X-Mid 1

Sale price$234.00 USD

Do you need stakes?: No

Pinnacle of Lightweight Tent Design

The X-Mid 1 has been developed from the first principles of geometry to achieve the most weight efficient, simple to use, and stormworthy design for a trekking pole shelter. The result is a double wall tent that is incredibly user friendly, capable and spacious while weighing just 28 oz (795 g). As a result, it has become one of the most awarded tents in recent years including awards for best tent from The Trek, Outdoor GearLabSection Hiker and numerous other respected outlets.

STORMWORTHY

Most ultralight tents are designed more as fair weather shelters, and thus compromise stormworthiness and protection for weight savings - such as using lighter coatings that are barely waterproof, extremely thin fabrics, cutting away areas of the fly which leaves you most exposed, and omitting important features like peak vents and guy out points.

With the X-Mid we save weight with efficient design including minimizing seams and maximizing the volume:surface ratio, so we can create a tent that is both light and capable in tough conditions. The X-Mid excels in rough weather with its fly first pitch, full doublewall design, non-sag poly fabric, large adjustable vents, factory waterproof seams, full-coverage fly (blocks rain splatter and drafts), stormworthy shape, and protected entryways that avoid rain falling inside. No other tent can claim that list.

USER FRIENDLY

Simplicity and user friendliness are a major focus for the X-Mid because the last thing you want in bad weather or at the end of a long day is a tent that is a hassle to use. We avoid complexity and improve the user experience with our focus on first principles design, combined with obsessive attention to detail and extensive real-world validation.

Unlike most trekking pole tents, the rectangle based X-Mid offers a simpler 4 stake pitch. There are no mandatory guylines, no struts that are harder to pack up and store, and no measuring pole heights or estimating odd angles. It goes up quickly with just 4 required stakes and 2 poles that can be extended without measuring.

Once pitched, the user friendliness continues with large doorways that aren’t blocked by poles, vestibules that put the main area beside the door instead of blocking it, magnetic door toggles, intuitive pockets, and one hand operated zippers. Notably, the X-Mid uses polyester fabric for the fly which doesn't sag and absorb water like nylon so your pitch stays tight and the tent dries quickly. Polyester was controversial when we launched the X-Mid with it in 2018 but our passionate advocacy for it has led to many other companies following our lead.

The Trek

We Love This Tent

"A laundry list of well-thought-out details makes this tent exceptional in rough weather....it is our all around best thru-hiking tent of 2023."

Section Hiker

Editors Choice

"The X-Mid 1 is my favorite tent...it is a great shelter if you want a trekking pole tent that is affordable, spacious, stormworthy, and packs up small."

Outdoor Gear Lab

Best Ultralight Tent

"It's still hard for us to believe that such an easy-to-set-up tent can be so delightful to spend camp time in while also being almost invincible to storms....it's our favorite 1P tent."

Paul Messner (YouTuber)

Best 2023 Tent

"A brilliant tent.....there's been a lot of hype around this tent and I think it's justified. It does everything really really well....the X-Mid ticks more boxes than any other"

Backpacking Light

Cottage Gear Innovation Award

"With a new type of design...the Durston X-Mid 1P offers light weight, livable space, ease of pitch, and storm resistance that we've never seen before"

Treeline Review

Best Ultralight Tent for Thru-Hiking

The Durston Gear X-Mid 1 is our favorite tent for thru-hiking because it’s great in high winds, versatile, easy to pitch, and surprisingly affordable. This tent is very well designed.

SPACIOUS

The X-Mid geometry maximizes the space possible from two poles by using a diagonal ridgeline that positions the two poles further apart, while avoiding placing the poles near the edges that would detract from wind performance.

The result is a spacious 1P tent with best in class headroom. The two poles give headroom throughout the length of the tent so you can sit up anywhere in the tent and easily transition from laying down to sitting up without hitting the tent ceiling.

The floor has a generous 90" length which is combined with steep end walls to provide suitable length for hikers up to 6'4" (193 cm), while the floor width is a comfortable 32" that accommodates the widest pads. Also generous are the dual vestibules, which are spacious, tall, and easily hold even large packs.

QUALITY

In addition to the highest performance design, the X-Mid boasts the highest quality.

The tent is crafted at arguably the best and most experienced tent factory in the world using premium components, full double stitching, double folded edges, and generous bartacking.

We’re not aware of any other trekking pole tent that uses full double stitching and true double folded edges. While this premium quality gives the X-Mid a higher cost of production than comparable tents, the X-Mid 1 is priced lower simply because we sell it to you direct with only a modest markup.

Magnetic Toggles

Magnetic door toggles with pull tabs provide easy one handed-operation.

Large Doorways

Unlike most trekking pole tents, the doorways are large and not blocked by trekking poles. They also have a protected design to keep rain out even when open, and can be propped open with a stick or pole to create a 'porch'.

Full Coverage Fly

The fly extends low to the ground to block drafts and rain splatter, yet can be raised higher for more ventilation. Other tents cut away the bottom of the fly to save weight but it leaves you more exposed.

Stormworthy Shape

The X-Mid provides the ideal shape with consistent and moderate panel slopes. All the panels are an ideal 50 - 55 degrees which balance wind and snow shedding to provide excellent all around performance. Most tents are less consistent with a mix of shallower panels (worse for snow shedding) and steeper panels (worse for wind performance).

Ample Headroom

The X-Mid's offset poles provide a longer diagonal ridgeline that extends the headroom over more of the tent. There is ample clearance to transition from laying down to sitting up without hitting the tent, and room to sit up anywhere in the tent.

PATENTED GEOMETRY

The X-Mid shape has been developed from the first principles of geometry to be as weight efficient, simple, and functional as possible.

That includes avoiding all the common pitfalls of trekking pole shelters such as a complicated pitch, mandatory guylines, poles blocking the doorways, and a lack of interior volume.

Read the story about how the X-Mid geometry was developed:

As an incredibly well rounded, spacious, and capable shelter, the X-Mid 1 is the ideal ultralight tent for everything from a long thru hike to a remote adventure in Alaska. That's why the X-Mid 1 has become both the most popular and highest rated 1P tent on all three triple crown trails (Applachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and Pacific Crest Trail) according to hiker surveys by The Trek and Halfway Anywhere.

Customer Reviews

Based on 163 reviews
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David Dalziel
Review ref customer service

As yet I have yet to erect the tent, hence the limits of these comments. The ordering process and delivery details to a ‘general delivery’ at a distant Canadian post office was as smooth as I could hope for. Packaging, paperwork, pricing and payment all worked smoothly, so far so excellent. Dave D.

D
Donna Green
Love it!

I bought this tent for wild camping on Munro hikes (Scottish mountains over 3000 feet). It was due to arrive about the 3rd of September, but was delivered on the 29th August 😃! That meant it was in time for a hike I had planned on the 31st. So, having pitched it once in the garden, I set off hiking with it. It’s so easy to pitch and I love the mesh inner, that allowed me to watch the sunset and kept the midges off at the same time. Perfect tent - love it! 😊

R
Robert Bradt
After about 40 nights out - love it

I’ve used it now on two long 1000km walking journeys in Nova Scotia and Ireland. Overall very pleased - it’s light for its price point, it’s easy to set-up, and there’s plenty of room. I’d buy it again.

Specific observations:

- it’s pretty easy to get a decent set-up first try. Watch Dan’s how to pitch video first though. I didn’t and had to learn a few tricks that I would have seen if I’d watched it.

- you want the flattest ground you can find, which outside of Wimbledon centre court will be scarce. But as long as it’s not too bumpy, most of the time that’s good enough. That said, it’s trickier to get a good taut set-up on hummocky ground - there’s more tweaking and adjusting of each corner’s guy line needed to get the edges of the outer fly tensioned evenly. Watch Dan’s video!

- it’s a good tent in most weather - vents well, only moderate condensation even in cool, rainy, 100% humidity Irish seaside conditions, and solid in up to 40-50 km/h winds if you stake it out and pitch it properly

- that said, I’ve had two high-wind knockdowns. Both occurred on hummocky sites making it tough to get the outer fly pulled down tight evenly all around, both on exposed sites, and both when using 6” MSR mini Groundhog stakes instead longer ones. The result was wind getting under a corner and pulling out a peg (at 4 a.m. naturally, in driving rain). In one of these cases, the door vestibule stake went too, causing so much flapping that the trekking pole jumped out of the grommet, resulting in a hole poked in the outer fly (now patched with duct tape and holding well).

- I now always use the peak guy lines and recommend using the side stakeouts and guy lines as well. But in 75-90 km/h gusts on exposed hummocky ground and with driving rain causing a bit of fabric sag, most non-Dyneema trekking pole tents will struggle.

- I’ve switched to longer stakes (20cm Big Sky tube stakes), routinely use all 10 stake points plus 4 guy lines, and I’m more obsessive about adjusting the fly, choosing sites, and reading the terrain. All learning curve issues in my mind.

- regarding liveability, overall it’s great. After 40+ nights in it, it feels like home. The interior space is fine - I can stash all of my pack contents inside in the big corners of the trapezoid layout, without crowding my sleeping space. That said, sometimes I think that I’d prefer that more of the area under the fly was part of the inner, so that I could bring my pack inside to keep the ticks and slugs off of it. But the flip side is that with such big vestibules on either side, I can always put the pack under one and have lots of sheltered cooking space under the other. And now that I’m used to it, the tent just feels snug. I much prefer being in it camped wild than being in a noisy hostel.

- there is a trade off to all that size of the vestibules. The overall area needed to pitch the tent is relatively large, especially if you use all the guy lines - I’d say about 3m x 3m (10’x10’). I know you can do what Dan calls a skinny pitch. I’ve watched the video on it though haven’t tried it. But it does seem that if you try that pitch you’ll be somewhat less storm-worthy. So no free lunch - if you want a small pitch space, you give up something.

- I have the regular X-Mid, with the mesh interior. On nights when it’s just above freezing and damp, it’s chilly in there. I wish that given where I’m camping (Atlantic Canada and planning for Scotland), I had gotten the X-Mid Solid instead. So it would be nice if the two interiors could be purchased separately and swapped out as needed. I know the Solid has a slightly altered, more robust outer fly as well as the different inner, but I think just putting the solid inner under my regular X-Mid would help in chilly damp conditions. My budget doesn’t run to separate, complete tents for separate trips, so having the option to buy/use either of the two types of inner would be nice. Something to add as a feature down the road?

- I love the way Durston Gear takes feedback continuously and is always improving and tweaking. There’s experience and passion behind everything they sell. Well done.

- Given that no piece of kit can check every box, the fact that at this price you get this much space in such a robust, pitchable, lightweight package is fantastic. Like I said, I’d buy it again.

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Ryan Goldsmith
Best tent I’ve ever owned!

My first trip out with the x-mid 1 was 9 days and 93 miles on the Wonderland Trail. We saw rain, hail, wind, and sun. The x-mid 1 was amazing! Super easy to setup, kept me warm and dry, and being able to setup the rain fly by itself was incredible for sitting in my camp chair and eating dinner out of the rain!

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Justin Alvey
Love it, not surprised

I took my xmid 1 up mt hood, oregon for the first outing and we were surprised by intense rain, wind, and thunderstorms. The tent held up amazingly with 8 stakes (4 corners, both doors, and two peak guylines) while others bailed on the hike altogether or had their tents give up. Not as much space as my old lunar solo, but I never missed it and the dual vestibule is awesome for gear and wet stuff.

Glad it did well in the storm! Mt. Hood is pretty serious :)
- Dan

PITCHING GUIDE

Get started with our comprehensive X-Mid pitching guide.