Durston X-Mid 1 Pro DCF Tent Review

The Durston X-Mid 1 Pro is a single-wall Dyneema DCF tent that weighs 15.5 oz and requires two trekking poles to set up. It has two doors and two vestibules that provide ample ventilation and covered storage space. The tent can also be set up in the rain without getting the interior sleeping compartment wet. But its best attribute is its ease of setup, which is trivially fast. When you’re ready to call it a day, it lets you quickly get out of the weather and away from the bugs. 

• Weight: 15.5 oz (440g)
• Type: Trekking Pole Tent
• Construction: Single wall
• Capacity: One person
• Material: 0.55oz Dyneema CF in Spruce Green, with DCF floor
• Doors and Vestibules: 2 and 2
• Minimum number of stakes to pitch: 4 (6-7 recommended)
• Interior Dimensions: 90″ x 32″
• Exterior (Fly) Dimensions:  98″ x 63″
• Packed Size: 10 x 4.5 in / 25 x 12 cm
• Pros: Ultralight, Doesn’t sag when wet, Easy to Set up, Two doors and Large Side Vestibules
• Cons: Requires a lot of space to set up, Noisy in very high winds, Internal Condensation

Tent Design

The X-Mid 1 Pro is a single-wall trekking pole tent with two peaks, a rectangular floor plan, and dual side doors with water-resistant zippers.  It has two reinforced peaks to hold your trekking poles (handles up) with an interior bathtub floor and mesh sidewalls that are oriented diagonally into the tent exterior, creating large side vestibules.

Having two doors and two vestibules on a single-person tent is a real luxury in terms of covered gear storage, ease of access, and perhaps most importantly, cross-ventilation since single-wall tents are prone to internal condensation. My preference when sleeping in the X-mid 1 Pro (as well as the double-wall silpoly X-mid 1) is to roll both side doors up for airflow because it makes me feel more connected to the outdoors like sleeping under a tarp. Of course, in bad weather, you can roll both doors down, which is easy from inside the tent because Durston uses mini-magnets to hold the doors rolled open. The magnets are much easier to disengage with one hand than the toggles and elastic found on many other tents.

X-Mid-1 Pro setup

The X-mid-1 Pro setup process is ridiculously simple and requires a minimum of 4 tent stakes to erect. You simply stake out the four corners of the fly, pull them tight, drop your trekking poles through the peak vents, position the handles in the peaks, and extend them until the fly walls are stretched tight. Then you can add guylines to the peaks, doors, or side panels, depending on the conditions. I like to stake out the guylines running from the peaks to the ground, although this isn’t strictly necessary in good weather. You can also stake out the short side of the doors to create a little corner to store your backpack upright near the inner tent door.

Livability

The X-Mid-1 Pro is a highly livable tent with plenty of headroom and space to stretch out. The bathroom floors is wide enough to use a 25″ sleeping pad and there’s plenty of room at the head and foot end of the tent to store items or clothing that you prefer to keep nearby at night. I’m particularly fond of the two side pockets positioned high on the mesh doors to protect eyeglasses or phones from breakage. That placement also makes it very easy to find items, like my headlamp, in the dark, without having to search the floor for it.

Considerations

I don’t believe there is such a thing as a perfect tent for all conditions, but the X-Mid 1 Pro reviewed here checks a lot of boxes. However, there are a couple of scenarios in which the Durston X-Mid 1 Pro would not be my first choice as a shelter. None of these are complete showstoppers, but they’re worth considering.

1. High wind in exposed terrain. While you can position a corner into the wind, use long stakes, and reinforce the peaks and side walls with extra guylines, the large sidewalls of the X-Mid 1 Pro fill with wind, flap wildly, and noisily in winds exceeding 25-30 mph. While you’ll survive, you won’t get much sleep. My preference in such situations is to use tents or shelters like the Tarptent Notch Li or Tarptent Stratospire Li that have smaller sidewall panels that can handle shifting winds from multiple directions or an MLD Dyneema Duomid where the corner seams can be stretched taut for greater strength.
2. Dense forest without pre-existing campsites. The X-Mid 1 Pro requires a fair amount of space to set up which can be tricky to find in densely wooded terrain lacking pre-existing tent sites or open areas. The X-Mid 1 Pro is also much easier to set up on level ground, but that is often unavailable.
3. Wooden tent platforms. I avoid using trekking pole tents if I have to camp on wooden platforms. This isn’t an issue with the X-mid 1 Pro per se, but is true of all trekking pole tents and pyramid shelters. Yes, you can bring special stakes for wooden platforms and extra guyline, but it’s a hassle at the end of a long day of hiking.

Recommendation

The Durston Gear X-Mid 1 Pro is a one-person, single-wall, DCF trekking pole tent that’s easy to set up and weighs 15.5 oz. It can be set up fly-first to keep the inner tent dry in the rain and comes completely outfitted with guylines and linelocs so you can use it as soon as it arrives. With two doors and two vestibules, it has a highly livable interior and provides good weather protection in most conditions.  If you’ve wanted to slash your gear weight by buying a Dyneema DCF tent, the X-Mid 1 Pro is a great option. Highly recommended.

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