New MLD Solomid XL Asym

[Brad Rogers]

Teaser up on MLD’s Facebook page – discuss details as they become availible.

[Michael]

ugh … another toy to drool over.

[Ian]

WOULD IT KILL YOU TO POST A SCREEN SHOT OF SAID SHELTER?! (smiley emoticon)

[Brad Rogers]

[Ian]

Oh boy that looks nice

[James L]

I think Ron at MLD should name these new asymetical Pyramids ” Asymids” :)

[Ken Thompson]

Damn him.

[Ian]

I’m definitely intrigued and will be following this shelter.  My largest interest is to have a storm worthy 4 season shelter that has a smaller footprint than my 9×9 Megalight.

My memory is fuzzy so I have a few quick questions for the masses.  I see that the Duo Mid XL is 7.5×9 and the Solomid is 4×9.1.

Wasn’t the Solomid shorter before?  Didn’t Ron once offer a Solomid XL?  Is the current Solomid the afore mentioned Solomid XL and did Ron simply get rid of a smaller solomid?

The reason why I ask is at 6’3″, after hearing from other tall hikers that it wasn’t a good fit for them, I wrote off the solo mid as a viable shelter years ago.  At 9.1′ long, I should be able to fit in it.

Help?

[Brad Rogers]

Yes there used to be to Solomid and the Solomid XL (112″ long?)

Ron merged the two last year into one model the Solomid 2016.

I am 6′ and have the Solomid XL and woulnt want the shorter version if I am going to have to batten down the hatches and pitch it to the ground like I sometimes have to do.

[Ian]

Interesting.  So at 9.1′ long this shelter is shorter than yours.  I just noticed that the duomid is 9′ long so I’m now assuming that the current solomid is of the original dimensions and probably wouldn’t work for me?

If so, that’s too bad as I could really use a mid with a smaller footprint.  I am interested to see how the shelter in your OP works out.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

[Matthew S]

This is perhaps a solution to a non problem. Take the regular mids he has, just move the pole from center to create the preferred asym configuration. With this solution, he’s has one vertical wall and one sloped wall (see the bottom pic.) This doesn’t shed wind equally from each side.

[Hoosier T]

This doesn’t shed wind equally from each side.

Yes, but the sloped side has a more shallow sloping angle than a sym. mid so if the wind is predictable or you can pitch the door up against wind blocking objects then the wind shedding ability of the asym will actually be superior due to the more shallow rear wall.

[Brad Rogers]

Ian- the new Solomid (2016) is larger than the old regular Solomid.  The new Solomid (2016) is closer to the old Solomid XL than the old Regular Solomid. If I were buying today though I might try a duomid for a wee bit more room. In WRR this year it started snowing pretty hard coming over Macon Lake Pass and there was just enough snow on the ground at Washakie Lake to make me quickly set up my mid, throw my pack in and duck in myself to get out of the wet snow and cold wind.  I had to be a contortionist to put my gear out.  Ironically it stopped snowing, the sun came out, and the snow melted about the time I was done.

The Solomid has been rock solid in the wind though.  We had strong winds that seriously deformed my hiking partners Moment and Protrail multiple nights this year while the Solomid was a rock.   In Alaska last year we had really strong winds that bent aluminum poles on some shelters and though the Solomid deformed slightly, it never made me think it was close to failure.

[James L]

Two real advantages to the asymetrical mids are more usable floors space for a given footprint and shelter weight -same principle as a Zpacks Hexamid etc only with a rectangular footprint.

And..since the fly is offset from the sleep space no more drips in the sleep area when the fly is opened in wet weather

Having said that ,for an average sized solo hiker, a Doumid with solo innner net is still pretty tough to beat, IMHO.

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