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Looking at these two tents, mostly for the ability to just use the fly with trekking poles. I'm leaning toward the Durston as I'm just not crazy about the SD color, but the difference in money is about $25, so cost is a wash. Anyone have experience with either?
https://durstongear.com/product/x-mid-1p
https://sierradesigns.com/high-route-1-fl/


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I don't have first hand experience with either, but know folks with the Durston.I prefer Dan's setup, and I believe he was the originator of the design. While both are 20D fabric, the Durston has a 2500mm sil/PU coating vs. Sierra Designs 1200mm Sil/PU coating. Also, the Durston has two actual doors (rather than the partial/gear door of the SD) and has bigger vestibules and great fly coverage.

Yeah, The Sierra Designs is fugly too!


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The main functional difference between these two shelters is that the X-Mid uses a wider rectangle (67" vs 42") so it can rotate the inner onto a diagonal. That layout gives much larger vestibules and eliminates the need for guylines because pole locations are no longer right along the edge. Space inside the inner tent is very similar in both tents but the X-Mid has much more vestibule space and a simper (4 stake) pitch. The High Route has the advantage of a very small footprint that can fit into small sites. Besides that there are some smaller differences, such as the X-Mid uses polyester fabric so it doesn't sag in the rain. Mostly I'd decide based on whether you prioritize vestibule space or a small footprint.

(Disclosure: I designed the X-Mid).

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Good unbiased info even if you have a bias.

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Originally Posted by dandurston
The main functional difference between these two shelters is that the X-Mid uses a wider rectangle (67" vs 42") so it can rotate the inner onto a diagonal. That layout gives much larger vestibules and eliminates the need for guylines because pole locations are no longer right along the edge. Space inside the inner tent is very similar in both tents but the X-Mid has much more vestibule space and a simper (4 stake) pitch. The High Route has the advantage of a very small footprint that can fit into small sites. Besides that there are some smaller differences, such as the X-Mid uses polyester fabric so it doesn't sag in the rain. Mostly I'd decide based on whether you prioritize vestibule space or a small footprint.

(Disclosure: I designed the X-Mid).



Wow, talk about straight from the horses mouth.

I'm certainly leaning toward the X-Mid mostly because I do like the vestibule space, but slightly less expensive and not looking like 10 clowns are going to come piling out of it helps.

It's getting hard these days to find a quality tent with good sewing of all seams and attachment points instead of cheap glue and shoddy sewing. I started out years ago using a Moss tent for backpacking and a VE-25 for base camps that were much higher quality than most tents today. I doubt the current VE-25 is half the quality of the older ones.


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I think you'd find the X-Mid is a high quality tent. It's built at the same factory as MSR and uses high end components throughout (e.g. ITW buckles, YKK AquaGuard zips instead of basic ones etc). The low price is only because they are sold direct (no retail markup). You can search the 144 actual user reviews on Drop for "quality", and I think you'd find good things said:
https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-dan-durston-x-mid-1p-tent/reviews?search=quality

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That X-mid is a cool looking tent with lots of great features. I’ve never seen them before. Got me thinking.


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