rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 27, 2024 8:44:37 GMT -8
Anyone know anything about these? A friend just scored the 2 P version of this virtually for free off Craig’s list, which makes me wonder…. durstongear.com/products/x-mid-pro-1-tent-ultralight-thruhikingIf it does everything it says, it blows my Protrail Li out of the water, and I have tent lust. But someone willing to practically give it away after a few uses? Makes me wonder. |
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Post by Coolkat on Mar 27, 2024 10:00:38 GMT -8
I have no experience with this tent. Only read reviews and watched youtube videos. It gets a lot of good feedback. Maybe the close to free price is the person is going through a divorce he/she is selling the other's gear? Or is a multi-millionaire and couldn't care less about $500?? I hope you get a more informative response from someone else!  |
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Mar 27, 2024 10:58:18 GMT -8
I have a 2P, silpoly version. Great tent. I think its most distinctive feature is the vestibules. They're far and away the most useful I've ever used. There's a high space just right of the entry that easily fits even a large pack, leaned against the support pole where it's completely out of the way yet readily accessible from inside the tent without opening the fly door. It's so easy to get into the pack you can almost live out of it like a dresser. Egress is easier than in any backpacking tent I've used. Again, because the vestibules (and doors) are tall and unobstructed by your stuff (pack is over to the side), I can simply "stand up" out of the tent, something my tall frame is not accustomed to. I love not having to crab walk, especially with a full morning bladder! The tent is strong and stable with nothing but the four stakes that nail its corners to the ground, and bomber with a couple of additional guyouts from the peaks. If I have a gripe, it's the slightly larger-than-ideal footprint. It doesn't really take that much more space than your average 2-person tent, but because the whole footprint is part of the structural design, it can take a tiny bit more savvy to get it right if the ground is not flat. It helps--quite a bit in my experience--to replace the four corner tie-outs with longer ones so it's easier to pitch with various corners at different heights above the ground. But once you've figured out the nuances of uneven ground, all it takes is nailing it down in a perfect rectangle and then raising the poles in place. A bad pitch is virtually always traceable to a non-rectangular stakeout, so it's pretty easy to fix.
The oddball parallelogram-at-an-angle is what buys you the fantastic vestibules and doors. But it also makes the inner get a little close to your face at the ends if you're tall. My TT Dipole 1 Li is friendlier in that respect, but has much stingier vestibules.
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driftwoody
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Post by driftwoody on Mar 27, 2024 13:25:47 GMT -8
I bought the Durston silpoly 1P after reading all the great reviews. Since I will always hammock when possible, I've only slept in the tent once and can't offer a thorough review. It is fairly easy to pitch and has two generous vestibules. Also, the inner tent can be unclipped from the rainfly.
I sold my SMD Lunor Solo because I struggled to get the pitch right, and the single pole design made the sloping ends more likely to contact the sleeping bag. The ends of the Lunar Solo do have guyouts to pull the ends up and away somewhat. The one thing I liked better with the SMD was interior space, which is not a rectangle. The side opposite the entrance has a very useful trangular space for stuff inside the tent, whereas the 1P Durston is a rectangle without as much room on the inside as my old TT Rainbow 1P.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 28, 2024 6:35:02 GMT -8
Thanks! Looks like she really got a steal, and while I don’t want the 2P version (though it is light enough even for me to carry!), I can sit around and drool over the 1P. In the Dyneema version it weighs4 oz less than my tent (in theory), and sounds both easier to pitch and way easier to get in and out of. I’m wondering now how I missed this when searching the world over for the lightest possible tent when I had to switch to solo hiking.
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Westy
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Post by Westy on Mar 28, 2024 7:57:12 GMT -8
My observation: Seems to be that Durston tents are alternative shelters designed to compete directly with Zpacks ultralight, dyneema tents. Durston also offers less expensive lightweight, non-dyneema versions. Best upside indicator...Durston trending on Halfway's CDT Hiker Survey. The majority of CDT hikers have typically hiked the AT, PCT or both before embarking on the CDT. Thus, more on-trail experience than any other survey. Halfway's survey is more like a vote based on what hikers in actual fact purchased and used. Result...less bias typically associated with testers, influencers, this is my journey vloggers, me and gear reviews on The Trek....arg!. www.halfwayanywhere.com/gear/cdt-gear-guide-2023/#most-common-cdt-gearFor comparison: www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/pacific-crest-trail/pct-gear-guide-2022/#most-common-pct-gearAs for me, I'll stay with my trusty Hilleberg Enan (6,000+ trail miles), manufactured at their ISO-9001:2014 certified facility in Estonia. Ever the contrarian, I have only met one other hiker on-trail using the same tent and of course, he was from Sweden! |
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Post by Coolkat on Mar 28, 2024 8:33:25 GMT -8
I'll stay with my trusty Hilleberg Enan Honestly when I read that my mind only saw pound (lb) signs wafting by but when I looked it up I was actually impressed. I know the brand has a good name for well made sturdy tents but I assumed that came with a weight cost. Not so much with your Enan. |
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Post by cweston on Mar 29, 2024 5:13:21 GMT -8
I also have the Durston (silpoly) 1P: It's been my go-to tent for a few years now: I'm a big fan. Very well designed and constructed.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Mar 29, 2024 6:48:09 GMT -8
I'm looking at a Durston X Mid 2P which is a two wall tent. The Mid Pro's are single wall. I'd be interested if anyone has feedback on the 2 wall version.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Mar 29, 2024 6:58:42 GMT -8
if anyone has feedback on the 2 wall version. See my post above.
Edit: I missed that you're interested in the Pro models, which are not really double-wall.
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Post by cweston on Mar 29, 2024 7:42:41 GMT -8
I'm looking at a Durston X Mid 2P which is a two wall tent. I'm sure you're aware of this, but it's only nominally a two-wall tent, as is the case with a lot of other two-wall light BPing tents. To me, it would be more accurate to call this type of tent a single-wall tent with a mesh-walled inner nest. This tent ventilates really well, so I've had very little trouble with condensation. (Less than my 2P Tarptent Stratospire, which is a very similar design.) And the mesh inner will deter dripping condensation to a certain extent, but not completely, of course. If I'm not expecting a storm, I go for a looser pitch of the basic rectangle, which allows for the trekking poles to be adjusted a little longer, which lifts the edges off the ground and improves ventilation. |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Mar 29, 2024 9:51:39 GMT -8
I'm sure you're aware of this, but it's only nominally a two-wall tent, as is the case with a lot of other two-wall light BPing tents. I have questions, though I'm not, of course, actually in the market for yet another tent. :^) I'm just not "aware" - since I've never seen the Durston "live". Is your observation the reason why I rarely see the Durston inner displayed by itself? (From what I can tell looking at pictures, it doesn't appear to be permanently "attached".) Or does it have more to do with the top attachment point (which seems much closer to the outer fabric than, say, my Hillebergs?) Or, are you simply saying that there's no real "ceiling" in these pyramid-style/shape tents? (My TT Moment and Notch tents have a clearly defined "ceiling" if I'm remembering correctly.) In a solid wall tent, this could be a critical factor in keeping condensation off of you. Again, as an owner and user of the tent, it would be interesting to understand why you made this observation.
Edited to add: I apologize for asking, but I'm apparently going blind (trying to get set up to get cataract surgery after being warned by my optometrist for years) AND I'm currently relegated to using an old, small, very, very slow laptop running Ubuntu to access this forum (my Alienware monster - though also "oldish" - sits in the daughter's office upstairs, and is mostly inaccessible currently during the daytime hours) SO any images of tents display agonizingly slow and I can't really see much detail any longer. (I'm not going to buy a tent to check it out - at least, not any more :^). There are clear restrictions on my purchases now, given that I might, at any moment, cease to be - and the wife and child would be forced to "ebay" (or dump) massive amounts of existing "gear". :^) IDEA!! I've had some exposure to the details of "living wills" and "medical power of attorney" lately. After some age, Medicare wants medical care-givers to have access to this stuff, I guess - they keep asking in "pre-appt" materials. 8^{ Maybe we should have some system of getting gear stuff to people who'll actually use it, via some sort of "bp power of attorney". Ah, but the cost and legal aspects would be, need I mention, prohibitive. :^D Yeah, I'm actually laughing. |
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Post by cweston on Mar 29, 2024 10:00:30 GMT -8
I think we're mostly on the same page.
The "nest" of the tent in question does not have have a ceiling, in any obvious sense of the word. You're right that the nest can be detached, but the design of the tent really does not make it possible (I don't think) for the nest alone to be used without the (outer) tent. (The outer tent could be used without the nest.)
The nest floor is silpoly, and the rest of the nest is mesh. The mesh does hold some amount of condensation drops without allowing them to drip on the inhabitant, but it's only mesh: there are limits to how much drippage it can prevent.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Mar 29, 2024 10:24:34 GMT -8
Thanks for your speedy reply!
My thoughts were going back to a rainy & cool night I spent in my Unna, mistakenly selecting the mesh inner over the solid. I got a shower when I arose in the morning. :^D Wiping was not only impossible from inside the inner, and only resulted in more spritzing.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Mar 29, 2024 11:02:01 GMT -8
Is your observation the reason why I rarely see the Durston inner displayed by itself? If I understand correctly the fly holds the poles. So you can set up the fly by itself with no inner. You can set up just the inner as essentially a bug tent but you need a kit they sell that holds the poles and supplies a ridge line. I apologize for asking, but I'm apparently going blind (trying to get set up to get cataract surgery after being warned by my optometrist for years) AND I'm currently relegated to using an old, small, very, very slow laptop running Ubuntu to access this forum I just had cataract surgery on my right eye. It followed retinal surgery a few months ago. The retina doctor told me I would likely get a cataract in that eye from the surgery but I thought he meant years not weeks. Anyway it went well and I can see with both eyes again. I am also accessing the forum with an old Dell E6400 laptop with Kubuntu 22.04 |
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