Staff Picks 2021
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The bidet thing – lots of options out there. I started using a portable one, tiny, that attaches to a water bottle. It worked fine. Then I started using a nasal lavage bottle which I liked much better, better water pressure and just the mental thing of having a separate bathroom system from the drinking system. There isn’t really a good reason to do that; it’s very easy to keep things sanitary even using your drinking bottle. It’s all in the head. Now I just have a little squirt bottle, see photo, works great. I use a polished rock (one you pick up from a stream, so that it doesn’t have jagged edges or flaking bits!) to wipe, then wash with the bidet. At the end you’re shower clean. There’s nothing to pack out. I will wash hands with some soap into the hole before filling it in. Paper is so much more complicated, less clean for bottom and for hands, and you have to pack it out for most places.
I generally fill the water bottle in the evening, so that it’s ready for morning use and so I’m not carrying extra water all day long just for toileting. It’s not much water anyway, so in the event I would need it during the day, no big deal; I carry it if i think I will need it. So the whole kit in the quart ziplock would be trowel, hand sanz, bidet bottle, rock. I don’t carry it all in winter because there’s snow; just the hand sanitizer goes along in winter.
I started camping and traveling at a young age, so different toileting systems have never really bothered me. For Americans in particular it can be hard to try something new. I recommend giving it a go, so to speak. You can always switch back.
“The X-Mid 2 is very similar in design to the [StratoSpire]”
From certain angles there are visual similarities but I wouldn’t say they are a ‘very similar design’ because the X-Mid is quite different in many fundamental ways, as I will explain. As you can see below, the geometry/floorplan/shapes look very different:
Just looking at this picture, it’s a struggle to see how you’d evolve the StratoSpire into the X-Mid.
The StratoSpire takes the classic A-frame design (like the Duplex, SMD Lunar Duo etc) and modifies it by offsetting the poles plus adding struts at the two corners now further from the poles so they don’t become too low. That has some nice advantages (e.g., larger doorways, better headroom) and some downsides (more complicated pitch, struts add weight). Overall, it’s an improvement and I agree it’s an excellent tent, but still has some downsides like a fairly complicated pitch, somewhat heavy weight, and mandatory struts (more difficult to pack).
The X-Mid is more unique in the sense that it bears less resemblance to any predecessor. The X-Mid starts with a rectangle base (for ease of pitching and weight savings via fewer seams) and then uniquely puts the sleeping area on a diagonal while aligning the poles (ridgeline) on the opposite diagonal. That creates the first tent ever with a diagonal floor (not square to any sides of the fly) and the first tent with a double diagonal (or “X”) layout of the floor and ridgeline. Further, it is the only tent ever to have radial symmetry while not being bilaterally symmetrical, so the shape is highly novel and I wouldn’t say ‘very similar’ to something else just because a few elements like a rectangle base and diagonal poles have pre-existed.
While unique, that’s not the goal but rather the byproduct of the real goal, which is to create a functionally better shelter. The X-Mid shape solves the common problems with other rectangle based, 2 trekking pole shelters (e.g. Black Diamond Beta Light, Sierra Designs High Route) like have always born at least several of the following downsides: mandatory guylines, flat side walls, poles in the doorways, poles on top of the floor, and/or lack of vestibules. The X-Mid also solves or improves the common problems with single pole rectangular shelters (e.g. lack of headroom, poles in the doorways, wasted space around the edges, large footprint), and the common problems with A-frame shelters like Stratospire (more complicated pitch, more seams add weight). So X-Mid shape enables a shelter that is simple to use, lighter, and free of the aforementioned downsides.
As it compares the StratoSpire 2, the X-Mid 2 is substantially lighter (36 vs 43oz) as a result of the more weight efficient shape, has a much simpler setup (4 stakes, no odd angles, no measuring pole lengths), no struts to pack, similarly spacious, has larger and more functional vents, uses no-sag fabric, has higher quality construction (e.g. fully double stitched) and is factory seam taped.
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