UKH

Evening all,

I have never had much interest in DCF tent technology - I'm quite biased against single skin tents because of a particularly grim night on the summit of Scafell some years ago. I was waiting to help a friend across Broad Stand early in the morning light on a Bob Graham round - rain, humidity, midges... I felt like a boil in the bag meal in a tiny, poorly ventilated single-skin tent (the Kimmlite sub-kilo, which went on a few KIMMs and LAMMs back in the day and was OK as long as we took it in turns to breathe in and didn't both want to sit up at the same time). 

But technology carries on apace and dyneema cuben fibre does look to be where it's at for the seriously ultralight market.  My current light tent is a Durston X-Mid 2P https://durstongear.com/product/x-mid-2p , and I have found it very impressive - just over a kilo for a full two person, twin vestibule, double skin tent with excellent interior space and weather protection. It's big enough inside that it's actually pleasant, although I would usually prefer a solid or hybrid mesh inner rather than full mesh in the UK. They are however very supply constrained and new stock sells out within minutes or is only available via scalpers on Amazon at inflated prices.

Durston Gear have now designed a DCF version https://durstongear.com/product/x-mid-pro-2p and I'm getting interested as to how this stacks up against the competition (e.g. Stratospire 2 https://www.tarptent.com/product/stratospire-li/ which is a bit more expensive and looks less solid, or the LanShan 2P https://3fulgear.com/product/ultralight-tent/lanshan2-classic/ but much worse inner tent space). To my eye the X-Mid Pro looks cleaner and stronger, but the price is till pretty eye-watering (like all DCF tents I guess). USD639 is about 470 quid before HMRC gets you with import duties so this isn't on anyone's petty cash.... but hard to argue with 540g. I think the mesh inner will decrease condensation but make for a colder night - but most of my current trips to the hills are now midsummer in NZ and the last 3 years it has been a problem with being too hot overnight rather than too cold! This time last year in the Ohau ranges it was 35 by day dropping to mid 20s overnight, but the sandflies meant sleeping inside with the doors shut...

If I was still doing MMs the temptation would be strong. All my trips these days use trekking poles as my knees are a bit buggered, but 120cm CF poles are an additional 100g or so which means weight is still excellent.

Temptation begone! Surely I don't need another tent?
cheers

b

(edit for typos)

Following recommendations including your own I've just secured a Durston mid XP1 in their latest release. Greatly looking forward to its arrival and use. Had to factor in buying some adjustable poles (Fizan) as I only had fixed length which are too short. 

Excellent! I wish you many happy adventures together. You did well to get one - they sold out within about 15 minutes apparently, which is just crazy. 

b

I had it in the basket, paid and checked out in less than a minute. Made my day.

Strong online shopping game there, well done!

https://backpackinglight.com/durston-x-mid-2p-dcf-review-first-looks/ is one of the chilliest reviews I have seen for a while. Montana in January not the place for a single skin tent review...

b

I’ve got the Tarptent strat-Li and am overall pretty happy with it. Probably 20-30 nights out with it on NZ now. It’s my first DCF/cuben tent and I was pleasantly surprised it’s not as fragile as I’d thought, but still needs care. I like the fact that it doesn’t sag with water and overnight as much as silnylon. Great weight for 2 person 2 door 2 skin tent. It pitches inner and outer simultaneously which is great. 
 

Thanks Damo, that’s interesting. I haven’t seen any DCF tents in NZ (but NZ being NZ that’s not exactly surprising!). The idea of carefully rolling the tent up every time sounds a bit irksome. Hard to argue with the weight savings though. You’re in Chch if I recall? What kind of trips are you using it on? Much bad weather experience in it? 
cheers

b

There are perhaps 2-3 others in our tramping club with the Z packs DCF tent. It’s lighter but I prefer the Tarptent for being a full 2 skin tent.

I don’t pack it up very carefully! But my standard way of packing tents is to roll them  up.

The weight saving is great, I never worry now about having it along even when heading to a hut. It’s stood up to reasonable gusts with sensible site choice.

Yep, I’m CCh based. If you’re ever in the area you’re  welcome to see it in the flesh.

Thanks Damo - not often up your way but next time I might take you up on the offer.

Did you go for the mesh inner or the solid?

Looking at the weights, there's not a huge difference between the solid inner DCF stratospire Li and the standard X-Mid 2P - for me not enough to justify the expense, anyway. It would be a different matter if I didn't already have an X-Mid. 

b

It’s the solid inner.

I might have chosen the Durston over the Tarptent if it had been available at the time. 

Thanks - the US market is very mesh focussed but UK, Europe and NZ I think are right to push for mostly solid inners. Yeah the Durston issue is the production capacity to demand ratio is spectacularly out of whack (mostly covid, but TBH Drop - who were the outfit who took his design to market - have no interest in the outdoors and just sell keyboards in odd colours these days).

Personally I think the modular concept that Tartpent provide is the way forward - I would be all over a DCF fly and solid inner, rather than a (mostly) single skin tent. 

b