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

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Yes but they haven’t agreed to do it at present. If they did, then we’d need to prototype it further (we did make one solid inner proto) before releasing it, so best case scenario is probably that it’s 4 months behind and worst case scenario is that it never happens. Once we see the total sales for this pre-sale, then we’ll talk and I’ll see if they want to do it. I think it would be great but they really like keeping things simple (e.g. only one version) so it’s hard to say what their response will be.

[CARLOS C.]

Oh that makes total sense. I had thought that the inner was tested throughout the testing process side by side the standard version. Without proper testing it shouldn’t be offered now for sure. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed then.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

My hope was to test both versions side by side, and we started doing that but the decision was made to focus on the mesh version first so the last 6 months of prototyping have all been the mesh version. It sounds pretty simple to just switch the mesh to solid, but it’s a bit more complicated then that. For example, on the early solid inner proto some edges were fraying and needed to be sewn different, and solid fabric has less stretch than mesh so it may be need different connections to the fly.

[JCH]

I would bet that 99.99% of us have no idea what is required to design, prototype, build and market a quality, innovative UL shelter.  Or any quality product for that matter.

Luckily for us, it appears that Dan is one of few that does know.

[CARLOS C.]

Very lucky for us.

[JCH]

X-Mid 2P – 12 Days left, 608 sold.

[David P]

The 1P is back in stock and shipping is next day. I just read all 18 pages of this thread and ordered the tent. Thanks Dan.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Yeah there’s some available now but I don’t think many left. I don’t know what their exact situation is but these are the extra’s from a recently arrived batch of 500, of which about 300 were pre-sold. They told me they had “about 200” to sell and thus far (since Friday) they have sold 215, so I doubt there’s many left. There might be a count down with 25 left or it might just sudden close when inventory hits zero.

[Doug]

Any idea when the next drop of the -1P will be available?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

There’s a larger batch of the 1P’s arriving around December plus or minus a month. I don’t know exactly when, but it’s a larger batch that should be in stock for a few months, but might be all the tents that are available in time for summer 2020, so folks wanting one for next summer are advised to get in on that. As usual, you can click “request” on the 1P page if you want an email when orders re-open.

I’ve also been working on my site a bit – DurstonGear.com – the tents won’t be sold through there for the foreseeable future but I’m trying to provide more info on the tents there.

[Gary Dunckel]

When my buddy Ron Stokley posted his MYOG solution to be able to use his poles in the “handle up” position to keep the mini bears from chewing on the handles, I was rather impressed. So was Graham, who called him “one crazy cat.” Since Ron hadn’t been given a trail name yet, I decided to do so. I now call him Crazy Cat.

Ron and I spend a good deal of time together, walking around our nearby open space ponds pestering the wildlife, sitting on my patio trying to come up with a better alcohol stove, and generally trying to out-do each other with our MYOG projects. Well, I don’t like the idea of my trekking pole handles sitting on the ground either, so I decided to do something about that. Here’s what I did:

I noticed that the tops of my Costco poles were some sort of plastic/composite material above the cork handles. I figured that I could drill some of that out and fit lengths of the right diameter (to fit into the tent’s grommets) aluminum tubing into them. I used Gorilla Glue to not only secure the tubing inside the pole caps’ holes, but to also fill up the inside diameter of the tubing to provide structural stability. It turned out that my little mod added zero weight to the poles, since the weight of the tubing and cement was almost the exact weight of the removed composite material.

So while my end result isn’t as cool as what Ron did, and I probably don’t quite qualify as “One Crazy Cat,” this mod should work nicely to allow me to use the poles in a ‘handle up’ position. If for some reason this doesn’t actually work for the long haul, I can simply cut off the aluminum tubing, fill in any spaces/voids with something like Shoe Goo, and go back to using the poles in the ‘handle down’ position. I had already posted about using the MYOG 1.43 cuben/DCF “tent stake bags” on the handles to thwart any salt-seeking critters.

When one is a true MYOG geek, he/she can’t be stopped. My current passion is to see what things I can make out of a pool noodle. My local grocery store was dumping the few remaining ones for $.90 each (end of season clearance).

[NoCO-Jim]

No guts, for tips up…too many things to go wrong for a klutz like me in cold, wet, windy, dark conditions.

So like Gary, I modified my Costco Cascade poles to accept crowned pin, with 3/8″ drill bit.  You can slip additional rubber grommets over the crown onto the pin, as many as you feel safely reduces the protrusion on the tent fabric.

But for times when I know I’ll need my hiking poles for a summit, I’ll use the TarpTent 48″ alum poles, modified with a 1/4″ SS locknut.

I wish Dan Durston would have changed the design on his recent 2nd X-Mid-1P buy a bit to accommodate more protrusion, but that’s what makes MYOG fun.

[Gary Dunckel]

That is excellent work, Jim. That bumps me down to third place, but at least I’m in 2nd place in Colorado (for now). Now, the agonizing anticipation for the X-Mid 2-P. It’s like when the late Tom Petty sang, “The waiting is the hardest part.”

[NoCO-Jim]

Nah, Gary, you still have 1st Place with the most cost-effective and weight-efficient solution.  Good to see another “handles-up” X-Mid-er.  Good luck on the 2P.

[Graham F]

Ha Ha Gary.

Crazy Cat.

Meowww.

[Matthew / BPL]

Please forgive me if this has been covered in the previous 18 pages. Why can’t the X-Mid be set up with the handles pointing up (like TT/MLD/SMD/etc.) without adding pins to the handles?

[JCH]

Matthew – not surprised you can’t easily find it…18 pages, whew!…but Dan did say that handles up work just fine.  If the winds are strong, he advises using tips up.

 

[Brad Rogers]

My only problem with the tent after using it for a week in the Sierra’s is that my trekking pole tips are too worn to fit in the grommet.  One might ask why I haven’t replaced them – the answer is that they are Locus Gear CP3’s and they don’t sell replacement tips and they don’t seem to use a copy of Leki, Komperdell, or Black Diamond tips.

I really like the tent, though it didn’t get tested in high winds or significant rain.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Thanks JCH!

[Brad Rogers]

 

[JCH]

Brad – Amazing pictures.  So incredibly envious right now, sitting at my desk working :(

[Brad Rogers]

I have some more, but apparently even saved from my FB page they are still over 1MB.  That’s a very annoying part of this software.

 

@noco-jim – are those removable for during the day?

[JCH]

“ @noco-jim – are those removable for during the day?”

I had the same question…I often “palm” the tops of my poles on the downhills…those pins would be painful  :)

[Brad Rogers]

I do the same thing, so if they aren’t removable, they probably wouldn’t work for me.

For future designs, I much prefer Trekking pole tip down designs.  I feel that it eliminates a risk of puncture (or greatly reduces it), and it keeps the sweaty handle off the ground so things aren’t tempted to chew on it.

 

[Gary Dunckel]

Jim, I would bet that your pins didn’t add much weight at all. Remember, you drilled out some of the composite to accommodate them. I also think the pin holes could be made a bit bigger in diameter to allow one to remove the pins easily (and store them safely in the tent stake bag like Ron does with his oak dowel thingies).

As for the pins getting in the way of a “top palm” downhill grip, my pins slip perfectly between my index and middle fingers, so there’s not really much of an issue. Brad and JCH, couldn’t you just lengthen your poles a bit for those downhill trails and not employ the “top palm” technique?

Graham – “meowww” right back at ya, you crazy fromunda cat.

[Author]

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