Customer Reviews

Kelty Grand Mesa 6-Person Tent (Ruby/Tan)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bought this tent for occasional car camping.
Really happy with it, the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I think it is a bit if a reach to call it a 6 person tent. Yes, you probably could put 6 people - alternating head to toe and sideways (as shown in the enclosed instruction book) but I would say 3 and a bit of gear would be comfortable. Also, Kelty does not do themselves any favors with the packaging - the box this tent comes in has a picture of a much smaller tent (their 2 or maybe 4 person) and I was really nervous about what I had purchased until I assembled it for the first time.

Apart from that, very happy with the tent. Putting it up is an absolute snap. My 9 year old son and I had it up in less than ten minutes. I can even put it up by myself if need be. The two poles are made of beefy aluminum with pre-set curvature. The tent and rain-fly design is a bit different from most other tents but worked out great. The rain fly basically covers the entire tent and creates a front, enclosed vestibule. Essentially, you end up with a tent inside a tent. During our trip it rained virtually non-stop for 36 hours - and I mean rained hard! With high winds as well. The tent was the only refuge from the storm and stayed dry the whole time (we did not do any sort of seam sealing either). We didn't get a chance to experience a night without the rain fly but imagine it would be pretty comfortable on even a very warm night as there is alot of screen area for air flow and ventilation. The stakes that come with this tent are a relatively sturdy looking steel (better than most that you see). Would definitely recommend this to a friend.

Nice tent, good quality, easy to set up and actually fits back into its stuff sack. My only gripe is the tent should have stake grommets or loops mid point at the bottom of both sides and perhaps the back (where the side and rear panels are seamed with the floor). With stakes only at each of the four corners, the side and rear panels sag a bit, and the floor is not tight. The easiest way to explain it is: Imagine yourself IN the tent - you can reach down at the seam between the floor and side or rear panels and literally pull the fabric in about a foot. This makes for a non-tight floor. Fortunately, I knew about Sierra tent guyout clips, and with those the tent is close to perfect. Minor gripe, I suppose, but a few pennies for three stake loops (each side and the back) would have been a good design idea.

We bought this tent for our family of 5 and it has been great. It has a large vestibule and is very quick and easy to set up. The tent is lightweight and the aluminum poles are light and strong.

I've picked this tent to have a very roomy tent for camping with simple layout. I don't like the heavy and squishy fiberglass poles. The poles here are made of thick aluminum and hold the tent nicely. The tent can be set up fairly quickly, even by one person (5'10"). The rubber bands in the poles lost their strength after about a year of use, even though I was careful to dry everything after each trip. This should be easily fixed though. The quality of the cloth is marginal (thin, cheap) and it has too much mesh on the inner tent for our taste. There is always some draft even in low wind, as it is not possible to close the outer tent well. We used the tent a lot for winter camping in Arizona and New Mexico. The tent warms up well in the sun, but it gets very cold at night. We tried heating it (heater, stove, light), but while the other el cheapo tent it replaced or my winter mountaineering tent would feel like a sauna, heating is hardly noticeable in this tent. The warm air goes straight out through the mesh and 3 vents that can't be closed. It basically feels a lot like a big tarp.

For summer use good, but for California coastal fog or fall/winter use go somewhere else.

I bought this tent to go family camping with my wife (we have dogs, so we needed a slightly bigger tent). I took the tent on RAGBRAI, a 7 day bike ride across the state of Iowa. I actually used the tent 8 times: we had violent thunder storms on four nights. The tent was stable and waterproof. It is a snap to set up and take down and it packs up easily in the included bag. Best of all, when you have a bit of sunlight, the tent dries out in minutes. I am 6 feet tall, so I also enjoy being able to stand up fully inside.
Two things to note:
1.) a lot of the stability comes from making sure that the rain fly is staked out and is tight. In a trial campout before RAGBRAI, I didn't have it staked out tight and it wasn't as stable in a storm that came through.
2.) the included stakes are really bad. I bought some MSR Groundhog stakes and they worked very well.
I love this tent.

Bought this for family campouts and it was wonderful. Took about 20 min the first time to set up but now I'm down to 10 minutes including putting on the rain guard. If no rain guard then its a 5 minute set up. Without rain guard, tent is very breezy so its wonderful on hot nights. Its a lot warmer with the rainguard on. Strongly recommend this tent for family of 4-5 camping. Ample room! Enjoy

I've had this tent for a year now. Logged 26 nights of camping as a Scoutmaster for a Troop in Illinois. I use this tent March through November and it is by far the best tent I've ever owned. It is extremely easy to set-up, roomy, and can definitely stand-up to some pretty harsh rain and wind. This tent has not leaked once since I've owned it. I waited a few months watching the price of this tent and actually picked it up new for $125. I highly rcommend this tent!

This is one of the best tents I have owned for the cheap price. We went camping in Northern Wisconsin this May 2011 and it performed perfectly. We experienced rain both nights, all night. No water entered the ten from anywhere. The second night we had an extreme thunder storm with high winds. NO water entry. The key to this tent is that it has an open concept on the main tent. In addition, it has a full fly that covers the tent for full protection. The fly has clip and pull so it's easy to get tight. The tent sets up in about ten minutes if you take your time and like perfection. The poles area aluminum and are smooth after you connect them, so no more hang ups on the tent when putting the poles through. The only cons I have is the poles are really long after you get them together, so feeding them is almost a two person job. I also had a hard time hanging and cleaning the 6-man version because the tent is so big. I stand 5'10" and I still was not touching the top. We used this tent on a backpacking trip and it's light and HUGE. Perfect buy for the price can easily fit 4 170 lb adults. BUY THE IMPRINT.LATERZ

I'm no die hard camper and only have a couple of crappy, cheap-o tents to compare it to, but this tent is awesome. Used it during two mission trips to Haiti. "Camped" out on a flat, concrete rooftop for two weeks each trip, so had no way to properly anchor the tent or string out all the lines for the rain fly. We were able to sort of tie down to cinder blocks, exposed rebar and other stuff. Even so, after several days of non-stop rain and wind we didn't have a single leak. We bought the footprint which turned out to be a good idea. We ended up with a puddle under us most of the time, but only a very tiny bit of water ever seeped through the floor. How many people you can fit depends on how much gear you need to keep out of the elements. In our case there were just two of us but we had enough gear to equal at least 3 more bodies. Head room is wonderful - I'm 6'1" and loved being able to stand up straight and roam around without crouching over. Two-pole design is quick and easy to put up and take down. Compacts nicely when storing. We had to keep the fly on almost the entire time, so I can't really speak to the ventilation issue, but with all those big screens, it's got to be fine. We'll wait and see how well it ages, but right now I can say it's the only tent I'll ever own.

This tent is a breeze to set up and only took a few minutes. The aluminum poles are nice & sturdy. The tent itself is roomy for my wife, me, our 3 young children, and several duffle bags of clean clothes. The window design allows great ventilation and allows you to look up at the sky at night. The two wall pockets are also a great feature to hold personal items, flashlights, etc. The floor rolls up about 4-6 inches onto the wall to eliminate leaks. Door zipper is excellent with no gaps. The fly covers the entire tent so no rain gets in yet allows excellent ventilation.

The ONLY knock on this tent is the wall lengths are long and since there aren't brailing loops/stakes midpoint along the walls between the corner brailing loops/stakes, the walls sag inward a little bit. I would've gladly paid the extra money for the 4 brailing loops and stakes. Other than that, the tent is perfect. Ensure you purchase the footprint as well.