Testing my Kelty Discovery Trail 2 tonight.
PES. (Puppy escape system. 2 person (she better be beautiful) kelty discovery trail 2.
- Thread starter Coyote Chris
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OK, I have survived the night. I have to say I am very impressed with the Kelty Trail 2 (4 lb 5 oz.) Inside, it is an honest 7ft 2 in long, 4 ft 6 in wide, and 43 inches high. all measured.
The Kelty 2 man Wireless is more compact than the Eureka Midori 3 man but weighs the same. The trail 2 is smaller and lighter and goes up super fast. Note the poles just fit into sleeves and hooks and snaps and color coded side releases. I like that. Its not crowded inside at all. I can sit up, get dressed and just step out of the tent. Not the best tent for cooking in but that is not its usage. Ignore the 200 buck price tags on ebay... $130 on Amazon. Just ordered another.
The Kelty 2 man Wireless is more compact than the Eureka Midori 3 man but weighs the same. The trail 2 is smaller and lighter and goes up super fast. Note the poles just fit into sleeves and hooks and snaps and color coded side releases. I like that. Its not crowded inside at all. I can sit up, get dressed and just step out of the tent. Not the best tent for cooking in but that is not its usage. Ignore the 200 buck price tags on ebay... $130 on Amazon. Just ordered another.
Like motorcycles, I am limited to only one tent at a time. My Marmot 3 person Fortress is just barely big enough to hold all my junk laid out on the floor.
Someone could make millions if they designed a tent with a closet, or dresser! LOL
Someone could make millions if they designed a tent with a closet, or dresser! LOL
junglejim
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I'm always looking at tents. I always want one just a bit taller, lighter, 2 doors, vestibule, and easy to put up and take down. I have no good reason for wanting one lighter as I'm not packing it anywhere. I'm just trying to lighten my camping bag. I'd be better off to lighten my sleeping bag because I always take a poncho liner anyway. So that on warm nights I use only the poncho liner, on cold nights I use the sleeping bag, and on real cold nights I use both. I know they make better sleeping bags than the one I have. But I'd rather have one that's too heavy than too cold.
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Good tents have aluminum poles and vestibules. I am down to 10 tents. Gonna try the heavier 2 man tonight as its gonna be another perfect camping night. My problem is size and weight..
I am tall so I need a tall air matress...and wide. And a long semi mummy duck down bag good to 25 degrees with military cold weatther pants and shirt. (for my tests I use my 0 degree duck down bag). And a chair. Must sit out in mountain medow pastures and make sure mouintains dont move. All this fits in a motec drybag nicely but keeping weight low is good, as well as size down. One tent alone that I have I have marked on it 40 days. Thats just one tent. In my hayday of returement, I was camping out 30 days a year. 9 days at Reno alone. At Reno, I would sit in my chair in my tent and cook breakfast. Scrambled eggs, gooey roll, bottled coffee and juice, etc. It was worth it to take the 4 man Midori although the 3 man would have worked fine. Thanks to Mellow, I now use small air pumps. This last trip to the cascades and hood river , four days of camping on the FJR, I took the kitchen sink as most of the miles were interstate. But I really like this particular 2 man due to size and weight and its pleanty long enough for me. That is whey I bought two. Double doors are very nice and I started adopting them in the last century cause I have had one fail...but this is just fine.
Normally, In my past, weight wasnt so important but the FJR is over 700 lbs without the kitchen sink on top of it. Hopefully, soon, it will go by by.
I used to be young.....weight? What weight?
Kitchen sink?! Looks like you pack 2 bedrooms and a bath and a half. Woohoo!
Have you considered pulling a trailer? The weight would be much lower. And, you could carry EVEN MORE!
(Just ask Dan from the ST forum.)
Have you considered pulling a trailer? The weight would be much lower. And, you could carry EVEN MORE!
(Just ask Dan from the ST forum.)
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Stupid me, I have more tents to try. Tonight, the heavy 2 door wireless with 3 fiberglass poles and tomorrow, the 2 door aluminum far out 2
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The wireless has the most vestibule square ft with its 2 doors. I would say the interior is about the same as the trail 2
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OK, next morning. I tried hard to hate the wireless, with its three heavy fiberglass poles but I can not. Its two doors means two big vestibules and it has large mid height pockets. Wonder if you can get AL poles made? The fly cross pole does give the allusion of more interior room. One more tent to go, the twin door sun roof al pole lightweight Kelty Far Out 2
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We are now down to the last tent to test
The Kelty Far Out
The Kelty Far Out
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BTW, I hope everyone here knows that a two person tent is really only a one person tent unless you know Angel.
The Kelty Far Out 2 website says their “short segment aluminum poles” are for bicycle or motorcycle panniers. BRAVO!
Waiting patiently for your review, Chris.
Waiting patiently for your review, Chris.
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Well, you guys have inspired me! It turned cold and wet here but I will set it up in the living room as my repair of warped steel plates in my heat o later as well as sweeping of the chimney is done. Did you know you could take an 18 by 6 inch 1/8 in steel plate and using high temp fire place glue, put on fireproof fiberglass stripping and screw it on to the the two warped plates where they meet? Then, put more cememt all the way around it? Better than stuffing in a fire blanket into the crack which I did at the end of last year. I are an engineeeeeeerrrrr! I also learned that drill bits with a pic of an I beam on them are for steel.
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The Far out isn't very big. The footprint is included but I seldom use them. I set it out to set up tomorrow.
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OK! Here is my test of the Kelty Far Out 2. ($209 on Amazon) First, the instructions on this two year old tent are just plain wrong. For instance, there are no pole sleeves. The rest of the instructions are not written by a professional but oh well, all you folks are so smart that you can figure it out. There are two doors, two vestibules, a footprint and a rain fly that can be configured into a star roof but probably is more useful for max ventilation. Point the back of the fly to the sun and you are in fat city. Once up, and once you have done it once you will throw the instructions away or make new ones, you give up a couple inches to the other Kelty 2 people tents in all directions. I measured and honest 7 ft long by 44 inches by 40 high....not a huge difference that really means anything practical from the other two tents. The saving grace with putting this tent up is the color coding of the poles and the rain fly straps and the tent tiedown tabs and the footprint tabs.
There are really only two poles, the rain fly ridge pole and the spyder. Be gentle, you are warned by the instructions, when assembling the spyder. It will be obvious once you start inserting sections into each other on how it goes together and into the fixed spyder hub. Then just lay it on the staked out tent using the color coding.
I would rate this tent as number one due to its features and small packing size. If the Wireless had AL poles, it would be a bit bigger to pack than the Far Out but more internal room. The Trail 2's shortcoming is only one vestibule. But at $130 on sale, its a great tent. The Kelty 2 Wireless is about that too with 2 vestibules and if you want a footprint, its about $34. Maybe someone makes AL poles. Note in pics. I did not stake out all the fly stays.
There are really only two poles, the rain fly ridge pole and the spyder. Be gentle, you are warned by the instructions, when assembling the spyder. It will be obvious once you start inserting sections into each other on how it goes together and into the fixed spyder hub. Then just lay it on the staked out tent using the color coding.
I would rate this tent as number one due to its features and small packing size. If the Wireless had AL poles, it would be a bit bigger to pack than the Far Out but more internal room. The Trail 2's shortcoming is only one vestibule. But at $130 on sale, its a great tent. The Kelty 2 Wireless is about that too with 2 vestibules and if you want a footprint, its about $34. Maybe someone makes AL poles. Note in pics. I did not stake out all the fly stays.