 Strong, Durable, Easy to setup, NO leaking! |
| Review Date: August 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Happy Squishy, IA |
I was debating between Kelty Teton 2 and Kelty Mesa 2 for a while. Although Mesa seems very popular from a lot of websites, I like the door opens on the side and I went with Teton. The day I got my new tent, I set it up on the deck and it was extremely easy. I took down the rain fly and sealed the bottom seam as other reviews recommended. Since it takes 4 to 6 hours to dry, I did not take it inside before I went to bed. Then it rained of course. I woke up in the morning cursing the weather and myself. But I was pleased to see how watertight this tent is. It held the water like a swimming pool and The deck under the tent was totally dry. I had to flip the tent over to dump the water out. So far I have not camped in the rain. But I am very confident I will stay dry in the rain with this tent. Taking down the tent was extremely easy too. I absolutely love the design of the hooks, you can almost just twist it then you got it off.
My only complaint is the stakes. They are easy to bend. But I will still give it 5 stars because I would not buy a different tent even if I had known and I can always replace the stakes.
Teton 2 V.S. Grand Mesa 2:
1. The door: Teton's door opens on the side; Grand Mesa's door opens at the head so you have to crawl in. I guess I like the door opens on the side because I really use the tent as a one person tent. If you need to fit two people in the tent, the door opens at the head makes more sense. But I really doubt anyone will use it as a two person tent, it would be too crowded.
2. The rain fly: Teton's rain fly does not cover the entire tent as you can see from the pictures, that's why you have to seal the exposed bottom seam; Grand Mesa's rain fly covers the entire tent, you don't have to seal any seam. Grand Mesa also has a small window on the rain fly for good ventilation.
3. The weight: Teton is 0.3 lb lighter than Grand Mesa.
4. The vestibule: Teton has bigger vestibule than Grand Mesa.
The floor size are very similar between Teton and Grand Mesa. It depends on what is more important to you if you are debating between those two. Will you use it as a one-person tent or two-person tent? You really want a full coverage rain fly with the price of carrying a little more weight? Or you want a little bigger Vestibule? |
Nice tent for one person
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| Review Date: January 30, 2010 |
| Reviewer: R. Phelps, |
Bought this tent for a motorcycle trip to the hills of SE Ohio, camped in a State park and of course, got dumped on for two days. The tent and I stayed dry on the inside and had enough room to store my gear, although a 3 man may have been nicer, I'm sure.
The rain fly doesn't go the ground so I had to wash off splattered mud off of the tent as well as the fly, but the tent material didn't leak.
Setup was simple, straightforward and only took a couple of minutes. The aluminum poles feel solid and are shock corded.
The hanging net storage area comes in handy for a flashlight and whatever you may need in the middle of the night.
The biggest con I can think of is that the vestibule doesn't extend to the ground and anything I stored there was covered in splattered mud.
Overall I'm satisfied with it. |
tents
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| Review Date: June 1, 2010 |
| Reviewer: William B. Ashton, San Antonio, TX |
| Easy to erect; right size for one plus equipment; easy to repack. Went thru heavy downpour with no problems. Quick delivery. |
Really an oversized one person tent
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| Review Date: September 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: James, SW Michigan, USA |
| I used this tent for three days on the Knobstone Trail in Southern Indiana. During the rain (and there was lots of it), it was leak-proof. Lots of room for one person and a backpack. The vestibule is good for shielding a pair of boots only... not large. The only thing I would say is that you should be sure to seam seal the vertical seams from the bathtub bottom to the tent body. Actually, I always seam seal all the seams in a new tent. Easy set-up and dry. This is a winner for a light (marginally two person) tent. |
It performed exactly as expected.
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| Review Date: August 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Matt Keaton, Charleston, WV |
I just returned from a 6-day/5-night camping trip and this is the tent I used. I did quite a bit of research before making my purchase and these were the requirements of what I was looking for in a tent:
1.) reasonably priced
2.) well made (duh--but you know what I'm talking about...something that doesn't rival one of those CHEAP 30-dollar wannabe-tents from Target and other places)
3.) easily assembled by one person--and quickly
4.) small and light
5.) could manage under high winds and torrential downpours.
Well, after whittling down my list of possible tents, this is the one that remained. Here's why I'm happy with my choice:
-At $100 (understandably, a steep price for some), for those that know that a cheap tent is nearly as bad as no tent at all, this was definitely a price that was reasonable.
-Many seams on the tent and rainfly had a pretty nice factory seal and the stitching seems tight and strong. The tent has excellent ventilation with much of the tent comprised of the fine, breathable mesh allowing air to easily come in and out.
-Excellent design for one man assembly. There are no annoying sleeves to slide the two press-fit poles through; they simply and sturdily attach to clips lining down to the four corners of the tent. I was able to set everything up within 5 minutes.
-While this can be used for two people, it would be cramped (31-sqft). It is perfect for one person and the extra gear (The previous reviewer's comment on the paltry vestibule was spot-on). The tent barely weighs over 4 lbs. which is outstanding!! In fact, on my final day right before tear-down, when I picked up the entire assembled tent to carry to another spot so it could dry in the sunlight, I was amazed at how virtually weightless it seemed to be.
-Two of the days and nights were clear with lots of sun of stars. The others were filled with a windy lightning storm--a slow, long and perpetually annoying drizzle--and a few unrelenting downpours. The tent held up extremely well allowing only a small amount of water in at the corners...which was entirely my fault (See below).
I'm very pleased with this purchase. For the purposes of my trip, viz., solo, weeklong camping--where weight, quality, and price were the major concerns--if there is a better tent out there, its existence must have snuck past me. I'm planning an anniversary backpacking trip for next spring for me and the wife, so a new tent will be necessary (for which price will become less of a factor and where ultimate quality will be of paramount importance); however, for everything else involving just me, this will definitely be my tent of choice.
A few suggestions if purchasing the Teton 2. I would strongly advise purchasing the special Kelty Teton 2 footprint along with the tent. While $30 may seem like a very expensive accessory (maybe this is why the previous reviewer opted not to purchase it), it was a tremendous improvement on other materials I've used in the past under previous tents. It will protect your tent floor against minor damage as well as keeping it dry--and because it is specially made for this tent, it is extremely light (easily packs with the rest of the tent) and you never see it when the tent is set up (as opposed to using annoying and heavy tarps). Finally, a word on seam sealing. While all of the seams on the rainfly are adequately sealed and a few on the actual tent, the seam connecting the floor to the rest of the tent MUST BE SEALED!! I recommend using Seam Grip made by McNett (others more experienced than me have spoken of simply using silicone mixed with mineral spirits)...but the one thing I ignorantly failed to do was completely seal the vertical seams of the four corners--which led to a little water seeping in at the corners during heavy rain. If one seals the tent properly, however, the first time, the tent should keep all water out. |
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