r/DurstonGearheads

Hi,

I have owned a Zpacks for 3 years; and frankly I’m done with the tent and I don’t trust the brand. Durston has a great reputation so I’m looking to make the switch.

My Zpacks duplex is the only DCF tent I’ve owned, and frankly, I haven’t found that it holds up well against storms with high rain and wind.

Therefore, im really not sure which way to go for my Durston - polyester or DCF? I love the lightweight DCF but man if I have to spend one more night sleeping in a puddle I’m going to lose my mind.

Thanks!

Hey, I remember reading somewhere that Dan is planning on updating the X-Dome 2 in July, completing the bottom solid panel by connecting it across the door.

I've been wanting to get one but figured I may as well wait for this update, does anyone know if it has happened on the Canadian site yet?

Also struggling to decide between carbon and carbon short poles, thoughts?

Hey everyone, I’m in the market for my 1st pack for multi days. I expect my typical load to be around 15kg (33 lbs), but I need the option to carry more. The Kakwa 55 is high on my list because it can comfortably handle that weight. However, I really love the concept of Aarn packs and storing gear on the front of the body to act as a counterweight and and be super easily accessible while offering more volume than standard hipbelt pockets. I'm not looking for pockets as big as the full sized balance pockets, something more compact but a bit bigger than the standard shoulder strap pockets on the kakwa with volume of a few litres. I actually asked Dan about this, and he suggested checking in here to see if anyone has experimented with this setup. Has anyone successfully rigged their own front-loading setup / balance pockets onto a Kakwa 40 or 55? Did the pack feel more comfortable on your body, or did it make no difference at all? If you haven’t done it, how would you go about front loading the Kakwa's shoulder straps/hipbelt without messing up the carry? Appreciate any insights or DIY rigging tips.

Thanks, all.

I attempted to return a Kakwa due to hip belt size. I followed Durston’s instructions including how to fill out the customs form. My backpack just got returned to me because of a customs problem.

Anyone have this happen? My local post office said it’s probably because I claimed a value of $1 for returned merchandise, just like Durston said.

Finally was able to secure an XD2 for the wifey and I to go backpacking together!

Wondering about recommended accessory upgrades? Got a Durston groundsheet. What other accessories do y’all recommend to have a secure setup?

I’ve seen people get some extra guy lines? Which do you recommend? I like the convenience of guy lines with reflective thread. and want to secure it in windy conditions.

Do y’all upgrade your stakes? I’ll predominantly be backpacking throughout California’s backcountry at first, for context of terrain.

I want to get trekking poles for wifey and me. For both hiking and reinforcing our tent in windy conditions. What are y’all using to hike with and reinforce your Durston tents?

For the Kakwa, I notice some are adding a mesh panel to the area that meets your back to promote airflow and prevent sweating. Is the brand called “Luna”?

Sad I missed the recent Kakwa release. Any intel on the next restock? I’m looking to secure an Ultra 200X-Medium-S/M Hipbelt for myself, and a UltraGrid-Small-S/M Hipbelt for wifey, for some summer trips we have planned.

I have a backpacking trip coming up. The xdome 2 poles broke and they seem sold out on the durston website. Is there any other third party compatible poles I can look into? 🙏🏽

Hi all,

I just got back from a multi-day backpacking trek in New Mexico at the Scout camp known as Philmont. It's a 10-night backpacking trip for scouts (and adults), and for this trek I got myself a Durston X-Mid 2 and my daughter an X-Dome 2. Philmont is not a "lightweight" backpacking experience since we went with a group of 11. My base weight was 26 lbs, 6 of it being "required clothing," and that includes a 6 lb backpack. I would classify my style as lightweight so I can bring more stuff and be comfortable. Team stool.

Being on a multi-person trek put me in a place where I could evaluate how different tents of similar cost fared in the same conditions. Other people had Nemo tents and REI Half Dome 2 tents. Luckily, no random Amazon-brand tents.

We are from Southern California, so "rain" is more of an abstract concept than something we experience. It rained on us for two days during our trek.

Weather:

Both tents, with their polyester flies, did significantly better in the rain than the others. All the rest had treated nylon flies. I did not really understand how good the "non-sag" feature was, but I now firmly wish all tents would use polyester for the fly. All of the other tents, after an hour or two, needed their flies tightened and lots of micro-adjustments to keep water from reaching the inner tents. Not all in my group were bone dry the next mornings. It was not super windy on our trek, but both tents did well in the random gusts we had.

I really want to thank Dan for his great setup videos. I used a lot of what I learned there, especially regarding tensioning, to help get our other non-Durston tents set up better for rain protection too.

Both the X-Mid and X-Dome do great in the rain and I would have it be a highlighted feature.

My 135lb daughter really liked the 3 lb X-Dome 2, as her tentmate weighed 90 lbs (Endurance runner build) so we had to keep her weight down. Even being sloppy with setup, they did better than the "perfect pitches" I saw with the other nylon based dome tents.

Setup/Takedown:

All of the scouts were jealous of the X-Dome 2 setup. Clip in the fly, insert the poles, stake it down, and done. My daughter's tent was first up and down in pretty much every scenario.

A funny story: they lost their stakes for 30 minutes and decided they could just throw their bags in the tent to hold it down. With the inner tent being "floating," I had to have words with them about how it needs to be staked, not just weighted down with bags. They heard the Scoutmaster voice of, "It's a $500 tent. It better be staked down." (It's not the first tent they've lost in the wind)

The X-Mid 2 setup was less annoying than anticipated. I have used it before and was sure to get everything reasonably square for staking. Not the fastest setup in the group, but the fastest takedown.

Philmont, in general, is not known for flat tent sites, and I was usually one of the last to select my spot. I still got good pitches even on uneven ground. This was much less of an issue than I thought it would be. I really liked having four 9-inch stakes for the corners and 7-inch stakes everywhere else.

Durability:

The X-Dome 2 was great. I purchased it with the groundsheet, and the scouts put no holes in it.

My X-Mid, ended up with two 6-inch holes in the floor. I think I knelt/stepped on a rock or something, but I'm not sure how it happened. I taped it up with gear tape and it's fine. It's a source of pride now.

For Philmont people reading this, I would recommend a groundsheet as you are forced to set up your tent in non-ideal conditions, which I often was due to the nature of the trek. I normally do not use groundsheets with my tents and have not had issues before.

Packability:

I made a new tent bag for my daughter's X-Dome 2 that was a lot larger, making it easy to stuff the tent in with the stakes. I modeled the size after a Half Dome 2 tent bag. I used her original X-Dome 2 bag for my X-Mid 2, which turned out to be a great size for fast packup.

My backpack is very large, so I don't care much about things being small. I really liked the larger tent bag size for my X-Mid. Most of us carried our tents externally because we needed space inside our packs for crew gear that is not normally required on a trek.

Overall I am super happy with the performance of both. I would not get the xmid 2 for my teenager they dont have the patience to be fiddly with staking pole eight etc.

Thanks for making a good product at a reasonable price point.

Just received my XD1+, but there is no cinch bag for the poles. My XD2 did come with a cinch bag for the poles.

Should I have gotten one?

EDIT SOLVED: I should have looked more closely in the bag before posting.