Also really nice job on other parts of the video. Just watching more of it now. Good job explaining the pitch, and your double guyline technique is really nice. I haven't actually seen that before to have the two spots to the same stake like that. Very cool. Regarding the magnets, we don't actually have them on the inner doors yet on the X-Mid Pro 1. I developed the dual toggle system for the new X-Mid Pro 2+ that launched a few months ago. I was only going to use on it on that tent in 2024 before rolling out it out to the other models (just in case there were any issues with it that I wasn't seeing). However, our factory made me a prototype of the X-Mid Pro 2 (non-plus) and the dual magnets ended up working perfectly there (usually there are small adjustments that need to be made for each model). Since it was working perfect on the Pro 2 as well, we proceeded to use it on our 2024 production run for the Pro 2 and Pro 2+, plus we haven't yet prototyped it on the Pro 1. People love it, so obviously we are going to add that, but it'll likely be late 2024 before we have that.

Thanks Dan! I was through hiking the AT in 2014, so it's fun to think that we were on opposite sides of the US through hiking at the same time. I can't recommend the CDT enough. I have my permit for the PCT this spring, starting on May 18th. I'm excited to hear that you've been actively working on the minor issues I ran into and appreciate the fact that you take the time to watch videos like this.

@@durstongear Again, thanks for the updates and clarification. I had heard of the interior magnets and assumed they were on all the models already. Even though my current Pro 1 is going strong, I'll likely end up picking up another with the DCF floor and interior magnets once that's available.

Durston x-mid 1 or 2 is just a knock off pyramid tent! Not even worth half of the price! 🤑

​@@durstongear The way you operate your company is incredibly inspiring. I've been researching your tent for a while now. To see that the owner of the company is watching these videos and providing a thoughtful response is remarkable. As a young aspiring gear designer I hope to emulate your passion, care, and attention to detail. Looking forward to testing out an X-mid pro 2+ soon!

Thanks for the kind words. I tried to make it how I wish other gear reviews were done. It looks like we have similar tastes.

Thank you kindly!

Thanks. I'm super excited for the PCT. I'm glad you found parts of the video helpful.

I appreciate you taking the time to watch it.

The clothesline is a good idea. I had thought it would be nice to have a close line with one of those hammock ridgeline gear organizers on it. The ones made from DCF are super lightweight and it helps keep things organized and off the floor. From Dan's comments, I think they are really solving most of my issues and I bet I'll purchase an early 2025 model after the slight geometry changes, inside door magnets, DCF floor, reinforced corners, and strengthened pole tip connectors are all in a good place.

Thanks for checking out my video. I'm very happy with my Durston tent and the company. That campsite was top notch!

Thanks for checking out my video. I do think it's a great tent and hope you can get out and enjoy yours as much as possible!

Glad it was helpful!

I'm glad it was helpful. If you think of any questions I didn't address feel free to shoot them in a comment and if I can I'll try to help with them.

I'm glad it was helpful. I really like the Xmid. I don't know of a tent as easy to pitch and so fully featured for this weight category. Plus I really like Dan Durston and his company and am glad to support them.

I really do belive its a great product and a great company. Im currently 900 miles into the PCT with it and well see how it does after 2 through hikes.

The CDT had fierce t-storms roll in out of nowhere and after 3 or 4 nights of getting out of a cozy sleeping bag to go out into the rain and wind to guy out the tent I realized I wanted something faster and simpler. The guy outs with the ring clips chain together very nicely for extensions and making clothes lines, etc too!

Thanks. Im using it this summer right now. Im 900 miles into the PCT with it.

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks. Im glad you found it useful.

Thanks. Im putting it through the ringer again right now. Im 900 miles into the PCT this very moment.

Thanks for checking it out!

Thanks for watching.

I'm glad it was helpful. Let me know if there's anything else about the tent I missed and I can try to get back to you.

Thanks!

Thank you very much!

Thanks. im glad it helped.

Glad you liked it!

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks! She's my little vizsla sweetheart. I hope to take her on some shorter though hikes in the coming years. I also prefer most of my YT videos to not have distracting music going at the same time someone is talking. Plus its a whole heck of a lot easier to not add it ;)

I'm glad they were helpful. It's a great tent and I think you'll have many great adventures with it.

I'm glad I was able to answer most of your questions. When I was talking to Dan at one point he did talk about there being some tweaks to the geometry of the Xmid Pro 1 that should help with it being more taught. My experience with the flapping in that spot wasn't constant, but on above average windy nights in exposed sites. I was very happy overall with the tent on the CDT. I'm certainly interested in the rumored double wall DCF version that might come out in 2025.

Thanks for watching!

Glad it was helpful!

lots of great ideas. I'll have to considering adding some of your ideas.

I'm glad it was helpful. I'm about half way done posting videos of my CDT journey if you're interested. You can check them out on my channel and feel free to message me if you have any CDT related questions.

Bonus points. I like your style!

Did you get in touch with us about this? We are happy to repair this for free. We have made these stronger now on current tents. - Dan

Dan seems hard at work improving and fixing issues that folks had. Like he commented below, his repair job does a great job remedying the issue.

@@durstongear its ok Dan. I put nearly 800 miles and 45 nights on it last year. Nothing lasts forever.

Thanks, I do appreciate it. I'll be the first one to admit my editing and entertainment skills have a lot to improve on. I'm glad some of the tips are helpful.

That was one of my bigger concerns when I first got the tent myself. However, after packing it up everyday for 5ish months I found it was very obvious when loosely rolling it up if one of the corner poles or peak vent poles wasn't lined up well. You can quite easily use one hand to shift the pole flat without unrolling it at all. The best way i can describe it is that as youre rolling your hand feels when the carbon rod isnt at and you can sort of pinch the rod and material through multuple layers kf the tent and lay it in thr correct orientation. I didn't ever end up breaking one or having one rip out of its sleeve.

I can only imagine how frustrating that must be. I'm 5'11" and fit into almost all standard sized tents pretty well. It must really limit the options when you're those few inches taller. I do think the zpacks tents like the Duplex are more forgiving with spots that you can't get stakes in as well as the overall geometry. I also think that once you get the hang of it, the Xmid is simpler to pitch. I'd say I think the Xmid is easier to pitch, but the Duplex is much more forgiving. I can set my Xmid up much faster than the Triplex I have.

@@lynxoutdoors8192 After watching 5 videos on pitching it, it does seem that it's no harder than the Duplex other than you having to adjust your poles.

Thanks for the advice. I do also have a Stratospire LI myself. I prefer it for its versatility here in New England where it can be hot and humid and is very wet. The other Tarptent I currently own is a Dipole 2. I really find that I prefer trekking pole tents without the struts and pitchloc corners personally though.

She's an amazing dog. I love Vizslas.

Thanks for checking out the video. So DCF acts more like a generic "blue plastic tarp", but in a good way. It's much more durable than that, but it absorbs 0% water and does not stretch. There is no sagging when it rains, and you can shake over 90% of the water off with a couple quick shakes while packing it. It also dries faster than any other tent material I've ever used. It is not a breathable fabric, so it is prone to condensation. The major use of it is in single wall tents to achieve the lightest possible weights, so it is often associated with condensation, but this is primary from single wall tents in general. Another great thing about it is that it can be permanentaly repaired with DCF tape sticker patches, and it does not require seam sealing.

I'm not sure. I'll be certain to give it a try. I usually guyed it out like I showed in the video with both guy-out points at the same time. Dan commented above that they've been improving the shape of the tent and I bet the newer models will naturally pitch more ideally.

I used a simple overhand on a bight, sized to be just slightly larger than the stakes, so they could slide in easy but wouldn't come undone unless pulled straight off.

It's really hard to say. This was the first time I've ever brought a ground sheet on a through hike and in hindsight, I think I wouldn't bother brining one if I redid the same trip. The nylon floor is undoubtably thin, but I didn't have any damage at all to it on the inside of the tent either. The CDT had everything from cactus to thorns to crazy sharp tumbleweed grass. Even if something did poke through, a simple repair tape job fixes it quickly and easily. I've had very good experiences with DCF floor tents on through hikes and now that the Pro 1 is offered in a DCF option, I would personally pick up that model and skip the ground sheet. The sections of CDT that overlapped with the CT had incredible and well groom campsites. i don't think you'll need one and a sheet of super light polycryo would definitely work if you wanted to be on the safe side.

Thank you for the advice, This helps with my decision.

Thanks for checking out the video. I did use a DCF groundsheet for the first 1500 miles. I switched to the Durston specific nylon one once it was back in stock for the last 1500. The floor itself is doing fine with no holes or repairs needed. I'm sure using the groundsheets helped out here but I'm curious how it would do without one. In hindsight, I think I'd likely not use the ground cloths if I were to do the trip again. I haven't heard of anyone having major damage to the thin nylon floor.

Thank you for the quick reply. Did you find the groundsheet useful with regards to other use cases (e. g. keep tent floor clean, cowboy camping)? I wonder if there is any other reason I take one apart from protecting the floor. I wonder if I should get one or do the experiment: How will the tent floor do without it, of course, me taking care when choosing a sport without sharp objects. Have you encountered areas on the CDT where you where happy to settle the tent on sheet protecting it from harsh surface, where no perfect side was available, just rocks and gravel e. g.?@@lynxoutdoors8192

@@lennart822 If you like to camp under the stars a ground sheet is basically mandatory as you wont want to put an inflatable down on the ground directly or risk getting your sleeping bag dirty. I found it just wasn't my style so I didn't use it for that much. Many people prefer to cowboy camp and the ground sheet is a great way to do that. The ground sheet is also nice to set things out on while setting up camp, or for keeping things off the wet or muddy ground when you take them out of your pack. I never did this either, but you could in theory hang it up like a tarp to get a little shade or cook under if you had to. There wasn't ever really a campsite that I would only have set up on with the ground sheet. The closest time for this was just west of Helena MO staying in a mowed yard. The yard had hard to see thistle growing flush with the grass and I was very glad to have the ground sheet there. The lovely thing about nylon and DCF floors are that they are very easy patch if you do get a hole or tear. In hindsight, I personally think I wouldn't bring one again unless you think you'll sleep under the stars often. If this is the case, check out polycryo ground sheets. They are much lighter, less expensive, and pack up smaller. They aren't as durable but they offer some benefits at fraction of the weight and cost.

Thank you 🙏@@lynxoutdoors8192

For the small loops I attached to the tent loops I used opposing overhands and pulled them tight into each other. It's very similar to a fisherman's bend, but with simple overhand knots as opposed to a Fishermans to use a little less cord. The knots on the end of guy lines that have the Dutch rings are simple overhand knots, sized just slightly bigger than the stake diameter. I wanted to try to keep it simple.

Sure. It's Lawson Glowire 2mm. A single 50' hank was enough

Yeah, exactly. I'd usually guy out the two apex points which really pulled the tent tighter. I'd usually only add the singe long guy line into the wind if the campsite was exposed or forecasted to be extra windy.

I think either model would work great. I through hiked the AT in 2014 and you'll have hundreds of amazing, groomed, and flat tenting options all the way from GA to ME. I personally prefer the DCF floors in ultralight shelters as I've had better experiences with them over the years. DCF floors (and rain flys) are permanently fixed with a small piece of DCF tape, whereas I usually have to patch and seam grip repairs to nylon. The DCF floor option is actually a fair bit lighter than the nylon too. Were only talking a 90 x 32" bathtub floor so I doubt it would be significantly bulkier but have yet to get my hands on one to try. Based on Dan's comments to this review, I'm almost certain I'll pick up the late 2024 model with a dcf floor, interior magnets, reinforced corners, and optimized geometry.

If weight and pack space weren't a concern I'd have liked slightly more room. The Xmid Pro1 has enough room for me but I wouldn't have hated being able to be a few more inches away from the sloped fly by your head when you're sleeping, especially if it was very windy and it was flapping. The double wall has the advantage of using just the tarp to cook under or just the inner to stargaze if its buggy. Most mornings I had some condensation inside the tent. I keep a small camp towel nearby and do a quick wipe down on the inside each morning and ring the water out of the towel. The DCF fly inside doesn't absorb any water so this does get rid of 90% of it. It also drys extremely fast and if the tent was extra wet I would drape it out in the sun during a lunch brake when I could. The included stuff sack is a waterproof material I believe. It'll keep the wet tent from getting other things in your pack wet. If you really wanted to make it extra waterproof, you could either put some seam tape on the included stuff sack or just swap the entire stuff sack out for a small DCF dry bag. I hope that makes sense and may be of some help. I think either model would work well for your trip. I met a bunch of folks doing the bike trip. It sounds like an epic time!

@@lynxoutdoors8192 oh the stuff sack is waterproof? I’ll take another look, but I tend to pack without a stuff sack … but maybe I’ll rethink it. I’m leaning towards taking the older version 2P tent.. being on a bike does allow for obviously more weight but you have to consider it. Thanks for quick reply!!

Thanks!

You're correct, it does have a larger overall footprint than most 1 person tents for a couple major reasons. Firstly, it's a roomier 1 person tent with a floor width of 32" vs some of the smaller ones that have 25 or even 20"s. Next, it has 2 vestibules. There are pros and cons to this, but one of the cons is it does take up more space. Another thing to consider is that the rectangle that gets initially staked out keeps the fly around the entire tent low to the ground. This means that if it's a rocky area, or there are low bushes/stumps its harder to find a place to set up than something like a Duplex that you can keep the vestibules tied up and out of the way. It's harder to do on the Durston tents, but not impossible. There are some great videos on the "skinny" pitch that Dan Durston has made that show how you can pitch the tent with one, or even both, of the vestibules tucked back so the space required is just the size of the floor. If you do that, it can fit into almost any spot that any other 1 person tent could fit. I never had to do that on the CDT and was always able to find something that would work. Sometimes, maybe only 2 or 3 times the entire trip, I'd pitch the tent so a stump or rock took up an entire vestibule and I just wouldn't use that side. Another thing to consider is that while this is on the larger side for a 1 person tent, most tent sites on trails can usually fit 2 or even sometimes 3 person tents as many people travel together and share tents in the back country. You can fit this tent more easily into any space that a 2 person tent can go. I'd recommend checking out Durston's videos on the skinny pitch. At the very least, I didn't have any real issues finding a tent site on the CDT.

Thanks for this very complete answer👍@@lynxoutdoors8192

Thanks for the very complete answer👍@@lynxoutdoors8192

Hmm, Im not certain what could be happening. It might be the height of the tent being too hogh or low. Id try pitching it with more or less head room to see if that helps.

The vestibules offer some nice benefits, mainly for things that you don't want to bring or do inside the tent. The angle on these ones grants easy access to the door without the trekking pole blocking it. It makes it much easier to get in and out compared to tents like the Zpacks Duplex. It also allows you the larger space in the corner to put your pack/shoes to get them out of the way as well. Its nice to be able to cook in the vestibule when its raining and having the angle lets more of the fly protect the stove from wind and rain. The Pro 1 already is on the larger side for a 1 person tent with it's 30" interior width, so making it even larger inside by adding the vestibule space to the main body would make it more of a 2 person tent.

It's hard to say, honestly. If I were going to redo the trip over again I don't think I'd bring one for it. In the beginning, I brought a DCF ground sheet thinking I might cowboy camp often, but I almost never did. The floor is very thin, but worst case you end up patching it a time or two. If you started without one you can always start using one later if you find it getting holes often. If the DCF floored Xmid Pro 1 was out when I bought mine I would have chose that one and skipped a ground sheet altogether. I've used dcf tent floors for years and have no concern with their durability. I might end up picking up one of the newer Pro 1's that has the DCF floor, inside magnets, and the optimized geometry.

@@lynxoutdoors8192 thank you so much for this, very much so helps my decision!

So I haven't used a Dipole 1, but I do own the Dipole 2. Structurally, I do think you can get a more taught pitch with the Dipole because of its geometry and the fact that it has additional carbon struts. However, the Dipole windows are never able to be closed very securely. I have had wind and water get blown in threw the windows even after trying to make them as closed as possible. Besides maximum taught pitches for wind, I'd give my personal nod towards the Xmid since it did very well for my CDT through hike and I've had over a standing inch of water in the Dipole after a very long rainstorm. The windows on the Dipole are both a blessing and a curse. The Xmid does certainly pack smaller, and it doesn't have any folding struts to deal with so packing it is much easier. My Dipole 2 is my most comfortable and spacious 2-person trekking pole tent, which I love. With that said, it's the most comfortable tent when the weather is nice, but I don't trust it in extreme wind and rain due to my experience with so much water getting in the windows. I've been considering selling it and trying something different. I'm considering purchasing the DCF floor Xmid pro, as well as possibly buying the DCF double wall Xmid that is rumored to come out in 2025.

@@lynxoutdoors8192 Thanks for the thoughtful reply. The window security during heavy rain was my biggest concern. Durston’s commitment to innovation and unparalleled customer service is pushing me to the X-Mid. All the best as you embark on the PCT.

I didn't find it to be anymore than any other DCF shelter I've used. The geometry still does set up nicely and there isn't anything too problematic from it.

Thanks!

Can you post a link. I looked and couldn’t find them

@@jacobzirkle9153 dutchwaregear.com/product/ringworm/ they are Dutchware Ringworms and Zing It line, also sold by Dutchware.

Sierra Designs was my family's tent of choice growing up. My father was a pretty successful mountaineer and we had a bunch of different models over the years. Our family of 4 slept in a Prelude, my father used a Super Light Year 1 and Clip Flashlight 2 for some of his earlier trips, and I still own and use a Tiros Expedition 2 and 3 for my winter base camping. I fixed up and used my Gamma 3 for a New Zealand trip I did about 10 years ago. I can say that out of all the tent brands that I inherited from my father when he passed, the Sierra Design models are by far in the best long-term shape. None of the seam tape delaminated, and they are all still in great working order even 30 years later. The only thing I've had to change out was fresh shock cord in the poles.

I'm not certain the exact number, but many. I inherited roughly 10 from my father when he passed away years ago. Since then, I've likely bought another 10-12. I've sold some of the models that didn't really work for me and currently have somewhere around 15. They range from 2 and 3 person 4 season tents to LW freestanding tents to DCF trekking pole tents.

Nope, they were great. They repaired everything for me without charge.

Thanks for taking the time to watch. I turned the tent upside down just to show that the floor is not parallel to the outer tent body. When I go to pitch it in real life I hold the head or foot end of the floor, and ignore the outer tent. My right hand will go to the corner guy out and my left holds the elastic guy out in the center of the head/foot end. I shake the tent out away from me and when its slowly coming back down I look at the floor as its falling. I find I can get a good idea where the floor is this way without having to actually see it before staking it out. What I'm trying to describe is at 1:27 in the video. I hope that makes sense.

@@lynxoutdoors8192 thanks, I believe that after playing around indoors on my wooden floors for reference guide lines; I set it outdoors using the procedure you described in your reply. I think it was your camera angle that wasn’t that clear on that particular step.

@@artallen2860 That makes sense. Sorry, I did just have the camera on a tripod for the whole video and it didn't showcase the angle I was trying to demonstrate. Did you have any more success with your layout afterwards?