The Best Backpacking Tent Awards announced by OutdoorGearLab.com

Best Backpacking Tent Review just finished on my site OutdoorGearLab.com. Here is the official press release below.


CHEYENNE, WY—OutdoorGearLab.com revealed today the results of the 2011 Editors’ Choice Awards for the backpacking tent category, listing this year’s best and best value for 3 season tents. The OutdoorGearLab Review Editors chose the following winners after extensive field testing and road trips in the High Sierra, Southeast Utah and The Cascades. Each tent underwent extensive side by side tests to evaluate key performance metrics such as ease of set-up, versatility, livability, packed size, strength, quality, and value. View the complete backpacking tent review

The winners are:
Black Diamond Mesa – winner of the Editor's Choice Award for 2011 for backpacking tent. According to Gear Editor Max Neale, "The Black Diamond Mesa represents an excellent balance between strength, weight, and comfort in a backpacking tent. It’s our favorite all-purpose three-season tent; if we were to have just one tent it would be this one. The Mesa has been an award winner since its inception in 2007."

REI Half Dome 2 - winner of the Best Buy award for 2011. This award is given to a product that balances an extremely high score in our tests and a very reasonable price. According to Max Neale, "The REI Half Dome 2 tent is a well-designed, strong, and comfortable backpacing tent. The Half Dome’s best attribute is its absurdly low price- only $180- which makes it the unquestionable winner of our Best Buy Award. It continues to impress, however, with good quality poles, fabrics, a spacious interior, and an efficient and easy to setup pole design. The Half Dome is also stronger than most other tents reviewed here; it’s plenty capable of handling gusty winds and torrential downpours."

Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 - winner of the Top Pick award for 2011 for Best Lightweight Backpacking Tent. This award is given to a product that excels at a specific application. According to Max Neale, "The Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 tent is an aggressive looking and high performing ultralight backpacking tent. It barely tips the scales at 2lb 10oz packed weight, making it one of the lightest self-supporting tents in the world. This is our favorite tent for three-season multi-day trips."