Does this backpacking tent deserve the HYPE Durston X-Mid 1 Review

The Duston X-Mid 1 Solid remains one of the most wanted backpacking tents on the market this year. The Duston x mid 1 tent is a light and compact trekking pole tent. The Duston x mid 1 solid tent is a great design creating a spacious solo tent out of a small package which makes it a great piece of ultralight backpacking gear. Reviewing this is a difficult one for me. Many people out there see this trekking tent as the perfect tent but I'm not 100% convinced. There's lots of good features, but I'm wanting more. Personally, I think the Durston X Mid 1 Solid is a great tent. However, it's not perfect (is any tent?) and I think there are better backpacking tents out there. However, if you change out the pegs, and use the tent in 3 seasons, I think it's a great option, especially if weight and pack size mean everything to you. NOTES: 1) Inner is 15d nylon, outer is 20d polyester. Nylon is lighter, stronger and more stretchy (great if you’re not on a level pitch). Polyester is more resistant to water. 2) I pitch the X-Mid 1 the same as the X-Mid 1 Pro with the trekking poles handle up. Personally, I prefer doing this on trekking pole tents as: a) I get a secure fixing in the ground b) there is no risk piercing the tent with the sharp trekking pole end c)the inner attachment is easier to fix d) it keeps my trekking pole handles clean and it stops the dirty trekking pole end messing up my nice clean tent I find extending the pole difficult pitching the tent the 'official' way. I prefer setting up the poles like all other tents, to a specific height (e.g 115cm), and then fully tightening the corners. The end result is the same, just a different way of achieving it 3) I don't believe there is a specific trekking pole height for this tent . Feel free to experiment to get the best solution of head height and fly-to-floor ratio that you wish. If it's cold I'd try and get that fly as close to the ground as possible, if it's really hot I would do the opposite. 4) This tent has steep sides. This means that it needs to be fully guyed in windy conditions. Look how my tent moves in this video without guys! The design is this way because of snow and to keep the trekking poles away from the doors. Personally, I'm not convinced with the steep slope design. 5) To get a really taut ridgeline you need to use the guy lines but Durston does not include pegs to do this hence why I have not used them. In general, reviewing tents is difficult as I feel you should only use the items included whereas when I personally use the tents myself I take my own pegs and guy lines which enhance the structure and stability greatly. IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING HEIGHT ISSUES DAN DURSTON: "For the inner headroom, the inner peaks have buckles that clip to the fly. These buckles are on webbing, so you can adjust how long the webbing is set to lift the inner higher or lower. The very highest setting gives maximum headroom but that is lifting up the sides of the inner so you lose a bit of floor width. The lowest setting gives maximum floor width but the least headroom. I usually go about in the middle, but you can play with this after it's up to decide what tradeoff works best. It's true that I don't think this is explained in my pitching video. I have a new pitching video coming out soon with a lot more detail, but I still don't think it's in there. Probably should be. It's hard to film in those dark corners of the tent :)" MY RESPONSE: Dan Durston got back to me regarding some of the height issues I have with the tent. Unbeknown to me, there is an additional adjuster that is not mentioned on Durston's website and pitching video. It doesn't even feature on other Youtuber videos too. This adjuster does reduce my height issue, although it's still not perfect. Big thanks to Dan for sending me a sensible response. I can't be blamed for not using a feature that isn't even listed on the manufacturers site, literature and pitching video. Specs as per Durston website: Weight Fly: 18.0 oz / 510 g Inner: 11.1 oz / 315 g Stuff sack: 0.4 oz / 12 g Stake sack: 0.2 oz / 4 g Stakes: 2 Ti hooks @ 8 g, 4 Ti V stakes @ 12 g Tent (fly + inner): 29 oz / 825 g Complete package: 31.9 oz / 905 g (tent, stuff sacks, 6 stakes) Materials 20 denier polyester in Alpine Sage (fly) or anthracite (floor) 15 denier nylon in white (inner solid fabric) 2500mm sil/PEU coating Peak reinforced with 210d black nylon YKK #5 AquaGuard (water-resistant) zippers (fly) YKK #3 zippers (inner tent) 2 titanium shepherd’s hook stakes 4 titanium V stakes Dimensions Fly: 170 x 254 cm Fly peak height: 117 cm Inner peak height: 109 cm Floor width: 81 cm Floor length: 230 cm Floor area: 1.85 sq m Vestibule area: 1sq m x 2 Packed size: 30 x 13 cm If you are into your hiking, backpacking and wild camping please SUBSCRIBE @BackpackingUK #durston #backpacking #wildcamping 00:00 Introduction & Specification 01:32 What's Included 02:08 Pitching 04:03 Outside 06:33 Inside 08:39 Final Summary

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