Standards Watch: Dan Durston Talks Design and Business

[Rex Sanders]

Companion forum thread to: Standards Watch: Dan Durston Talks Design and Business

Dan Durston is a gear designer, wilderness guide, and biologist. In this interview with Rex Sanders, he talks about the process and philosophy of shelter design.

[dirtbag]

Looking forward to a single pole design Dan!!! One day….

In the meantime,  If I can play with a 2P XMid, I surely will!

Best of luck to you Dan and good interview Rex!

[BlackHatGuy]

I wrote a short story ~two and a half years ago on how Dan’s tents came to be after exchanging emails with him. He was able to update some of the themes from my initial story in your interview (which was more comprehensive), which is nice.

DAN DURSTON & HIS X-MID, HOW IT CAME TO BE

[Bruce Tolley]

A very interesting interview. Kudos to Rex and thanks Dan!

[Ken Larson]

Worth while interview to read.

Thanks to the BOTH of you!

[Brian E]

The process of buying a 1P Xmid trained me in tent design and features that lead to a better experience.  After a long career in Consumer Products I would rate Dan as exceptional in design, customer service and credibility of the industry.  He methodically created “plus one’s” across every function of the tent against his competitors. Just reading the blogs and Dan’s answers (hundreds personally answered by Dan) to questions on Mass was like a senior level class in tents and their usability.  Cant wait for Dan to enter more categories and deepen product lines so I can buy more to take on the trails.

[David T]

Nice article!  I like Dan’s measured approach to improvements that focus on function first instead of chasing every possible gram. I’m anxiously looking forward to news on the X-Mid 2P Pro, as there aren’t a lot of options in the market for losing weight from my Nemo Hornet 2P while preserving its  flexibility and weather/bug protection for me plus a dog.  Better yet would be a X-Mid 1P Pro with something like TarpTent’s sidecar protect my dog in one of the vestibules, but that’s way too niche to wait for someone else to design.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Interesting to se how a tent designer approaches the problems they see and the solutions they think up.

I think Dan and Henry Shires would have an interesting conversation on tent design.

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