Customer Reviews

Kelty Teton 2 Two-Person Tent

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

I recently went on a 6 day pack and paddle in my home state of Indiana, well known for it's humidity and wicked thunderstorms.
Before I went I had decided to upgrade my tent. The one that I chose was the Teton 2 by Kelty.
On the third day of my trip the weather turned very ugly letting loose with a storm that knocked down more than a few healthy trees near my campsite. At first I was pretty concerned but my fears were unfounded. Kelty's Teton 2 withstood a storm that would have torn other tents to peices. the only complaints I have are.
1-this is very small for a two person tent.
2-the vestibule was large enough for my boots only so I had to store my gear inside
3- I had some moderate condensation issuses that probably will be fixed with the use of a better ground cloth. ( I opted to use my own instead of buying the matching footprint.)
Overall this is one tough little tent worth every penny and more.

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?

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.

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.

This is a great tent. Lots of space, nice open view of the night sky, sturdy -- all the things you'd want in a good tent that doesn't destroy your budget. I noticed reviews that recommended the footprint. I strongly recommend you find some other way to get protection for this tent. The footprint just doesn't fit. It fits the length fine, but the width is too short, and as a result, it doesn't allow the tent to stretch out its full width. Worse, the tent keeps popping off the footprint grommets. If you can find some other footprint to fit, this tent is a keeper.

I just wrote a review for this...where did it go?

I'd been looking for a 2 person tent for quite a while now. and it seems that there are two major factors affecting price these days: lighter weight and 4 season toughness. I didn't need 4 season toughness, but I wanted a tent as light as I could get. Surprise surprise, every pound in weight you drop, the price skyrockets to another tier. I was unwilling to deal with 6 lbs and was very reluctant to deal with 5lbs. 4lbs was my goal since anything under jumped to about $250-$400 and I wasn't willing to pay that.

The Kelty Teton 2 is a really good buy for the money. Not without its quirks but a perfect compromise overall. First up are the ultra-light aluminum poles. While fiber-glass poles seemed like a great idea, I've heard terrible things about them snapping and while it's okay for my large car camping tent, it wouldn't do for hiking where any problem in the field is unfixable. The Teton 2 uses ultra-light aluminum poles and require only two of them in a commonly seen x pattern. The material is much lighter than I expected but still feels tough and rugged. Good enough to deal with most situations. The rain fly is weird as it doesn't cover the tent completely, but in two overnight backyard tests, there was no condensation, so that was good. It rained the first night of the test so I already know that rain leakage problems aren't an issue for light rain. My backyard becomes puddle heavy in rain, so it was a surprise to see water pressing onto the tent on all sides, but no water leaking in. That's satisfactory enough on water protection.

Inside, you can sit up okay, while two people would be a squeeze, it's doable if you backpack is also your pillow and you don't mind the person you're sharing the tent with. For one person it's plenty spacious.

The vestibule is rather small, but great for boots.

I did run a sealer through the seams but I think I did it wrong and will re-apply later. I believe the correct way is to turn the tent inside out and apply the sealer along the seams then. Otherwise the sealer just drips in all the wrong places.

At 4lbs, it may not be the lightest, but the price difference for that extra point is so large that I can't imagine a much better buy than the Teton 2 (or the Grand Mesa 2 for that matter) for the money.

Easy to set up, nice tent organizer shelf, very light and quick to take apart. I am a beginner backpacker though if that makes any difference.

As other reviewers have said, it's a two person tent if you don't mind being cozy with your bed-mate. If I were backpacking solo, I would get the one person version. This one is not very heavy, but it's not a super-light, tiny(when packed), 2 person tent... but then it's also not hundreds of dollars either.

Loosely packed, it measures about 18" long x about 6" diameter. It could cinch down tighter than I rolled it.

As a two person tent, it's a snug fit, but as a one person tent, it's great. I got it for motorcycle touring, so the dimensions are great, and I have extra room inside, since the vestibule is quite small.

It's a little tight getting in/out for the 6' tall crowd, due to the door being fairly far off the ground.

I love the design. The clips for the poles instead of sleeves are great. Super easy to put up. Get the footprint to protect the floor.

The rain cover, is easy to put on, and color coded so you don't put it on backward. I love that it clicks together and doesn't have to be tied on, so it's easy while wearing gloves.

All in all, I'd say this is excellent value for the money. For throwing on the back of a bike (sport bike even), you would be hard pressed to find better value. Looking forward to field testing this.

It could do to have more instructions, like what am I supposed to do with the net that looks like a Paul Bunyan surgical mask. Laying inside staring at the ceiling, I realized it would tie to the four loops up there. At least that's what I did.

Good tent, set up is easy (3 minutes). Quality is what I expected from kelty. Well spent 88.00$. PAY THE EXTRA MONEY, and it will pay for itself with one trip. I can put it in another stuff bag and compact it even smaller than the specs on the web site. Saves so much space, I can get a inflatable air mat, and the footprint. poles are nice, and have realy good concept hooking them to the tent. Overall, the review about the tent being tested against any other is dead on. BUY IT!