Kelty Palisade 4

This was the second tent that I received from Kelty. I had purchased the Kelty Villa 4 this year (2010) and when I set it up I came to find out that is was defective.

I called the warranty department at Kelty and they were really great. They had me setup the Villa Tent one additional time and then had me send a photo of the 3 inched of space under the floor.

Being that the Villa 4 tent was from 2007 and discontinued they offered the Palisade as replacement. I was sold on the vestibule just from the website.

We are planning a trip next week to Sedona and as a test run we set the tent up in our living room. The main part of the tent went up supper easy - the circular pole was an interesting puzzle to figure out and using my 6 year old daughter as a brace we managed to get the tent up. I can honestly say that I could set up the entire tent by myself. As for the circular pole for the roof, I think a tree, car or anything stationary will work just fine if you are setting it up by yourself.

There are a few issues that I have with the tent….

1. Staking the Tent is a Must - The tent definitely needs to be staked to the ground. We go beach camping Palisade offers great ventilation in 80 degree Arizona evenings - finding a way to stake it in the sand will challenging.

2. Lack of Privacy. The Palisade is basically a bug shield without the rain fly. If you like a little privacy in a big campground you will need to attach the fly. Then you give up the awesome open roof and the star gazing that goes along with it. If you tend to do back country camping then the openness will not matter to much.

3. Pets Can Potentially Damage the Tent - We have a puppy we will be taking on our next camping trip and she already has come into the tent and made herself at home. The thing that concerns me is that if she wants out she can tend to scratch at the door. If she does with this tent the mesh will not last.

The Really positive things about the tent….

1. A BIG stuff sack - When we opened the box we found ample room in the duffle bag to account for non-professional packing.

2. A Star Gazing Roof to die for - My daughter and I laid down in the tent and looked up at the ceiling in our living room and the first thing she said was wow we can sure see a lot of shooting stars in this tent!!!!

3. Super Easy to Setup and Take Down - I could do it myself!

4. Large with Vertical Walls - We like to sleep with big comfy cots and both fit in just nicely. If you wanted a third cot it could get a little tight. Four cots would definably not fit.

5. Vestibule and Rainfly is really cool! - Makes an extra room for you! (For it to work it needs to be staked to the ground!)

6. Great Customer Service - Kelty provides awesome customer support directly out of their Colorado office…

We will report back once we have a chance to test it in the field.