X-Mid 2+ Solid

Hey, zpacks fre duo is outstanding in wind. It barely moves. I also have the plex solo, it is also really good in wind. it’s my go to for summer fall above tree line. I had it in 80-90 km winds I had to get up and out a couple times to re set things and beef up the lines as the wind was a surprise, my friends big Agnes was destroyed, poles where actually snapped. One thing is, unlike my fre duo the plex has 10 steak outs so it takes a bit of time to set up but I always found a way. It’s under a pound so that’s awesome. I’m gonna get hate here- I also have xmid 2p+, fantastic tent but it’s a sail in the wind. Had it in sustained 80+ km winds while my son had the fre duo, the duo again barely moved! And was quite. He slept most the night! Me in the xmid! Holy shit ! That thing was as if I was in a wind tunnel, the noise was defining, and cut through 3 steak outs, I was able to repair on the go so it would continue to stand. But.. it did stand. Yeah not good in big wind, if I know for sure there is wind, big wind- first choice - fre duo, last choice- x-mid.

Seconding this, durston has the best bang for buck tents in general. Plus fantastic customer service

The build quality on the Durston X-Mid is phenomenal as is their company support. I had the X-Mid 2+ And it's nothing shorter will built tent. The one issue I had with it was promptly addressed by the company and to more than my satisfaction. However, I just don't think the Durston is a good fit for the AT. The walls of the fly are so low to the ground and the vents at the top are just not sufficient enough to get air flowing through the tent to remove humidity effectively in a high humidity environment like the Eastern United States. I personally carried mine from Harpers ferry West Virginia to Kent Connecticut and found myself rapidly switching back to my Z-Packs triplex - The 2+ and the Triplex we're bigger because I was hiking with my daughter so we could share a tent. The zpacks triplex has a lot more ventilation and let a lot more air through so I didn't have to worry about it raining inside with condensation on the inner tent walls compared to the Durston. If I did hiking out west like the Colorado Trail or the PCT or the CDT or fill in the blank where there's less ambient humidity I would without hesitation take the Durston back out there. But my opinion take it for what it's worth or feel free to ignore it is the Durston just does not breathe well enough in the Eastern United States to keep interior humidity under control. Too many mornings I woke up with a wet sleeping bag because it was raining inside the tent... And that's not because there was any sort of leak or poor construction.

Yes it feels larger without the interior walls. If it is condensation from condition, then you need to stay back from the walls and be a bit careful, but if it is dry, then you have more useable space.

FWIW, the solid version does increase the floor from 15d to 20d now. Still a far cry from 40 or 50d but it is thicker.

Some of the things you would be getting with the X-Mid are a simpler pitch, non-sag and fast dry fabric, higher end build quality, and it’s more spacious.

Regarding your X-Mid 1P vs 2P questions, the X-Mid 1 has steadily gotten larger over time. It was 28" wide in 2018, 31" wide in 2022 and then in 2025 the gen 3 was released that is 33" wide. I think it's quite spacious for a 1P tent. It's got a lot of headroom, a lot of length, and the width is pretty good plus the sidewalls are vertical so it's not sloping narrower like some tents. The X-Mid 2 is often the highest rated PCT tent by 'couples', but gets lower ratings by solo users because it is a lot of tent for one person: [https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/pacific-crest-trail/best-thru-hiking-couples-shelters-2024/](https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/pacific-crest-trail/best-thru-hiking-couples-shelters-2024/) A lot of solo people do use the X-Mid 2 and tons of them do love having a 'palace', but if I was hiking the PCT I would go with a 1P model because you're not in the tent very much, it's lighter, and does fit into more sites. With that said, you can collapse the vestibules on the X-Mid 2 to fit into the same sites as any other 2P tent. Condensation is just a fact of life in any tent, but the X-Mid is a doublewall (aside from the Pro version) so it has a barrier to separate you from it, which is about as good as you can possibly do. \- Dan

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

The main thing is that you would be able to push it into higher winds before you would need to add the trekking pole supports. As we showed in our wind tunnel video, the current structure can handle over 110 km/h (70 mph) winds and still looked fine at that point, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the current structure could go to about 130 km/h with the trekking pole supports. But without them, the limit is substantially lower. I like this approach because you are using skill and multi use to push gear into higher limits, rather than adding weight, but once we are talking about a true four season rated tent than it is nice to have it “just work” and have less dependencies. So a stronger structure would let you go quite a bit higher winds without the extra support.

As an ex owner of a lanshan but not the pro, you are talking about 2 different beasts of quality (or at least consistent quality). I went to a X mid 2 solid and wish I did it sooner. If you get the lanshan get a sponge to mop up the condensation as it’s single wall after all