Kelty Sunshade - Large

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

Considered this vs the square freestanding canopy types, and chose this for it's compactness, despite some questionable reviews. Having used it a few times, here's my take:

Setup is pretty easy with 2 people. Alone, it can test your patience. I've learned to start with the bottom sleeve (where they cross in the center) and work my way up. You do have to work the poles thru the fabric sleeves. After the 3 poles are loosely in, have 1 person get underneath and hold up the center while the other connects the ends. That's also tricky by yourself, since it wants to bend the wrong way if you just pick up the bottom end of the first pole. By myself, I temporarily stake the top end of the first pole before connecting the bottom and that helps to get it bending the right direction.

It stood up fine in a good thunderstorm, with all 3 corners guyed out. Haven't tested it on the beach yet, but it's obvious it will need to be guyed out well. The supplied stakes are not very good or long, so I'm getting 10" nail types for normal solid ground and will use sand stakes when we get to the beach.

Covers a picnic table nicely and provides sitting shade for several people--exactly what we wanted it for.

My only real complaint is the height. I'm 6'0 and have to be careful to not poke an eye out or get stabbed in the forehead. You can raise it up by bringing the feet in closer, but having it lower is also nice in a rain and provides more shade in the sun. So it's a tradeoff.

Overall, not perfect, but happier than with other canopies I've had in the past.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

Our family purchased one of these a few years ago for use on our annual trip to Bear Lake near Garden City, UT. We wanted something that was easy to set up and would keep the sun off our heads while lounging by the lake.

My wife and I can set up the Sunshade in about 5 minutes when working together. Setup is easy and once the poles are in place the Sunshade is light weight and easily positioned. One of our favorite things about the Sunshade is that the walls can be positioned to keep the sun off your back even when it is lower on the horizon.

If you plan on going somewhere with where it gets windy, you may experience problems. We were able to use the Sunshade in winds up to about 25 mph. Even on a sandy beach the stakes held well. Above 25 mph the poles start to give way.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

This was a dry run in my back yard by myself. Two person operation highly recommended.

Neat product, but extremely difficult to erect with one person. Had to get a 5 foot ladder out to set the center on to get the proper bend started. I also could not believe how difficult it was to set the pole ends into the grommet.

May be easier next time with a helper standing in the center. It took me 40 minutes to put this up and before I could get it staked it blew over upside down and scratched the material up pretty badly. It was a comedy of errors.

Suggested improvements: adjustable grommet ends.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

Although it takes a bit of patience to set this up the first time. I can use it as a motorcycle garage at night when camping. Make sure you anchor it good as yes the wind and cart it off. I can adjust the legs in and out to make a front awning over the tent door. All in all it's versital and can even fit over a pik nik table easily. Saw a guy come into camp one night while it was raining. He set this up, unloaded his gear off his bike under it, took his wet cloths off, Set his tent up under it staying dry and then went to bed. After seeing that, I bought me one from REI. It does take a bit of strength to assemble the unit but it, but anchored correctly it can withstand alot of wind and provide needed shelter from the elements.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

I concur with the other reviewers in that this shelter is really challenging to set up by yourself. Once it's set up, though, it provides a really nice shaded area. However , I wouldn't recommend this if your principal use will be at sporting events because the roof line is rather low and your view will be blocked.

The material is very good and is sturdy once it's up (provided it's not too windy!)

All in all, I don't use it as much as I thought I would (given the difficulty in setting it up) and probably wouldn't buy it again.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

Bought this for use on one of the hottest weekends of July 2011. Normally we base camp for 2 week minimums but this time it was only a w/e trip and we wanted a "smaller footprint".So instead of setting up our 12*12 Paha Que camp kitchen/living space tent we opted to use this.

Wise choice on many counts. A sudden break in the blazing sun brought a sun shower our way and this sunshade kept us cool and dry through out all weather styles for the 48 hour period.
Set up was rather convoluted and took approx. 1 hour for 2 somewhat proficient people. The written instructions were lacking in details and it would be best were Kelty to print the instructions on fabric stitched directly into the duffel bag or actual structure's seams. Our biggest problem was unfamiliarity with the Nite Ize® Figure 9™ guyline adjusters. Fortunately found a video via my smartphone that had good how-to instructions. Upper arm strength is needed for actual structure put up but it wasn't beyond the pale. I agree that adjustable grommets would be quite useful.

Breakdown was a piece of cake and only needed one of us. Probably was accomplished in 10-15 minutes.

All in all a useful complement to my camping gear.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

Bought this specifically to use for shade on the beach, with the hope to use it for car camping as well. The practice run set-up I did in my backyard took me about 20 minutes...but I was by myself and figuring it out for the first time. In order to get the poles to bend to the degree they need to bend, I just put one pole end against the ground / side of the garage and used that leverage to bend the poles...it worked fine, but is of course easier with another person there to help. Still, I have set this up twice now by myself and it is possible to do.

Having a second person makes it go a LOT faster. After my run through, 3 people put this together on the beach in under 5 minutes - easily.

It was not a very windy day and we did not end up using any of the stakes or guy lines at all. We had no problem with it moving around, but I feel that if it had been windy, making some buried sand bags to anchor the tent would have sufficed.

At any given time, there were at least 5 of us under this sundshade, and it absolutely saved the weekend (cmaping on Fire Island in 90 degree weather with no trees!)

It is relatively light weight for it's size, seemed sturdy (but time will tell...), and packed back down easily with room to spare in into its handy carrying bag.

As with tents, there is a little loop at the top center of this sunshade, perfect for hanging that tube of sunscreen or my floppy hat so that it didn't blow away.

I was very pleased with it and see many uses for it...we're having a yard sale this month and you can bet we'll be under the shade of this thing all day. I also plan to use it over picnic tables at campsites and/or as an extension of the tent vestibule so that we can sit under cover in case of rain.

It's a luxury item for sure, but one that is worth it, I think, and will get a lot of use.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

This thing is hard to set up alone. You have to have two people. It becomes a kite or hang glider in the wind. The shape makes it hard to move freely about. The kids have fun with it but it is impractical. I will use it for fun in the back yard.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

This shade is expensive and not worth the money.

I have had this shade for 4 years, but hardly ever use it.

It is extremely difficulty to set up and even harder to tear down. The main problem is that the poles fit very tightly into the sleeves. Consequently, it is slow going threading the poles through the sleeves. Also, the poles do not fit together very snuggly so they frequently come apart in the sleeve (and are a pain to reconnect). Thus, the shade is even harder to tear down because when you pull the poles out of the sleeve they become detached and the cord gets stretched . Now that the cord is stretched, the poles come apart even easier than when it was new. Very frustrating! Even though the poles are beefy, mine bent out of shape on the first trip we took to the beach.

Comments about Kelty Sunshade - Large:

Ok, honestly I've used this about a half dozen times and mostly for car camping during the Memorial Day weekend in Washington State. It's actually a solid construction and does require a little bit of upper body strength to assemble this with the three "long" poles. I also bought two side panels for this which have worked out great when camping. It's also easy to move and turn if you had too.

It is water resistant and has yet to leak, but the side panels help with the rain up here in Washington State. The side panels will reduce the amount of room, since they are attached using dongles on the inside of the sun shade itself.

Have also used this for a backyard camping, which someone ended up using it to cover there tent during a rain storm and kept them dry throughout the night. I've used it this summer for an office BBQ for shade and worked out great for my co-workers to provide a lot of shade.

This is a lot lighter than one of those pop up shades and can be set up in about 20 minutes by yourself and less time with help. I'd recommend you set it up at least once as a test run, before you take it out to set up. The sun shade stakes are great, and will definitely keep your the sun shade down. I've never had a need to use the guide lines, but could see where they would be needed in high winds.

I've had a lot of positive feedback from friends and co-workers about when I've used the sun shade.