Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 Review

Excellent protection from the elements for you and your gear is just the start of what makes the Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 so appealing. As well as being weatherproof, it's actually a joy to stake up and do some camp livin' in. Although the total weight for the rain fly, inner mesh, and stakes is more than that of other products, it's well within a reasonable limit for the ultralight category. One of the big selling points is that the X-Mid's rain fly can be set up alone for excellent adaptability, depending on your trip goals. Many thoughtful features are included with this tent, which all enhance your experience and make using this tent an even better experience.

Livability

Living comfortably while traveling lightly is what the Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 is really all about. Small, well-thought-out features and design details abound throughout the tent, but the two big design decisions really set this tent apart from most of its competition: the voluminous rain fly and the offset inner mesh. The rain fly covers a surprisingly 45 square feet in total, leaving room for dual doors and vestibules located on each wide side. Nestled in between at an offset is the parallelogram-shaped bathtub floored inner. Cleverly, this geometry gives one 21 square feet (slightly more than previous generations) of livable space enclosed in the bug-stopping mesh, while keeping the two trekking poles out of the way of both the inner and outer doors.

Headroom is excellent at an approximate 47". With the two dual trekking poles providing enough height for our tester to sit straight anywhere they'd like in the mesh inner, rather than being relegated to having to sit by a single apex. Both the outer fly and inner mesh doors can be zipped open and have their loose material stowed neatly using magnetic toggles that are much improved over the previous generation of this tent.

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Four small interior mesh pockets, two located above and two at the sides, help with organizing gear you'd like close at hand, and the two large 10 square foot in total vestibules keep larger items like your pack protected during a downpour.

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The exterior fly doors are sealed tight with waterproof zippers with a snap at the bottom if you'd like to zip them half up and still have the integrity of a taut fly. The large interior mesh doors make getting in and out of the inner straightforward after a long day on the trail, and provide an ample opening to work a stove located outside while you nestle yourself in.

Ventilation is altogether excellent, as you have the option to open both sides of the exterior fly doors as much as you'd like to provide considerable cross breeze, seriously cutting down on overnight condensation. Smaller dual vents are found at the two corner peaks of the tents and are shielded from falling rain if you elect not to have the fly doors open because of falling precipitation or temperature. The inner mesh only touches the outside rain fly at the tent's apex, easing condensation issues even more and completely outperforming single-wall tents.

Weight

• Outer Fly: 15.2 oz / 430.9 grams

• Inner Mesh: 9.88 oz / 280.1 grams

• Stakes large: (4) 2.33 oz / 66.1 grams

• Stakes small: (4): 1.06 / 30.1 grams

• Stake stuff sack: 0.2 oz / 5.7 grams

• Tent stuff sack: 0.42 oz / 11.9 grams

The rain fly is the biggest culprit when looking at what makes the X-Mid 1P Gen 3 weigh so much. But the Sil/PE 15D Polyester material that it's made out of is a real winner, and its weight per-yard is not heavy. Rather, the amount of inner volume it dutifully covers is larger than many other ultralight tents, so more material is used, and this yardage adds up. This fly material is actually 3 oz lighter than the previous generation of the X-Mid 1, while keeping roughly the same amount of strength, showing once again that Durston is listening to user feedback and improving upon their products.

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Likewise, the mesh inner is heavier than other tents, as the inner volume is also generous, especially with the high bathtub floor. Lastly, eight DAC J Stakes is a good amount to carry, and the X-Mid 1 can be set up more than adequately with just six. Durston packs four stakes that are larger than most other manufacturers' for more peace of mind.

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Weather Resistance

The core, offset mid design of the Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 is anything if not extremely strong, able to withstand harsh wind and rain storms, as well as even sloughing off a surprise snow fall whose flakes tumble down the steep side walls with ease, rather than collecting on top. Our main tester has endured more than their fair share of precipitation and wind while out on trips in Colorado, both above and below tree line, making it one of his favorite tents to grab, if less than perfect weather is in the forecast.

The outer fly also has many additional guy out points, including built-in guy lines at the dual peaks, you can easily employ without fussing about for an extra few meters of cord packed somewhere. The polyester material of the fly is, of course, water-resistant, rated at 3500mm HH, and also does not sag anywhere near as badly as most nylon tent flies, which means you won't need to check on the tautness of your rain fly in the middle of the night for adjustment.

To complement, the inner mesh has a generously tall bathtub bottom which will help stop any rain that inexplicably splashes up off the ground and under your tent fly, as well as keep any pooling water outside.

Adaptability

The Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 has a few additional tricks up its sleeve. What looks like a fairly rigid design can surprisingly be set up in a few different ways. The most intriguing is setting up the tent fly-only, leaving the inner mesh either in your pack or back at home for weight savings.

Doing so will open up the interior space to utilize the full 45 square feet to house a hiking buddy (two legs or four). An optional “Stargazer” kit is also available to do the reverse, allowing you to set up only the inner mesh, giving you bug protection on clear nights of picking out constellations and satellites, without getting eaten alive.

Ease of Set-Up

Setting up the Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 will take a little bit of practice if you are coming from a world of free-standing tents, where trekking pole tents are new to you. But in essence, one will need to stake down the four corners, then insert the two trekking poles one after another into the interior of the tent fly. This will create the main canopy to which one can then attach the inner fly. The huge advantage of this fly-first workflow is that since the fly goes up initially, you can then put the mesh up while being protected by the fly itself, rather than the opposite scenario of so many freestanding tents.

The X-Mid 1 does fare better when setting up if the area you're pitching on is, for the most part, as flat as you can get it, with good, packed soil that takes in stakes well. Like many trekking pole tents, pitching becomes more difficult on terrain that's rockier and uneven.

Should You Buy the Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3?

The Durston X-Mid 1P Gen 3 is an excellent trekking pole tent in most every way we can think of, save absolute weight. Highly livable and extremely reliable in bad weather, it's a solid pick for almost anyone looking to enjoy the outdoors unencumbered by unneeded gear. No matter if you're just going out for an overnight near your home or on a once-in-a-lifetime thru hike across the American West, the X-Mid 1 makes a sensational addition to your pack. The improvements over the previous generation of the tent are welcome, and the quality support rendered from the company is hard to match. Without even peeking at the very competitive price point, we can attest to the great value packed into this tent.

What Other Ultralight Tents Should You Consider?

If the X-Mid 1 isn't enough tent, there is a 2-person variation. The Tarptent StratoSpire Li and Tarptent StratoSpire Ultra also use an offset mid design and are ready to house two people relatively comfortably — the former actually weighing less than the X-Mid 1 (at a steeper price). If the X-Mid 1 is too much tent, but you're intrigued by the idea of a bare-bones trekking pole-style tent, look into the Tarptent Aeon Li and Zpacks Hexamid, both use one trekking pole instead of two, and the Hexamid weighs about half as much as the X-Mid 1.