Durston X-Dome 1+

[Jason McGrath]

This tent really seems to strike a balance for a freestanding 1p tent. You want the smaller footprint of a freestanding tent but you don’t want it so narrow that it performs poorly in wind.

[Jason McGrath]

Also with a 15D fly it should pack smaller than the xmid (when separated from the poles of course).

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

“Any length measurements at 12″ above the floor?”
It’s about 80-82″. Some inward slope but the walls are fairly steep so the useable length is still quite good.

[bradmacmt]

Actually, I think Left-Zip sleeping bags is mostly a convention for men’s bags. If you look at women’s bags (ex Nemo Riff, Nemo Disco, Big Agnes Daisy Mae 15) they are RH zippers. And this has been the convention for a long time because it allows a couple to zip together a men’s and women’s bag.

Jeff, not sure why you addressed your comments to me. If you’d read carefully you’d have seen I was addressing Todd T’s remarks. I understand why bags are LH or RH. They’ve been that way since I started backpacking 50 years ago. I just don’t get why it’s a problem with the way a tent is zipped… at least it’s not for me. Just not a mountain I’m going to die on. But then I came of age in the era of front entry A-frame tents where your friggin sleeping bag zipper didn’t matter. Dan D did a good job of explaining his reasoning. But not all of us are ever going to be pleased. I get it.

[bradmacmt]

If this becomes available with a solid inner, I’m in. And if with DCF, I’m double in. This tent takes the BA Copper Spur to the next level…

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks Brad. We are planning to flesh out the lineup. Solid inner and bikepacking poles are the easiest next things to add, with a DCF doublewall likely but further off (>1 year).

[talagnu]

looks awesome dan. maybe some day I’ll do some hikes rad enough to need it’s toughness

[Bill in Roswell]

New X-Dome Review

Dan Durston loaned X-Dome 1.5s to his fellow Canadians, Justin Outdoors and Kane Does Outdoors (who have done a vid together) for testing and review. Kane just posted his review

[Scott Smith]

Great video!  Thanks for posting 🙂

[Kelly C]

Reading the comments on L hand zip bags and door position.  Good bet many folks will be using quilts so for them not an issue.

[Todd T]

Reading the comments on L hand zip bags and door position. Good bet many folks will be using quilts so for them not an issue.

That was my immediate thought when I first saw this.  It’s backwards for most sleeping bags, and certainly contrary to the vast majority of tents I’ve seen.  Why?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

The left versus right hand topic is a complex one. There are tasks it would be left handed for, but also tasks it would be right handed for, so my take is that it averages out. For example, opening the fly door is most easy right handed but closing it from inside is most easy left handed. If we flipped the tent that would reverse. I personally am right handed and find the layout “feels right” for me, but certainly there are scenarios where I can see someone preferring it was a mirror image.

 

[Todd T]

There are tasks it would be left handed for, but also tasks it would be right handed for, so my take is that it averages out.

To me it’s not a matter of handedness–I can work zippers with either–it’s whether my sleeping bag opens toward the door so I can easily get in/out.  In a one-man tent, there simply isn’t room to mill around inside, so the procedure is to throw the bag open and sit down into it when entering the tent.  That requires a right-zip bag in the X-Dome.

I personally am right handed and find the layout “feels right” for me, but certainly there are scenarios where I can see someone preferring it was a mirror image.

Your other tents open the other way–hence I own an X-Mid 2 :-) .  Is there something about a dome that is different?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

“Your other tents open the other way”
This gets a bit complicated but the X-Dome is the same floorplan as the X-Mid 1 except the floor is expanded to fill the back vestibule. They both have a consistent position for the fly zipper where it is offset towards the right side of the fly. In the X-Mid 1 you could lay with your head at either end, so you can sorta flip things. You can do this in the X-Dome 1+ too but if you do prefer to lay with your head at the wider end then the vestibule would be at the foot end – that is unavoidable since the wider end will automatically not leave enough room for the vestibule.

X-Dome 2 layout will have the same as the X-Mid 2. So all of the tents have the zipper and vestibule to the right as you get in (or to the left as you sit inside looking out). We haven’t made a mirror image of this, where the fly zipper is on the left.

[Todd T]

Interesting take, but not that relevant, IMO.  The end you’re likely to put your head at is reversed, because the high point of the zipper is in the dead center of the tent with the open part to the left of that.  The X-Mid’s high point is way over to the right.

No biggie, I’m not in the market for a free-stander anyway.  :-)

[John Brochu]

Is there any way to get on a waitlist for the DCF & solid inner option? :-)

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

The DCF version will take a while (at least a year) and is not confirmed at this point, so there are no pre-orders for that. You can join our email list that we only a few times per year – then you would get an email if/when it is released.

The Solid inner version should be ready in April as part of our next batch. We are waiting on cost and weight details before opening pre-orders. If you check back in early January we should have those orders open.

 

[Brad W]

“Any length measurements at 12″ above the floor?”
It’s about 80-82″. Some inward slope but the walls are fairly steep so the useable length is still quite good.

Thanks Dan. What would you say is the maximum user height for this tent?

[John Brochu]

 The Solid inner version should be ready in April as part of our next batch. We are waiting on cost and weight details before opening pre-orders. If you check back in early January we should have those orders open.

So if I order the regular version from the current order page with an expected April delivery, that would come with the mesh inner? Would I later be able to order just the solid inner once it become available? If so, I might just do that, and when/if the DCF version becomes available I could just give this one to a friend.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

“What would you say is the maximum user height for this tent?”
We recommend it to 6’4″ but it is not a clear answer because it depends on someone’s sleeping style (e.g. back vs side sleeper), bulk of their sleeping setup, and preferences (e.g. is touching the ends okay?). It is a few inches longer than comparable tents from other brands (e.g. longer than MSR, Nemo, Big Agnes etc).

If you are taller than that, then sleeping on an angle in the 2P version will be extremely long.

“Would I later be able to order just the solid inner once it become available?”
We will add the solid option to the website once it is 100% confirmed. It is about 98% confirmed right now. You could order the mesh version now, and then email us in a month or so once we add the solid option to edit your order, but also you could just wait to order until next month when the solid inner option should be posted.

[John Brochu]

Sorry, I was asking if I could order the solid inner as a “stand alone” order once it’s available. I want to use the tent in the summer with the mesh inner and also for some winter/shoulder season applications where the solid inner would be more appropriate.

Thanks for all of your responses.

[Rob Daly]

I think this is a very nice, well thought out design. Nice use of space and materials. And of course, the fly first pitch is essential. The 2 person and dcf versions should be great too. I think these will sell better than the Xmid.

[John Brochu]

In watching a few reviews, I’m pretty sure that I would be using the foot end as the head end. That would give me the extra space at my feet to store my pack/gear, and the short side vestibule (which is the part I would keep staked out) is easily accessible for cooking. Only downside I see is that the only pockets for glasses/phones/headlamp are at the other end. No biggie.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks John.

For the solid inner, we are planning to make it available as a stand alone item, but it depends on availability. For the April run we have solid inners but in an even number of flys and inners, so we aren’t selling inners only but further along once we have enough supply we will add that option (as we have now for our X-Mid tents).

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