What to Look for in a Camping Tent

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This is a 3-season campground palace if you're camping with your family. A center divider creates 2 private rooms, or you can roll the fly back to convert one room into an airy, bug-free haven.
Shop newer versionBest Use | Camping |
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Seasons | 3-season |
Sleeping Capacity | 6-person |
Minimum Trail Weight | 17 lbs. 3 oz. |
Packaged Weight | 19 lbs. 12 oz. |
Packed Size | 25 x 16.5 x 9.5 inches |
Floor Dimensions | 10 ft. x 8 ft. 4 in. |
Floor Area | 83 square feet |
Vestibule Area | 29 |
Peak Height | 6 ft. 3 in. |
Number of Doors | 2 doors |
Number of Poles | 2 hubbed pole sets + 1 crossover pole |
Pole Material | 6061 Aluminum / 7001 Aluminum |
Pole Diameter | 14.5 / 11.0 millimeters |
Canopy Fabric | Nylon taffeta/mesh |
Floor Fabric | Coated polyester oxford |
Rainfly Fabric | Coated polyester taffeta |
Footprint Included | No |
Design Type | Freestanding |
Sustainability | From a Climate Label Certified brand |
From feedback to field testing, all of our gear is dialed-in by REI Co-op members. Their adventures informed every stitch and detail—making for better, longer-lasting gear.
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My sister (age 65) and I (64) went on a Sister only camping trip, we purchased Kingdom 6 for this trip. Our biggest worry was about putting up the tent, the tent just went up so fast, we ending up laughing because it was so easy. It's a great Florida tent, being able to pull back the fly half way for a nice cross breeze was great. With the fly half way back, we could just zip the divider and change clothes standing up without having to go to the shower house. Lots of room for all of our stuff and pocket storage. It was just as easy to take down as to put up.
After doing a lot of comparisons, and reading a ton of reviews on different makes and models...I settled on the REI Kingdom 6 tent and was fortunate to obtain it & it's accessories during one of their sales events. Set this beast up in my yard...The thing is huge, but ideal for what I was looking for and for now, I am only giving it 4 stars, as I have not been beyond the backyard with it. Here are my thoughts: Love this tent so far! I call it My Kingdom Pad. You have a sleeping area and a screened in area for sitting if you choose. Having said that; this tent is great for a small family of four , but awesome for a couple! The tent comes in a bag that doubles as a back pack to make carrying a breeze. There is plenty of room to also store the tech garage, foot print & additional stakes/ guy lines! After watching some you tube videos, it took about 20 mins for hubby & I to set it all up. The Tech Garage is a great addition for additional storage, but I found it tricky position it so it didn't sag or pull. (see photo). I was also disappointed to find that for the expense of this tent, it does not fully equipped with the total required number of pegs and guy lines. :( Boo! It only comes with 6 of each. Be prepared to buy extra. The sleeping area: Needs to be adjusted slightly. There is a curtain that separates the two rooms, but there needs to be an additional foot of space added to the sleeping area, where the two rooms meet (without taking away from screen room). My husband is 6' tall and 18" across at the chest. He likes to lay on his back, elbows out...I could not get over how much space he took and what was left for me...( I am 5'1 & barely half his width) lol. Feet should not be sticking out from under the divider curtain, nor should someone be rolling into it if laying width wise. As mentioned in other reviews, additional tie backs for the lower part of the curtains would be a bonus. Love all the storage pockets to organize your smaller items! I wanted a tent that had a screened in porch that we could use in the nicer weather and be bug free. What I liked especially about this set up, is that you can still have your sitting area if the weather turns sour; just roll and turn down the fly and you are good to go. Over the last four months I have been replacing my old gear with new, with a few things left to get. So now, my husband & I can camp in comfort with the help of REI. I am so excited to start the new camping season; it can't come fast enough!!
It's big. It's heavy. Long set up time. It's worth it. The best tent I have owned. I also have a Big Agnes Mad House 4, REI half dome 2 plus and some other cheap tents, but nothing can compare to how roomy, durable and well constructed this tent is. I also bought the garage extension for the tent and its worth it. Might be pricey, but still the best value. I've had this tent for 3 years now and still feels brand new. Comes in a wonderful backpack that you can wear for easy transport. 2 thumbs up!.
We purchased our REI Kingdom 6 in May 2010. My wife was a backpacker and I climbed and hiked a lot in our youthful pre-kid 20s and 30s. We'd had our first child in 2010 (second to come in 2012) and decided to upgrade size, comfort, and space for our car-camping future. The original design Kingdom 6 is SPACIOUS!! The vestibule is useful for shoes and some gear but inside the tent is great for all 4 of us and our clothes and packs/bags, standing room is amazing, and the interior space palatial! There are some useful storage pockets and a retractable wall which can separate the space inside. We live in SE Utah where spring and fall camping is prime, but spring comes with winds. We've had this tent in several wind storms and didn't expect much given the vast area of its profile...nothing this large @ this price-point would do well against desert spring winds. One windstorm in the first couple years of ownership was a bit terrifying and quite memorable, with wife and babies in tent and 40-50 mph winds (probably gusting higher?). It was guyed along the windward side to boulders, picnic table, vehicle, etc. as I tried to hold up the walls and roof on the leeward side. That was an exciting trip, and left the poles mis-shapen for the reminder of its life, yet no failures. We've had it in Michigan summer rains, desert sun on the White Rim and Needles areas of SE Utah, Oregon coastal camping, the Redwoods, Nevada's Great Basin NP and many forests and high desert adventures around and between! It stays dry, and is unsurprisingly cold in winter (so 2 smaller tents is better for us in sub-freezing overnight temps), keeps drafts at bay and has held up to regular use Wonky poles with excessive curve and all, this tent has served us for nearly 11 years!!!!! With some hesitancy (based on reviews) we're buying the (curiously discontinued) newer redesign kingdom 6 (@ 40% sale), with hopes it'll see us through more years. We cannot say enough about the original design Kingdom 6 and hope the redesigned newer version (with the additional poles) is at least half to 60% the performance and durability of the original. The photos are from new unboxing in May 2011, and in Death Valley Nov 2021...same kid in each photo 8-0 !
As if this tent needed another 5 star review, here is my take on it. Since it seems my minimalist days are finally behind me I decided to bite the bullet and get a larger tent that would be more comfortable for me and my lady. After much research I settled on the K6 with the optional garage attachment. This past weekend we took it out for it's first ATV trip to central Indiana. First, a word about the set up. I was able to set it up by myself during a test run in the back yard with moderately windy conditions in about 30 minutes from packed to completely up and staked out. The second time I set it up was at our campsite in the dark; again by myself (my girlfriend was holding the flashlight for me). I repeat. Solo set up, in the dark, from packed to done including footprint, rain fly, garage and all guy lines in 30 minutes. I am confident that 2 people during the day with no wind could have this baby up in 10 minutes flat. Once set up this tent just kept surprising me with all the attention to detail. Every aspect of it is extremely well designed and thought out. From the way the poles attach through the rain fly, tent body and footprint to keep everything straight, to the multiple options for folding back the rain fly REI has really thought of everything. The interior is roomy from bottom to top with a central divider that we used to have a separate "bedroom" and a front "living room". The rear vestibule is big enough to store a couple backpacks or your camp chairs. I highly recommend the optional garage attachment. It provided a perfect place for us to change out of our muddy riding gear without getting the tent interior dirty or giving the entire campground a free show. I should note that both the garage and the included vestibule did collect considerable amounts of condensation during the nights (we had mid 60's during the day and upper 30's at night) but I had no problems with this inside the tents actual living area. Regarding durability, I am impressed. I once had a tent destroyed in a tornado and have since made waterproofing and wind resistance a top priority in my tent selection. While I did not have an opportunity to rain test this one it did handle some very serious wind. Using one line from each of the six provided guy out points on the rain fly and msr groundhog stakes, the tent hardly budged. Given the design and construction of the fly, I see no reason it wouldn't stand up just as well in a severe thunderstorm. I would consider this tent to be as close to bombproof as one this size can get. In conclusion, I am very critical of my gear and expect it to perform flawlessly under all conditions. The Kingdom 6 did not disappoint. For dependable car camping comfort you would be hard pressed to find something better.
I've owned the K6 tent now for three or four years. My wife and I do research, often out in the desert (Southwest). We bring data communications gear, laptops, and whatnot and need a lot of space to work and sleep in. What can I say, it is perfect for our use, it's held up in the harsh desert environment for some time now, and it's still going strong. As other reviewers have noted, you should purchase additional stakes and guy lines. The high desert is hard packed, often rocky ground. The provided stakes bent too easily. I ran down to the local hardware store and bought 12" nails and nylon rope. Now the tent holds up well even in high winds (and dust devils). Overall, setup and take-down is easy. It is far easier to set up and take down compared to other tents I've owned. For its size, convenience, amenities, good airflow, and ruggedness, I give it five stars. When I finally wear it out, I hope REI will still sell the K6 because I would buy it again.
Purchased the tent in May to replace a 4 person tent that I have had since the 1990's and decided to go with the Kingdom 6 after a few weeks of research, store visits, and more youtube videos than my girlfriend could stand. I purchased the tent for car camping or for a short backpack trek to a campsite but the overriding factor was comfort at the campsite. I also wanted something durable, easy to set up, and flexible which I can say without reservation the Kingdom delivers on. The chance to use the tent came last weekend on a camping trip up in Big Bear and I came away very impressed. The tent sets up quickly and logically and because it is a free standing tent you can move it around easily to get your final orientation just right for your site. I also love the flexibility of the fly system which we did use the first night pealing back the fly to expose the screen room. This made the tent very comfortable during the day even when the temps hit the 90's but be forewarned that during the evening that open roof lets out a lot of heat so the second night we slept with the fly down in the front and we were very comfortable. We got a little chilly the first night with the fly back but it was still manageable and I could have easily gotten up and closed up the fly if we needed to. The fly also goes all the way to the ground which makes me confident that even in heavy rain it will have water protection. Secondly, I also recommend the optional footprint which is very well made and the connect tech garage. The garage seemed like a bit of a gimmick but after a weekend with it I am very pleased I added it on. Essentially it gives you a second huge, nearly full height, vestibule off the front door of the tent for your gear. The flexibility to have some external area under the cover of the fly was great to store things at the site during the day while we were exploring to keep them shaded but also out of view. Finally, the comfort of the tent really can't be overstated. I am 6 feet tall and I can easily stand up and walk around inside of the tent and the vertical walls give you a lot of space to work with. We put down a queen air mattress which fit perfectly in the back half, non screen room, room of the tent leaving the front open for our duffel bags and gear. Tons of pockets and overhead attach points make storage clean as well. Both front and rear doors are well made and have full zip around access which is unusual in a tent but most welcome in the middle of the night. The only qualification I will give is that due to the vertical walls and high profile of the tent it does have more sensitivity to wind. The tent comes with six guy lines for the fly but I would recommend, and purchased, another six for other guy lines to anchor out other points, along with stakes, on the fly to give the tent more structure and rigidity in high winds. In closing if you are in the market for a high quality car camping tent with lots of flexibility and comfort I recommend the kingdom 6 and can't wait to use it again.
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.
Bought this tent after a great deal of research. This is a great 2-4 person car camping tent. I'm usually a minimalist, but in trying to spark my fiance's interest in camping, I opted for what I thought would be a very comfortable tent car camping tent. This is a great tent for such purpose. Set up is a little lengthy but to be expected for a tent this size. Numerous reviews comment on the tents wind resistance. This is a large tent with a large profile. When properly staked and guyed (which you should always do this this tent) this tent is solid. We fit a full size air mattress in the rear section with room to spare. A queen is certainly doable, but I wanted more room to walk about inside the tent. The other half of the tent we left open for lounging. Plenty of room in this tent. I'm 6'2" and am very comfortable in this tent. We purchased the garage, and the footprint. The garage is a must for this tent, and gives you a great deal of storage space. Very weather proof. Plenty of storage/room. I would not worry about poor weather with this tent. It's rock solid. My only hesitation in purchasing this tent was that the design is nearly 5 years old (I think) and I have to believe that REI will soon be coming out with the next generation of Kingdom tents... All that said, this is my go to car camping tent for 2-4 people. Fantastic tent! Has a basecamp/homelike feel. Very comfortable, solid, and versatile. I look forward to year of camping with this tent. Well done REI!
I bought a tent this size so we could sleep on our cots, and it fits 2 cots very well. We were deep in Canyonlands National Park in our Jeep with nighttime lows in the 40's. WInd and temp were never a problem. It was very easy to setup. Only one minor issue was the number of zipper options (4) to open the door. Seemed like a bit of overkill and was hard to discern screen from door in the dark. Going to correct by using unique zipper pulls.