Best trekking-pole shelter

Durston X-Mid 2

Name: Durston X-Mid 2
Brand: Durston

Durston · Mid · About 2 lb

A double-wall, two-pole tent with a large floor for the weight, if your campsites take stakes.

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The X-Mid 2 is the trekking-pole tent to put next to the Copper Spur UL2, not a lighter copy of it. Two poles you already carry hold a double-wall tent with a large floor for the weight, and pitching the fly first keeps the inner drier in rain. It is not freestanding. On a wooden platform or a slab where stakes will not bite, it will not stand, and that is the limitation that matters. Pitch it in a yard before a trip so the first storm is not the lesson. It is also not a DCF tent, which is why it stays in a saner price band than single-wall cuben shelters. If you do not carry poles, or you camp on established platforms, start with the Copper Spur and accept the extra ounces.

Who should buy it. Backpackers who use trekking poles and camp on soil, not picnic platforms.

Best for. Hikers who already carry two poles

Standout limitation. Needs stakes and a practiced pitch