Customer Reviews

Kelty Shadehouse

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

 

 

I've used Kelty backpacking gear for many years and have never had a complaint. Unfortunately, the Shadehouse fails to live up to Kelty's usual high standard.

The shelter can not be easily assembled by a single person (I spent well over a half hour before giving up and calling my wife to help). The shock cords holding the transverse tubes together are too weak and the poles constantly come apart. There are four straps included that are not mentioned in the assembly directions but that are absolutely necessary for setup; you are left to decide how to use them yourself. The plastic corner hubs are loose fitting allowing the poles to spring out anytime they are not under tension. To tension the canopy you have to pull the corner straps and your hands get in the way of the gromets. Tensioning the canopy causes the fabric to catch the poles and often results in disconnecting the sections. The photos show a nice high walk through shelter, the reality is a short squatty structure where the poles have to be placed under extreme tension to make it tall enough for my 5'6" height (if you are 6', give it up).

Thankfully, not everything is bad. Once set up it is a good looking shelter that sheds light rain well and stands up to a pretty stiff breeze. There are 12 aluminum anchor pins supplied, three for each corner, and tie-down guy lines with figure 9 clips that work well. The weight is slightly over 10 pounds or about 1/6th the weight of one of the popular pop-up shelters. The whole thing fits into a carry bag about 20" long with room to spare.

If your focus is a shelter for a few days at the beach or on the mountain and you don't want to carry the house with you, this shelter will work well. If you need fast easy set up for a couple of hours at the track, keep looking.

I bought this shade at a local REI store after seeing how big and sturdy it is. I had talked to the sales guy for several minutes asking about pros and cons and different alternatives to the shadehouse but ultimately decided on this one for two reasons, it's fairly light weight but at the same time offers generous shade. I was worried however about how difficult it would be to set it up so the sales guy walked me through the setup process. A lady standing beside me was also interested but immediately crossed it off her list when she saw how much force you had to put to get some of the parts together. So like other reviews state, this thing does take a bit of muscle to assemble and it is a two person job. I had originally tried to assemble the thing alone but like another reviewer had to call the wife in to help.

Once the thing is set up it is very sturdy and offers a great amount of shade. You can set a cooler or heavy items on the nylon cords that attach the legs together to help anchor the thing down. The medium size is advertised to be 74" but found that this was only true at the entrance, while at the center it was more like 70". Setup took me 16 minutes and i filmed the assembly here [...]

Overall I am happy with the purchase. I think it will last. and plus I think I will always have someone else to help me set this up since its more of a party/vacation/picnic kind of item and not a solo thing.

This is great if you really demand a lot from your gear. This shade is difficult to assemble the first time. After that you know how its done and it gets easier each time. It is better to do with two people but I put it up solo all the time. The reason this shade is so good is that the weather isn't predictable. The sun isn't always directly over head and the rain doesn't always fall straight down. Pull the legs in and it gets taller, spread them and it gets lower. That is a huge benefit when the sun is low in the sky. Also, this shade does great in the wind. Its also compact and light weight when its in the bag.

I recommend the side walls too.

Sitting under this "shadehouse" sucks!! You can still feel the sun blazing right trough the material onto your skin!! Not worth the money!!

I'm proud to say that I was able to put this up solo -- and I'm 5'2" and 105lbs. BUT, I was covered in sweat and ripped up half my yard. Totally agree with J Craig's review -- the poles come out of the plastic corner connectors, it takes a lot of muscle to get the poles into the grommets, and then the thing only works for Munchkins. Like everyone else, I had no idea what the extra straps were for -- I guess you connect the legs together with them when you're all done. I'm sure that helps. And, in fact, you need those to hold the thing up if you don't have it staked -- the legs just shoot out to the side if you don't force them in with staking or those straps. But I don't think there is any way this would have been tall enough, even for me, no matter how much smaller I made the shelter by bringing the legs together. I imagine it would be sturdy once you got it up and staked, but it's not worth it to me. I got an Alps Mountaineering tri-awning and put it up by myself in less than half the time with no struggle and got more space and better shade with a lighter, smaller package. This one is going back.

I was looking for a sun/rain shelter for family car camping. I chose this product because of the advertised size (12' x 12') and the unique design which looked quite stable as well as attractive. In spite of many other reviewers' complaints about the difficulty of assembly, I bought the Kelty Shadehouse and two side walls.

The other reviewers were right! It was extremely difficult to put up. We are experienced campers, Boy Scouts, and Scout leaders. Even with the numerous suggestions from other reviewers, which did help with assembly since the directions included are incomplete and confusing, it took almost an hour of trial and error to erect the shelter.

Then we discovered the space and size issues. In order to get 12' x 12' of space under the shelter, the center height is around 5 feet tall, the openings even lower. We had to duck to get inside, and I could not stand up except at the very center. In order to raise the height, we bent the side poles in a tighter arc which effectively decreased the floor space to about 8' x 10'. Then we discovered the side walls, which thanks to another reviewer I knew only fit 2 of the 4 sides, hung about 18" off the ground.

I gave the two stars because the shelter is well-made of quality materials, it is attractive, stable in the wind and it does repel water.

I returned the shelter and bought a Swiss Gear shelter, side walls, and screen kit. I am very happy with the Swiss Gear product.

It seems like people either love this shade tent or hate it. I read some really positive reviews; was pumped about getting it. Then I read some harsh reviews; and started to think otherwise. I'm glad I went with the positive and my gut. I can understand the frustration in setting up this tent. Mostly because the directions do suck, and mention the straps only as afterthought. Besides that, there is a bit of muscle needed, but you certainly don't have to gather all your strength. Overall, I expected a much tougher set-up, based on some reviews. The first set-up took me about 20 minutes by myself. It would certainly be easier and faster to have two people setting this up, but it's not necessary. I bought the large tent, so the maximum height is great. I was able to get it to about 6'10" in the middle of the shade tent. i've only set up this shade tent in the backyard, and look forward to testing it camping, at family outings/picnics, the beach, etc. This thing seems great so far, and seems much more versatile and convenient in size/weight than the pop-up canopies out there. The only issue I have is a small one (no pun intended). I expected a smaller pack and less weight. The specs stated 11 lbs and 26" x 8" at packed weight and dimensions, but it seems that it's more like 15 lbs and 26" x 12." I can live with that, but expected a smaller, lighter size. I don't believe this product is worth the full price of $200+, but I found it at around $120, and am quite happy with it for that price.

One of the poles was broken right out of the box and another broke during set up. We did not abuse this product, it is just poor quality. Also, material is so thin it did not provide shade and was too hot to sit under even after we jerry rigged it for one-time use. It went back right after first use. Do not buy.

It's cool looking, and provides decent cover - but it's a huge pain to set up (and I've put together countless tents and structures of many different makes/designs), and even once done, is unwieldy and instable. I figured people were fussing over nothing and that a vet would have no issues with it - but it's simply a poorly engineered design.

Would certainly not recommend to others, sadly.

I have the large size of this Shadehouse. The first time I set it up by myself to make sure I could do it. Took me about 10 minutes and definitely takes some upper body strength to get the pole ends in the grommets, but overall relatively simple. Gets a lot easier with a partner and after you've done it a couple times. Has been waterproof through lots of Oregon rain storms, and handles wind well. I really like how small it packs down compared to other shelters its size.