Kelty - Salida 2

I’ve had my Kelty Salida for almost 10 years. I’ll tell people to get a Kelty first over practically any other brand if they want a budget but well made piece of gear. They’re a little heavy, but it’ll just get you into better shape!

If I were to buy a tent now, it would probably be either a Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2, or the Tarptent StratoSpire Li. My current tent is a Kelty Salida. Heavy, but so damn easy to set up. And it has done fine at Camp Muir, Camp Schurman, Mount Adams lunch counter, Mount Baker CD, and in the North Cascades. I love the idea of carrying half the weight with the Tarptent, but a self-standing tent definitely has its advantages. But most of the time, you can probably camp in a contractor-grade garbage bag. This is not Denali.

We have a cheap 6 person Coleman blackout for 2 of us and we go full glamp with a full foam folding mattress too. The front "porch" leaks a bit as do the corners at the seams...but that was when it full on poured for 2 days straight. We still had one of the driest tents that trip and other people ended up crashing with us at night since their tents flooded. A friend of mine does a 20' canvas bell she got second hand. She does a huge air mattress, brings sets of drawers, the works. She runs a propane heater too. I highly recommend indulging in space and "luxury" for car camping. In contrast, I use a little Kelty 2 person with camping pads when I'm by myself with the dog. Total opposite than on group trips.

I also have a very similar kelty 2p tent. It has been my backpacking tent for probably 15 years now. In 2007 it was pretty light and I was constantly being teased for my tiny little tent. It’s a good tent, it’s even a good backpacking tent, it’s just not up to par with modern ultralight but that can be ok. I’m willing to bet that tent is like $100. So for the price I think it has its place. I actually bought myself a Nemo hornet to replace it this year. My son will be inheriting this one until he saves up his own $500 to get something more fashionable.

Same. I carried a Kelty 2P tent and we had a joke about it that it was a portable mansion in the forest. It really wasn't THAT big or THAT heavy. It's very close to OP's choice in terms of size and weight. I'm a tall guy with long limbs and I very much appreciated the extra room it gave me even if it was on the heavier side.

Haha it's funny how that works. I guess back then everyone was carrying something similar to a Coleman 2P which are "dome" tents. I love my Kelty, it's certainly not lightweight but it's a damn good tent that I never had issues with.

Kelty has a great 2 person backpacking tent and it isn’t crazy expensive. Years ago my scout troop stumbled on cheap Walmart backpacking tents (probably ozark brand?) and they were great as an entry level tent and around $20 at the time - if you can find a Coleman exponent backpacking tent they are great too. I’m not they even make them anymore- the “exponent” was Coleman’s high end stuff and they had much better sleeping bags and tents under that brand

I have a kelty 2 person and it’s more than enough for myself and a dog or two