Drop + Dan Durston X-Mid 1P Tent Discussions | Drop

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Dec 15, 2018

Hi Dan, I joined the drop last time, I can’t wait to get the tent! I think this is exactly what I’ve been looking for and couldn’t find until now. Anyway, I was wondering what your doing with all the prototypes that were made? Will you be selling them later, or keeping them for future prototypes? It seems like there were several, I was just curious.

Dec 15, 2018

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dandurston

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Dan Durston

Dec 15, 2018

BlazerHi Blazer, Thanks for support on the drop last time. Yeah we have a pretty good pile of prototypes. There are 6 prototype generations to date for the 1P. The first proto was surprisingly good for a first prototype except the ridgeline of the fly was quite loose and the inner was too short. Here I am pitching it for the first time ever:

Then we got two more in yellow that pitched better but still not perfect. Also the peak guyouts weren't a good design. Notice how we had guyout points halfway up the tent on these, but I deleted them because I decided they were overkill.

Then the 4th one was the first one that was actually pretty good. The pitch was good and the peak guyouts were bomber. The inner was still a bit small and a few minor issues, but I used this one a lot in 2018. I also had a friend testing one of the yellow ones.

Then we got a 5th prototype that was more of an orange-yellow. This one fixed the sizing of the inner, so the inner was finally perfect. No pictures of that one other than this shot in it's sack:

Then we got the first one build off the production line with the actual custom fabric, X-Mid logo and a few other minor improvements (notice how there are no seams near the X-Mid logo, whereas previous prototypes had seams here. This one is perfect.

As to your question of what am I doing with them all, the first three all have structural issues so they aren't something I would want someone to be trusting in the backcountry. And I dissected one of these into little pieces to figure out how much everything weighed. So only two remain and I'll hang onto those as a piece of history. Could be worth millions one day like an original North Face tent :) As for the other ones, Massdrop wants this latest one back (probably for more photos or something) and then of the other two (grey, orange-yellow) I might be giving one away in the Reddit Ultralight Secret Santa, so get in on that if you want a chance at one. And then I'll keep using and testing the other one. While the design is in great shape now and the green production one is perfect, I'm sure with continued use I'll think of small opportunities to refine the design. No design is ever finished. So if we can do a second production run in another year then hopefully additional experience with this will translate into some improvements.

(Edited)

Dec 15, 2018

Blazer

Dec 15, 2018

dandurstonWow, so much effort that you put into this! As others have said, I really appreciate the time you take to answer all our questions. I’m so excited for the tent I can’t wait!

Dec 15, 2018

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