X-Mid 1

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.

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! 😊

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.

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!

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.