X-Mid 2
Due to high interest the X-Mid 2 is currently sold out but will be restocked in late-September. Please sign up below for a notification when they are available. If you want a tent sooner, we have the superlight X-Mid Pro 2 and our freestanding X-Dome 2 in stock .
Pinnacle of Lightweight Tent Design
The X-Mid 2 has been developed from the first principles of geometry to be the most weight efficient and functional design for a trekking pole shelter. Its innovative and patented geometry makes the X-Mid 2 exceptionally stormworthy, spacious, and simple at the lowest weight. No other tent offers this level of space and protection for just 1.9 lbs (880 g / 31 oz), which is why the X-Mid 2 has become one of the most popular tents on demanding trails and one of the most highly awarded tents in recent years including top awards from BackpackingLight, The Trek, and Section Hiker.
STORMWORTHY
Most ultralight tents achieve their low weights by shrinking the size and trading durability and stormworthiness for weight savings. In contrast, the X-Mid 2 saves weight through efficient design such as a trekking pole structure that is both stronger and lighter than traditional tent poles, and a geometry that maximizes the volume possible from the fabric area. In doing so, the X-Mid 2 achieves its low weight while also being a robust shelter for tough conditions.
X-Mid 2's long list of protections include a doublewall design, full coverage fly (extends low to the ground to blocks drafts and splatter), fly first pitch (keeps the inner dry during setup in the rain), polyester fabric (doesn't sag and loosen like nylon), large adjustable vents, robust waterproof coatings, durable fabrics, factory waterproofed seams, and protected doorways that keep rain out even when open. No other tent offers this full list.
In addition to this set of protections, the X-Mid shape is well suited for windy and snowy conditions because every panel is at a consistently moderate slope. Other tents have flatter roof panels that catch snow and flatter sidewalls that catch wind, while the X-Mid 2 puts every panel at a balanced 50-55 degrees to deliver strong all around performance.
USER FRIENDLY
In tough conditions you want a tent that just works, which is why obsessive attention to detail has gone into making the X-Mid 2 simple and intuitive.
That starts with the simple pitch that goes up quickly with only 4 required stakes. There are no mandatory guylines, odd angles, measurements, and struts, which is a stark contrast to most trekking pole tents.
The ease of use continues when the tent is pitched with large doorways that are not blocked by trekking poles, roomy vestibules that are located beside the doors instead of blocking them, magnetic door toggles, handy pockets, and one handed operated zippers. Even the packed size of the tent has been carefully considered where it's short stuff sack can store horizontally in any pack.
Notably, the X-Mid 2 uses polyester fabric for the fly which doesn't sag and absorb water like nylon so your pitch stays tight and the tent stays light and dries quicker, with less time spent adjusting your pitch and drying your tent. Polyester was controversial when we launched the X-Mid with it in 2018 but our passionate advocacy for polyester has led to an industry wide switch with many other companies now following our lead.
The Trek
Best Thru-Hiking Tent
"A laundry list of well-thought-out details makes these tents exceptional in rough weather...one version of the X-Mid or another should be near the top of your list."
Section Hiker
10 Best Backpacking Tents
"It's shape makes it extremely weather and storm-worthy. The all-mesh interior tent has offset peaks to maximize headroom"
Backpacking Light
Highly Recommended
"Exceptionally high quality. Field performance was outstanding. Overall, it has simply been a joy to use.”
iRunFar
Surpasses the Hype
"The Durston X-Mid 2 is one of the most hyped products in the ultralight backpacking world, and it lives up to, and maybe surpasses, that hype.”
Better Trail
Testimonial
It’s clear Durston has thought of just about everything with the X-Mid series, and as a result, the tent is a true joy to use.
Adventure Alan
Top Pick
"A winning combination of low weight, a ton of livable area and great condensation control.”
SPACIOUS
The patented X-Mid geometry is the most space and weight efficient architecture possible for a trekking pole tent. It accomplishes this with an innovative double diagonal design that puts the floor on one diagonal while the ridgeline is on the opposite diagonal. In doing so, the two poles are set further apart to increase volume without requiring struts, yet remain setback from the edges to avoid a boxy shape that would be less stormworthy and require more fabric.
The result is a 'real' 2P tent that provides comfortable space for two occupants. That includes a generous 52" wide floor and a long 92" length that accommodates hikers up to 6'4". The diagonal ridgeline increases headroom and allows the two occupants to move further apart for greater personal space.
Additionally, the dual vestibules are generously sized and easily accommodate packs and other items without blocking the doorway or creating a long reach to close the fly doors.
QUALITY
The X-Mid 2 is built at the most experienced premium tent factory in the world who have been building nothing but tents for nearly 70 years. Here, we go beyond normal standards to specify premium components and robust construction methods including full double stitching, double folded edges, high precision narrow seams and seam taping, and generous bartacking. We know of no other tent that matches this build quality.
This focus on quality gives the X-Mid 2 a higher cost of production than competing tents, yet the X-Mid 2 is priced affordably. This is possible because we sell directly to you with no retailer markup and only a modest markup ourselves.
Magnetic Toggles
Magnetic door toggles with pull tabs provide easy one handed-operation for both the fly and interior doors.
Large Doorways
Unlike most trekking pole tents, the doorways are large and not blocked by trekking poles. They also have a overhanging design to keep out falling rain 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 this 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 to increase space. Two people can comfortably lay the same way while having 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.
Our unique design has been successful in 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:
The X-Mid 2 is a well rounded ultralight tent that is spacious, simple, and stormworthy. It's the ideal tent for a wide range of conditions including a long thruhike on the Continental Divide Trail (where it is one of the most popular tents) to remote adventures in Alaska's Brooks Range or a circuit of Europe's Tour de Mont Blanc.
Customer Reviews
Hans Christian Andersen wrote the following: “Where words fail, music speaks”. The Durston X-Mid is a SYMPHONY. There are so many aspects of the trail experience that are interwoven into the design of this product. It's rare to receive a tent, set it up in your back yard (as so many of us do), and literally not want to take it down. With each setup variation, more advantages come to the fore. The tent is roomy on the x, y, and z axes. The tent is smartly designed - opening and closing the vestibule has always required such a reach, but not with the X-Mid. I feel fortunate to own a piece of ARTWORK created by Mr. Durston, and can't wait to get it out on trail later this month.
Avid Durston product fan here since the early days. Came here to write a review because we feel the quality on this tent has decreased, and that makes us sad.
We first had the Drop (believe v2). She was our tent for our Appalachian Trail thru hike start to finish. She was an absolute tank. She went through heavy wind storms and heavy rain. We weren’t easy on her - we didn’t use a ground cloth, and we stuffed it rather than folded or rolled every morning. It was packed away wet often, although we would try to dry it out throughout the day if possible. We made a few field repairs-got a giant gash in the fly due to a branch falling in a storm. Tenacious tape and seam seal worked perfectly and haven’t had issues since. A couple pin holes started late in the hike, but again, easy patches and at that point she had 2,000+ miles, so a bit expected.
Then she started the Pacific Crest Trail with us. By the time we reached the Sierras, the zippers on the inner were no longer working, probably from the harsh desert sand and we admittedly didn’t clean frequently as we should have. We decided to retire her and started with this latest model at NOBO mile 700/The Sierras.
Within 5 days of using the tent we had multiple pin holes in the fly. After 300 miles, the zippers began to not close on the fly. At least 50% of people on the PCT this year are using a Durston tent and they’re all having similar issues. The primary culprit/blame seems to be placed on the dirt of the desert. But we didn’t start using ours until after that, and even so, why did our earlier version take use and abuse for 3000+ miles and this one started having issues so soon? We can’t help but think that the quality of the material has been impacted by the choice to user lighter fabric and materials. I get it, the demands of the ultralight thru hiker community are strong but fear quality is beginning to be compromised. As an aside, the stuff sack was completely destroyed within a week. Tears and holes. We are literally STILL using the sack from the old tent and that has zero holes so material must be weaker on the new.
Durston team repaired our zippers at trail days in August, but within a week back on trail they weren’t functioning again. After th desert, we started regularly using zipper lube and fully washing the tent in a tub any chance we could get and we still ended up with these significant issues. And so so so many folks complained of the same.
More trivial: personally, don’t love some of the changes on this model compared to earlier versions. We didn’t mind the D clips and find the new buckles need a bit more focus/preciseness to latch at the corners. Also don’t love the 2 separate zippers on the inner doors. Harder to operate with one hand than the old one zipper curve style. We do appreciate the reinforced cups for the trekking pole tips and also appreciate the clips at the bottom of the outer doors.
If you’re still reading, you already know that this is a loved tent by the hiking community. This was and always is the tent for us but we do wish it hadn’t deteriorated so quickly.
The thru hiking community, especially on the PCT this year, implores the Durston team to consider our experiences in future tent modifications-we all kept getting responses that this tent uses the same zippers as others on the market and that we are improperly using or storing our tents….but people using the other tents on the market did not have their zippers fail at the same rate as all the Durston users.
Thanks for your long time support Ashley and for sharing your experience.
I do care a lot about our users and am always trying to improve our tents and the user experience. Since your original tent, we are building them at the same factory and in most ways the quality has only increased - such as more and more double stitching on the tents.
What is lighter though are some of the materials on your new tent. We used to use a 20D poly fly with #5 zippers, whereas now the tents are essentially split into two models where that exact tent is still available as the 'Solid' version, while the regular version uses these lighter materials. The lighter 15D fly fabric is about the same strength as the older 20D and we find it is working extremely well for most users and saves a nice bit of weight, so it is unfortunate you got some small holes early on, and surprising to hear your stuff sack has damage so early but we do normally see quite good results with it. If you can email us, we'll be happy to send a new stuff sack.
What is more common is wearing out the zipper sliders after high mileage in dusty conditions, as you mention. We use the same YKK #3 zippers as almost all ultralight tents and the tension on them is fully adjustable by the user, so there isn't something about the X-Mid that is harder on these zippers than other brands, but certainly the sliders can wear out and need replacement/maintenance. In your case, needing new sliders after ~1300 miles is sometimes needed when it's dusty conditions like that. It is surprising your new sliders from PCT days didn't last very long though, as a new slider should last about as long as the originals did. That could happen if the new slide was bent somehow, or if there was also some degradation of the teeth so it is more sensitive to a bit of wear on the slider.
We are always listening to feedback and updating the tents so we do appreciate and will consider this feedback. For many people the #3 zippers do save a nice bit of weight, but I do agree for a long hike like the PCT it is nice to have #5 zippers to reduce the need for care and maintenance. If you do prefer that, the exact materials and zippers of your original tent are still available as the 'Solid' version of the tent fly. We have the fly and inners listed on our spare parts page, so someone can buy the 'solid' fly with the regular interior to essentially get the same materials as you had originally, plus newer updates like the tougher peak design.
https://durstongear.com/products/spare-tent-parts
Right now we are giving people the choice between the two zippers, but also we are listening. If we hear from enough people they prefer the tougher/heavier zippers, we will update the regular version too back to the #5 as well.
For the interior zippers, the rationale for the 2 separate zippers is that it helps them to last longer because curves cause most of the wear (so they are less likely to wear out like your original interior zippers). They also operate one handed more reliably, and are easier to find in the dark, but do have the downside of being a two movement task instead of one movement. I like them, but certainly preferences vary.
Thanks for your long time support, and know that we do appreciate and listen to feedback.
- Dan
I spent more than a month in the Alps, flying with my paraglider and hiking in the mountains. 40 days sleeping in the tent and it's still like new. Very versatile tent, low pack, easy to pitch and easy to dry next day. The ideal volbiv tent for paragliding pilots.
Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you're liking the tent and appreciating the durability ater 40 nights.
- Dan Durston
We used it for our through hike in Andorra. Pitched in a light breeze. Overnight huge gusts came in. Was very loud but tent held up fine. Used it in variety of conditions and terrain and never had any issues with rain/wind or any other conditions. Highly recommended!
Much has already been said about this tent. I'm very happy with it. So far, it pitched perfectly every time. The double wall construction helped me avoid getting my gear wet due to condensation, and the fact that it itches fly first was much appreciated in rainy conditions. Top!
Thanks Julian!
- Dan Durston
Get started with our comprehensive X-Mid pitching guide.