REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

We set it up in the backyard 1st. Took a bit of time figuring the poles out. Was much easier the 2nd time in Mosb. Took about 10 min due too small camp site & getting around bushes. Plenty/lots of room. We didn't use the garage this time. We got the tent for camping around the country after I retire shortly. Seems to be sturdy & the garage will be great in the rain especially with 2 dogs. It will be a great basecamp. Lots of pockets for storage. Could use smaller ones for headlamps at night. It stayed dry after a brief shower.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

I used a Christmas gift card to purchase this tent, as it has become clear that our previous tent is just too small for anything other than very occasional, very short camping trips.

So far, we have only set this up in the backyard, as our camping season won't start for another month and a half or so.

However, I can say that I set this up, the very first time, by myself in about 40 minutes, and took it down and packed it away in about 10 (again by myself). My husband's main concern about getting a bigger tent like this one was the set up/break down time, so it certainly passes that test.

It also packs away very easily. One of the reasons I purchased this particular tent rather than others in a similar size/price range was the consistency of other reviewers to rave about how easily it fits into the carrying sack, and how well designed the carrying sack is. The tent and fly each have a compartment, as do the poles, making it easy to keep everything organized, and it all really does fit, and the zipper zips, and it's just like it should be when you pack something away. Imagine that!

My sister tells me that we are the best comfort campers she knows, and I think this tent will fall right in line with our camping style.

Will update the review when we've had a chance to actually see how it performs in a real camping situation.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

We bought this tent after deciding the 3 man backpacking tent I've used for years wasn't big enough for family camping trips with a toddler and dog. Set up was easy enough (as with any tent, I'd suggest learning to set it up at home first). The inside is spacious, and high enough to stand up in. The doors are great in that they allow a lot of flexibility; one big door, two half doors, or fully open with the door stowed in the pocket. We also like that it can be zipped shut with the zippers in place at the bottom (for easy access when laying in the tent) or up at the top (placing them out of reach of little ones trying to sneak out). The rainfly's ability to be rolled back is fantastic. The storage bag has quite a bit of extra room; enough to fit the tent, the add-on garage, and a full size tarp for the footprint.

There is one fundamental problem with the tents design. The high walls that make the inside so roomy create a huge surface area that doesn't do well in wind freestanding. The tent comes with guy lines, but you have to buy the stakes for them separately. Between the tent and the add-on garage, I needed additional 10 stakes (6 for the tent, 3 for the garage, and 1 spare) and 4 more guy lines (all for the add-on garage). Without the guy lines the tent collapses on itself with even the light sea breeze, and I'm sure a high wind would easily break the poles. Once it's properly tied down, we haven't had any problems.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

The good, the bad and the ugly applied to my one and only use (so far) of this tent.
The Good: Wow, talk about space. Love the height, had room for a queen size air mattress, two typical folding chairs and plenty more stuff if desired (packs with clothes, cooler, etc.). Setup is relatively easy - I watched one online video and never even read the directions. One key though is to make sure the main rib going from front door to back door is UNDER the sleeve for the single middle pole so the fly is resting on the sleeve and not the pole. The ground cloth fits great and is color coded to match the tent (one end of the tent, the ground cloth and the fly all have orange tabs). First time I used it the door without the fly experienced rain (more on that below) and held up pretty well. I think the optional add on vestibule or tech garage is a really good idea though instead of depending on the door to keep things dry inside. Love the pockets all the ventilation. With the rain fly on and fully tied down it stayed nice and warm inside with just enough airflow to keep it from getting damp inside.

The Bad: You need more stakes and guy lines than what they supply. There are 6 tent stake locations, two vestibule stake locations and about 12 guy line locations available - and the tent only comes with 8 stakes and 4 guylines. If there is much wind or rain at all you will want additional stakes and guy lines. You can stake the fly down at the tent stake points and cinch it with the adjustable straps - but having stakes to pull the fly out away from the tent and guying the sides for stability is a big plus. Also, if you are going to camp on the sand or other really soft stuff, get larger stakes to use in place of the ones they give you. The stakes provided are solid and a useful size and are good for most situations, just not big enough for sand & such. Also, make sure to test the doors before you are done adjusting the fly - the guy lines can pull the doors so much they won't zip closed. The rain fly needs to be placed with some care to make sure it is a) symmetrical and b) secured against movement. The bottom of the fly is only a couple of inches at most below the bottom of the screen so if the winds push/pull it to the side you can have an exposed section at the bottom of the screen. Nothing unusual or no concerns you wouldn't probably have with just about any other tent but just a few things to be aware of due to the massive area of screens that provide the great ventilation.

The Ugly: I didn't realize there was a major thunderstorm with tornado watches coming through when I setup my tent on the beach (ie no trees to slow down the wind). I also just had the regular, too-short-for-sand stakes that didn't stay put in the sand. As a result, I discovered the hard way that this tent is not designed for high winds (which is rather obvious if you look at it). The aluminum poles did not break - but they got bent up pretty bad. Once that happened, the tent pretty much lost all stability and weatherproofness. So remember this is not a high (30-50 mph) wind tent. It was doing fine when it was only 15-25 mph. Not sure if the right (larger) stakes would have saved it - the poles bent but the fabric didn't tear.

This is a great tent. Get the extra stakes & lines, take some care during setup, avoid tropical storm conditions and you will love it!!

Service and delivery comments:

REI CUSTOMER SERVICE ROCKS!! I was able to exchange poles and such so I have a nice functional tent again. Hopefully I will pay more attention to the weather reports next time!!

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

Loved this tent the first times we used it. However, we recently camped in the desert and encountered some strong winds. This tent did not survive. Poles bent and broken. We were with a large group of people who for the most part had your standard discount department store tents. All large tents and all fared much better than ours. We've exchanged it for the Base Camp 6. REI staff said the Kingdom 6 isn't really designed for 'Weather'. Strange. We'll see how the Base Camp works out.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

I wanted to wait until we had 4-5 trips under our belt before I wrote a review for the Kingdom 6. Although I haven't seen or tried every "family" style tent on the market, I have a hard time believing that this isn't the best.

The setup is surprisingly easy for a tent of this size. It can be down with one person (with a little practice), but is easier with a second set of hands. If you're going to spend the money on this tent, make sure you add the ground cloth and the garage, it really makes a huge difference.

We (wife, 2 year old, 50 lb. dog, and myself) have plenty of space and with pockets everywhere, it's easy to keep clean and organized. My wife and I have REI XL camp beds that fit perfectly on one side of the tent. On the other we put down a blanket for the dog and keep our cloths against one of the walls. There are large pockets in each of the four corners (situated near your head when you're lying down) where I keep my iPhone, headlamp, wallet and a bottle of water at night. There are also a bunch of pockets on each of the divider walls for further organization. I'm 6'4" and can almost stand in the middle, which makes for a pleasant cloths changing experience. At night, we hang a Black Diamond Apollo from the top of the tent and it lights the entire tent beautifully.
The tent also has some great options for ventilation (rolling up door panels, rolling up the fly, etc.), so it works great in a variety of temperatures.

We have experienced some wind and rain and it held up great. I cannot recommend this tent enough, it really has done everything I wanted and more.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

Pretty close to a perfect car camping tent. It's pretty easy to setup and took about 15 mins the first time and less the second. The large number of wall pockets are great and act like shelves for small items like hats, gloves, keys, glasses, etc. Like all tents the ratings for number of people is laughable. My wife and I fill one room completely with a queen air mattress and our daughter uses the 'patio' w. a twin (see pic). This setup pretty much fills the tent. MAYBE you could get 5-6 people lined up in parallel w/ small sleeping pads. For a family car camping it's a 3-4 person tent. The vestibule is has enough room for a small table which is a nice setup. It could use 10-12 stakes instead of 8 in high winds since there are more guy lines than stakes. The single biggest selling point for me was, at 6' tall, being able to stand up completely inside.

Anyway, a great tent for 3-4 car campers and you should probably go for the Kingdom 8 with more than 4 people.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

I loved this tent and have used it 5 or 6 times. The last time I used it a pole snapped. I've never had an aluminum pole snap. Plus it snapped near a joint, so the repair sleeve didn't work. The other times I used it (with garage) it had been dry. This time it rained. It didn't rain much. Just one day. However, I had a puddle at the front of the tent and a puddle at the back. I just think the fly needs to be better designed. Plus, the pole thing has me worried about using it again.

I've loved this tent, but my love has died a soggy, misshapen death.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

Got it for camping at fishin' tournaments. I wanted comfort, and fast setup/tear-down. Winning!
Is it a 6 person tent? No. It's a phat suite for 1 or a couple, comfy for 3, pad-to-pad for four.
The living space has a good feel. Lot's of mesh for ventilation and star gazing. There's zippers everywhere, and ways to roll up doors, flies, dividers, everything.
REI QA missed a few things...flaws in screens, glue spills, nothing major.
The tiny front weather protection needs design work; it doesn't stay affixed to its pole.
Easy set up -- one short sleeve, and the rest clips.
Packs up nice in the bag, with room for the footprint (and the garage if you squish it)
Love the idea of directions sewn on the bag, but hey REI read some accessibility literature, tiny brown font, on brown background?! barely readable! Oh well, bring a magnifying glass, go camping.

Comments about REI Kingdom 6 Tent - 2012:

My wife and I are planning a trip to Yellowstone for a week in late May and we needed to upgrade our tent pretty badly. We got our tax refund in and knew it was time to head to REI. The Kingdom 6 is exactly what we needed so we can ensure we won't be those folks that stop camping when we have kids. This will be the tent we teach our family to love the outdoors in.

We took it for a quick test/new gear excitement trip in the Texas Hill Country the day after we got it and LOVED it. It's spacious, meaning we don't groan when we have to crawl back into the tent to grab something we forgot. The hubbed poles and huge doors make setting up camp a much easier proposition than we're used to. The fly options work great and make sense. The folks who claim it only takes 10-15 minutes to set up must have practiced with it a few times. Even for the first time in the dark, by myself, with moderate winds. Took me about an hour and a half with footprint, tent, rainfly, connect tech garage, and Nite Ize reflective guy lines. Definitely looking forward to cutting that down to less than half an hour with some help and experience.

All around, this tent sets up easily, sleeps great, looks great, and is about as close an experience to having a hotel room as I've ever gotten with a tent. Pretty awesome tent and we're thrilled to have it.