I do love the whole thing. One pole pitch. Relatively fast and easy to pitch, more so after some practice to get that perfect pitch, but I will still say its fast and easy pitch. There is plenty of room inside, Duomid XL, for me. Though with any Pyramid style tarp you are losing out on some interior space due to sloping walls, hence why I upgraded from solomid xl to Duomid XL, now I have all the living space a need under there. I have not used it or needed it on any of my trips, as I mostly only need my bivy and tarps.. which I prefer any day to any other shelter possible. I do pitch it in my yard throughout the seasons to play with it and keep me fresh setting it up for when it is called upon.. I have nothing bad to say about it except i do have a beef with those tiny small loops for the door tie backs! They are small, too small! Forget about tieing or untieing the door with gloves on in the cold or wind or rain. Not gonna ever happen for me. I have a hard enough time doing it in my yard, in the dark or daylight, in the cold with cold hands and fingers! Maybe i should put my winter mittens on and try it a few times, but even if its possible, its gonna be a challenge. Loops should have been twice the size they are now.
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Beef with Duomids
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- This topic has 18 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 7 months ago by .
maybe tie a short piece of cord to make the tiny loop bigger?
I have the same opinion of mids and preferring cowboy camping when it’s not raining. Or to avoid dew or frost.
Start a petition for magnets :)
Are magnets sewn on ? Like in a pocket ?
thanks thom
I modified my Gatewood Cape using mini magnets and silnylon tape ( tenacious tape?). I could try it with the Duomid.. I also considered Jerrys idea, but I dont think that will give a tight closure.
Z-packs sells DCF stick on magnets but of course they will not stick to silicone. Instead you could try magnetic cable ties and simply tie them onto the existing door ties, There are many options for these, but here is an example.
I love the simplicity of the Duomid – and admittedly the aesthetics of a simple single pole mid are appealing – my beef is a little different though – I can never get it where I keep a taut pitch on the door panel with one door open. I can get a taut pitch with both doors closed or with one door open, but not one pitch that allows me to do both without significant adjustments.
I have a X-Mid 1P too (OG version) and have been using it more than the Duomid. It has a few gripes too (though Dan fixed several of them with later versions – I just can’t justify the $$ to upgrade).
I can see it being uncomfortable in cold weather trying to get those closers through the loop on Ron’s mid’s. I do like that idea of adding a type of magnetic option. @durstongear a petition sounds good:)
I had the solomid xl out this past weekend and each time I tied back the door I kept saying to myself this is a little weird.
I also had the same issues when losing the taughtness of my pitch when opening one door after initial set up like @bradrogers had.
I’m new to mids in general so might just be a learning curve on my end.
I slept in it on my last trip in a all night rain event and it shed water with no problem. I did experience a lot of condinsation though. Dew points were high and setting up shop next to a huge body of water was the cause of all that. I purchased this Mid on the forums recently and it is the Silnylon version. My hiking buddy had his Duo Mid Xl set up also but with the newer Silpoly Ron is using and it defenitly didn’t wet out and dried faster then my version. The view was hard to beat!
I think what prompted my fellow New Yorker @dirtbag post was this recent video I posted on my YouTube page that I just started posting on again after some hibernation time of my channel. Hoping to start making more content soon as I learned alot from all you folks and would love to share my time out in the woods.
https://youtu.be/XM97g1IJZd8?si=wMdxOIvISxxIKcPv
nice video
one problem with mids is if the 4 corners are not in a plane, it’ll set up wonky. That is, if one corner is a little higher or lower. Also, if the bottom of the center pole isn’t in that same plane – then the peak will be a little higher or lower which makes it wonky.
the ridges of a mid are on the bias of the fabric. When you pull on it it the fabric panels distort in weird ways. A fundamental weakness of mids.
One consequence is the ridges end up having excessive catenary curve deflection which takes away headroom inside. The two mids in your video have this. Not a big deal though, you just have to have the mid a little bigger.
Another consequence is the center of the sides at the bottom gets pulled up into the air. If you just make the panels a little longer in the vertical direction it fixes this. I don’t see that much in your video. I see that more in some pictures of mids.
Thank you Jerry. 100% correct about trying to pitch all the corners on the same plane as possible with the mids.
I will be trying out those suggestions you mentioned on my next trip out.
“100% correct about trying to pitch all the corners on the same plane as possible with the mids.”
It took my non-math mind a minute to figure this out. After all, if you stake out one corner and then another, the line of a tent is on a plane…but relative to what? Ah! the next two corners have to align ‘on the same plane’ as the first two. Correct? Given that the body of the tent is flat on the ground, it might no be immediately apparent if two of the corners are off set with the other two.
So: in videos, I always see tents pitched beginning with the two back corners, followed by the two top. What would happen if you begin along the sides? I don’t think I’ve ever done this. Doubtless I’ll post this and then think, d’oh! dumb question.
Three corners will always be on a plane. No matter what order you do the 4 corners, the 4th corner has to be on that same plane.
Like a three legged stool won’t rock, but when you add 4th leg, it always rocks.
Good point. We should have triangular mids (at least for solo).
The BEEF is Cured!!
Got home from work early this evening and another hour of daylight left. Went outside to lay in my Duomid and gather some sticks for a fire.. and I figured it out!!! The corner panel pull out!! It has bungee loop on it, and I always pitch that line out to the corner stake. The door opens fully and that little line loc thingy can pull thru that loop and sinch down nice and snug. Its such a big loop I can do it one handed and with gloves on Too!! Duh! Good thing i had it pitched while this was bugging me!! Problem solved. Beef cured. Other then being surrounded on 3 sides with material.. its perfect for me in certain conditions! 




“Like a three legged stool won’t rock, but when you add 4th leg, it always rocks.”
!!!! I don’t doubt you, but….I did not know that. However I don’t know that I’ve ever owned a three legged stool. Too tippy! I always thought.
Geometry is not my strong suit. Frankly I need a diagram. But practically speaking, this suggests that as long as you stake out three corners taut, it’s merely a matter of eyeballing, or playing with, the fourth corner that’s important, in terms of achieving a taut pitch. Assuming relatively flat ground.
But my old Hexamid had 5 stake points, if you include the one above the door, which was crucial for holding up the center pole. Actually, six…
Beef cured.
That’s call Jerky… :)
Bill BudneyBPL MEMBER
Good point. We shouldyy have triangular mids (at least for solo).
I have one that was a manufacturing error. I dubbed it the “Perfect Pitch Tetrahedron Tent”.
It’s very tall with little interior area.
Six stakes is like 20 different planes that need to line up in order to get a “perfect” pitch.
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