Drop X-Mid 2P Tent Designed by Dan Durston Reviews | Drop

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Drop X-Mid 2P Tent Designed by Dan Durston

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Drop X-Mid 2P Tent Designed by Dan Durston

gnarledcoulee

537

Jul 21, 2019

X-Mid 2P: Spacious, Light and Rugged full review w/ photos

I’ve had the pleasure of traipsing around the far northern reaches of Nova Scotia with the new spacious and lightweight X-Mid 2P and Drop UL 40L backpack for 8 days. Over those 8 days and nights I experienced what I like to call the Atlantic Weather Gauntlet; extreme winds (some of the strongest in Canada), unexpected thunder storms with heavy downpours and heavy ocean-effect condensation. How did the X-Mid fare? Let’s see ... GENEROUS LIVING SPACE, UNIQUE DOUBLE-WALLED DESIGN. •With an impressive 33sq/ft of floor space, two doors, two large vestibules and a weight of about 40oz, this is a true two person tent with incredible space-to-weight ratio. I doubt you will find another non-DCF tent with that type of space-to-weight ratio - and it’s double-walled! **Note: I was not given a specs sheet, so the weights are my own calculations and may not be precise.

•The inner-tent/outer-tent design is unique and gives you a couple different setup options. The tent comes with the inner and outer conveniently pre-attached, however, you can completely detach the inner-tent and just use the outer-tent as a spacious ultralight tarp shelter, or use both for a double-wall tent with a bathtub floor and full bug protection. In insect-ladened areas, though, you‘ll notice bugs will accumulate between the gap of the inner and outer tent walls and can get trapped up there. A few mornings I had to wrap up a lot of mosquitoes, ants, and black flies that got trapped, only to greet all their dead carcasses that evening at my next tent site when I unfurled the tent.

•The dual trekking pole-supported design allows you adjustability on uneven surfaces. Where I Iive you will rarely find a perfectly even place to pitch, so being able to compensate for an uneven grade by adjusting one or both poles is really important.

•If you’re at a location where a perfect pitch isn’t achievable, sometimes the inner tent seems to sag a little bit. You can easily fix this and maximize your headroom by attaching the outer tent vestibule door tie to the inner tent door tie loop (shown in photos). Great feature, whether it was intended or not.

•I did experience some “bunching” of the inner tent mesh. I added a photo to show. It was minimal for me, and can be mostly corrected by gently and repeatedly rubbing your finger over the area to realign the threading of the mesh. I would take care in rolling the tent up for the stuff sack, as I suspect the mesh does this when stretched or pulled too much during storage.

WIND, CONDENSATION, RAIN

W i n d •Les Suetes, like the Chinooks in Alberta or Santa Anas in Southern California, are a strong foehn wind on western Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. I have a lot of experience backpacking and camping in these winds, with many tent failures ensuing and many hats gone a-flyin’. During night one of my trip to Lowlands Cove at the northern tip of the island I once again encountered this beast-like wind. Using only the shepherd hooks staked in compact soil, and four small rocks on the main four corners, the X-Mid valiantly and easily slain the 90km/hr Suetes beast. Not one stake came up. First tent I’ve been in that withstood the Suetes so easily. Hugely impressed by how this sheers the wind. No stakes unstaked, but I did notice that the high winds loosened the tensioners completely. If you’re expecting high winds, I’d suggest loosening the tensioners at the four corners, then adjust the stakes for tension instead of using the tension pulls. That will reduce “loosening” of the tent if you’re expecting high winds.

C o n d e n s a t i o n •It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a double walled tent. With 7400 kms of coastline in Nova Scotia, and free dispersed camping on most public lands, camping next to the Atlantic Ocean is a thing that happens here a lot. Camping in my single-walled Lunar Solo along the coast means dealing with lots of in-tent moisture build up. I took a trip to Framboise and pitched the X-Mid about 10 meters from the ocean to see how this double-wall design holds up against heavy condensation. Woke up completely comfortable with a dry sleeping bag. Moisture stayed on outer tent wall. Very impressed, yet again.

R a i n •After a long hot 2nd day traversing the vast and sprawling headlands of Lowlands Cove, I noticed some dark clouds gathering as I approached my second tent site at French Brook at the far northern corner of the cove. The sprinkles started, then 5 seconds later the clouds opened up like a faucet. I pitched the X-Mid fast and easy then jumped in with my dog Atlas. Needless to say, all the seams are sealed well and no water got in at all. I like that the outer tent goes almost right to the ground, giving greater protection against the elements than some other tents. I could see this working as a 4-season tent.

My conclusion is that the Dan Durston-designed Drop X-Mid 2P covers all the bases needed for my style of backpacking. It’s sturdy and rugged enough to take on all the weather my corner of the world throws at me, along with the ability to pitch in not-so-ideal locations. The asymmetrical design gives the whole thing a very cool and different look and feel. I backpack solo with one or two dogs mostly, so the 33sq/ft floor space means I won’t be getting kicked in the face by a big tired dog stretching his legs.

I’m giving this tent a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. The only reason I was briefly considering 4 stars is because the netting bunching up in a few small areas, but it was so minimal for me and it doesn’t affect bug protection nor is it getting worse so it’s something easily overlooked for me personally. It also has an easy remedy by rubbing the affected areas.

If you need a spacious tent with an amazing space-to-weight ratio (non-DCF), ability to pitch on various types of terrain, all the benefits of a double-wall, and can withstand all the elements Mother Nature may throw at you, I highly recommend this tent!

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

ER-RN

Jul 22, 2019

gnarledcouleeThank you for the detailed review!!!! Do one on the durston pack too!!!!

(Edited)

gnarledcoulee

537

Jul 22, 2019

ER-RNCurrently writing it up right now. 👍🏼✌🏼

UL_Product_Manager

141

Jul 22, 2019

gnarledcouleeThats an amazing spot! and a cute pup...

beowulf111111

Jul 23, 2019

gnarledcouleeYour review is excellent, thank you for including the photographs. I was taken by surprise by your pictures of Altas, as I had an Atlas (same name!) who was my hiking companion until I lost him to cutaneous lymphoma in 2018. I did not expect to feel heart sore from reading a review on Drop! But thank you for putting in so much effort. There is nothing quite like taking a trip with our loyal and affectionate furry companion(s).

gnarledcoulee

537

Jul 23, 2019

beowulf111111Oh man, that just tugged my heart strings reading your comment and seeing his photo. Sorry to hear about your Atlas. My Atlas is 11 years old now. He’s been my loyal companion since he was a puppy. I see signs of him slowing down and it kills me. He’s still a trooper though, and loves to accompany me on my big hikes still. He gets a mild limp now when he over does it though, so I’m always trying to find that right balance for him. As long as he doesn’t run really hard, and just trots along with me he seems to be fine. Thanks for the comment, I’ll give my boy an extra big hug today. ✌🏼

KirkD

Jul 23, 2019

gnarledcouleeI just got back a week ago from 4 days of hiking on Cape Breton Island. It would have been a hoot if I had stumbled on someone using a 2P!! (I'm Dan's dad). The string of lights at your campsite reminded me of a short video I watched before heading off to Nova Scotia. In that video, the fellow also strung up some lights around the campsite. Can't recall what the video was called, but now I wonder if that was you? I've only experimented with the pitching of one of the 2P prototypes (timed pitch out of the sack w/out reading instructions (for the inevitable subset of people like myself who don't enjoy reading instructions), pitches with various stake tensions and pole lengths, and trying different non-rectangular pitches to observe the effects .... pretty much what everyone else did/does). Most of my camping is in the wilderness of the Canadian Shield where I usually pitch on naked granite. Four additional cords at each corner with a slip loop (for a rock) in each does the trick. I like to use rocks the about the size of a loaf of bread, which seems to be more than sufficient for the occasional extreme winds during a thunder storm. My four-day experience on Cape Breton suggests it is windier there than in northern Ontario. The cords are left in all the time for convenience sake.

Cardamomtea

588

Jul 23, 2019

KirkDKirk, you must be so proud of your son! And thank you for helping with the prototype doing unguided pitches. This is my first non-freestanding tent and it sets up really easily! Hmm, need to post my review..! I'm taking it to the Quetico next week :-)

beowulf111111

Jul 23, 2019

gnarledcouleeAwesome!! I appreciate your response

KirkD

Jul 24, 2019

CardamomteaYep! I'm a proud papa! Hope you have a super time in the Quetico.

gnarledcoulee

537

Jul 24, 2019

KirkDThanks for taking the time to reply, Kirk! As Cardamomtea said, you must be proud of your son! He’s got three real big winners now under his belt. That is so great you were here in Cape Breton! I always love running into people who have been here or know the area - and Dan’s dad of all folks! Such a far-flung small place. I hope you had a decent time here and found some of the better hikes. Sometimes you have to really get off the beaten path here to find the real gems. The video you watched wouldn’t have been mine, even though I do have a couple videos up, but none with the string lights. Unfortunately, we don’t have any longer multi-day trails here yet. There’s one called The Seawall Trail that is under the proposal process now. Until then, I make my own multi-day routes through the highlands. Great tip on pitching on hard surfaces or for extra wind security! Gonna write that down.

KirkD

Jul 24, 2019

gnarledcouleeWe had a super time on Cape Breton. Yeah, I'm proud of Dan. He's amazing at thinking through all the details of a design. I suppose when he's hiking for months at a time, a person has a lot of time to think through things. Glad to hear about the possible Seawall Trail. Hope that becomes a reality soon.