I would like to share some first experiences with MLD Duomid. A friend and I hiked sections 3 and 4 of Hayduke trail in Utah. It's about 105 miles, 75% off trail travel. Some of the hardest hiking we both have ever done. We spent 5 days and nights in the field. I had an MLD Duomid (silnylon) and my friend had a BD HiLight.
We had a night with light rain and snow, a very cold night (19F) and several average nights. Not much wind to speak of. May be some gusts to 20 mph.
My setup consisted of MLD Duomid (620 grams), 8 stakes (120 grams) and a tyvek ground cloth (180 grams), for the total of about 920 grams.
Generally, the Duomid worked for me. It kept me dry on rainy-snowy night and somewhat warm on the very cold one. There's some science involved with how far from the ground you pitch the tent. I had some fairly large gaps on the sides and some breeze on the freezing night and it was cold. I would have been very uncomfortable without some additional calories.
Another (obvious) issue is that Duomid has a fairly large footprint and requires a lot of flat ground to setup.
All five nights I could not use stakes effectively. One time we had a bare slickrock and in other cases a few inches of loose sand over slickrock. I had to find rocks large enough to anchor the tent. Every night (having hiked up to 28 miles) my partner would set up in 3 minutes and I would spent 15-20 minutes moving rocks and adjusting the tent. I suspect my setup would not have been sufficient for any significant wind.
Another issue is blowing sand. A fully enclosed single walled tent is the only way to keep sand out in a storm. You sort of have to accept sand being everywhere in canyon country, but a florless tent and a ground cloth make for a lot more sand.
We were fortunate to not have any significant bug issues. Otherwise I would have had to have some sort of a bug bivy.
I did have a little condensation on the night when it snowed and when Duomid sealed itself to the ground with snow. When the gaps to the ground are too large, there's no condensation but it may be colder. So, it's a balancing act.
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Bottom line. Based on this experience I am willing to give BD HiLight a try. It apparently weighs only 1180 grams (vs 910 for my setup). For additional 250 grams I would get a quicker setup, perhaps better head room, sand protection and smaller space requirements. With this additional flexibility it may be worth it to use a heavier tent.
