Are you hooked on DCF? Does the considered a moist nylon flooring make you cringe? Worry not: Dan Durston has lastly designed a tent with all-DCF development, so you’ll be able to take one step nearer to the long run.
The up to date X-Mid Professional 1 now has the choice for a DCF flooring for much more weight financial savings, however is it actually an enchancment over the unique nylon flooring?
Durston Gear X-Mid Professional 1 with DCF Flooring At a Look
A pleasant February day in Colorado
MSRP: $654.00 (with stakes)
Weight:
- Tent Physique: 15.6 oz
- Fundamental Stuff Sack: 0.25 oz
- Stake Sack: 0.1 oz
- Small (6”) DAC J-stakes with pull wire: 1.0 oz for 4
- Massive (8”) DAC J-stakes with pull wire: 2.3 oz for 4
- 32.7’ of 2mm black guyline: 1.0 oz
- Guyline Tensioners: 0.14 oz for 4
- Max. Complete Weight Out of the Field: 20.4 oz
- Min. Path Weight (Tent Physique, Fundamental Stuff Sack, 4 Massive Stakes): 18.15 oz
Supplies:
- Tent Fly: 0.55 oz/sq. yard DCF (0.08mil mylar all sides)
- Tent Flooring: 0.67 oz/sq. yard DCF (0.18mil mylar floor aspect, 0.08 mil mylar inside aspect)
- DAC J-Stakes: Aluminum
- Guylines: Dyneema Core, Dyneema+Polyester+reflective tracer sheath.
Meant Use
The Durston Gear X-Mid Professional 1 is among the lightest totally enclosed tents in the marketplace. Ultralight-focused solo hikers will discover large worth in its mild, compact, and considerate design.
Hikers already utilizing adjustable-length trekking poles will profit from the weight-saving design greater than those that have to pack a devoted pole.
Circumstance of Overview
This tent made its means into my arms in mid-February, that means it noticed extra time within the snow than the grime. I took this on a number of coaching journeys for summer season adventures, together with across the Hunter-Frying Pan Wilderness, Utah’s deserts, and my native park methods.
Durston Gear X-Mid Professional 1 Options
All-DCF Development
New for Model 2 of the Professional tents is the choice to decide on your bathtub materials. Whereas Model 1 was solely out there with a silnylon flooring, the Professional line is now break up into subtypes: one with the unique woven flooring and one with DCF. Moreover flooring materials, the 2 subtypes have a number of different minor design variations that create a bigger unfold in weight and price.
Why add the choice for DCF flooring? I might think about fan requests are an enormous a part of this. The DCF hype prepare says it’s the good materials for all the things, together with shelter flooring. Whereas this isn’t essentially true, many individuals will nonetheless favor the tent all in DCF for slight weight financial savings, quicker dry instances, and ease of restore.
Dan made a novel resolution in choosing the precise DCF sort for the ground. Most DCF tents use the 1.0 oz/sq. yard variant, which has a 0.18 mil mylar layer on all sides for a better degree of abrasion and puncture resistance.
Dan as an alternative used the 0.67 oz/sq yd model, which maintains the 0.18mil layer on the bottom aspect however reduces the dyneema thread depend and leaves the inside aspect at 0.08 oz/sq yd.
Whereas a comparatively minor distinction, it has an impression on total weight and considerably reduces the packed measurement of the unit, whereas largely avoiding the downsides of a thinner flooring.
The brand new DCF flooring choice. The mesh gutters on the head and foot finish are nonetheless current, a helpful characteristic for rising airflow.
Superlight Design Options
Moreover the brand new DCF flooring, different weight-saving options embody ultralight zippers, light-weight meshes, and environment friendly volumetric design. Even the connection of the trekking poles to the tent has been improved over the traditional X-Mid. The eye to element is noticeable, and the load speaks for itself at simply 15.6 oz for the tent physique.
Massive Flooring House
Even 15 inches above the bottom, the tent footprint measures 32 inches vast and 90 inches (7.5 ft) lengthy.
I point out this as a result of many UL tents save weight by decreasing the inside width or tapering in the direction of the top or foot. In lots of fashions, particularly those who use one trekking pole, the low-angled partitions imply the precise usable sq. footage, when you get about 12 inches off the bottom, is lowered considerably.
In distinction, I discover the house within the X-Mid Professional snug and livable—even at 6’1. The distinction is noticeable in comparison with my earlier tent, which was simply 20 inches vast on the head and foot and solely 84 inches lengthy.
The ground is constantly wider than 25 inches, which additionally means vast pad customers are welcome inside, an unusual choice for UL one-person tents.
And with the 90-inch usable size, I feel somebody as much as 6’9 might simply make this mannequin work. Durston Gear is barely extra conservative, promoting it to suit individuals as much as 6’8.
Double Doorways, Double Vestibule
The X-Mid design is totally symmetrical, with an exterior door on all sides and two giant vestibules. Whereas not fully crucial for a one-person tent, the pliability is good. This characteristic means I can maintain my gear on one aspect and maintain the opposite aspect clear to enter/exit with out tripping.
Peak Vents
The Professional tents maintain a pair of generously sized peak vents at every apex (the place the trekking poles meet the tent). I all the time spotlight their presence, since many UL tents forgo this minor however vital characteristic.
Anybody residing in a moist or humid local weather is aware of the struggles of inside condensation, and peak vents are essentially the most pivotal software in combating it. Even residing in a dry western local weather, I nonetheless discover them crucial when the temps drop at excessive altitude.
The door, ridge vent, and guyline level
Fly-First Pitch
The fly-first pitch is an underrated characteristic of many pyramid and single-wall tents. It permits you to arrange whereas conserving the fly to the sky, and keep away from drenching your internal physique throughout inclement climate. I’ve arrange X-Mids within the rain many instances and all the time respect conserving the ground dry once I have to hunker down.
Cheap Pitched Dimension
The 1 Professional’s comparatively steep sidewalls and single-wall design imply there isn’t a lot wasted house within the footprint. I by no means have bother discovering a spot, even once I’m brief on time or approaching sundown.
All of the Common X-Mid Goodness
There are 10 variations of the X-Mid tent in present manufacturing, and so they all share a standard design course and geometric form. The offset poles and flooring inside an oblong footprint, mesh gutter, and easy four-stake pitch are carried ahead into this new model, bringing all the identical advantages chances are you’ll already know.
Durston Gear X-Mid Professional 1 with DCF Flooring Execs
Weight Slashing Grasp
At lower than 1 pound for the primary physique, there are few rivals for totally enclosed tents. What’s much more spectacular is that this actually ultralight package deal nonetheless retains a variety of livability options, reminiscent of the big flooring measurement, head top, vents and doorways. The mixture of weight and luxury makes this a wonderful alternative for many long-distance backpackers.
Dry Entry
As famous above, the X-Mid is appropriate with a fly-first pitch, which retains the within dry whereas organising within the rain. The doorways additionally don’t lengthen over the residing space, conserving your sleeping bag and different goodies dry throughout entry and exit. It looks like a minor element except you’ve had a tent flood whenever you by chance left the door unzipped throughout a rest room break.
I stepped on a cactus whereas organising my tent. So far as I can inform, the ground stays intact regardless of pointy needles, dry pinecones, and fallen twigs beneath.
4-Stake Commonplace Pitch
I really like the simplicity of this tent’s footprint, requiring solely 4 stakes organized in a rectangle to arrange. Pyramid tents typically have advanced shapes requiring six, eight, and even as much as 12 stakes to get pitched correctly.
The X-Mid’s simplicity retains precise path weight low, even in comparison with tents which might be lighter on paper however want extra stakes. In case of unhealthy climate, I typically carry at the very least two additional stakes for apex guylines, and there are different elective mid-panel and base stakeout factors for excessive circumstances.
Good Headroom Throughout the Internal
The 2-trekking-pole pitch on diagonal sides means the headroom is beneficiant and constant within the one-person mannequin. I don’t really feel the necessity to sit up or orient my pad in particular methods to keep away from hitting the outer partitions, which is a aid, given my tall stature.
Improved Nook Guyouts
One other minor replace from V1 is an improved nook design. The brand new model has higher reinforcement, thicker wire, and barely longer guylines to attach the stakes.
The thicker wire has been a pleasant change because it handles stacked rocks and unintentional abrasion higher than the outdated model. Likewise, the longer guylines had been a lot wanted for extra pitch flexibility.
No Want for Additional-Lengthy Poles
Whereas the precise pitch top shouldn’t be specified because it varies barely relying on floor cowl and pitch tautness, I’ve by no means wanted a pole longer than 120cm to arrange this tent.
This implies rattling close to any adjustable-length trekking pole can be utilized to arrange the X-Mid Professional 1 — no pole jacks or voile straps required.
Preshrunk DCF
Buried within the particulars of the product web page is a novel tidbit about their manufacturing. Durston Gear claims to make use of “preshrunk” DCF for all their tent manufacturing. The outlet layers of DCF are inclined to bunch up on the Dyneema threads over time, inflicting slight shrinkage.
Whereas tents don’t shrink sufficient to grow to be unusable, it does trigger issues with the zippers utilized in tent flies and doorways. For those who’ve ever had a wavy zipper on a DCF tent, that is possible the trigger.
I solely slept about 10 nights on this tent previous to overview, however my expertise with the unique Professional 1 and a pair of (about 80 nights between the 2) tells me the preshrinking course of has labored.
Packs Horizontally in Pack
The rolled form of this tent is simply slim sufficient to suit horizontally inside most backpacks. That is typically essentially the most environment friendly technique to retailer a tent and avoids useless house, load asymmetry, or the chance of loss from different carry strategies.
The comparatively vertical head and foot finish means a lot of clearance for thick pads and fluffy luggage. I additionally determined to attempt the newly added mesh pockets. I favor to maintain my stuff on the bottom and can in all probability proceed to take action sooner or later.
Durston Gear X-Mid Professional 1 Cons
Rectangular Door is a Downgrade From V1
The mesh door on the inside has modified from one zipper pull that goes round a curved door observe to 2 zipper poles that meet at a 90° angle. I most well-liked with the ability to open the entire door directly, though some might favor the 2 pull configuration for with the ability to put issues within the tent with out letting dastardly mosquitoes in.
Requires Two Poles
I all the time hike with two poles, however having a tent that requires each leaves little room for error in case of loss or breakage. Some hikers additionally favor to make use of just one pole and must carry a separate piece to arrange.
Pitch May be Difficult To Good
After two years of X-Mid possession, I can lastly say I really feel competent in setting them up nicely when wanted. I don’t like that it’s taken me this lengthy to get right here, particularly since I’ve an structure and engineering diploma.
Whereas the pitch is geometrically easy (it’s only a rectangle), I nonetheless discover it sometimes tough to nail the 90-degree corners which might be vital to an ideal pitch. The prolonged nook guylines for V2 definitely assist make the method simpler, although.
Cumbersome In comparison with Some Choices
Dan claims the X-Mid 1 Professional is the smallest packed measurement, totally enclosed DCF shelter in the marketplace. I don’t have any expertise that might contradict this, however I do know that the DCF qualifier makes an enormous distinction right here.
It’s well-known now that silpoly, and particularly silnylon, pack fairly a bit smaller than DCF, despite the fact that they’re heavier. Tarps and different floorless shelters will clearly save fairly a little bit of quantity too.
I all the time dream of a smaller quantity pack however can’t appear to interrupt the 40L barrier, primarily as a consequence of my shelter measurement.
Packing up my tent at dawn. I want the whole quantity was only a bit smaller.
Worth
I’ve talked extensively concerning the execs, cons, and worth proposition of DCF earlier than. For those who’re on board the Dyneema prepare, The X-Mid Professional design has near-universal attraction. I feel it’s the proper tent for in all probability 90 % of long-distance hikers, assuming you employ trekking poles. It sits proper in the midst of the associated fee vary of single-wall DCF tents, however with some significantly considerate design and a excessive normal of development.
Store the Durston X-Mid Professional 1
A Few Comparability Gadgets
Zpacks Altaplex Basic
- MSRP: $669
- Weight: 15.4oz (no stakes)
Tarptent Aeon Li
- MSRP: $569
- Weight: 17.4oz (no stakes)
Mountain Laurel Designs Solomid XL
- MSRP: $545
- Weight: 14oz (no internal, stakes)
The Durston Gear X-Mid Professional 1 with DCF Flooring was donated for the needs of overview.
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