Durston - X-Mid Pro 2

If you are Canadian and want to support a Canadian company buy a durston gear tent. Depending on your budget for two people I would go with the x mid 2 or the x mid 2+ pro. The floor on the 2+ pro allows for two wide pads. If you don't care about the Canadian aspect of it look at the tarptent stratospire models or the new mesospire models. Z packs also makes good light tents but I have always felt their two person tents are a little small for two people.

pioneer a 1.5 person tent, i found the helm 2 too tight for 2 and personally i think it is overrated, saggy inner and unless you are under 6 foot too short either side of the centre. I have a hubbahubba clone and we find it fine for 2. Our main tent is an X-Mid 2 and that appears to tick all your boxes. Easily best 2 person tent we have used.

towards the end in a larger group I was skinny pitching my 1p durston and both 2p tents in my group had 2 people in them just to fit in tent sites. honestly 2p solo tents in some of the sites on this trail felt like a selfish move. if you fit in a 1p, you aren't spending enough time in it to need extra space, save the weight. except the very very tall, solo 2p durston owners seemed to agree it was a little ridiculous to hog that kind of real estate. it was usually their first ul tent. 1p durston owners should all know how to skinny pitch. for one thing, it saves you when your door zippers start to go. in bad weather, 1p let me sneak off to a tiny wind protected ledge and have a peaceful night. 2p would have been stuck w the brunt of the wind up on the ridge spots established by fair weather weekenders....

Durston Gear X-Mid all the way, baby!

We have an X-Mid 2, she carries that while I carry all the food. Separate pads and bags - but we can zip them together if we want.

I'm about to take the Pro 2 on the AT. If you ventilate well with a good pitch, condensation is minimised and it's super light, plus it's big enough I'm not in any danger of brushing against the sides anyway. All Durston tents get massively glowing reviews and for good reason.

With our doublewall tents including the X-Dome the fly can be rolled back as much as you want. You can expose a corner or two (I show this in the pitching video) or the entire interior. So the X-Dome 2 can have any amount of ventilation from fully covered to 100% inner exposed. The regular X-Mid can do this too, but the singlewall Pro version has the fly and inner attached so the versatility is less.

Durston X-Mid Edit: missed that you said freestanding. I haven't personally used the X-Dome but it's made by the same guy out of the same materials, so I'd assume similar quality. The X-Mid has worked really well for me on all types of terrain.

I have a hornet 2p and while I liked it (I def wouldn't go with the hornet 1p) I didn't like the way it sagged when wet. Note the hornet is semi free standing so still an issue on rocky ground. I've since used a Durston Xmid pro 2 as it's so light and roomy but it's also pricy and needs a lot of space to pitch. My next tent will be the Durston Xdome 1+. Doesn't sag, has lots of room but less than the Xmid , proper freestanding and a good price. I'll use that for a while before decide whether or not to sell the Xmid.

Both are good options. I've never tried the Nemo line... I had a Big Agnes but didn't like it. It was light weight and packed small, which was great, but the ventilation sucked. Woke up with so much moisture inside that just unzipping the fly made it rain inside. But it has no roof vents... So... My buddy has a BA and swears by it. I ended up getting the X-Mid 2 and fell in love with it. I do miss some things about having a freestanding unit but overall I've been very happy. I also like my Marmot. I have owned several of their tents and have been really happy with them. Basically you can't really go wrong with the ones you're looking at. If there is an REI near you go there and ask them to set them up so you can see what they're like in person before you buy one. Basically look at packed size and weight, floor dimensions, ventilation, pole configuration, etc. And get the one you like best that fits your budget.

From north of Europe here. After getting winds through an MSR tent once I woved to stay with local brands, of whom you have several. Hilleberg, Fjellreven, Helsport and Barents Outdoor are all made for rough conditions. But not ultralight, even if lighter versions. A few years ago we went above the arctic cirkle with a local brand dome tent, and a Durston Mid trekking tent. We got really strong gusts that hit the camp, and the local brand poles snapped straight off, while the Durston stood firm. I was really impressed. Personally I prefer dome tents, as they are easy to move about, and can stand without any plugs if fair weather. Also can pitch anywhere, unlike those that rely on plugs. If I was in the market I would try the Durston Dome now. The lay out off outer vs inner tent gives the greatest length and height on the market, by far. Get the 2p and you can lie even more diagonally inside.

People do the JMT with a lot more weight than that even if you do carry the Copper Spur solo. A good option is an Xmid 2p, you really shouldn't be carrying the weight of a poleset when you have 4 trekking poles between the two of you (and if you don't carry trekking poles then you're trolling and you should start, it will make the trail a lot easier and safer).

I have the Tungsten UL 3p and we love it. Not sure how different the UL is other than materials? Easy setup, very roomy, great in rain. One vestibule is smaller than the other, stakes out closer to the tent so my wife who is 5'3" can reach the zipper easily. It is very similar to the Limelite that we used to have, but half the weight. Our other tent is a Durston X Mid, which we use most of the time. But we take the Marmot when we want a little bigger space or if we are taking the dog.

I have a Durston Xmid and love it - I also considered Six Moons Lunar Solo and Tarptent Stratospire and rainbow. They have some other tents in your budget too. Gossamer Gear has affordable single wall tents.

As a 6'5 hiker I went for the x-mid 2 pro for the extra room and the ability to use it with a partner in the future. I think the slight extra weight is worth only buying one.

Either handlebar or front fork. It is a Durston Xmid, I keep the poles and stakes in my frame bag.

Yes the recommendations will be flooding in for the Durston! I had the 1p but didn't like it only because I am tall and it felt claustrophobic for me. Got a 2p and it's great. The new Durston Xdome if you want a free standing tent is amazing and I am hoping for a dyneema / Xdome Pro Version to be released. Everyone will say get the Durston, you just have to figure out which one is best for you

Look at the X-Mids. Superb value, superb tents.

X-Mid 2. Ridiculously good value (even being the most expensive on the list) and lighter than the other options. I got the Pro 2 for the AT later this year and the amount of room, ease of setup etc. is awesome, though the Pro is... not cheap. It hurt... but it won't hurt my back!

It is extremely sturdy and comfortable. The stakes it came with were junk, so I replaced them. The only downside to it so far is that it takes up more space than a freestanding tent, and it isn't as easy to reposition as a freestanding. Neither one is a deal breaker for me. It packs down to the size of a volleyball and only weighs about 2.5 lbs, setup is easy after the first couple times, once you get used to it. And it's very roomy inside. Fits two 24 inch wide inflatable pads side by side with a little room to spare. It is very different, made my wife nervous at first. But she loves it too. It has become our go-to tent. We still use the Marmot Tungsten 3p if the dog comes along. The XMid isn't big enough for us with a 100 lb pitbull in the mix LOL

I got a solid inner with my x-mid because it was what was available at the time (they were still doing the drops, no stock on hand). No appreciable difference in condensation that I've noticed. Even if there's some on the fly, the inner stays dry. Since the inner has nothing to do with stormproof that's a wash for me. I might get the mesh inner at some point to have the option. I've also used it without the inner to have all the space inside, which is nice, I sat inside in the rain using my stove because floorless tents are cool that way. I have tyvek for use as a groundsheet under the pad.

We'll be announcing an update to the X-Mid 2 in a week or so. The 2025 model is now lighter.

I've seen quite a few your height-gifted fellow hikers extolling the virtues of the internal room. Being aggressively average in height myself, I have a ridiculous amount of room!

I never loved pitching my Xmid, it's a genius design and fabulous when pitched properly, but I always felt like a slightly wrong pitch made it perform worse than you'd think it would. But, I'm 99% a hammock guy and only take a tent when a trail isn't great for hammocks. So, most likely because I wasn't pitching it enough to get a feel for it.

I've never heard of them but products from their parent company, DAC are ubiquitous in high end backpacking gear. I'd give a design like the sololite a try. The vestibule comes separately adding a lot of cost. I see two big problems with this tent; * Shipping stuff overseas to Canada can be a big PITA. I'm not sure where you are purchasing it but but "Bigtent Explore" option may largely avoid shipping being a PITA and that store seems to be the main place to buy them. * If you decide to sell this tent it will be difficult due to the lack of name recognition. Durston's a Canadian company that manufacturers extremely popular tents and if you want a high end option they are worth a look. I'd recommend starting with a freestanding tent like the X-Mid. I primarily use a different tent but I've been extremely impressed by one of their trekking pole tents I own. Another option is more budget oriented tents. NatureHike makes a bunch of fairly light tents (CloudUP, Mongar) and imho they are more durable than the extreme ultralight tents. If you do get serious about backpacking, you can later upgrade from a budget tent. Personally I use less expensive tents when camping close to vehicles as weight isn't a major concern and I'm less worried about damaging them. If you later decide to get a ultralight 1 person tent, the extra space of a two person will be greatly appreciated when weight isn't a concern. Go to MEC or another outdoor store (Not Atmosphere / Sportchek) and start trying on packs and find one that fits well. Keep a few in mind and purchase one that will fit the rest of your great and aim for a 60L or smaller pack. As long as you have a sleeping bag designed for backpacking that uses down and / or synthetic materials and has an appropriate comfort temperature rating its hard to go wrong.