https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Black-hawk-limit-ultra-light-680-double-layer-parallel-chord-1-2-gauze-tent/1686424224.html
I did a lot of research before buying this tent. I wanted a one man shelter that was double layer and less than 1 kg in weight. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money either, which ruled out all the western brands of lightweight tents. So after cruising the ultralight reddit forum, I stumbled across a post that mentioned this tent and that it could be purchased from Aliexpress for a low price.
For roughly AUD$100, this was a hard tent to ignore. I was concerned about the quality, but, others who had bought it assured me that it was actually pretty good. So, I took chance and went for it. I have used this tent once so far, but, have set it up on 2 other occasions. Below you will find what I liked and disliked about it.
Liked
- 1. Cheap - fluctuates, but roughly $100 AUD
2. Weight - it is listed at 880g, but mine with its bags for the tent and pegs came in at 964g. Still good I thought
3. Quality - it is not perfect, but mine was pretty damn good, I investigated all the seams and found no problems. Definitely waterproof and I don’t see it falling apart anytime soon
4. Width - plenty of room for one person width wise
Disliked
- 1. Length - this tent is not made for tall people. I measured the bottom of the tent when setup and it was 195cm. I'm 175cm tall and would definitely not recommend this tent to anyone much taller than myself
2. Tent foot end - another reason I wouldn't recommend this tent to anyone much taller than myself is that on the foot end of the tent, it is possible that a tall persons feet would touch the mesh when laying on your back. It just isn’t very high maybe 30cm at most at the low point
3. Second pole - the pictures on Aliexpress show a trekking pole holding up the head end, and a guy line holding up the foot end. This works fine when there is no rainfly, but, with the fly on, the foot end is squished down majorly. The solution to this requires a second pole (40cm in length) to hold up the fly sheet at the foot end. So, more weight, but you could just find a stick at the campsite and use that I guess
4. Gap between rainfly and tent - set up incorrectly, the rainfly will be touching the mesh of the tent, this can be avoided but takes a bit of time to learn how. I managed to get a decent gap between the 2 only when using the 40cm foot end pole and making the guy lines at either end of the fly very tight
5. Mesh sags a little - honestly, it doesn't sag that much when setup with the correct tension, and I don’t seem to touch it when in the tent. Just can’t get it fully tight that is all
6. Not enough pegs - they only supplied 8 pegs, I reckon it needs at least 10, and if you want the tent to be absolute perfection 14
Perfect tent setup instructions
I am a bit of a perfectionist, so have tried a few different ways to get this tent absolutely perfect. A few points that I have found that work really well are:
- • peg the tent and rain fly separately, except for the one peg at the foot end. I also pegged the tent though the fabric loops and not the elastic that is attached to them, this has the effect of pinning the tent firmly on the ground
• I mentioned this above already, but the guy lines on the rainfly's foot and head end needs to be really tight. This ensures that the fly and mesh don’t touch
• I found the trekking pole set at 120cm to be best. For the pole at the foot end I thought 40cm was perfect, though others reckon 30cm
Conclusion
Despite the dislikes list being longer than the likes, my opinion is that this tent is fantastic, particularly because of the price. Yeah It's short, but, so am I. And, while on the first go it took me about 2 hours to put this tent up so that it was perfect, it only takes me 10mins now. It performed well on my overnighter and despite there being some fairly good gusts of wind it handled them without problem. It is also well ventilated and there is enough room to keep your pack protected under the fly at the head end of the tent.
I would recommend this tent to anyone who is a cheap *&%$#! like me and wants a lightweight option. They must however be no taller than 180cm in height. Also note that the pegs in the picture on the Aliexpress site are not the ones they send to you. The pegs they actually send are the little aluminium star picket ones.