I posted a review of my original Otter XTH Resort a couple years ago, so I figured I'd post my impressions of my new Otter XTH Pro that I received yesterday. My initial impressions are MUCH better than they were for the regular XTH. Practically everything is improved on this new XTH Pro lineup. The new XTH Pro is what the original XTH should have been in the first place. This is a much more thought-out hub shanty than the original. I don't think there's a better pop-up style hub on the market now, especially for the $400-ish price that it seems to be going for everywhere.
Here's a list of the improvements that I noticed in the 10 minutes that I had it setup:
- Bag is better quality and material. The first bag I had on my original XTH had the seam pull apart basically the first time I used it. Otter replaced that bag, but it's not as heavy-duty as the new XTH Pro bag.
- Door Zippers are straight and less prone to get caught vs the curved door zippers on the original XTH. They can still be difficult to zip because the fabric is very tight. I put some Boeshield T-9 on them to help them glide better, so we'll see if this helps. The zippers were one of my main complaints about the Gen 1 XTH, and they've been improved.
- They provide 12 ice anchors with the XTH Pro, I think there were only 8 with the original XTH, but I may be mistaken on this. The anchor bag is bigger on the XTH Pro, so they definitely provide more ice anchors, I'm just not sure how
many more there are now.
- They provide nylon webbing straps to anchor the hubs with on the XTH Pro. The original XTH just came with cheap a paracord that I had to tie on to each hub myself. I complained about the cheap string in my original XTH review on here, so thank's for the improvement Otter!
- The XTH Pro has additional straps to anchor the skirt down, you can see in the marketing pictures that they're about a foot or so up the walls. These should help better anchor the shanty in high wind. The original XTH did not have these.
- The skirt on the XTH Pro is much bigger than the original XTH. It will make banking snow much easier and more effective at blocking out the wind.
- The XTH Pro has a nylon webbing strap with an alligator clip (?) to sinch the shanty when you're ready to put it back in the bag. The original XTH had a big velcro strap. I'm not sure which works better, I'm just going to use two 1" ratchet straps to sinch it all down with anyway.
...moving to the inside...
- The window placement on the XTH Pro is much better. You're able to easily see outside while sitting on a chair. The original XTH had all of the windows up higher, so you had to stand to look out.
- There are a couple additional inside pockets, which are also bigger than the pockets on the original XTH. There are also numerous smaller pockets on the XTH Pro to hold pliers, rods, etc.
- The XTH Pro has 2 mesh cargo nets up top to hold your gloves, hat, or whatever else. The original XTH did not have these. I actually posted about where I could find them for my original XTH on here a while ago...is Otter reading my posts??
- The XTH Pro has two small velcro doors near the base of the shanty to run your propane hose through. I don't beleive the original XTH had these.
*I'll post some pics of it setup after I use it this weekend.*
