Kelty Salida 2 Tent

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

Great little tent! Not a lot of room for my wife and I who are six feet tall, but I don't expect it to have much room it is a two man tent. Kept us completely dry in heavy rain. Love the gear loft function of the tent! Vestibule is adequite and kept our gear dry! Only complaint was the guy lines were not crafted well at all, the strings snapped on first use with a very gentle pull!

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

My bottom line up front, if you are comparing this tent with any others within one hundred bucks or less of its price, buy the Salida 2. I would have liked to give it a rating of 4.5 but will go with 4. I have used the Kelty Salida 2 for backpacking with my wife (5'7") in SoCal for approximately two years and by myself (5'10") for a six-month gig as a wildlife biologist in the forests of NorCal. For backpacking with my wife, the tent is a good size for the two of us and anything we may need in the tent in the middle of the night. This only includes items needed in the tent, nothing else. The gear loft has become my favorite place for socks, headlamps, and glasses. Footgear and a few other items go in the vestibule. I tend to suspend packs in the trees out of critter reach. Placing two packs larger than daypacks or one person's backpack plus boots in the vestibule could be tight and make getting in and out of the tent interesting.

In my wildlife gig, I camped with this tent every week for almost six months. Sometimes, I would have to setup and teardown the tent multiple times in one week. I can set up this tent in the dark by headlamp in under three minutes by myself. I am not that skilled; the tent is that easy. It is a freestanding tent; in the morning I would empty it, remove the fly and stakes, fully open the door, pick up the tent to shake it out upside-down to remove any leaf litter or debris, and leave it assembled upside down with the bottom facing into the sun to dry any condensation. Speaking of condensation, in colder weather with the Salida buttoned up, I would get a lot of condensation on the inside of the fly. The fly would spend as much time as feasible upside down in the sun in the mornings on the ground or truck hood.

Whether the tent needed it or not, I seam-sealed it before the wildlife season. The tent never leaked. Slept under the stars without the fly a few times on hotter nights, wonderful. The opposite side of the fly from the door needs a tie-down. The tent does have a short webbing loop there to attach a guy line. I secured a short length of gutted paracord that I adjusted for length based on temperature to change how far to pull the fly away on that side.

The optional footprint is not the same shape as the rectangular tent floor. It is wider on the top than the bottom. However, it serves its purpose well. For superlight packers, this systems can be setup as the fly, poles, pegs, and footprint, sans tent. The entire system packs up easily and is not "fussy." I have not experienced a zipper malfunction, mesh tear, or any other problems. I had the tent staked out and went through a wind storm with gusts of 50 mph without issue.

My negatives:

I wish it was 3 lbs or less, vice 3 ¾ lbs. (I am in my fifties and finding I prefer to carry less weight than when I was in the Army jumping out of airplanes.) I wish it had a second door since the tent does become instantly small when the inside person needs a late night "pottie" break. (An issue not faced in tents with a single door at the end instead of the side.) There is minimal to no ventilation with the fly on the tent and the vestibule zipped. With one side of the vestibule rolled back, there is still no true cross ventilation and then the large vestibule opening is overkill. A small side window on the fly opposite the vestibule would be a great addition. (If get motivated, maybe I will make one. It will require additional material since the flap must be larger than the cutout.) The packed size of 7" x 22" is a little large on the backpack. I wish the vestibule was large enough that I could sit in it during inclement weather and run my backpacker stove. (Yes, I could sit in the tent with the door open while using the stove in the vestibule.) The stakes are cheap and bend easily when they hit small rocks or roots.

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

Good for car camping AND backpacking. Easy to set up. Does NOT need seam sealing (contrary to instructions); does need a cord to stake out the side of the fly that doesn't open--otherwise it flaps against the side of the tent. Not sure how it will do in cold weather: it's all screen from about 18" up. No windows.

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

This tent was a super easy setup and is very sturdy. It is a little cramped for two people if you want to store gear in the tent as well. But for a single person it would be spacious and comfortable. No complaints about this tent at all!

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

I absolutely love this tent! I reluctantly upgraded from a dome tent I had that just outlived its usefulness, and now I am so glad I did. This tent is light and comfortable, with excellent features; gear loft, roomy vestibule, waterproof, stands up to everything you could throw at it. Had it during a weeklong festival in upstate NY with heavy downpour, I mean it rained buckets, and not one drop penetrated this tent. I like a little more width than length ( I'm 5'1") and this tent seems a little narrow for two tenters, but it is fine for just me and lots of stuff. The vestibule is great for wet boots, backpacks, etc. The best thing is that it goes up in less than a minute, no joke. I don't know how it could take five minutes, even putting on the fly. The only bad thing is mine didn't have stakes with it when it shipped. I didn't know it was supposed to until I reread the description. But even so, buy this tent, you will love it!

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

I used this to climb the Grand Tetons. We didn't summit because of a sick party member, but this tent was great for what I needed. I would be skeptical to call this 2 man, but whatever: minimalist. I was able to carry my own tent to the top without breaking my back!

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

I used this tent on a 6 day hike in the Olympic National Forest, the tent provided plenty of room for me. The weather was perfect so I didn't need to use the fly, even though I did carry it. The compact size of the tent fit easily in my backpack and set up within minutes of getting to each campsite. My only problem was that I purchased the footprint for the Salida 2 at the same time, the tent is a rectangle, the footprint is wider on one end then it is on the other.

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

Perfect tent for backpacking since is very light. It is perfect for one person but it can get crowded with two. Extremely easy to set up.

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

I love the tent, two dudes with enough room at our feet for the blind dog I take hiking with me, but the width is minimalist. I have the footprint, which I recommend getting, but I did notice some moisture along the bottom edges.

Comments about Kelty Salida 2 Tent:

After comparing many lightweight two-person tents I finally settled on this one due primarily to value. For a lot less money - you can still get all the features of a more expensive tent for half the price.

It packs and sets up well with minimal effort. The vestibule is average. It comes with a mesh gear loft which does reduce sit-up height; but it's flexible in terms of how you attach it.

With two 20-inch sleeping pads side-by-side there's not much wiggle room left over. So, if you insist on a little more floor space and two doors/vestibules you might want to consider an alternative.