What is a “mid” shelter?

'mid= short for pyramid

solomid and duomid are both types of "mids"

"mids" are sort of generic – probably a dozen manufacturers

Yes, mid = pyramid. So, generally speaking, a single apex, usually supported by a center pole, and symmetric or oppositionally symmetric side panels. The exceptions to this are small mids that can use inverted V pole support, and a few outliers with double apexes, like the Golite SL2 and the BD Betamid.

They've got it all wrong.

Say you buy an REI tent. It'll do, it's pretty heavy by BPL standards but it gets you out in the woods, which is good. You want to go lighter, so you buy a cottage silnylon shelter. This is your mid shelter. It's in the middle between your old, heavy shelter and the cuben shelter you'll end up buying as you realize how traveling lighter is nice….

Language wise, it comes from the late 60s midi skirt – halfway between the long dresses of yore and the soon to arrive mini skirts.

Happy to help.

Dave C wrote a good post on mids:

http://bedrockandparadox.com/2013/07/13/an-incomplete-treatise-on-mid-selection/

"… outliers with double apexes, like the Golite SL2 …"

I must admit I wasn't familiar with the SL2, and I wondered whether my TT SS2 might be considered a double 'mid, so I looked up the Golite. To my eye it looks suspiciously like what we used to call a pup tent. Is there a difference?

pyramid… how did I not know this?

Thanks for the replies!

Now,can you guess why bearpaws original tent is called pyratent?

Definition of pyra didn't help much. Appears to refer to a pile of wood used to burn a dead body. That's not really a hot button for me.

Must be something other than this.

I'm not sure whether Golite redesigned it, but if you check Dave C.'s post there's a description of the SL2 as an elongated hexagon, and a picture that shows it to have a profile different from an A-frame pup tent