Durston - X-Dome 2

Thats true, cheap tents waterproofing doesn’t hold up to extended periods of rain, but a good tent might go 10 years or more. REI has the Mountainsmith Cottonwood 6p for $220 in their outlet which means you can get an additional 20% off if you are a member. That a great price at $176, and much better then a Coleman in terms of quality (good waterproofing and aluminum poles). Then you can get a higher end backpacking tent for yourself. The Nemo Dragonfly mentioned earlier is 30% off at several online retailers. 3P is plenty of room for two adults, though I’d still get the 2p and make your friends get their own tent. Or for a little more money get the Durston X Dome 2P w/ Aluminum poles.

The X-Dome is commonly recommended because it’s the lightest freestanding tent on the market when equipped with the carbon poles while still being spacious. Their 2P actually fits two, so you’d have to compare that with many other 3P tents which makes the weight really stand out. Personally I’m not a fan of Carbon poles as they seem more fragile than aluminum and am ok with a little extra weight. Fortunately Durston sells the tent with aluminum poles now. The 2p is still about 6-7oz lighter then the Nemo Dragonfly 3P with aluminum poles but a bit more expensive then the current sale price of the Dragonfly. Personally I’d go with the Dragonfly since it’s on sale. Also the OSMO fabric is supposed to have very long lasting waterproofing. It’s too new to be sure (came out in 2022 I think) but I’d guess these tents will go 10+ years typically before re-waterproofing. The fabric is also a big reason why I’d choose that over MSR, BA etc. I hate tents that sag and most manufacturers use nylon which sags. Nylon also absorbs water which makes packing it up really messy if the fly is still wet. OSMO and Poly fly’s (Durston uses poly, as does Mountainsmith) can be shaken dry before you put it away.

Ill get bashed for suggesting it, but if the ordering wait isnt an issue (around a month) The X-Dome 2 from Durston is $480 and much lighter. I get not caring about if your ultralight, but if there are no clear downsides to going lighter, why not? Price is less then the hubba hubba and marginally more then the hornet, and living space is the same. (32sq ft for the Durston and MSR, 27.5 for the NEMO) So if price is the same, living space is the same, and it weighs much less, why not?

Not that the option is bad, just saying its better is bad. Just throw in abit of stats and reasoning and suddenly its alot more attractive

Recently I have finally received Durston X-Dome 2. Very happy with it: palace inside, 2 entances & vestibules, freestanding, total weight <1.5kg, light poly so no sag in a bigger rain, short very packable poles that fit nicely in a backpack / moto bag. There is an option for solid interior for windy weather.

I also enjoyed Mongar 2 as a not expensive but quite roomy tent for backpacking. Recently update to x-dome 2 and I enjoy it - even more spacious, still has 2 entraces & vestibules and is over 1kg lighter (I had mongar polyester 240 version).

ive got the x dome 2, its very nice and light, sea to sumit has a similar one (telos tr2), that is a bit heavier, aluminum poles, and has a more conventional floorlayout, they sell it in a bike packing kit too. durston also has short pole option, replaceable interiors for like 130-160. id recomend just getting the groundfly too or diy one, the floor is sorta thin but im used to cheaper/ older tents. with the way the durston sets up its a bit more involved going from no rain fly mode to rainfly mode, ther tr2 is a more traditional rainfly ontop of frame vs suspended. ill say the durston is one of the fastest tents ive put up and im normally a slowpoke

Buy once cry once. I did. Opted for the x dome 2. Glad I did, such a quality lightweight tent

A lot of good points about it’s gonna come down to him. As a big guy (6’6” and not skinny with very wide shoulders) it is very important for me to have head room when sitting up and being comfortable when laying down. I only backpack with my 2 person tent so I am looking for light 2ish pounds or less and roomy enough where I could fit 2 wide 25” sleeping pads although generally just room for me and my stuff to stretch out. I really like the xdome 2 and the packs triplex which I find to be just a large 2 person tent. The zpacks is not affordable at all and I don’t even own one I’ve only borrowed. The xdome I own but it is still around $500. The only budget friendly tents ive tried all lack in one way or another so it’s going to come down to his preference. Good luck to you!

This is what I carry: https://durstongear.com/products/x-dome-2-ultralight-tent 2.7 lbs Compact stowed Very fast pitch (can pitch fly and tent in one go after first pitch) Freestanding Works well with 2 and tall people Great vestibules Great company I switched from hubba hubba for many of these reasons

I have an X Mid Dome 2 freestander: https://durstongear.com/products/x-dome-2-ultralight-tent It’s much pricier at $470 but weighs only 2.7 pounds. One great feature is after the first time setup, you can keep the fly and tent connected and pitch it all at once quite easily. I had a Hubba Hubba 2 person (much heavier, a little bit cheaper) and used it a lot. I keep thinking about a 1 person or the X Mid Dome 1+ but in the end I keep coming back to loving the room to stretch out (esp nice if you have to hunker down in bad weather).

From north of Europe here. After getting winds through an MSR tent once I woved to stay with local brands, of whom you have several.  Hilleberg, Fjellreven, Helsport and Barents Outdoor are all made for rough conditions. But not ultralight, even if lighter versions.  A few years ago we went above the arctic cirkle with a local brand dome tent, and a Durston Mid trekking tent. We got really strong gusts that hit the camp, and the local brand poles snapped straight off, while the Durston stood firm. I was really impressed.   Personally I prefer dome tents, as they are easy to move about, and can stand without any plugs if fair weather. Also can pitch anywhere, unlike those that rely on plugs.  If I was in the market I would try the Durston Dome now. The lay out off outer vs inner tent gives the greatest length and height on the market, by far. Get the 2p and you can lie even more diagonally inside. 

Durston dome! Apparently the 2p version can hold both you and your bike. I did not believe the hype at first, but got a mid 2p and it is impressive. Packs down real small, weighs nothing, smart usage of space inside, and all that room!

Durston X-dome 2. You wont regret it. It 0acks up to 2.1 pounds. Take about 7 minutes to set up. External poles so you can set up in the rain *

With our doublewall tents including the X-Dome the fly can be rolled back as much as you want. You can expose a corner or two (I show this in the pitching video) or the entire interior. So the X-Dome 2 can have any amount of ventilation from fully covered to 100% inner exposed. The regular X-Mid can do this too, but the singlewall Pro version has the fly and inner attached so the versatility is less.

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.

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

Thanks for your interest. The X-Dome 2 is a new release so no customers have used it yet, but we have been testing it for about 3 season in the Canadian Rockies now. I think what stands out about it compared to other similar tents are that is more spacious, it pitches fly first for setup in the rain, the 100% polyester fabric is non-sag and fast dry, and the optional trekking pole supports enable it to be sturdier. Those are the main things, but also there are a lot of nice details. Don't hesitant to ask away if you have any questions.

FWIW, here is the X-Dome 2 footprint area relative to other popular 2P tents: X-Dome 2 = 47.7 sq ft Hubba Hubba 2 = 47.7 sq ft Copper Spur 2 = 45.8 sq ft So it is the same area as the Hubba and only 4% larger than the CS2. Here is a diagram that shows the shapes overlaid to scale: [https://imgur.com/7sufFYq.png](https://imgur.com/7sufFYq.png) The pole glue issue with the X-Dome 1+ was unfortunate. That was a slip by Easton that affected all the brands they work with and not something particular to the X-Dome, but we were glad to take it seriously and be the ones to push Easton to actually fix it and then send out improved poles. Aside from that we've seen good results with the X-Dome 1+. We've made a few other tweaks too, which the X-Dome 2 incorporates (e.g. color coded zipper pulls, easier to use pole tabs). So it is new and has more uncertainty, but I do think the X-Dome 1+ is working well and think we have the X-Dome 2 quite dialed in.

With the X-Dome 2 we are using thicker crossbar tubing (Carbon 6.3 instead of 3.9) so it is a longer crossbar for sure, but also about twice as strong. We've never seen breakage of the carbon tubing other than from (1) a pole glue issue where the insert slide out of position, or (2) an assembly error, but I agree that if someone winches down the end of a cross bar it could overstress it. That is a potential risk with any crossbar tent, but the crossbar is pretty strong and at least here users can add their trekking pole to prevent this. Any guyline off the crossbar tip won't be that effective until the trekking pole is added because until then it just bends the pole, whereas after the trekking pole is added it really pulls against something sturdy.

FWIW, we have been seeing good reliability on the X-Dome 2 poles for a while now. There were early issues with the Easton poles but after glue improvements and then the change to carbon inserts at the top, we have seen 100% reliability for a few months now.

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.