Durston X-Mid 2 vs Platypus QuickDraw

“I have an x mid 2. It’s a fine tent. Not great, not even close. Just…ok/fine and here’s why. There are quality issues with Durston products. The linelocks on my tent don’t stay taught in even the lightest breeze - they snap and ruin the pitch. I had to stack a ton of rocks on it to keep them from snapping and releasing tension. Doing so caused core shots in the line after night 3 of using the tent. I find the x mid to be a pain to pitch in anything but perfect conditions because of this. People say it’s faster, but in anything but perfect conditions I disagree. I will agree that it’s faster to take down though.  Durston was responsive which is great - but so are a lot of other companies (big angnes comes to mind). They refunded my iron wire purchase and had me replace the stake out points myself. And it works better, but I still have the same problem from time to time.  The Xmid has cool features and in perfect conditions is great, but rarely are conditions perfect. Overall I’m mildly disappointed - based on hype, reputation, and following I expected a product that didn’t break immediately.  Otherwise the tradeoffs in features (not including weight) were minimal for me (my other tent is a copper spur). A little less headroom/storage but that doesn’t really bother me cuz there are other features I like about the Xmid (magnets, zippers).  Not disappointed there, for me it was all about lack of quality.  With that being said, I’ll still use the tent when every ounce counts, but it definitely isn’t close to being my favorite piece of gear. My copper spur is a workhorse and I like it better because it’s reliable and able to be pitched wherever however. But I don’t always want/need to haul the weight around. FWIW I take the tent for the conditions I’m in and the trip I’m having.”

“Yesterday bought a new Platypus Quickdraw, and it failed the integrity check out of the box, even after filtering several liters of water. I was going to take it back today, after hearing all the stories of them failing out of the box. But I wondered if maybe it was the kind of thing where when it's brand new, air just gets trapped in some of the micro tubes, and because a new one filters so fast there's not enough pressure to force the water into every part of it I wondered if letting it sort of soak over night would help. So I filtered a bit, capped both ends, and let it sit till morning, and now it passes the integrity check! Worth a try if you have one that fails out of the box.”