X-Dome 1+

great tent but ...

it takes longer to set up than my x-mid pro 2. it still has a large foot print. water tends to pool at the top of the tent instead of running off. i just finished a three week AT section hike in New Hampshire ... a solid tent that functioned well and was easy to use. thanks!

Tested once so far, all good!

The set up took me awhile on my first try outdoors, because I was so used to my old tents where the fly goes over top of the poles that it took me awhile to figure out that the X-Dome 1+ is the opposite. The poles go over top of the fly! After repatedly trying to put the fly overtop with much futility, and even watching the Durston set-up video a couple of times, I finally figured out how the fly goes, doh ;0 The video actually has a great tip about setting up the fly first, which is the way to go even though counter-intuitive for this spatially challenged, standard-tent-design-ingrained camper! Once I understood that the poles go on the outside of the fly, the set-up was quicker and easier than my old standard-design tents. The X-Dome will be a breeze to set up the next time I use it :) The X-Dome 1+ interior is a lot larger than I expected, very roomy for gear with a huge interior pocket, bigger than I’ve ever seen in a backpacking tent. Large vestibule as well. The 3 door zippers are easy to open and close and the fly door flaps roll open with magnets to hold them, how cool is that :) The only thing I’d suggest is that the cord that comes with the tent (in the bag with the pegs) would be easier to use if pre-cut in lengths. I did not have scissors or a slicing knife on me, but it wasn’t windy so I got away with using the full length of the rolled up cord on one end of the tent only. Overall, I’m very happy that I got the X-Dome 1+ Their customer service is excellent too, so refreshing to have questions answered by real humans, not AI bots.

The tent I have been waiting for

For about five years I was searching for a tent that would check all the boxes I need and recently I finally found one. I have only put up the Durston X-Dome 1+ once but so far I am impressed. When I was pitching it up for the first time I found it a bit confusing to navigate how the inner and the fly are supposed to fit together, but I was able to figure it out, it just took some time. I was pitching it up in windy conditions, but I have an experience with similar pitches so even though the tent is very light and was flapping in the wind I was able to pitch it up just fine, after staking out the four corners. Considering the changing wind direction and sloping terrain I was glad to have an opportunity to take the stakes out after the tent was standing and tweak out its placement - exactly the reason why I wanted to have a free standing tent. It surprised me how roomy it was inside. It's quite liveable for an one person tent. I appreciate the inner height and the possibility to have all my stuff inside. I was also surprised how light the (aluminium) poles were and how light the (solid) inner is; I feel I made a good choice as the mesh inner would seem too fragile for my comfort. I did get the ground sheet and used it as well, I am quite happy with the fact that it only covers the inner tent part. The inner tent sagged a bit and there was quite a lot of condensation in the morning, but I think it's mainly because I need to learn how to set up the tent better. The tent comes with four larger and four smaller stakes. Four is all you need in moderately windy conditions (altogether for the strongest pitch I counted 16). Though the supplied stakes are not according to my personal preference (and one already bent! - still usable though), I like that there is enough to test them for the initial pitch and later decide if - and what kind of - to get more. I now would need to get some more cord. There is some supplied but it's all one length and I don't know if I should cut it. But I really like that for camping in even moderately windy conditions you don't actually need to use cords which means nobody would trip over them. The tent takes up quite a lot of space, but you can't have "minimalistic" and "comfortable" at the same time. Overall this tent is very close to my "dream" tent. The only thing that could be even better is maybe the possibility of second exit - that would be useful when the wind changes, as it did on me. But to tell the truth I am not sure if I would be willing to trade it for the space on the inside. Maybe, if the ground sheet stayed the same...