned a winter tent, although I have been winter camping in the mountains of Colorado for a few years in the three season Dana Design Mojo. My old tent was acceptable in cold weather, although I would never use it if there was a threat of wind, as there is a lot of mesh under the fly. This tent is pretty easy to setup after you've done it a few times. I had set it up once when I picked it up, and again to seam seal it. (which was pretty easy, and they say it is good for the life of the tent, although Bibler supplied plenty of sealeant for more than one use) It was a little different experience setting the tent up outdoors, with a little wind and a few feet of snow. The tent is very sturdy once set up. The rear vestiblue is _very_ small. I cannot even fit my overnight backpack back there. I find the front vestibule is a good size for cooking and front porch use, but there is not enough room for cooking _and_ storage space. After cooking some dinner in the vestibule, I zipped up and we began to eat inside. The tent was quickly engulfed in steam, and I popped open the rear and front vents. Only about a 3" crack in the zippers seemed enough to ventilate the tent. Overnight, the tent stayed very warm. Much warmer than my old, three season tent to say the least. A bit of condensation did build up on the upper portion of the tent, and on the front and rear doors. The doors had much more condenstaion than the ToddTex fabric. There was not condensation low on the tent sides, so my sleeping bag stayed plenty dry. All the icy condensation had disappeared by the time we woke up at 8am (an hour and a half past sunrise, and still well below freezing outside) I will add some durability information to this sometime, perhaps quite a while from now. From what I have heard, Bibler tents wear very well if you don't rip them.