Durston - X-Dome 1+

I’m 6’2” and I fit but just barely. I keep my pack in the vestibule portion. You could look at the Xmid-2 or the Xdome 1+ maybe but both weigh a bit more of course.

Got one this year and can't recommend it enough. And this was after purchasing the most hyped tent in history, the Durston X-Dome 1+. My tent purchases were always conditioned by the typical anxiety of thinking I needed a freestanding tent. Then finally did a retrospection of all my wild camps and realised that not even once I really needed a freestanding tent. Ordered a SMD Lunar Solo with their collapsible pole and couldn't be happier. Much faster to pitch than any other tent I ever tried, super compact, light enough, very robust floor (40D), and as simple as it gets. Big enough inside that I already spent 2 night in it with a 5 year old and even one night at altitude with my wife (wouldn't recommend it as a dedicated 2p tent, obviously, but it does the job for 1 night here and there). I had some hardcore UL friends telling me for years to try pole tents, and I now feel a bit dumb for not doing so sooner

Second this. I have the 1+. Love it.

The X-Dome 2 is silpoly (vs DCF) and doublewall (vs singlewall) and more spacious, so it won't be as light. The X-Dome 1+ is about the same weight, but obviously the 2P version will weigh more.

We haven't seen an X-Dome 1+ break when it is assembled properly. The only "fails" are either improper assembly, or from a glue issue with the pole inserts. The most popular 'fail' video was someone who didn't do up all the clips on the poles - leaving the poles untensioned. This allowed the pole sections to disconnect, so there was essentially no structure to the pole set. They also tried to use the trekking pole supports but installed them wrong. With both of those issues together, the tent had almost no structure. This person did not realize this, so the tent was blamed but the actual cause was that the normal structure was not in place. Aside from that, there are a few videos that had breaks from a glue issue where the metal insert slid out of position leaving the pole was unsupported. That is a serious issue, which is why we worked with Easton to improve their glue process and then sent improved poles to everyone. With proper assembly, the tent is working very well. Ultimately it is a backpacking tent and not a mountaineering tent for severe conditions, so at some point it would break, but we've seen lots of reports of it handling verified 30-50 mph winds.

The ‘solid’ inners for our X-Mid have a panel of mesh (on the upper part of the doors) that can’t close, but with the X-Dome this mesh panel is accompanied by a second layer of solid material that can be closed to have it ‘full’ solid (no areas of exposed mesh). I don’t have a great photo of it, but [this shot](https://durstongear.com/cdn/shop/files/16_-_Durston_X-Dome_2_Ultraight_Tent_-_Solid_Inner_446.jpg?v=1757631867) shows it when the solid layer is shut behind the mesh

The short answer is that it is a combination of sewn on and zippers, and is included in the weight. The long answer is that the ‘flap’ of solid fabric is a triangle that is sewn along the bottom edge (permanently attached & part of the weight). So the bottom edge is ‘sealed’ such that any snow building up on the solid panel isn’t going to slide down into the tent. Then the other two sides are both sewn for the lowest 4-5” to further prevent wind blown snow from sneaking in, and this creates a pocket that the rest of the flap can be tucked into when it is open. Then above that, the side of the triangle along the main zipper has a zipper to zip shut. The zipper is not vertical, but angling over the flap, so it does a nice job of raising up the flap to cover the mesh. Operating the zipper is what closes the flap. As it does that, the final side near the top is pulled closed and sits shut with a bit of overlap. It is an overlap closure for the upper part of the ‘top’ side, such that the mesh is covered but the edge here is not ‘sealed’. We could’ve put another zipper here (or Velcro etc) but it’s at the top, sits shut nicely now, and is shielded by the fly. If it’s so windy it’s forcing snow through there, it’s probably not the right conditions for this tent anyways, but if a user wanted it would be easy to add a bit of velcro

Looking at the poles will tell you quite a bit about sturdiness. The Freelite 1 uses DAC NFL 8.7mm poles with a forked design. So one end of the tent has essentially 2 archs of 8.7mm while the other end has a single arch of 8.7mm. That would be comparable in sturdiness to other tents that also use a forked arch of 8.7mm, such as Big Agnes Fly Creek and Tiger Wall, and Nemo Hornet. Tents that use essentially dual arches of 8.7mm at both ends are going to be sturdier, like X-Dome 1+ but also BA Copper Spur, MSR Hubba, and many others. Easton Carbon 3.9 is very similar to DAC 8.7 mm in sturdiness. Then both brands of tent pole makers make numerous stiffer options but with higher weights that would likely put the tent over your 1 kg goal.

We could do it....hard to say. People are pretty happy with the way the inner is now. The X-Dome adds a bit of solid fabric around the inner on the regular version, so then to make the solid inner overlap less I go 100% solid with that. I could move to the same system with the X-Mid but the X-Mid is a bit more weight focused so I'm not sure I want to get into adding zipper panels.

Also look at the Naturehike cloud up 2. Usual price is about £100, but I picked mine up for under £70 on Ali express, but you can pay a bit more and get it on Amazon if you prefer. If you want a bit more space a mongar 2 is similar in terms of internal floor space but its walls are more vertical so there is more width up to the top of the tent and a usable awning on both sides of the tent. Either one is fine for doe I would have thought. If your budget can stretch a little there ar lightweight versions. Also check out a lanshan 1 or 2 if you use trekking poles. It’s not free standing so needs a bit more certainty when you pitch it but it’s very popular for a reason, the lightest variation is only single wall and can suffer from condensation. If you are going to keep using the tent and want to buy once the Durston x dome 1+ looks like a dream tent for that sort of trip. Weighing about 1 kg it pitches very quickly in one cycle with ground sheet, inner and fly connected if you want. Plenty of space inside for one, large vestibule. Not sure where you can source them from in uk though and the US price is $ 379 though to be fair that looks good value for what you get. Customs duty may bump this up further though.

I am now using the durston X dome 1. I really like it is still lightweight but you have a bit more room then in other tents.

Pretty consistent rain with minimal wind on my first use of the tent, so I don’t consider it to be extreme weather but definitely wet. The design obviously will keep you dry just by looking at it. You can kind of raise or lower the fly depending on if you want more ventilation or more protection from sideways rain. Still, the fly seems to sit far out away from the inner fly. Your first setup will be a bitch, so maybe practice first. Once you understand how to pitch it, it’s much easier and can be done in the rain without getting the inner tent even exposed to rain. The weird thing is I think you have to buy extra guy lines separately, as it only comes with two attached, so you might want to do that if you plan on crazy winds. However, there’s a lot of vids of it holding up well against strong winds. 

I personally just got the x dome 1+ and the major selling point for me is ease of setup and take down, sooo quick, and by strapping the poles outside I can pack the whole tent down half the size as advertised. It’s worth checking out.

Do you think you might slightly widen the narrow end to make both ends feel a bit more natural to place your head in for the June mesh inner batch? Also seen some users wanting their 30inch pads (Exped megamat, BA etc) to fit, in fact I would love to take my Exped Megamat 10W for a car camp in this tent. I also see that narrow end corner with cord pulling oddly to the 4th corner, never looks that neat in videos. I would love to see a bit of the vestibule space deleted for a slightly larger narrow end (which would then make it a more natural head end) and also support an inner only pitch on nicer nights with more 'head' end room (if ground dictated laying that direction) as there is no covered vestibule, just the pole of the 4th corner 'floating'.

Nice Dan! Thanks, it really is looking like a super sweet tent.

Durston X-Mid 1p, X-Mid Pro 1p with the nylon floor. If you want a free standing get the X-Dome 1p+ with the shorter bike pack poles. For the X-Mid if you don't travel with trekking poles you could use the Durston zFlicks carbon fiber support poles. Tarptent, Zpacks, Six Moon Designs and 3F UL Gear's trekking poles tents also have small pack sizes.

Marmot Tungsten, Naturehike Mongar 2p, Big Agnes Copper Spur, Durston X-Dome... Lots of great options out there. Get a tent with a mesh body, not a solid body, for summer. The Sundomes is a good tent but gets hot and doesn't air out as well as a higher grade shelter since it has mostly solid walls.