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

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Drop + Dan Durston X-Mid 1P Tent

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evincent220

131

Apr 18, 2019

Hey everybody! I was able to set up my x-mid today and I wanted to give you my first impressions. Overall, I love it! The design is extremely well thought out and the attention to detail is superb. I love the top pocket inside the inner and absolutely love the #5 zippers on the fly. Those are bomber! Although the pitch will take a little practice I was able to get her up looking pretty taut (in my opinion). The fabric feels tough for a UL shelter and the zippers for the inner move one handed with ease. Setup was a piece of cake. The fly, inner, and stuff sack came in weighing 30.1 oz. I know that's off spec but not enough to bother me. I probably won't use the included stakes other than for the small side door. The outside 4 and the peak's will have msr groundhogs. I'm 5'10 and around 150 lb and its plenty spacious for me. Here are a few more pictures

Ok, I've sang it's praises. Now for the HUMBLE nitpicking and suggestions. The tent's quality control was great. I only saw one loose stitch and one other "oopsie". They accidentally sewed a random piece of poly into one of the seams. I cut it off with the steadiness of a brain surgeon and re weighed it - JK :)

I wish the grosgrain on the corners and the peak guy outs were black (like in the youtube video.) I just think it would have given it some nice contrast. I plan to replace all the guy lines and pulls with a different color for this exact reason. It's just ALL 1 color which is fine but I think a little contrast would go a long way, aesthetically. I did experience a little dimpling from my trekking poles but it was pretty insignificant. I am using Leki micro vario Z poles for reference. There is a little discussion going on over at http://www.trek-lite.com/index.php?threads/dan-durston-massdrop-x-mid.4960/page-21 about using rubber grommets to mitigate the dimple. It'll be interesting to see how that progresses. Either way, it appears you can pitch handle up or down with not much difference. In my opinion, the velcro on the fly for the peak vents was sewn a hair too low. It closes up nicely if the tent is not taut but once everything is taut and you decide to close the vents they don't really line up causing a bit of an aggravation. You can actually see this during Dan's video around the 2:43 mark https://youtu.be/U9vOLs12KQE?t=163. The only other thing I could comment on as far as an improvement to the shelter would be about the inner. There have been comments about the inner being a bit loose on the longer runs of the bug mesh. In my very humble, non tent designer opinion I believe there was an opportunity missed to open up the living area when laying and especially sitting inside the inner. These next few sentences may be confusing so stay with me. You could have either a.) lined up the inner and outer door keepers or b.) added an extra tiny grosgrain loop into the seam across from the inner door keeper. You could then add a very small piece of lightweight shock cord and it would stretch out the bug net in the loosest part and give the user a bit more breathing room, especially when sitting up. This could be done on both sides opening up the living area slightly while adding almost no weight. As it is right now you can tie a 1/16" shock cord from the inner loop and diagonally attach it somehow to the straight piece of cord for the outer door keeper. If lightweight shock cord is used it puts almost no strain on the mesh and does give you a few more inches of shoulder space. It might not seem like much but there was a comfort difference. See picture below to hopefully make sense of that.

I'll conclude this by saying a huge thank you to @dandurston for this brilliant piece of gear. I had seen this drop and didn't give it much thought but after reading Dan's elegant and articulate explanations to the myriad of questions he was receiving I joined the December drop. He truly has dedicated his time and effort to this design and it shows brilliantly in this shelter. She will be heading out to the Sierra with me in September on the John Muir Trail and I can't wait to get her out in the wild. Thanks for reading and happy hiking, (wow this got long)

Emmanuel

(Edited)

Apr 18, 2019

dandurston

5116

Dan Durston

Apr 18, 2019

evincent220Thanks for kind words and thoughtful feedback. With regards to that feedback: 1) Yeah it would be better if the guyouts were contrasting. I had intended them to be black but the factory dyed everything green when it came time to do it in the correct colors and I didn't think it was worth delaying the tents by a few weeks to change this color. In the future the webbing/cord at the guyouts will be black. 2) For the inner, are you tightening it up via adjustment at the peaks? The idea of a connection to the fly near the door tie outs in a good one. I'll look into doing this. If we can get more space for no real downside that would be great. Have fun on the JMT!

Apr 18, 2019

evincent220

131

Apr 18, 2019

dandurstonHey Dan, Yes, the top 2 buckles were tensioned appropriately. It was actually fine for me. I was just sitting inside it and saw that inner mesh keeper loop with cordage across from it and had the thought if there was shock cord there it could slightly open up the shoulder level space.

(Edited)

Apr 18, 2019

Ronhagen184

Apr 21, 2019

evincent220This is an excellent point in regards to widening the inner. I was able to accomplish this without use of shock cord. Kinda hard to tell in the first picture but you can see where the walls of the inner are being pulled apart. Second picture shows how I did it. @dandurston Beautiful design. Can't wait to take it to GNP this summer.

Apr 21, 2019

evincent220

131

Apr 21, 2019

Ronhagen184That would work as well - nice! I guess the only downside would be that you couldn't roll up the outer fly door because that cordage would no longer be available. Everytime I set this up I'm liking it more and more.

Apr 21, 2019

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