Black Diamond Mesa Review

Likes
The Black Diamond Mesa is an exemplary three-season tent. It won awards when it was released in 2007 and continues to perform at high levels to this day. The Mesa’s design combines a lightweight package with strong time tested pole architecture; whether it is backpacking or base camping you’ll be comfortable, dry, and happy.

The Mesa has many good features that make it an excellent tent. The pole design is most notable because it creates a spacious and strong frame. Two multi-diameter DAC NSL poles cross from corner to corner while a third pole branches out from the center to create steeper walls and more interior space. All three poles are connected by a single central metal hub. While the pole/hub system isn’t the lightest, it’s stronger than all other tents reviewed here. The Mesa’s inner tent attaches to the poles with fifteen clips and grommets. This creates a taught and stable base that makes it easy to open the door zipper with one hand. For comparison purposes, the MSR Hubba Hubba has only nine clips and grommets- it’s significantly less taught and much harder to open the door with one hand. Setting up the Mesa is also easy. Just snap the interconnect pole together and pop them in the color-coded grommets.


The Mesa is stronger than most other three-season tents. Its strength comes from the pole design as well as a stronger fly, reinforced guy points, and partial height nylon walls. The fly is made of 40-denier ripstop polyster with a 1500mm silicone/polyurethane coating. The floor is even stronger: 70-denier ripstop nylon with a 2000mm polyurethane coating. The fly attaches to the body with four adjustable clips and six hook and loop closures. There are four guy points (one on each corner), plus one on each vestibule. Partial height nylon walls are another benefit because they add strength and prevent ground level sand and splindrift from blowing into the tent. This is particularly beneficial when the tent is left up for multiple days. When properly tensioned, the Mesa is strong and stable enough to hand any three-season storm.

The Mesa is a highly livable tent. You’ll find a copious amount of interior and vestibule space, 32 and 18 sq. ft., respectively. The tent is 92”x 58”, five inches longer and four inches wider than the average tent reviewed here. This space is great for taller people, wider people, gear, or card games on dreary days. Four large and supportive pockets give two people plenty of stash space. Other features that make it more livable are two large doors. They’re bigger than most other tents and roll out of the way easily. The Mesa also has very good vestibule zippers and vents. The zippers curve near the top just below the vent so you can open them up during rain or cook up a meal without dying of carbon monoxide poisoning (the Mesa’s vestibules make it the best tent for cooking in). Finally, the bright orange rainfly adds cheer while waiting out bad weather.


Dislikes
Strength and livability come at the expense of weight and packed size. The Mesa is strong and livable, but it’s not the lightest tent. (If weigh is your primary concern get the 2.6lb Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2.) The Mesa is ten ounces heavier than our favorite lightweight three-season tent, the REI Quarter Dome T2. It’s heavier because it has stronger, but older poles. Black Diamond could update them with the newer, lighter, and better DAC Featherlite NSL Green poles which are found on other tents reviewed here.

How significant is this extra weight? We think not very. An extra five ounces per person (the equivalent of two Cliff bars) is a small price to pay for the Mesa’s comfortable interior and storm proof design. For a tent that can do it all, we’d much prefer to carry this extra weight and know that we’ll be warm and dry and that the tent won’t break if a storm rolls in. Furthermore, consider how much time you spend backpacking versus car camping. The Mesa is our favorite all-purpose three-season shelter.

The Mesa retails for $320, slightly above the average tent price. Fortunately, it has been around for a while and can probably be found for the same or less than most other tents.

Best Application
Everything!

Value
A good value for a tent that can do everything.

Other versions and accessories

• Black Diamond Vista $370 - 3-person version

• Triangular gear loft $22.

• Footprint $55