8 Problems with the Durston X-Dome 1+ Tent You Need To Know

Today we're going to be looking at everything wrong with the Dursten X Dome tent. Don't get me wrong, I love this

tent. Don't get me wrong, I love this tent and I used it on my recent 10day Wabak Kimmy wilderness canoe trip in the Canadian back country. This tent has a very clever design with some unique

ideas and it's a really important part of my kit. But after spending some time with it, I found a few issues that you need to know before buying it. Now, I

know that Dan and the team at Dustin are always innovating, so I hope this list is useful to help them drive the direction of this tent.

Before we even get set up, I want to talk about the poles. And inside this pole pack, there are some extremely sharp, very, very big Y branches that

are used as part of the poles. And the

shape of these mean that it's very very difficult to actually pack the poles in with the tent or to store the the poles inside your kit. I think a much better

design would be to have metal clasps on the end of these poles and then they could slot into holes inside slightly larger circular rings. They just don't

feel like they're part of the overall design ethos where everything else is so sleek and well thought through. And then

you've got these sticky out bits. But

these poles are starting to I want to use the word fray. I can see micro cracks forming

fray. I can see micro cracks forming along these joints obviously from where they've been slid together.

[Music] So my next issue concerns these spreader bars which are very tight. Now I have tried with this pole structure on the

top and on the bottom and it's very tight in both cases. It just feels like that this is a point of weakness for the tent. It's going to rip. It's going to

tent. It's going to rip. It's going to break at one of these points because you really have to yank it to get them in.

just a few millm of extra thickness or of extra width here or um less width in the actual uh poles themselves is going to make that significantly easier.

During the setup of the tent, I didn't record this setup intending to show you, but it did demonstrate another problem, which is as you're setting it up, occasionally one of the pole ends pops

out where you've already attached it, and you have to go around and do it again. Now, I'm very aware there's been

again. Now, I'm very aware there's been feedback from the early versions of this tent of people complaining that the pole clips in the feet are too difficult to get in and to get out, and they've made

them slightly easier. And now, of course, they fall out. Sometimes you

just can't win, can you?

Next, there are no guidelines supplied with the tent. For a tent in this price range, that seems quite surprising to me. Guidelines are essential for

me. Guidelines are essential for stability in windy conditions, and this tent markets itself on stormworthiness.

It means you have to buy your own as soon as you get it, as you can see I've done with these 1980s high viz sty acid house guidelines.

Now, let's take a look inside the tent at one of the things that I found quite irritating uh when I first got it.

Namely, the fact that the inner is very loose and baggy when it's attached correctly to the outer. Look at how baggy

this string here that goes along here, which pulls the inner to that corner. I

actually had to to tighten that on arrival because it was incredibly loose.

I've had to add an extra knot or two into it in order to tighten it. It just

suggests there's something wrong either with the QC processes for these tents when they're released. I don't know whether other tents suffer from this same problem or perhaps it's just a design problem. Uh but it just seems

design problem. Uh but it just seems very odd that it would be so baggy when it's such a simple fix.

Now, I also have the optional footprint.

I've got that in order to protect the tent base because the actual ground sheet seems like a very very thin material. But the optional footprint

material. But the optional footprint itself somehow isn't the same size as the inner. Have a look. You can see it

the inner. Have a look. You can see it doesn't cover the majority and it itself is very very baggy.

The wide end seems perfectly adequately fitted but the narrow I must have this on wrong. I know what you're thinking.

on wrong. I know what you're thinking.

And you're thinking the idiots put it on wrong. He's put it on upside down. So

wrong. He's put it on upside down. So

I've just flipped it around thinking maybe I have have done that because it's so ridiculously wrong. Then surely there must be something wrong. And as it's an asymmetric design, then maybe that would

explain the problem. But no, we still have the same problem. A very baggy inner a weirdly baggy footprint.

I can think of no reason why that should be shouldn't be tight.

You can see I've got the logo facing up, which I assume is the right way. There

is a question over where these attachments go, but I can't think they would go anywhere other than than here. Next, we need to look at the floor material itself. Now,

I know and I understand that this is a lightweight tent, and that means some compromises need to be made with some of the strength of the materials, but the

tent floor feels very weak. That's why I bought the ground sheet that also feels very thin, but fine. There's two thin layers. But the tent floor itself,

layers. But the tent floor itself, I'm pretty sure that's going to rip very very easily when it comes into contact with something sharp like some brambles or or equivalent.

So now I want you to imagine you've got yourself into camp. You've got set up.

You've looked at the skies. They're

crystal clear blue skies. You check the forecast. 0% chance of rain all night

forecast. 0% chance of rain all night and you think, I know what I want to do.

I want to set the tent up in stargazer mode. Immediately, you have problems.

mode. Immediately, you have problems. The main issue that we've got is to convert this tent into stargazer mode is more work than putting it up in the

first place. Because the poles are on

first place. Because the poles are on the outside of the outer and the inner is clipped into the outer, the first thing we've got to do is uncip the entire inner from the outer. Then we can

remove the outer. Then we can put the um uh the tent up in stargazer mode. It is

quite a faf in order to do it. And I

hope you enjoy watching me do this in time lapse mode. This pole,

it's definitely easy for somebody to trip up on. Very easy to miss it if you're actually using this stargazer mode.

So, full disclosure, we are now the next day and for the final issue, we're going to talk about the inner and the outer touching and condensation coming into the tent. Now, I wasn't going to include

the tent. Now, I wasn't going to include this issue. I had seen it on other

this issue. I had seen it on other YouTubers videos when they were looking at issues and problems with the tent, but I'd not had this as a problem, so I decided not to include it when I first

filmed the video. However, having spent a night in it last night, for some reason, I've got the issue. I suspect

maybe I've always had the issue, but I'm in a higher humidity environment. It's

very very wet in the woods today. So

perhaps that is the reason for for getting it. But let's take a quick look.

getting it. But let's take a quick look.

So you can see on my sleeping bag, we have a wet patch. Now this comes I don't know whether this comes out on the camera, but this morning when I woke up,

the inner and the outer were stuck together. I also had the issue at the

together. I also had the issue at the foot end. You may be able to see that

foot end. You may be able to see that this is uh wetter and these two were touching cuz my feet were pushed backwards.

Because of the lay of the land, I had my head uh up at the thin end. Maybe that

is part of the issue. There are a couple of things that I would do to fix for this. First of all, next time uh I feel

this. First of all, next time uh I feel like I'm in a high humidity environment and I'm likely to have the issue, I'm going to make sure that I pull my bedding away from that outer edge.

Secondly, I'm going to try and make sure I've got my head at the wide end rather than at the thin end. I think having my head at the thin end may have caused a small problem. There is a slight incline

small problem. There is a slight incline and maybe that has slid me down and into the end, which is why my foot box got slightly wet.

It's also worth adding I received this tent in July 2025 and I'm aware that there were other manufacturing issues in earlier versions of this tent, especially with the pole inserts. I've

had none of these issues and consider them fixed in the version that I received. Although I have got that

received. Although I have got that frame, I've done two of these everything wrong videos. I've also got one on the

wrong videos. I've also got one on the Emok drama hammock. So check that out if you're interested. I only conduct this

you're interested. I only conduct this sort of indepth video when it's on a product that I know very well. And all

of these products and every product that I've covered on my channel I bought with my own money so I'm not remotely influenced. So that's my list.

influenced. So that's my list.

Everything wrong with Durent X dome guy ropes tight poles sharp connectors in practical stargazer mode. Nothing

changes the fact that this is an innovative tent and without doubt one of the best tents in the market. But these

are a few issues you should be aware of before deciding if it's right for you.

So, what do you think? Do you think these problems put you off, or are they easy workarounds for an otherwise smart design? Let me know in the comments if

design? Let me know in the comments if I've missed anything off. And don't

forget to subscribe for more honest gear reviews and backcountry adventures.

Thanks for watching. I'll catch you on the next one.