User Review: The North Face Dyad 22

The North Face Dyad 22
Above: The current Dyad 22, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed December 29, 2007 by Robert Kelly

Rating:
Design: three season
Sleeps: 2
Ease of Setup: Easy
Price Paid: NT 9,000

I bought the Dyad 22 after a lot of research, concentrating on a tent that would be lightweight, rainproof, but with good ventilation as I live in a humid country (Taiwan).

I just tested the Dyad 22 on a 5 day trek in the south under ideal conditions: warm (25 degrees during the day, 15 at night) and mostly dry. It was the worst performing tent I have ever had.

We had one light shower the first night and the tent leaked slightly.

I might have put this down to the particular tent I bought having defective material, but it failed in several other ways.

The door, for example, is very poorly designed and literally flaps into the tent when you open it. This meant that during and after the rain we had, the water on the outside of the flap fell into the tent wetting the floor when I unzipped the door (there is no mesh door). It was also annoying to have the flap literally in my face all the time when getting in and out. The hooks to secure the door open are too far forward so the lower end of the door has a tendency to unravel and fall in. The zippers also got stuck on the material almost every time I opened or closed the door.

The worst performing feature of this tent though was that it allowed a heavy buildup of moisture on the inside during the night. The first morning I literally woke up to puddles on the floor and a wet sleeping bag and hair. Every else's tent on the trip was warm and dry.

Since I had no option of changing tents during the trip I had to resort to wiping down the inside walls and ceiling several times during the night and especially in the morning before I sat up (if I touched the roof with my head, water would run down the top and then drip onto the floor).

As I wrote the moisture was a sever problem during ideal conditions. Either I got a dud, or this tent is just not worth it despite the lightweight. I plan to return it, it is that useless to me.