Durston X-Dome 2

[FuddRucker]

Looking forward to all the first impressions!

 

[StuckoYota99]

I'm also interested to see how this stacks up next to the Nemo dragonfly and BA copper spur

 

[rookieforever33]

Got my x dome 2 last week and finally had time to set it up. Due to my schedule and weather I had to set it up in my basement. I like to let anything I purchase to air out or go through the laundry before I use them.
I watched the set up vidoes before I ordered it , and purposefully did not watch them now. It took me longer to straighten out which end was which and inside or outside than set up. From opening the box to set up was 24 minutes. It took me at least 5 to figure out to set up the fly before clipping in the inner. Now that it is clipped in I am confident the set up next time will be 10 minutes or so and get faster after that.
Even though I cant stake this down in my basement I am very happy how sturdy this stands. The inner floor is a little loose and I dont think stakes will change that much. Two of my pictures show the strings attaching the inner to stake out points. There are no adjusters. The longer string that is in the vestibule has a loop I may try and put a stake into if the loose floor bothers me but it does not appear to be designed this way.
I can see how initial users were pulling the ends out of the poles when taking the tent down. If you dont have them straight they are held firmly in the slots. Durston claims to have them in better now and I am aware so I hopefully wont have that issue.
The vent seems perfect as it sits tight when closed, and has ample overlap when closed. It cannot be open or closed through the liner. Hopefully the wind doesn't shift on a rainy night when its open.
The doors and zippers are very functional and well placed. As well as storage pouches and a few loops inside the tent. Plenty of height for me on my pad to sit up and get dressed. Im 6 ft and had plenty of room for my pad and bag without touching any walls while right in the middle. The vestibules are big enough for gear and entry/exit. Possibly a little tight if you need to leave the door closed to heat up some food or water. Nobody really designs tents do that or wants to do that anyway. Im glad I got this rather than the 1 person version. The extra space to blow up my bag and move around is welcome. A palace for me and my dog and could be a cozy 2 person tent if needed. The extra vestibule over the 1p will add a ton of usable space in real world usage.
Sorry its such a long winded write up considering I haven't even slept in it. I know there has been a decent amount of hype and wanted to share my first impressions for people that are considering this or the 1p version.
Full disclosure this is my first fly first, double wall tent. Maybe these issues are inherent with all models without other compromises.
My overall first impression is this tent came to me exactly as advertised. The materials are light yet seem durable. The design is efficient and makes great use of available space. The price seemed a good value compared to similar tents in this range so very happy with my purchase.

 

[Hank101]

Good write-up! If you didn't have a dog, would you go for the 1+ x-dome? I have heard the 1+ does better in the wind. I am looking at using this tent for elk hunting.

 

[rookieforever33]

Im glad I went with 2p dog or not. I will not be doing a ton of long range backpack hunts that the extra size or weight matter. Getting inside today and blowing up my pad to try it out I can tell I appreciate space. I also like the idea of having room if I camp with my nephew. Or if out on a hunt with a buddy and his tent fails. Im pretty sure with the 1p a majority of my gear would be inside the tent as a pair of boots or a pack would fill the vestibule. It would also make entry/exit in the rain a "rain in the tent" situation for sure. There is not a ton of fly coverage right in the middle. It will be an angled entry in rainy conditions.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Thanks for the write-up @rookieforever33!

 

[coldsoup]

Awesome write-up. Really looking forward to getting my own Dome.

 

[Cannonball]

I ended up cancelling my X-Dome 2 order and going with a TarpTent Triple Rainbow. https://www.tarptent.com/product/triple-rainbow-dw/ Same footprint and weight as the Durston, but had a larger interior square footage with it being rectangular instead of the slanted mid arrangement. My thought is that I could then use it for both a roomy 2p tent for hunts with my brother in law, but also have room for backpacking trips with my 2 girls.

 

[rookieforever33]

Finally got to spend a couple nights in my x dome 2. Not very much wind but lived through a pretty good downpour for over an hour. Nothing came through the vents that were wide open. Plenty of room with just me on my pad corner to corner. No touching the walls, I am 6'. No condensation on the floor which was great considering the rain and swampy temp/humidity camping by a river in a valley. Climbing in during the rain it was hard to sit in the tent and take my boots off in the vestibule. I had to zip the door all the way down which made my boots rub the outer door fabric pretty hard when removing them.
Overall it worked great. Plenty of room to sit up, kneel, stretch, and store my stuff inside rather than the vestibule. Win #1

 

[stephane]

@rookieforever33 how has the tent been for your over the hunting season so far? I’ve got a Xmid 2 but I’m getting tired of dealing with trying to pitch it properly. Depending on the spot I’m setting up in, it can be a pain to get it staked out properly to end up with the inner properly situated. Thinking of moving to N xdome for next year.

 

[rookieforever33]

No tags that require a tent this year unfortunately. Ive only spent a couple more nights in it shortly after the last update. I added some colored tape to the X pole corners, and corresponding tent corners so it made setting up much quicker. No futzing around turning it 90 degrees like I needed to once or twice before the colors. Very happy with the room inside. It didnt rain on my next outing so the small vestibule wasnt an issue. Actually had one open the whole time. The magnets to hold it open are not perfect, but better than messing with clips or bungees. Overall happy so far. Setting up and taking down are a breeze. I leave the inner and outer together and just stuff it in the sack.

 

[Hirvikka]

Used this on a elk backpacking hunt this fall. Spacious inside and enough vestibule space, too. Very happy with the purchase.

 

[bliner]

My dad was visiting last week, and he's on the search for a new tent after leaving his at a hotel in Anchorage before flying out. We were looking hard at the X-Dome 2, and then came across the Sling Fin Portal 2. It looks like a great tent, although more expensive than the Durston.

Portal 2

The Portal 2 is our ultralight, freestanding 2-person tent for any kind of adventure you can dream up.

www.slingfin.com

 

[MountainTracker]

My dad was visiting last week, and he's on the search for a new tent after leaving his at a hotel in Anchorage before flying out. We were looking hard at the X-Dome 2, and then came across the Sling Fin Portal 2. It looks like a great tent, although more expensive than the Durston.

Portal 2

The Portal 2 is our ultralight, freestanding 2-person tent for any kind of adventure you can dream up.

www.slingfin.com

The sling fin portal is the same as the stone glacier skyscraper 2p. It’s a good tent the only thing I hate about it is that it is not a fly first tent, and it weighs a bit more than the x-dome 2. I aka have the x-dome 1+.


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[MT_Wyatt]

The sling fin portal is the same as the stone glacier skyscraper 2p. It’s a good tent the only thing I hate about it is that it is not a fly first tent, and it weighs a bit more than the x-dome 2. I aka have the x-dome 1+.


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The portal is slingfin’s design for traditional 3-season with increased strength. The crossbow (4 season) is the SG skyscraper.

 

[MountainTracker]

The portal is slingfin’s design for traditional 3-season with increased strength. The crossbow (4 season) is the SG skyscraper.

Fair enough looks like the same thing without the wedtruss which can be done with the SG. Still not fly first, which is pretty slick in wet weather. I was able to setup my SG by laying it all out and then adding a small zip tie at all the corners so I could set it up all at the same time, basically getting the fly first effect. I have to slide the poles between the fly and body. It works but not as easily as the Durston . I will say I appreciate the aluminum poles with the SG vs the Durston. I’m going to be ordering the aluminum for the Durston before next season to give it a try.

Some photos of what I did to the SG.






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[MT_Wyatt]

Fair enough looks like the same thing without the wedtruss which can be done with the SG. Still not fly first, which is pretty slick in wet weather. I was able to setup my SG by laying it all out and then adding a small zip tie at all the corners so I could set it up all at the same time, basically getting the fly first effect. I have to slide the poles between the fly and body. It works but not as easily as the Durston . I will say I appreciate the aluminum poles with the SG vs the Durston. I’m going to be ordering the aluminum for the Durston before next season to give it a try.

Some photos of what I did to the SG.

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This does work but I agree, it’s hard to pull off cleanly, have done it a few times. The hardest is the crossing pole at the top, but it works. Having owned both styles of tents intends to prefer poles on the outside, but the skyscraper is incredibly bomber with the web truss and inner guy lines. Certainly one of my favorite dome style shelters - the vertical room inside and length make it extremely livable.

 

[doc holiday13]

I recently discovered Durston Tents and they have a really cool concept of "Fly Up First" so you can put up the rain fly and then the tent. The X Dome 2 looks perfect for camping with a buddy without sleeping on each other. I'd say its a true 2 person tent as opposed to traditional 2 person tents being 1 person tents and a 3 person tent being a 2 person tent.

I'll have to keep this on my radar if I migrate back to tent camping

 

[MountainTracker]

This does work but I agree, it’s hard to pull off cleanly, have done it a few times. The hardest is the crossing pole at the top, but it works. Having owned both styles of tents intends to prefer poles on the outside, but the skyscraper is incredibly bomber with the web truss and inner guy lines. Certainly one of my favorite dome style shelters - the vertical room inside and length make it extremely livable.

I agree it’s a very capable solid tent with tons of room. I haven’t had to use the trekking pole option on the Durston, but have on the SG and it’s nice feature to have.


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