Customer Reviews

Texsport Calypso Cabana Beach Shelter

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Bought this for our spring break camping trip in Florida's panhandle.

First day was VERY windy. If we had a tail, I think we could have flown it as a kite. I consider it a success that the cabana didn't rip apart.

Our second adventure worked much better. Still windy, but not as bad as the first day. Filled the pockets with sand, (and buried them in sand as well) Worked great and it was nice to have a place to keep all the beach toys and get out of the sun and wind occasionally.

This tent is a great alternative to an umbrella and stands up to the wind surprisingly well. However, there is an issue that's really annoying. The carry bag is very narrow. Once you've opened up the tent, it's extremely difficult to roll it up tightly enough to fit into the carry bag - especially when you're out there in the wind and sand without a flat surface. And forget the poles, they won't fit it, you have to carry them by hand in their own bag (which has no handle, just a tie). It's such a stupid design flaw because the carry bag is made of some generic fabric - would 1-2 extra inches have been that expensive?

We used this cabana on 2 separate trips to the beach and have loved it. It was a great place for my 6 month old to sleep and not get sunburned. Great cross breezes with the flaps up. Didn't use the sandbags, just put our cooler in one front corner and beach bag in the other. Also made for nice semi-private nursing with adequate breeze to not overheat. Packs relatively compactly, but cannot fit tent and poles back into one bag. Still the 2 together do not take up much space. After years of using an umbrella, this was better for our needs with an infant and is easier to carry around. Would recommend it to those with small children.

My family adores this little jewel of a find. It is just perfect for our family of 4. I have a 10 year old and a 5 year old and it is perfect shade for them at the beach or at the park. Also perfect for my husband and myself. All 4 of us can sit inside. The company is great also. When this item shipped, I noticed the stakes had been left out and they were listed as included on the box. I emailed them one time and had an very quick response with the assurance that the stakes would be sent right away. Great product ... also excited about other items on their site for camping, etc. We are happy and look forward to using it again and again.

If you are looking for a tent large enough to hold big kids and adults, this is a good one. It's very roomy and open. It is not as easy to assemble as some other ones, but not too hard. It folds up to a reasonable size. We used it in the Caribbean and found it stayed nice and cool due to the open front (getting one of the models with 4 sides instead of 3 would have been a big mistake), was easy to shake out, and provided a lot of shade. Our toddler napped happily in it and hubby and I could both sit in it and stay nice and cool.

My only complaints are (1) it arrived without the set of stakes, but the manufacturer could not have been nicer about rectifying the problem; and (2) you'll never get it back in the bag once you unroll it - the bag is too small.

Very easy to assemble. We did purchase heavier stakes since our beach is on the Gulf of Mexico where the winds can be strong. Adds more stability. Well made. Would recommend to anyone. Price is worth every dollar.

We bought this to shade the little one while playing on the beach in Gulf Shores, AL --- easy assembly (which we tried once before we left for vaca - recommend that) each day it was a little easier, but never hard. Perfect for what we needed!! We didn't even use the stakes, just filled up the "pockets" with sand and put our cooler and beach bag inside - never once had any issues. Highly recommend it!

We recently used our beach shelter for the first time. We did take the precaution of setting it up once at home before trying to do it on the beach in the wind. It was quite windy on the beach but it only took about 10 min for two of us to put it up, including filling and burying the sand anchors. We probably could do it a bit faster the next time. The sand anchors worked well and kept the tent stable. We were able to leave it with just a backpack in it and it showed no signs of wanting to blow away. We pitched it with the back to the wind and found one design feature that could use changing. The flaps for the windows are inside the tent and they only have a couple of tie downs each. When it is really windy the wind blows under the tied down flaps, holding them partly open, and then gets directed straight down into the bottom of the tent. It would have been better to put the flaps on the outside of the tent so the wind would blow a closed window flat against the tent outside wall. Adding a few velcro dots along the bottom of the window flaps and on the inside wall might fix the present design. We plan to try that out. We found ourselves laying large towels on the outside of the windows to keep the wind out. It was only 23 C so it made a lot of difference to the comfort level. Rolling up the tent and putting it all away took about 10-15 min maximum. It was not really that hard to roll it up in the wind to get it and the poles and pegs back in the carry bag. We bought this shelter due to its light weight and compact size when rolled up. It was light weight and easy to carry in the tote bag, as advertised. It also fit quite nicely diagonally in a 26 inch suitcase. We carried it inside our checked airline luggage. Overall good value for the money so far.

The Calypso Cabana is perfect for a long day at the beach! Take a break from the sun--it's cool inside and the inside flaps rollup to allow a breeze to flow through. It's lightweight and easy to carry to the beach, and takes just a couple of minutes to set up. Once it's set up, it can be picked up and moved around if you want to keep the sun behind you all day. Two people sitting on beach chairs can easily fit inside, along with a cooler and a beach bag. One person can put it together, but it's much much easier with two people. It's a great deal for the price.

Add a half star. This served the purpose quite well and the price was right. It was not hard to set up once I got the hang of it. But it was annoying to have it advertised as being a beach shelter and NOT having stakes for sand. The instructions said you should have special sand stakes which were not included. the other stakes seemed to work ok, but we filled the sand bags and covered the edge of the shelter with sand. Also, it was advertised as having zippered windows. There were no zippers. This would be great if it were a tad bigger. It is a good size if you have one little one to put in there. but it blocked the wind and that's all I wanted anyway