HMG Ultamid 4 vs MLD Supermid Cuban… FIGHT!

One major difference is lead time… HMG can ship me an Ultamid tomorrow. MLD will take seven weeks to make a Cuban Supermid!

I have used a cuben 'mid (Duomid) and currently own a silnylon Supermid. No experience with the HMG Ultamid 2 or 4.

The Supermid is manageable for 4, extremely comfortable for 3, and ginormous for 2. The duo innernet works well behind a slightly offset centre pole to provide a bug-free sleep area for 2 and a massive vestibule for gear storage. For long term livability, the Supermid has the space for 2 to be extremely comfortable.

Do you need cuben fibre? It's rather translucent and won't offer you much privacy if you are camping close to / within an urban area.

I would also like a bit of insight into the two shelters. It is a huge investment.

Right now HMG has a 10% off coupon, so the ultamid 4 is $743 in white, and $815 in green. MLD supermid cuben is $770 in green.

I was originally thinking the green would be better…show less trail dirt, and not be quite so bright. The green might be not quite as hot as the white if the mid was setup in the day, but I bet both will have the greenhouse effect since they are a bit translucent.

Differences:
Lead time: Clear winner…HMG

Vents: This is a tough one. HMG has two vents vs MLD's one. I'm sure both systems are plenty strong in cuben so I'm not worried about strength.
The HMG stays "open" by having stiff tape on the hem. But, if you look at pictures, you can see that in reality it becomes wavy and never fully open. The MLD has a wire rod to keep the vent curved half way up the vent, and is removable. To close the vents…HMG wins b/c you simply Velcro a piece of cuben up inside the shelter. With the MLD, you either have to be out of the shelter or more realistically from inside, open up the door from the top (not sure if MLD has a two way zipper or not), and reach up and remove the wand and push together the Velcro. Actually….the HMG vents have no seeum netting….if the MLD does not have netting, you could potentially do this from inside, but not sure how easy it is since you have the center pole in your way, but ? So……I'm going to call this a draw between MLD and HMG.

Door: They both have weather proof zippers. To cut weight or b/c they deemed unnecessary, HMG removed the storm flap over the zipper. Both doors now have a buckle at the bottom. MLD's storm flap also has snaps at the bottom and mid height snaps to keep the storm flap over the zipper, plus 1 piece of Velcro (I believe). The mid height snaps do make it so you can easily half open one door in nice weather for some easy ventilation and views. I do believe that you could do something very similar with the HMG…like adding a pair of Zpack's "Stick on Loops with Elastic Straps" for .3 oz to relieve some zipper tension if you wanted it half open like the supermid. In either tarp I would only do this in calm weather. I do believe that MLD's door would be more storm worthy, but you do have the weight penalty and the additional hassle of a storm flap….so, entering and exiting the tarp you would have to undo snaps or redo snaps, deal with Velcro, and have the possibility of getting the fabric of the storm flap caught in the zipper. Normally I would say a draw here b/c its a matter of preference….less hassle zipper or more hassle/more stormproof zipper?

Seams: MLD's seams are bonded, HMG's are sewn then taped. In this weight of cuben, stiches shouldn't matter….correct me if I'm wrong but I think the current consensus is that as long as you are getting your cuben shelter from a top tier cottage manufacturer, both ways are perfectly valid/strong.

Size/Weight: The HMG is 5-6" wider and 6-7" higher (depends on how they are exactly calculating that). Though, b/c of the size difference, the HMG weighs 3.3 oz more. Which is "better"? I would think that if you are primarily going to be with 2-3 people, the smaller size of the supermid would be best, but with a 4th person, you would greatly appreciate even the slightly larger size of the ultamid. As far as footprint size problems, I think if you can find a spot for a 9×9 mid that same spot is going to work for a 9.5×9.5 mid. in all but 2-3% of cases.

Manufacturing quality: Draw…both are excellent. Same with customer support.

Accessories: Dang, another draw. MLD does come with 4 gear hang loops inside. But, the HMG comes with better guyline (I think) and more of it (24' for the 8 guylines and another 50'….MLD just has the 50'). Gear hang loops are easily remedied with Zpack's "2.5" x 2.5" Stick on Loop", plus you get to put them wherever you want.

Cost: MLD would normally win here…its just that HMG currently has a 10% coupon making their mid either cheaper in white or a bit more expensive in green. At least you do have the option of either getting white or green if that makes a difference to you.

So…..winner? Nobody! You have to have your own internal battle over the pro/cons and stay awake at night thinking of which is best…..always dreading if you buy one if you should have bought the other.

So, I am planning on buying a cuben mid…..either the supermid or ultamid4. I listed everything above but I have to make the final decision before the HMG sale ends.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a green cuben….to make it not quite as affected by sun and so trail dirt won't show as much.

Its an $800 purchase so I want to feel absolutely confident on the purchase choice….if I haven't thought of something, please let me know!

I have GoLite Shangri-La 5 that I have used some and recently got a Ultamid 4 that I really can't comment on because I am yet to use it. I hike with a guy who uses a Supermid(sil) and it is fine without an inner, but I think it would be too short for me with an inner inside. I use my SL 5 without an inner in winter and out west, but in warmer weather here, I use a custom half pyramid inner. I think the extra room in the Ultamid would be a big deal if I planned on using an inner net at any time, if I didn't it might be a wash.

Thanks for your reply….its a huge choice so I'm looking for as many insights as possible.

If you don't mind me asking, what custom inner are you using?

Lets say I couldn't get a custom inner but had to use what is available…the closest I can find is a Pyranet 4…which is 90"x90", so it fits under a supermid…but if you use that pyranet 4 under the ultamid…you basically lose all reason for having the extra space.

Not that it quite matters…my plan is to use polycryo and combination of bivies or I'm trying to source the new 3 oz sea to summit nano nets…

I had bear paw make one that was 10 inches shorter (5 per side and half the width minus five inches so it is a half pyramid ( sort of like an inner for the ow are alpha mid would look). Good headroom nice floor space and tons of area in the "vestibule" for gear, cooking and hanging out in the rain.

Sorry, I'm not quite following you… you are saying you have a custom pyranet 4 that is 10 inches shorter and also half as wide?

So, I had this gear post…->

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=89735

There, you see that I just sold exactly half of a pyranet 4, but taller. In the oware 10×10 pics its kind of hard to tell, but in these pics its easier to see ->

and a bit less so here ->

In that first pic, its easier to see that there is quite a bit …too much…of space that is not being utilized. In a normal pyranet 4…it is even shorter some even more headroom is not utilized.

That is a 10'x10' of course, so it is larger than an ultamid 4. My point being….is that if a user were to use an inner, having the larger size of an ultamid 4 wouldn't do much good b/c the "extra" space is pretty much wasted if you use a noncustomized inner.

But I digress…I really am just asking about your inner now as I'm curious…the pyranet that I just sold is a half pyramid as well but its the same length and 1/2 width of a pyranet 4…but you are saying yours is shorter….

Sorry, Shorter then the Golite Shangri-la 5 not the standard Pentanet 4. I think it is 104×52, enough for two people on one side of the pole.

OK, that makes more sense then. Glad that bearpaw was able to make a custom inner for you. How much did it end up weighing?

And, I just happened to find this post here ->

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=85939

With an ultamid 4 with a pyranet 4…->

As you can see there….by adding that pyranet 4 (non custom) the extra space of the ultamid 4 is wasted…might as well had the smaller and lighter supermid.

You can also see in that picture the wavy nature of the vents…which, with my ultamid, can be a problem…the vent top fabric does get pretty tight against the mesh so there isn't much "room" for an airway.

It was 18.1 oz with a sil nylon floor.

Really insightful posts on this thread and by all means if someone has something more to add them please do. I'll be placing an order for a 3-4 person Mid by summer's end.

I decided on the supermid…I have a bunch of pics here ->

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=99005

I saw that thread and greatly appreciate those pics.

What about a mid that's 108"x108"x72" and costs $220 shipped tomorrow? Only down side is it weights an ungodly 27.5 oz., or less than a cup of water's difference than the HMG. That's more than $75 per ounce of savings to get the same job done… Plus you could replace it twice and still come out with $ in you pocket. And not have to worry about your $800 tarp getting damaged. Oware 9×9 mid… Just sayin

You are absolutely right….silnylon mid is a great option. I had a silnylon MLD supermid and loved it….enough that I was willing to plop down the cash for a cuben version.

So, $355 MLD supermid silnylon (these have increased in price..though you can see them on the swap for around $250 or so), vs +$435 cuben option, to save 10 oz, so $43.5 an oz. Not that bad in my opinion (especially compared to down fill power upgrades (800 vs 850 vs 900).

That's apples to apples comparison (sil supermid to cuben supermid). I had a oware mid (10×10) and while yes, its cheaper, I prefer the supermid. More catenary curve, has a vent, and I didn't like that the oware had single stitched seams vs MLD's (not sure if they have changed from that or not recently). Oware/HMG do have their lead times much better though than MLD!

That's some thorough research and field testing… Since you know well what you're getting into I'm sure you'll enjoy it for all its worth. Cheers

Believe me, I perused the Oware website earlier this week. Honestly I'd like to see more advocacy for them on this forum. I believe that I usually get what I pay for and honestly I'm still considering silnylon as a very viable option.

To reiterate, great insight/comments on this thread.