Duomid XL

Pegs, guylines, and seam sealing will add more. Shelter will be closer to 50 oz FWIW. Nice design, however.

You mean, 50oz with an inner? Yeah, probably.

I also have a supermid on order. Though, the plan with my supermid is always with 3 or 4 people, so I'm not sweating not having the duomid xl option before I ordered.

When I'm going with 2, I have a duplex.

But…..with two people. Hmm….its interesting. I mean, I would choose the duomid xl over the speedmid….unless price was the utmost concern. Both sized for two, duomid xl gives much more headroom and less footprint (easier to find spots). Plus a vent.

Now, comparing duomid xl vs supermid for 2…..it gets tricky. There is only a $10 difference in price. Supermid does have a larger footprint….but also would give you the ability to have one person sleep on each side of the pole….usually with heads in the back and feet by the door. That way there is minimal climbing over another person and both people have a ton of headroom for sitting up. Since there is so much space, if you have to open a door, you can just move your own sleeping bag to the side a bit when you open the door. And, there is only a 1.5 oz difference in weight (I have had two sil supermids at my house…the website says 29 oz but they both weighed under 26….one at just over 25.).

With the xl…you pretty much have to have both people sleeping in the back.

Really…I should be comparing it to ultamid 2. That has the door on the narrow side, not long side, so it would be using the sleeping configuration that I talked about before (both people on each side of the pole. Though, at least with the ultamid 2, you can use two pole extenders so no pole in the middle. You could do the same with the duomid xl…though its asymmetrical so you would have to adjust for that with the poles.

I don't know….I'm just talking/typing out loud. I'm still happy I ordered the supermid.

Yes, with the inner.

You bring up a good point, however. I wonder what the take rate will be on this v.s. the SuperMid?

In the DuoMid XL, would the person in the back be able to sit up without hitting the wall?

At 24 oz for silnylon, I would probably just stick with the larger Black Diamond Megalight (mine was around 24.5 oz seam-sealed) or a GoLite SL3 (around 23 oz for the tarp).

I guess the big advantages of the DuoMid XL may be more room for 2 people without a pole in the middle, a nice inner-net, and the option to get it in cuben fiber.

I can offset the centre pole in the SuperMid by up to 18" and comfortably fit three adults, or two adults and two children in it. I consider the DuoMid XL a 2P with GT vestibule (to misappopriate a concept from Hilleberg), whereas the SuperMid's a 3P shelter. There's space for both in the market.

Well, the back side of the duomid xl is exactly the same as half of a supermid. Yes…you can sit up, though depending on how low/high the tarp is pitched determines how much you are going to have to lean towards the center while sitting up.

When I take my wife and two kids….of course, no issue in my supermid. The kids have plenty of headroom while sleeping on the ends.

And, if you had 3 adults, again no problem if you offset the pole just a bit.

And….if you offset the pole a bit in the duomid xl….the problem would also be alleviated for the person sleeping in the back.

I have always kind of wondered if the 8.9' length MLD has posted for the Supermid is a typo when compared to the 8'9" for the Duomid. (equates to almost 2" difference)

There is no height on the Supermid page. Is it also 60-65" like the Duomid XL? I thought it was a little taller than that.

The Duomid XL is listed at 104" (8'-8")

I know 2" seem like a small number. I have had a few duomids and I love them but at my height (6'3") and big ole feet I have had some space issues in winter especially with an inflatable pad.
The steeper walls of the Supermid definitely alleviate that problem for me.

The SuperMid is listed as 5.75' tall, or 68". From experience I'd say that's the bare minimum height, and I usually pitch mine around 72-74" tall.

I don't have my SuperMid available right now to give actual footprint dimensions, so this is based on memory and data available on MLD's site. Ron claims 75+ sqft of usable floor space, which is just shy of 8'8" / 104". Perhaps on a really high pitch in fair weather. The bathtub floor offered is 7'6" / 90" (equating to ~56 sqft), very conservative but I have one on order and I'm going to give it a try. In reality, I'd hazard a guess that usable space is somewhere in the middle, especially when laying on a 3" thick air mattress. The steep walls do make this much more liveable than the standard DuoMid, and deploying the mid-panel guylines makes a big difference.

Pricing is interesting: the silnylon SuperMid is $10 more than the DuoMid XL, but the cuben version is $120 more. The cuben DuoMid XL may open up the larger shelter segment that HMG occupies with the Ultamid 2. In silnylon it's going to be a tougher choice.

Personally I'm happy with the extra space in the SuperMid – a few more oz is a fair trade-off for extra versatility. But the DuoMid XL gives the market a dedicated 2P+ shelter without having to step up to something quite as big.

Yeah….Ron does have listed lengths on the site. And I'm glad that he has switched from listing dimensions from ->

supermid: 8.9' X 8.9' X 5.75'

to ->

duomid xl: 104" Long 90" Wide 65-70" tall.

8.9' isn't a good measurement. .9 feet is not immediately obvious on what it is…whether 8' 9" or 8' .9' (10.8"?).

But, like I said, weights and lengths are inconsistent, or have at least changed through the years. An older brown sil supermid I currently have is 8'11" in both dimensions, and a yellow newer one I received is 8'9" in both directions, but it seems 1-2" taller.

I see the height listed now. I think my eyes are failing.

Shucks, I was hoping it would be longer, not just wider and taller. Actually, I was hoping it would only be longer and not wider or taller. Maybe some day they'll come out with a Duomid Long and I'll finally be happy.

I think a good option for a person needing a long shelter is a Shangri la 2. I also find the Shangri la 2 to have a more comfortable and useful interior than the duomid. It comfortably sleeps 2 whereas the duomid is tight for two (in my opinion).

Seriously, the only gripe I have with the Shangri la 2 is that it doesn't come in cuben. Though Lawson used to make a mid called the 'mountain mid' which was basically a cuben sl2, but it was before I got into UL hiking. He says he plans on making it available in the future though. You can see a pic here ->

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/waterproof_breathable_technologies_part3.html#.VCXcgGd0wy8

Its the last pic there in the article.

Oh, the other issue with the Shangri la 2 is that sometimes I'll trip over the front door's silnylon floor panel thing, or step on it. I'm worried about long term durability, but….the mountain mid alleviates that issue.

MLD used to make a tarp similar to the GoLite SL2 called the Superfly. Here's a picture of it:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=74812

Seems like it had a similar footprint and height as the Duomid, but with two peaks. Apparently it didn't sell well.

Wow…hmm, I was not aware of that shelter either. I wonder if it didn't sell well b/c it was spinnaker?

I'm going to email Ron and ask if they would now offer one in cuben…

A couple of years ago or so, Ron said he was going to bring out a cuben Superfly. It didn't arrive in the time frame mentioned and when I emailed him about it, Ron said they were too busy with other things (I think it was when they were developing the cuben Trailstar). Like you, I was looking for a cuben SL2 equivalent.

I was able to get in touch with Ron at MLD…..they could make a cuben superfly for me in the same dimensions as a SL2.

However, I was thinking it might be around the same cost as a cuben duomid, but b/c it would be a complete custom gear order….it was a bit more than the price of a cuben duomid xl.

But, like most awesome gear swap deals…..they happen serendipitously. A MYOG cuben sl2 came on the swap this morning and I was able to pick it up which I'm stoked about..the one shown here ->

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=92984&skip_to_post=790993#790993

Looking forward to receiving it…though I am a bit concerned its not as "hexy" as a sl2 (i.e., the sl2 has a lot of width in the middle where your two sleeping bag heads are), but it would have the advantage of being even easier to find a spot.

Wonder why he called it Duomid XL. It's not really IMO. Something else again. There was a thread on Facebook asking names for this shelter – Reckon there were more apposite ones suggested.

The Solomid XL is just a slightly larger version of the Solomid. That makes complete sense.

Given it's height, and shape, the Duomid XL is more like a lopsided version of a Supermid than a sized up Duomid. So, from the rear, will catch more wind than the latter?

Ron did this with the naming Cricket Tarp (the innapropriate name thing) – it was originally called something like a Solo Trailstar until it was realised that it wasn't….?

I wouldn't want one – if going for a shelter that tall, with 2 people, I'd go for a Supermid. That way nobody has to climb over the other to get out of bed!

(I'm biased as we have happily used an Oware 9×9 Pyramid a fair bit – which is basically the same as a Supermid in shape/size)

Re The Superfly/SL2 thing – Bearpaw do a version of their Canopy Tent2 which looks similar…?

> Wonder why he called it Duomid XL. It's not really IMO. Something else again.

I agree. The sleeping space (behind the pole) is only 48" wide, and so one person is going to be jammed right up against the far wall of the tent; with the sloping sides of a 'mid, that means any condensation is going to be all over their sleeping bag. Especially, if (like with me) one of you is using a wide pad. Perhaps it's possible to offset the bottom of the pole 6" or so towards the door, I don't know (I've never used a 'mid, shopping for one now).

I believe Ron has really missed the boat on not providing an optimal size for two people. Almost everyone agrees than the DuoMid is just too small for two people. The DuoMid XL seems problematic (per above). And then the next larger ones (SpeedMid and SuperMid) are WAY bigger than two people need. I'd love to see a DuoMid that is 6ft (instead of 5ft) wide. I'd be all over that. Instead, I think I'm going with an 8×8 Oware.

The Ms. and I don't want to ever have to crawl over one another every time someone enters or leaves the mid. Not worth the loss off sleep. Check out the Locus Gear Hapi, which places the entry on the shorter side of the tent so both occupants can access it. The tent is plenty wide for two people, even when both using wider 25 in. sleep pads, and the weight is still very low. I've also heard nothing but good things about Oware shelters and the one I saw up close seemed to be well made. Also like the foliage green stealth color for 3 season use. And of course MLD's build quality is excellent no matter which design.

Another thing you may want to consider is how much of a cat cut you want because it will have an impact on how flush to the ground you can get the edges of the shelter – more aggressive cat cut can mean that you can't pitch the bottom edges of the mid flush to the ground when you want to in windy/wind-blown rain and snow conditions. Some manufacturers have more aggressive cat cuts, some less. BPL's Dave Chenault has written about this here and on his blog.

John I'm not too fond of the duomid xl for my purposes either but as I understand it the speedmid is a 2p+ shelter. Can sleep 3 if it had to but is comfy for 2 and some gear. Lots of people use it as a solo so I'm not sure it is as big as you think. Despite the footprint being equal to the supermid, the living space is not even close. It should be thought of as a 2p+ IMO.

>> Check out the Locus Gear Hapi

Wow, yeah, that's exactly the size that I wish the DuoMid was. And the door at the end is great too. And a few ounces lighter (than the SpeedMid, which I'd about decided upon). Quite a bit more expensive.

How tough is it to order from this company, and what is delivery time, build quality, etc ?

Thanks for making my life more complicated :-)

I think the Locus Gear Hapi is only about $50 more expensive than the Duomid, but it offers more room, more width and door access for both occupants. I think shipping is free as well, so I wouldn't call it a lot more expensive than the Duomid. Also Oware is an excellent value and of course shipping should be quick given that they're in the US. You could also talk to Oware about customizing you'd like to do to see if they'll work with you.

I've never seen their shelters, but I ordered their poles and they were super fast, easy to deal with, and not at all expensive to ship (as I thought it would have been).

I've been very interested in their 'mid offerings, since their stuff is generally so well made. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them at all.

I've had a Khufu Sil for the last 6 months or so and I can attest that the quality of Locus Gear's mids are excellent. I've had mine out on nights where the gusts got up to 40+ mph and the mid held up like a champ. Ordering from them was super easy and they usually are very prompt to answer e-mails. Only downside is that the wait time for a shelter can be 6 weeks or more. Matter of fact, I was about to order a full size mesh inner for the Khufu so my 10 year old could join me on some overnighters. Then I saw the Hapi Sil. Now that looks like a really sweet mid built with 2 hikers in mind.

*edit* Here's a pic of my Khufu during my last overnighter to GUMO.