How to Choose Tents for Camping
Kelty Caboose Tent
$339.95
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Invite your vehicle to the camping party with the Kelty Caboose tent. Part freestanding tent, part spacious awning, this hybrid shelter attaches to your car for added convenience and extra coverage.
Key Details
Sleeping Capacity
4-person
Packaged Weight
21 pounds
Number of Doors
1 door
Best Use
Camping
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- Freestanding 4-person tent with extended awning
- Extended awning can be attached to your vehicle's open hatch or used as a large vestibule when not connected to your car
- Provides more wind, sun and rain protection than traditional automotive awnings
- Semiuniversal vehicle attachment
- Quick Corners allow for lightning-fast and easy setup
- Heavy-duty stakes and guylines included
- Shark Mouth duffel offers easy pack-up and crossbody transport so you can hit the road in record time
- Total covered area with extended awning: 114.7 sq. ft.
Imported.
View all Kelty Camping Tents| Best Use | Camping |
|---|---|
| Seasons | 3-season |
| Sleeping Capacity | 4-person |
| Packaged Weight | 21 pounds |
| Packed Size | 24 x 11 x 10 inches |
| Floor Dimensions | 93.5 x 84 inches |
| Floor Area | 62.1 square feet |
| Vestibule Area | 52.6 square feet |
| Peak Height | 78 inches |
| Number of Doors | 1 door |
| Number of Poles | 3 |
| Pole Material | Fiberglass |
| Pole Diameter | 12.7 millimeters |
| Canopy Fabric | No-see-um mesh/68-denier polyester |
| Floor Fabric | 68-denier polyester taffeta |
| Rainfly Fabric | 68-denier polyester taffeta |
| Footprint Included | No |
| Design Type | Vehicle |
Buying Advice
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Most Helpful Favorable Review
Perfect vehicle camping tent/shelter
Squid2 years ago
This tent is AWESOME for vehicle camping. You can set up with or without your vehicle. The tarp didn't make much noise and didn't collect too much water. I also ended up having 6 people chilling in the tent one day, we were all able to sit up and even lay down comfortably in it. After a few weeks with it, I love it.
Squid
23 people found this review helpful
Most Helpful Critical Review
Niche use, but not bad.
Viking Wanderer2 years ago
I took this on a 5 day overlanding adventure through the desert and discovered that the tent has a niche use which in my opinion precludes it from many usual camping uses. If faced with any wind, even the slightest breeze this needs to be staked down otherwise it will fall over. Obviously if you want to use it as intended you must have space behind your vehicle, this is not always possible in a lot of campgrounds, the more developed they are, the less chance you will have space. I only tried to use the rainfly once and it was a disaster with a moderate breeze, I stripped it off and slept in my vehicle instead. I will use it a few more times as intended to rule out operator error because the basic idea is great, but I am seriously thinking of returning this for something more traditional.
Viking Wanderer
CA
19 people found this review helpful
Customer Images
Hunterl21
Iowa
2015 Ford Escape AWESOME SUV Tent Setup
5 months ago
This is our 3rd SUV tent, we have a bed platform in our SUV and wanted a place to hang out/store our items out of the elements. The first two we had wrapped around the vehicle and we hated how difficult they were to attach to the car but also how unsafe if we started it to drive somewhere. When we found the Kelty Caboose 4, it was perfect. The area we needed to change and cook but also easy attachment with one buckle on the tires and to drive off there's plenty of ventilation with the modular side walls. I love how we can customize how much airflow/privacy we want with them. We have also used the tent standalone and it's been great there too! Setup is definitely easier with two people. We use the Kelty Caboose 4 footprint which is a perfect fit under the tent since it's wider in the entrance area and narrows near the back. It takes my husband and I maybe 20 minutes to put the tent up completely with the rainfly awning. If attaching to your vehicle, I recommend setting up the tent completely and zipping the awning down, back up your vehicle until your bumper is overlapping with the bottom of the awning and then unzipping it and attaching to your vehicle from there. Usually is a perfect fit every time and you don't have to keep getting in the car and making little corrections to be even under the awning! We've camped in 35+ mph winds and thunderstorms with it and so far has held up no problem! Kelty also has an awesome warranty system, when we had a small hole in the mesh they sent us a brand new tent no charge! It has taped seams all over the floor and the rain fly, a nice zipper that never gets stuck, and good stakes too! Overall we love this system and recommend it to everyone we know.
Height:5'8"
Yes , I recommend this product
Nathalie Planning Motion
Quebec City
This is great addition to our car camping setup!
2 years ago
We even managed to install it to get covered access to our Pacifica side door. Perfect!
Age:55–64
Height:5'6"
Yes , I recommend this product
megs
California
Good expansion for car campers!
1 month ago
We have used this tent 3 times now and it works great for our needs. We car camp, so finding a tent that just extended our "living space" but kept us close and connected to the car was convenient and ideal. It can also be set up separately from the car. It's spacious and the airflow has been good on our trips so far. The only thing I wish it had was more window openings around the tent. I would like to be able to see out without completely removing the rainfly. But aside from that it's been a good fit. It's easy to setup and after a couple practice tries we have it down to about 10 minutes, take down is a bit longer. We've used it with our Jeep Cherokee(small SUV) and our Ford Expedition(large SUV) and it's worked great for both of them, there's just a bit of extra material with the jeep since it's a bit smaller.
Age:25–34
Height:5'4"
Yes , I recommend this product
Squid
Perfect vehicle camping tent/shelter
2 years ago
This tent is AWESOME for vehicle camping. You can set up with or without your vehicle. The tarp didn't make much noise and didn't collect too much water. I also ended up having 6 people chilling in the tent one day, we were all able to sit up and even lay down comfortably in it. After a few weeks with it, I love it.
Jimmy
Fort Worth, TX
Great overlanding tent!
2 years ago
Great tent for overlanding/camping and is able to attach to my 3rd gen 4runner. Definitely possible to set up and take down by yourself if youre on the taller side (Im 6'2). Only thing that would make it better is more ventilation/windows on the sides for better airflow
Age:25–34
Weight:225–250 lbs.
Height:6'2"
Yes , I recommend this product
Sarah
Kentucky
Love this tent!
1 year ago
I bought this tent last year and have used it twice. I love it. It can be set up by one person but much easier with two. It attaches great to my Subaru Forrester with no problem. Easily unhook and roll the sides and fasten for stand alone. Lots of room, I easily fit two cots and a little table inside. Have yet to use it during any kind of inclement weather though.
Age:35–44
Yes , I recommend this product
Viking Wanderer
California
Niche use, but not bad.
2 years ago
I took this on a 5 day overlanding adventure through the desert and discovered that the tent has a niche use which in my opinion precludes it from many usual camping uses. If faced with any wind, even the slightest breeze this needs to be staked down otherwise it will fall over. Obviously if you want to use it as intended you must have space behind your vehicle, this is not always possible in a lot of campgrounds, the more developed they are, the less chance you will have space. I only tried to use the rainfly once and it was a disaster with a moderate breeze, I stripped it off and slept in my vehicle instead. I will use it a few more times as intended to rule out operator error because the basic idea is great, but I am seriously thinking of returning this for something more traditional.
Age:45–54
Weight:350–375 lbs.
Height:6'1"
No, I do not recommend this product
zmanBremerton
Seattle, WA
Make Sure You Get Instructions With It.
1 year ago
I so wanted this to work. I researched it on line and decided to spend the money on it at REI. I selected pick up at my local store and the employee brought out a "bag" to the counter. I guess these items didn't come in a box. I got to the car and decided to inspect it to verify it was whole. I found no instructions with it and the inside of the unit was wet. I ended up having to return the unit since there were no instructions with the product OR online at the manufacturers site.
Age:55–64
Weight:150–175 lbs.
Height:5'8"
No, I do not recommend this product
Josh G
north carolina
Great Car camping tent
1 week ago
We purchased this tent last year to go camping and overlanding. Took it out the first time at home. set up took 20 minutes and didn't read the instructions. Then to some festivals and camping a couple of times. We were worried that we would have issues with the vehicle as we have a jeep with a lift and oversize tires. The tent performed flawlessly. Rain or shine. we even had enough room for two chairs under the awning between the tent and car. I would highly recommend the kelty.
Height:5'10"
Age:35–44
Weight:200–225 lbs.
Yes , I recommend this product
bkmc
Ideal if you have literally no weather
1 month ago
Seriously cool concept, just poorly executed. I really wanted to love this because it hits all the needs. Large enough for my family, ties into the vehicle so its easy to get stuff and can double as car camping and tent camping for extra space. The tent was just insanely unstable as a whole, but especially without the rain fly. With the fly on, it's WILDLY hot. The fly has a singular hole to vent on the back and its so tiny it basically was an oven. The poles are fiberglass and the pole sleeves, while easy, just aren't it. I used this at the most recent Electric Forest which experienced torrential downpours, high wind, and high heat. While it did an amazing job of keeping the rain off and out, that's about it. Any wind above 15 mph and the cross poles just constantly buckled, even when guyed out. Again, I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted the caboose to be perfect, but its just poorly engineered and under engineered. The main tent body really needs some reimagining because the pole sleeves allow way too much flex and move for its size. And worst of all, the rain fly pole straight up never stayed in no matter what I did. Returned it and am back in the market for something else.
Height:6'4"
Age:35–44
No, I do not recommend this product
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