Luke, we're sorry to see this video. After speaking to you a couple months ago about this leak, we recalled your unit. With your photos and emails, we found the source of the seam tape leak. Thankfully we were able to get that replacement Catamount out to you. For that reason, we're grateful for your correspondence. Unfortunately, this video doesn't reflect any of our followup with you or how we responded. Your tent became a top priority to all of us here at LiteFighter until it was fixed. We stand behind our warranty. We are committed to providing both quality gear and customer service. Our tents ⛺️ are built for soldiers, by soldiers, and proudly made in the USA 🇺🇸. We value what your channel does for the outdoor community. You have a lot of fans at LiteFighter. For that reason, we are looking forward to seeing a followup video showing the replacement Catamount in action. Thank you for all that you do!

That awkward moment when your sleeping bag is more waterproof than your tent...

Testament to that sleeping bag keeping the water out though! It just became a two for one review with the bag winning out.

Sad! Regardless of conditions it should have been completely dry especially for $550!

The best thing about this whole vlog was saving somebody 500 bucks Luke! You do a great job and it's so appreciated!

3:18 - well, you’re asking for a prediction. I looked into my crystal ball and reread the video tittle. I think leaking is in the future for this tent. Possibly even a response letter from the maker.

My brothers and sisters in the field sleeping in these better be cozy, warm and dry. I'm disappointed with this result. Thank you for your review! It will definitely save me some money!

Luke😮 I see in the comment section that LiteFighter Systems contacted you after seeing this video and correspondence took place. It will be interesting to see the results of the response and the followup. It seems LiteFighter was shocked and obviously has tried to fix any problems in design, materials or manufacture quality. Now waiting for the video review of the replacement tent and your comments. Thanks.

NOOOO! This was going to be my next tent! I spent last Saturday night in the light fighter one with the winter conversation. It was -5F and windy. Tent performed like a boss. I was so impressed I was about to by this tent. I cant wait for the follow up!

Maybe it's meant to be used as a Field Shower Tent. Bring your own Shampoo and Towel.

Absolutely no issues with my LiteFighter 1 tent. It's 4-season and bombproof with the added cold weather kit.

Seems like alot of these Tents failed, surprising. I use heavy duty construction tarps, it never goes up the same way twice, it looks hideous but its dry, l double it all up. The last year or two l am being as self sufficient as I can, you learn to fabricate and modify, l have a long way to go. Thanks boss.

That kind of $$$ for 4 season, understand why Hilleberg stands at top for extreme campers with $$$.

The leak through the connection point reminds me of a drip line on a hammock.

Luke that is what we like from a honest person and you let us know what the company has said thank you

Wow. Shocking results for a tent that costs 500 Dollars. Interesting video as always.

The more of these waterlogged "highend" tents I see.... the better I feel about using my old trusty Coleman with a Harbor Freight tarp.... hasn't let me down yet.... and when and if it does... I will have gotten far more useful service out of them at a much lower cost! With some of these tents it's just luck of the draw.... some leak... some don't! Shouldn't be that way! I could never figure out the justification for the price on many tents.... it's not the material.... or the craftsmanship.... or the technology... Thanks for the great reviews!

That material getting wet then freezing rain then dropping temp and freezing a layer to the material then thawing out , saturated the tent, which definitely helped it to fail, but like luke said it should've stayed dry. Seems like the only way to stay dry anymore is to buy a middle of the road in terms of price and set up said tent and spray it down top and bottom with 3M silicone treatment. Likely two full cans to get multiple camping trips in bad conditions.

Love how he titles it 'Insane amounts of leaking' then he asks ... 'So what do you think will happen ?? Will it leak?' Love it!!! How you're feeling better ...

Having my coffee with you again... Thumbs up as always... Be safe, peace.

If this was indeed used by my brother and sister vets then the government should sue! I wonder how many vets sucked it up in a substandard tent!

I look forward to seeing the follow up video with the replacement tent. Thanks and stay well, Luke!

I think the weight of the ice stretched the stitch points and as the ice melted, the stiches did not recover in the cold which allowed the melting ice to penetrate. Ice and heavy snow needs a rainfly over the poles with seam tape. I bet it would be fine in a downpour w/o the weight of ice and snow. AWESOME test Luke!

It makes me so happy knowing there is someone giving honest and complete reviews of products regardless of potential backlash from manufacturers. Keep on keeping on please!

Hey Luke, because of your video about your nose procedure I am having my procedure done tomorrow! Thank you for your video and the heads up about this procedure. Your the man Luke!

THANK YOU LUKE!!!! You saved me a lot ot money and heartache. I will look elsewhere for my next tent. FANTASTIC REVIEW!! God bless you and the rest of your family sir!!!

Luke I appreciate your reviews. It has helped me to make decisions on what or what not to buy a few times. Thanks

Don't they test it before they sell it? That is sad. I have a tent for about 5 years now, which cost me about 50 $ and this tent never leaked at whatever weather conditions. Thank you for your nice legit gear reviews! Keep it up 👍👍👍

Thank you brother for your thoughts and adventures and keep up the good work my friend

When you mention "surplus", these items can be of any condition and the unit turned it in for disposal (reutilization) because it was not worth addressing. These turned in items are then auctioned off regardless of condition. Some people buy direct from auction, and many buy and resell. I think this is the case here.

Thank you for doing this and for remembering our troops. Some suffering is to be expected once you're in, but you should at least have a dry place to sleep as often as possible. They deserve better.

Oh, I can’t wait for the company to be all like, “oh well, um, ya , um that tent was listed defective, YA! Defective.” “Let us send you ‘THIS’ tent!! It’s actual..” 😂

Thanks for honest review!

I’m constantly amazed by how many tents leak - and not just cheap ones. Good job Luke.

I had high hopes, it was something I could have put up and down easy. Am looking for one I could overnight, have a camp fire and be cozy. Too much money for such a flop. Thank you for reviewing as always!! Say hello to Susie!

Some serious leaking, and for the price! Thanks for the heads up and review

That is just crazy, for the price of the tent that is an epic fail, thanks for the video and the hard work you do testing all the gear you test

Despite all the issues, I love the teardrop door that opens towards the top. That is such a genius design!

Bummer. Thanks for the video. I WAS interested in this tent.

Thank you for sharing. The content you made is remarkable, a sign that you put your attention and time in creating it. More to create and share to inspire others. See you around.

Nice video review Luke. We appreciate all you offer us when performing these reviews. Especially to keep us from making a mistake in purchasing bad equipment. Thanks! Wally

litefighter_official The Outdoor Gear Review drops some knowledge on a detailed setup of our very own CataMount 2 Person Cold Weather Mountaineering Tent. TLDR... he ❤️ this ⛺️! We're smitten with this guy's channel too, and feel honored that he's taking a peek under our rainfly. 😊

Thank you for doing these tests - saves us a lot of money!

WOW! You touched on all the points, and the tent should not leak, especially for the price that they are asking! The Exoskeleton is definitely a negative! I look forward to hearing what the company says and does!

Good lord, I almost bought this tent based on your previous video, then I saw the hilleberg video and almost got one of those on eBay for 500...started looking at this tent again after I missed out on the hilleberg...nice job Luke, thanks for not letting me waste my money on this thing.

Man so glad you did this was going to upgrade from my snugpak cave not anymore my cave NEVER leaks. Nether does my snugpak bunker

Looking forward to follow up video. Thanks Luke

Thank you for the review...once again an awesome job of the truth....stay safe and thanks again...Freedom for all and God Bless All people every where...

Daym... Unacceptable... Glad you review these tents.😊💧

Are you kidding me? $500.00 and the damn thing leaks. I won't be getting this tent any time soon.

I stand by my 2 man combat tent..... never leaks, heavy as a big girl from the south, blacked out, and keeps you too warm..... BUT a little fan and one creature comfort is you can fit a queen size blow up mattress in there 😂 makes it that much better....when the truck is 20 ft away. Easy fix a rain fly And my question is before using it did you practice the standard always seam seal it before using it.... one of the very first things taught.

Thank you for the information.

Perhaps I am missing something but it has been my understanding that you should always seam seal your tent seams regardless what the mfg says. The only time I've ever had problems with leakage is when I've not taken this precaution. I'm just wondering if maybe to much is expected "out of the box" especially given the thiness of materials many of these tents use nowadays. I can see how the weight of that freezing rain could easily cause the sealed seam threads to start separating. I'm certainly not saying that it's okay but I am saying that perhaps too much is expected from a thin piece of material in a freezing rain storm without some added due diligence on the part of the person going out in such weather. Love your videos Luke and I really do appreciate all your efforts.

What a test! Thank you dude!!! Can't wait for my snugpak scorpion 3!

A tarp over the entire “tent A saur”....... might help 🤷🏼‍♂️

My name is on the waiting list for this tent, would not have made purchase without this review. So thanks and I'll keep looking.

I’ve actually been considering this tent. I’m so glad you did this review. I definitely won’t waste my money. Thank you! Have you ever considered reviewing Kuiu tents such as the Mountain Star?

I'm with you on this one. A very cool tent with many outstanding features. However that much leakage is definitely a deal breaker, especially at the price point. Luke, thanks for saving me a very expensive lesson.

This may be weird. But please get ready to hunker down for ten to fourteen days now! Go to a cellar, take what u need. Not a big deal, but just do it! ❤️

Thank you Luke😺👍

So sorry to see the leakage. My main concern when I initially saw the tent featured on your channel was the contact points where the tent fly clip loops join the fly. Added weight from freezing rain or snow accumulation could potentially stretch open leak areas at those points (and they appear to be numerous). If the poles were under the fly (as with most tents) then that source for water ingress compromise with added precipitation accumulation wouldn't exist. Additionally, the added sag from ice / snow load would seem to compromise the shedding ability of the fly versus a "poles beneath" design which might maintain a more favorable factory original shedding angle.

Id love to see an updated video on the teton mountain ultra 1. They have made a few designs changes since your last video featuring the tent.

WOW!!! So disappointing , have and absolutely love my dry as a bone Litefighter 1 and was expecting the same high quality out of this tent. Can't wait to see Litefighter's response to this video. Looks like I'm going to put my plan to get one of these on hold till I see how this plays out.

I'm surprised this tent was ever approved for Military use. After WWII, myself & every Boy Scout had a military surplus 2-man pup tent. They were the cat's meow. They may have been heavy, however, they did provide SHELTER from the storm, for sure!.

Well done Luke, thanks. I had high hopes for this tent like you, I shall be sticking to Hilleberg for now. (Indeed you should contact Hilleberg and tell them to do a limited edition multicam version, huge sales potential).

Pretty crazy it leaked like that. I’ve had the Lite Fighter 1 in the field for weeks through the nastiest rain and snow (never ice/sleet) and it’s never leaked. As someone who’s very familiar with their other tent, I think I’m more disappointed/surprised than you were, ha. I love the Litefighter 1 so much I bought my own I’d take that thing through the nastiest weather imaginable.

I think it is about time you do a video on various seam sealers: Goop, Seam Sealer, duct tape, Flex Seal, SnoSeal, Bees Wax, Silicone, RTV, etc. You already have a tent that needs it and probably several more you have reviewed. On the spot sealing in the rain and be prepared pre camping sealing categories. Also an episode on universal flys or tarps which might cure a litany of ills. A leak proof tent is probably a myth like the abominable snow man, Yeti, Unicorns, tooth fairies, Easter bunny, Santa, honest politicians, etc. Canvas tents were notorious to leak if you touched the inside during a rain. I always took a beeswax tube in case and went over the tent with liquid paraffin every few years. Tents back in the day often came with patch kits. Leaks have a long history.

Great review...

You had my going there for 1/2 the video. Gee then the leaking. How about a fly cover over the whole tent outside of the poles. I can't see any thing that has that many clips and points at the seems to be water proof.

2 tenths of an inch? Is that like a quarter of 3 millimeters? 😂 I’m a carpenter by trade and had to mess with ya lol. Great review by the way. Thanks man.

I figured it would have been a Go at all stations since the military opted to use it..bet it was the cheapest tho against its competitors 😆 Sad to see it go the way it did. I was with you on high hopes for this one as well🤠🤙

Yeahhhh buddy , I'll wear my $900 shoes , & stay in my $553 Catamoooont tent...nope , aint gonna happen...Thanx , for the in depth review RJ

Picked up a Litefighter 1 this winter, and I'm definitely pitching it in the yard for the first rainstorm of the spring even if the ground is still frozen. This doesn't inspire confidence.

Nice review & followup.

I sure won't waste my money on this P.O.S! Thanks for the review Luke ATB Sam Adler from Washington state

Any seam point where the sewing needle has made a hole is a potential leak point. Perhaps it's a fundamental flaw of the design that the inner tent is sewn to the outer tent fly, and thus water travels down those attachment points - which are difficult to tape effectively. I think we need a tent fly that is separate from the inner tent. Nice try for the sake of convenience, but a non-leaking tent is more important than a few minutes saved during set up.

Coincidentally, the name of my CO in the army was Major Leakage. :))

The multi-cam does a good job on camouflaging but the black poles need a little bit of green spray paint to break up the lines

I always seam seal every tent I buy straight out of the box but have never purchased a tent for $500+. This test confirms that expensive tents can leak as badly as the cheap ones. As for the poles, if I bought a tent like this I'd either wax the poles & joints or at the minimum treat them with Rain-X.

Web site says “Waterproof Taped Seams” but when u showed the seems i didnt not see tape applied. Just an untaped tent that snuck out of production?

Definitely happy that you do what you do. What would you recommend for a two person trailing tent. Something super neat, just a great tent. Thanks Luke. I will research your suggestions to keep you off the hook.🤭😝Thanks brother, addicted to all your videos. Cheers.

Good review as always. What I find disturbing however is the response by Litefighter System who draws attention to the fact that it is built by soldiers for soldiers. If this is available for sale to the general population, most of whom are not in the military and not hardened to the conditions they are likely to face, it really begs the question of why they are selling it to them. Most folk just want a decent tent that will hold up if they go camping or up the mountains. This would have failed more than one of their major target audiences.

Many thanks Luke for pointing out the flaws.......in particular re armed forces members !

That's a shame on the leakage. Didn't look like the seams were taped either, but probably wouldn't make a difference with those tie points. I'll be testing out a Diamond USMC 2-man tent this weekend, so hopefully this thing has held up over the years. Here the ground is frozen solid with >12" snow/ice mixed and single digit temps.

Eureka TCOP or Diamond Brands TC2P for me. Both available from the manufacturers or online. I've seen other reviews of this tent and they were similar.

My prediction was spot on! The title of the video may or may not have influenced my prediction.

I had an MSR tent with external poles and it failed in exactly the same way. I knew before I watched it that it was going to fail like this. Although convenient external poles attached like this are a very bad idea. The attachment point act like a candle wick. Very hard to seal from the inside. I did manage to seal mine from the outside though. Also single point attachments add a lot of localised stress.

I've never owned a tent that didn't have some source of leakage out of the box. Gotta seam seal yourself. Shouldn't have to for a military tent though. That said, my LF1 tent leaked from the same source as this Catamount, but I sealed it and now it's good.

The conditions were adverse but a military tent should be designed to resist all conditions we are being ripped off and so are our military, thank you Luke as always great review, you must have literally saved your subscribers and viewers thousands of dollars over the years.

Bummer, sorry to see this happened. Definitely a cool tent but yeah, completely unacceptable. Great video Luke. Cheers

Well,, I made no predictions. We are fortunate to have your (no agenda) evaluation, tested in a gentle rain. It would be bad to have a sweetheart, who doesn’t like camping anyway, sheltering from a storm in this tent. It has a fine design, seems well built. I wonder if seam sealing would do the trick. You’d think, for the hefty price of $500 and change, they would seam seal it and do a function check. Do you ever seam seal, then give the tent a second rain test? Might be something to consider. Texas

Like Brilliant review as always just love your agenda free advice Shame about this tent as I love military gear A quick review of the usmc tcop would be great as just purchased one and your opinion would be pretty cool and they seem to be getting more expensive Keep up the great work Tony Cornwall UK

Those toggles for the inner are stress points on the fly. Possibly allowing the stitching to stretch allow leakage. Are the seams sealed? If not another possible explanation - some seam grip will cure that hopefully!

Any tent I've had like that had a rain tarp that went over and attached to the poles. Those tents never leaked.

Im so surprised that it leaked at all Luke....I ordered one after watching you other video's.....It has 2 choices when it arrives leak or dont.....

let's see how Litefighter responds - in a perfect world no company would ever make mistakes. In OUR world they do, and it is how they respond that makes or breaks their reputation. So far I like the brand but if they have these kinds of issues and they don't fix the situation they're no better than Ozark Trail or any of those other bargain basement gear brands that make junk and leave their customers high and dry in the end (or low and wet in this case) EDIT- now I'm curious to see how the Litefighter 1 would have done with the 4 season add-on. I have one of those and I know you do too, Luke. Perfect opportunity for a little compare/contrast video.

I'd be curious to see how much temperature comes into play with the leaking. Maybe it'll perform better (Less worse, anyway) in summer rain conditions?

I'm looking forward to the follow up video to hear of LiteFighter Systems did right by you.

I was about to buy one for me and my young kids. Going Hilleberg instead! Thanks Luke!

I think the freezing rain and ice may have opened the stitching and seams. Very sad, looked like a nice tent.