X Mid - Dan Durston

[orionbarth]

Out of curiosity, how are you remaining tax free here in Australia Dan? As far as I’m aware international companies that sell more than $75k per year to Australia are legally required to register for GST and charge it as the sale point, rather than customs

It’s a bit odd considering you say Australia is your third biggest market and Zpacks are registered for GST

[dandurston]

Partly our top two countries (USA, Canada) are way ahead of everything else, so even though Australia is number three it is only a very small percent.

The main reason though is that historically most of these tents were sold by another company (Drop/Kaviso) so they would have been the ones responsible for monitoring and collecting taxes. Only in the last few weeks have the sales of our main products (X-Mid 1 and 2) changed over to being handled directly by me. So we may get to that threshold eventually and have to start charging taxes but since we only started selling our main products a few weeks ago it will be some time.

[Aushiker]

Sorry a bit off topic but still a Durston product . I am hoping someone can advise the width of the shoulder strap on the Durston Kawka 55 (at around chest height). I just want to determine if the Peak Designs Capture Clip V2 or V3 will work with it.

Thanks.

[Sufferance]

This question was just asked in the FB group. 7.5cm from Dan, but I think this is higher up than chest height. I measure 7cm wide at my chest strap on the current version Ultra200x Size large.

[Sufferance]

Sorry a bit off topic but still a Durston product . I am hoping someone can advise the width of the shoulder strap on the Durston Kawka 55 (at around chest height). I just want to determine if the Peak Designs Capture Clip V2 or V3 will work with it.

Thanks.

This came up in the FB group the other day, same reason. Dan responded saying 7.5cm. However I measure 7cm Just below the Durston logo where I have my chest strap. Current version 55, Ultra200x, size large.

[dandurston]

The shoulder strap width is 7.5 cm.

Cheers.

[Aushiker]

Sorry a bit off topic but still a Durston product . I am hoping someone can advise the width of the shoulder strap on the Durston Kawka 55 (at around chest height). I just want to determine if the Peak Designs Capture Clip V2 or V3 will work with it.

Thanks.

This came up in the FB group the other day, same reason. Dan responded saying 7.5cm. However I measure 7cm Just below the Durston logo where I have my chest strap. Current version 55, Ultra200x, size large.

Thanks, and thanks, Dan. I will give my existing Capture Clip a go, and if it is not going to fit, I will look at whether their Pad Pro will work with the pack.

[Aushiker]

The shoulder strap width is 7.5 cm.

Cheers.

For anyone else interested, the seller of this clip on Allixepress is suggesting it will fit up to 8cm [I think that is what they mean].

[Moh]

Sorry a bit off topic but still a Durston product . I am hoping someone can advise the width of the shoulder strap on the Durston Kawka 55 (at around chest height). I just want to determine if the Peak Designs Capture Clip V2 or V3 will work with it.

Thanks.

This came up in the FB group the other day, same reason. Dan responded saying 7.5cm. However I measure 7cm Just below the Durston logo where I have my chest strap. Current version 55, Ultra200x, size large.

Thanks, and thanks, Dan. I will give my existing Capture Clip a go, and if it is not going to fit, I will look at whether their Pad Pro will work with the pack.

Just measured my v3 capture clip. It is only 5.5cm clear between the mounting screws.

[Aushiker]

Just measured my v3 capture clip. It is only 5.5cm clear between the mounting screws.

Thanks. That sounds like my V2. I had thought they where bigger but I guess not

[Ms_Mudd]

Signed up to the email list. Think a dome needs to join my Durston gear stable

[dandurston]

Nice It's a very neat tent. Just spent a week in one in the backcountry. Looking forward to showing it off in about 6 weeks.

[thoyeabout]

Just came back from Budawangs using my brand new Xmid1 Pro. Coming from the SMD Lunar Solo I really appreciate the extra headroom. I also found the zippers to be ideally positioned and good quality. A strange point to some but the zippers on so many hiking tents I've had were just outright frustrating to use especially in poor weather. On the downside it's a much larger footprint than I'm used to. I use 8 stakes to ensure stability in winds. With the need for two poles and 8 stakes it's a lot of money to save less than 150g over the Lunar Solo but so far I'm very happy with it. The condensation issue is the same for both tents but the xmid doors give more options to manage airflow.

[dandurston]

Glad you're liking the tent. For the stakes, are you using the 4 corners, 2 doors, and 2 peak guylines? Our pitching guide video shows how to get a tight pitch all over and fix issues so you the tent is quite sturdy without the peak guylines. They are good in high winds, but below 30 km/hr you should be fine without them if the pitch is good. You can also skip the door stake at the back door if you wish.

See 8:00 for getting the ridgeline tighter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOJ4BKIoKGs

[thoyeabout]

G'day Dan, yeah I watched the pitching guides but nothing beats practice in the real world. I really tossed between the Z Plex and X mid and of all things to tip the balance it was location of the zippers. Off to Tasmania in November for Western Arthurs Traverse so that will be the real test. I only use one trekking pole to walk with and I use the carbon fibre pole for the 2nd pole. That would benefit from some design upgrades. The sliding adjustment is too close to the section joints so the pole often comes apart when you're trying to extend it. Otherwise pretty happy.
Todd

[thoyeabout]

Sorry, didn't really answer your question. Stakes in each corner and door section. Stakes 7 & 8 are in the center base of the tent ends. I have prepared lengths of cord for the apex lines but found I didn't need them despite the strong wind.

[dandurston]

I know what you mean about the joint being quite close to the adjuster. When you go to pull the pole out of the adjuster then it can pull the sections apart instead of sliding out. I'm not sure how else to do it though, because the adjuster section needs to be it's full length or the pole couldn't adjust very much, and if we moved the joint higher than the sections would be longer and not pack short. So it seems unavoidable if making the pole be quite adjustable while packing short.

Glad the pitch is going well. Our v2 pitching guide video on YouTube is very helpful but it sounds like you have things sorted.

Cheers,
Dan

[thoyeabout]

A late follow up for the XMid during my Western Arthurs hike 29 Oct - 04 Nov. If you cross ref dates to weather you'll understand things did not go as planned. Crux of the story is severe weather forced Me to spend 2 nights in semi survival mode at High Moore. Gale for winds, Hail, sleet,snow, rain on a seemingly endless repeat cycle. The tent (and I) survived but not well. Given the conditions I cannot fault the tent. I chose to take an ultralight hiking pole tent which definitely has risks. The only damage to the tent is a small wear hole under the vent and the stitching is strained along part of the zippers. As for me, I was less fortunate. Severe frost nip which has led to loss of all my toenails. Fingers have recovered but tips of toes still have some pins and needles. But now I see there is a dome tent! The pic with the tent is after 2 days of storm when I could pack up.

[Warin]

A late follow up for the XMid during my Western Arthurs hike 29 Oct - 04 Nov. If you cross ref dates to weather you'll understand things did not go as planned. Crux of the story is severe weather forced Me to spend 2 nights in semi survival mode at High Moore. Gale for winds, Hail, sleet,snow, rain on a seemingly endless repeat cycle. The tent (and I) survived but not well. Given the conditions I cannot fault the tent. I chose to take an ultralight hiking pole tent which definitely has risks. The only damage to the tent is a small wear hole under the vent and the stitching is strained along part of the zippers. As for me, I was less fortunate. Severe frost nip which has led to loss of all my toenails. Fingers have recovered but tips of toes still have some pins and needles. But now I see there is a dome tent!

That looks like the Xmid 'pro' version - ie Dynema...
The dome tent is not yet available in a 'pro' version so it's silpoly.. I don't think the dome version will be any better in very bad weather, even if both are 'pro' versions. Neither of them are 4 season tents...

[north-north-west]

2 nights in semi survival mode at High Moor. Gale for winds, Hail, sleet,snow, rain on a seemingly endless repeat cycle.

Being weathered in at High Moor is the quintessential Western Arthurs experience. Congratulations.

[dandurston]

Wow that sounds intense. I'm glad things weren't any worse and it sounds you'll be able to heal up. Also glad the tent held up alright. That nick on the vent will patch easily with one of our DCF patches that is color matched to the tent. The stitching along the zipper is harder to fix but we are happy to do that for free if you want to send it over, or you can get anyone that sews locally to sew that stitching back down.

[thoyeabout]

Yeah I certainly got the full SW Tassie experience. I had planned to stay in Tassie to do more hikes and other activities. But after my WAT experience the feet weren't going to be much use for a while.
Dan the patch kits have been sold out for a while but I'll keep an I out for when they're back in stock. I appreciate the offer for the zippers, especially seeing how I think the tent already exceeded its storm worthy rating. I'm not sure it's financially viable to post from Aus. I haven't really looked into who could do a good job of it locally but if it comes to it I may take you up.
Off topic now, but not sure how I could of protected my feet better with all the bog holes and freezing temps. I knew my gloves were old but skipped on buying new ones and paid the price for that (since rectified).
Anyway, topic is the the X Mid. I'm very happy. Exceeded all expectations and is far more robust than the weight and feel suggest. Chucked in a gratuitous WAT image.

[dandurston]

Thanks for the kind words about the tent - that is an intense looking trip!

If you do want us to repair it, people from Aus can usually ship a tent back via Aus Post for about $25. If you want to do this please reach out for instructions. For the repair patches, we have more in production but it'll be about 2 months. Zpacks has DCF repair supplies in the same 'spruce green' color.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Got my X-Dome last week. Will be testing it out over the next few days.
Initial thoughts are great. It's a lot bigger than even the videos show. Easy to set up and nice and light.
A touch concerned about the carbon poles, but time will tell there.

Cheers Dan for the quality product for the price.

P.S as an aside, I ordered the ground sheet a week after I ordered the tent in October but must have caught the wrong end of the Canadian postal strike.
I appreciate it's hard to predict but any idea when that will end and you'll be able to ship the groundsheet out to me??

Cheers.

[dandurston]

Glad the first impressions are good. Our postal strike is finally ending tomorrow. We have a large backlog of small items to send out, but we are aiming to get them shipped this week.