Massdrop Announces Dan Durston X Mid Tent: 2 People, 2 hiking poles, 28 oz, $199

[BlackHatGuy]

When might cuben X-Mids come out?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

I’d love to do DCF/Cuben X-Mids but it really depends on willingness by Drop, which likely depends at least in part on how well the 2P sells. I suspect they haven’t reached a production decision on the project yet (not that I’m aware of) so I’m hesitant to give any timelines since it might never happen. I do know it won’t be eminent (e.g. not in the next few months). Best case is probably that the 2P sells well when it launches this month, and then Drop decides to invest deeply in a DCF version and we end up finishing that in another 6 months or so. Worst case is that it never happens.

[Dan E]

Just dropped, price is $250.

[Jeff McWilliams]

Very cool seeing the 2P drop today. I just unpacked my 1P for the first time. I’m taking my TarpTent Stratospire 2 into the high sierra in less than 3 weeks, but I’ve loaned out the XMid to a friend of mine who’s heading to Isle Royale this week for 4 days.  We set up the tent together on Friday and we were both impressed.  I was not expecting the titanium shepherds hook stakes.  That was a pleasant surprise.  They should work reasonably well in the Isle Royale soil.

Should we expect a similar format with three drops spread apart by roughly 2 months between drops, and shipping sometime next Spring?

 

 

[JCH]

Purchased.  Says there are already 70 sold.  I guess I am #71 :)

Delivery quoted as April 28, 2020…criminy!

[CARLOS C.]

I got in as well. Maybe like 127 for me. To many positives to say no to. Just gotta put our trust that Drop allows the solid inner also. In Dan we trust

[JCH]

Almost 30 per hour.  Maybe the sale will be a success :)

[quinton bryant]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I ordered as well,i almost got the one man off a guy yesterday but i think this one will be more versatile.</p>

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks for the support everyone.  A lot of work went into this one including really sweating the details so I despite the long wait I think you’re going to really be happy with it.

“Should we expect a similar format with three drops spread apart by roughly 2 months between drops, and shipping sometime next Spring?”
Shipping is indeed in the spring. I expect it’s like the 1P where the date is late April but could easily be a month early.

I don’t know what their plans are for future drops though since it’s up to the marketing folks and because Drop is such as growing/changing company that past actions aren’t necessarily going to repeat. They might do a few pre-sales or they might just have a one time pre-sale now and sell the rest when they’re in stock. I wouldn’t be surprised if they again don’t order enough, so any Drop closer to when they arrive results in the extra tents selling out fast and at the higher price ($280 vs $250). Ordering now gets you the lower price and no panic in the spring.

[CFDTuc]

Ordered this afternoon (#21).  Going to be hard to wait as we have a ton of scout campouts this fall for which it would work perfectly.

[JCH]

“Going to be hard to wait…”

Understated.

[Gary Dunckel]

Dan, do you know how many of the 2-P Mids are being offered in this first drop?  The reason I ask is that my pal headed into RMNP for a 4-night fishing trip this morning. After I scored my 2-P Mid this morning, I e-mailed him about the drop, but I suppose he’d already left his house. I hope there are enough of these tents so that he can still get his before they run out. He’s as big of a fan as I am about your creations, Dan.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

For this first sale I expect Drop will take all the orders they can get, and then they’ll place a production order with the factory accordingly. So I don’t think this one is limited quantities, as it will be in the future.

[John Vance]

I am in.  Like my x-mid for one and the x-mid for two looks like another winner!  Hoping I won’t need to sleep head to toe as I have restless legs and often run in my sleep.  Doesn’t bother me much but my hiking buddy may feel differently with my feet next to his face.

[JCH]

Almost 300 sold in a little over 24 hours…

[CARLOS C.]

Is this comparable or more than the 1P in the same time frame? I wasn’t following the 1P initially.

Wonder what drop is thinking now

 

[Gary Dunckel]

It looks like 2 can sleep side by side OR head-to-toe, but the doors are ‘opposite’, meaning that the person sleeping on the right (when lying on your backs) will have a slightly different access to his/her door. I doesn’t appear to pose much of a issue though.

The specs say that the floor is 47″ wide, whereas I thought that Dan was trying for a 50″ width. It might be a problem if 2 people want to use 25″ pads, but maybe not…?

So I have to wait until April. It will be a long winter, anxiously anticipating its arrival. I feel like a kid before Christmas…

Edit: Upon reading through the Massdrop comments thread I saw where Dan indicated that the 2-P will indeed accommodate two 25″ pads if you lower the pole heights a wee bit, which effectively widens the floor.

[Jeff McWilliams]

I won’t have $$ to get into the drop until later.  I leave for two weeks of backpacking in two weeks and we’re spending a lot on last minute items and stuff.

Hopefully there will be another drop.  :-(

 

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

“Is this comparable or more than the 1P in the same time frame? I wasn’t following the 1P initially.”

The 1P sold 300 over it’s full 24 day presale, whereas the 2P is at 326 now (2 days in) but the 2P benefits from the awareness and good reviews generated by the 1P, so it’s not surprising more people are willing to take a chance on the pre-sale.

“Hoping I won’t need to sleep head to toe as I have restless legs and often run in my sleep.  Doesn’t bother me much but my hiking buddy may feel differently with my feet next to his face.”

I don’t think it makes sense to sleep head to toe except in pretty unusual circumstances. I’ve shared the tent with a buddy where we are 6’0″ and 6’2″ and I didn’t seriously consider sleeping head to toe.

In more detail, with the 2P (moreso than the 1P) you have two corners where the roof is lower because they are the furthest from the trekking poles. Then the other corner is much steeper walled. As the diagram below shows, the sleeper on the left shifts down to be closer to the near vertical footwall and leaves the more sloped corner at their head open for gear. The right sleeper does the opposite where they are positioned at the top of the inner against that near vertical wall, leaving the more sloped corner at their feet open for gear. So with two sleepers under 6’2″ you end up sleeping the same way, and side by side, with gear space at the opposite corners. If one sleeper was quite tall (e.g. 6’4″) then they would prefer to be on the right so their feet are extending into the low corner rather than their head. If both sleepers are over 6’4″ then you might prefer to sleep head to toe, but I still probably wouldn’t because I like sleeping the same way.

As for other considerations like doors and headroom, the location of the highest part of the tent does differ for each sleeper, but it still works well for both. Having it like this is actually nice because with a parallel ridgeline you’re both sitting right side by side whereas this feels more spacious because you’re a bit further  apart. The location of the high points is still good enough for each sleeper that it’s not hard to transition from laying down to sitting. The doors also differ but because they are quite large it’s not like one person has to crawl down to the foot end of the tent to use one. Much like a StratoSpire 2, the offset ridgeline works well for two and doesn’t require any strange accommodations on the part of the hikers.

“The specs say that the floor is 47″ wide, whereas I thought that Dan was trying for a 50″ width. It might be a problem if 2 people want to use 25″ pads, but maybe not…?”
The floor is 47-48″ wide if you make it as narrow as possible (pull it right to the peaks) so that is a worse case scenario. 50-51″ is typical, while the floor can be up to 54″ with it loosened at the peaks. The idea of adjustability at the peaks is to adjust for unevenness in the surface. For example, maybe the tent site is a bit domed so the floor is lifted up a bit relative to the fly, in which case you’d pull it a bit tighter so it’s not loose. Normally you are simply aiming for good tension on the inner, which will normally result in a 50-51″ floor.

This is the tent with two wide and long pads (head to toe because it wasn’t me taking the photo):

[Gary Dunckel]

That’s a fine description Dan, and a very reassuring one.

[CARLOS C.]

I see more drop adverts lately featuring the tent. I wonder if its just me. Wish we could push it more. Especially if it would gurantee a solid inner. Just know how awesome this thing will be. People have no idea what an incredible value this tent is especially at this price point. I have been holding off on buying a new 2p for many years because I couldn’t find the right one.

[Roman Vazhnov]

Dan, why does the production version of 2p have mesh inner instead of solid fabric inner?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Ideally we’d be able to offer both a mesh and solid inner. Right now these tents are only available with a mesh inner because that’s more popular in Drop’s main markets (North America) but I’ve been asking them to do a solid version because I know how popular that is internationally. If the 2P sells well then they are open to it, so hopefully they agree to offer that before too long. If it was up to me, I’d offer it in both now.

[CARLOS C.]

I think you might have even more takers if there was an option for sure, but im bias :)

[Roman Vazhnov]

So, theoretically, there is possibility that 2p with solid inner will appear on Drop?

[Author]

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