Kelty - Daydreamer 6P

I like the Walmart brand Ozark Trail. We have had a smaller tent from them for quite a while (it does leak now but we set up a tarp over it). Our nicer Kelty tent tore and the zipper broke. They’ll fix them for you but I lose the receipt :(  Since you’re new I’d go on the less expensive side first. 

I have this same tent and love it. Torrential rains this past weekend while we were camping and not one drop of water got it. The vestibule is a great size for shoes, bags or even a color. And we “slept in” til 7 thanks to the blackout material!

I have the Kelty Daydreamer 6p and it’s the best tent I’ve owned. What I like about it: setup is as easy as a Coleman sundome. It just takes two cross poles, four stakes for the base and four for the full fly. Very easy for one person to put up in five minutes, there are thoughtful touches such as the corners being color coded for assembly. The poles are quite sturdy. The dark room feature is awesome and because it’s a full extending fly it pretty fully covers the tent. There’s a pocket in each corner plus a huge heavy duty gear loft on the ceiling. It has a good size vestibule to keep your packs and shoes dry. Even the takedown is easy and I pretty much jammed it back in the bag without having to finesse and figure out specific folds. No gear is perfect though because use cases are different, and that’s true with this tent. There are a couple downsides: because of the full fly coverage the tent is a touch warm. And the floor material is thin, so I got the footprint to help protect it from punctures.

There are guylines on the sides on the tent to pull the fly out and increase ventilation and they do help. The vestibule has a full length zip to open and it airflows directly into the tent. And the back of the tent has a full length zip to airflow front to back. The tent is fully mesh. It’s not terrible but if you’re sleeping in the 75f and over you should bring a small fan. It’s not as hot as my cabin style tent so it’s not terrible.

I've had my Kelty for about 12 years now and it has never failed to perform to my highest expectations. I highly recommend them.

We loved our Ozark Trail tent! Set out on a cross country camping trip with a brand new Kelty that we spent a pretty penny on. A week in, a pole broke in the wind and we got SOAKED through the thin floor. Went to a Walmart, picked up an Ozark Trail, and left the Kelty in a dumpster. Never looked back on that decision.

Go with the Kelty version of this same tent instead, better quality and price difference right now isn't much at all with the sales they are running

I used the same Kelty tent for 30 years. Replaced many components in that time. 6 or 7 years ago a pole broke so I emailed Kelty about a replacement. Slow response, no offer of help. They couldn't even tell me the length I should buy. Far cry from my previous experiences with them. Then I found out they had been bought out by exxel outdoors, LLC . So read into this what you want buy it was another buy out where service tanked. exxel has a bunch of other brands they've bought; Kelty, KB Tactical, UD, Sierra Designs, HEX, Slumberjack, Wenzel & SJK. Not sure how service/quality with the other brands has fared. ANNND, I'm also a side sleeper and bought a DeepSleep SOLO MAT SELF-INFLATING CAMPING BED $179.99 to use on my cot. It's 5" thick and has air + foam. Totally love this mat.

Kelty is always a solid bet. Good quality many choices Helleberg tents will last forever. But the price is high. Many other quality suggestions are listed from others too. Good luck and have fun!

If you can get them, Kelty is a great tent for the dollar

Get a Kelty, way higher quality and will keep you dry

I just upgraded an old kelty four man tent to a kelty daydreamer 6. It won't get used until next weekend but when I test set it up in the backyard it was intuitive to set up, a good layout and features, seemed like a good build quality, and the black out feature was more effective than I expected. The old kelty tent has given me no issues in the 200+ nights we have used it so I am hopeful this new tent will be the same.

The tent was great. Easy setup, very dark, materials seemed good. You get a little light bleeding in under the rain fly and through the roof vent, but you could reduce that by cinching the fly down tighter to the ground and closing the vent. It still is dark enough during the day that you would need a flashlight to look for things in a pack inside the tent, even with the vestibule open. My dog and toddler slept in hours last when they normally would because it was nice and dark in the morning as the sun coming up didn't light up the tent. It is annoying that the window on the back of the tent is just a zipped up section of the fly and can't be adjusted from the inside. We left the window closed for the most part and if we wanted to let light in we tied back the vestibule flaps by the door. In that case with rain starting you are only leaning out the tent door to close the vestibule on the fly and you don't actually have to get out of the tent.

Get a blackout tent. I have the kelty daydreamer and my toddler and dog sleep in much later in the morning with that vs waking up at the crack of dawn when the sun lights up the tent. We were also able to put the toddler to sleep at the normal bed time when it was still light outside. I'm curious to see how nap times will go and if the tent stays cool under the summer sun with it closed up to keep it darker inside, but I haven't had to test that yet.

I'm a fan of the Kelty tents. They have held up well for me over the years. If you want your kids to sleep in later in the mornings, the Kelty daydreamer is a black out tent and keeps things very dark so everyone doesn't wake up with the sun.

I have had a normal kelty 4 man and the daydreamer 6. The 4 held up great for almost a decade of use (~6 trips a year with that tent) before we needed more space and upgraded. The day dreamer 6 is pitch black inside which is great for getting kids/dogs to sleep in later than sunrise. The thick fly to keep out light definitely adds a pound or two to the day dreamer vs a normal tent.