Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
The new Durston X-Dome 1+ Tent is freestanding, weighs just over two pounds, and claims to be more stormworthy and functional than other tents in its weight class. Find everything you need to know here…
Owned and operated by Dan Durston and his wife T, Durston is a two-person operation based out of Alberta, Canada. Dan is an experienced backpacker and has been using that know-how to develop gear designs from scratch. He then has his products manufactured in China at the same factory that makes tents for other well-known brands such as Locus Gear, Sampar’s, TarpTent, and Big Agnes. Durston is best known for its lineup of X-Mid tents, which are all non-freestanding, trekking-pole-style tents with a “double diagonal” shape that eliminates the need for guylines, avoids poles in the living space and doorways, and maximizes the interior volume. I spent the better part of a year using Durston’s top-end X-Mid Pro 2 and appreciated how much space there was inside, the offset peaks, and how a basic pitch only required four stakes. Check out the full review here.
Dan has been teasing a freestanding tent for a while now, and we’re excited to see that it’s finally here. The X-Dome tent series is launching with the X-Dome 1+ one-person tent, and a two-person version is also in the works. The X-Dome 1+ uses the same X-Mid floorplan as the X-Mid series, combined with a freestanding pole structure. It relies on a convenient diagonal floor inside a rectangular fly, which Durston says maximizes floor space, helps keep the weight down, and creates a stronger overall tent.
The Durston X-Dome 1+ is an oversized one-person tent made from 100% polyester fabric (it doesn’t soak up water, so the tent is non-sag and dries quickly), has a true freestanding design (no need to stake out the vestibules), and according to Durston, is the only ultralight freestanding tent that can easily pitch both fly first (to keep the inner dry during setup in the rain) and inner first (for stargazing) without any extra parts or complicated methods. The complete tent weighs 985 grams (34.7 ounces), has an interior height of 42″ (1.1m), and the floor tapers from 50″ (127cm) wide at the head end to 27″ (68cm) at the foot end. The floor is 85″ (215cm) when lying straight or 90″ (228cm) in a diagonal position for taller users.
The X-Dome 1+ has a 15-denier Sil/PE Polyester floor and fly fabric, comes with Easton Carbon poles, and uses YKK #3 AquaGuard zippers throughout. It comes fully seam-taped, and there are two interior pockets and four interior hang loops to dry gear. The generously sized vestibule is positioned beside the doorway, instead of blocking it, like some tents, and it offers enough room for a big pack or bikepacking bags with room to cook.
Pre-orders for the X-Dome 1+ are open now, and they’re expected to ship mid-November. The X-Dome 1+ costs $369 USD, and you can reserve yours at DurstonGear.com.
Further Reading
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