Kelty Salida 2 Person Tent Review – A Good Or Bad Tent?

Does this tent stand up against the winds and is it going to keep you bone dry when a rainstorm passes through the night?

I will be finding the answers to these questions and many more in my honest Kelty Salida 2 Person Tent review.

If you’re here for the same thing, then I suggest you keep reading. You will discover EVERYTHING that this tent has to offer just from reading this article. Enjoy 😀

Functionality	Waterproof	Strength	My Final Rating
This tent only has one door and doesn’t come with a gear loft, while it should be classed as a 1-person tent since it’s so tiny inside	It performs better than expected in the rain, as it’s highly waterproof and going to keep you bone dry even in a harsh rainstorm	Definitely stands up to the claims withstanding strong winds. There are ONLY a couple of complaints about parts breaking (the reason why I took half a star off)	It keeps you safe from the elements, which is its main job of course. But it definitely lacks in functionality, meaning there aren’t many features

The Kelty Salida 2 With The Rain Fly On

The Good

The Bad

It’s lightweight for the price bracket. You can make it even lighter by removing unneeded guide cords and only taking 4 stakes The extra fabric on the walls offers more privacy when the rain fly is off. This also helps protect you from direct wind The poles are smaller than other models, adding much more stability. This tent stands like a house in strong winds – literally – it performs brilliantly The rain fly comes all the way down to the ground, providing as much protection from the rain as possible. Seriously, you will stay bone dry even in a heavy downpour The vestibule area is MASSIVE. Being 10 square feet means it’s bigger than what other (2-person) tents offer

There is no free gear loft included in the purchase! However, the loops are there if you decide to use one Only having one door makes for a disturbing sleep when someone has to get up in the middle of the night Don’t expect to sleep two in it without touching. Many people have purchased it and thought two people could sleep in it comfortably. But you will DEFINITELY be touching

Summary: This tent will keep you bone dry, hands down. While it will DEFINITELY stay standing in heavy winds, too. Essentially, it provides the basics that a tent should offer, and it does a great job at it. However, if you’re looking for maximum features, the Kelty Salida 2 Tent just doesn’t cut the mustard in this area. There is only one door, while your outside views are very limited when you take the rain fly off.

Specifications

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Product name: Kelty Salida 2 Tent
Cheapest Place To Buy: Amazon.com
Color: Grey
Size: 2-person
Rating: 3-season
Minimum Weight: 3 lb 14 oz
Packaged Weight: 4 lb 9 oz
Center Height: 3.5 ft
Floor Size: 7.3 x 4.5/3.7 (L x W head/foot) feet
Floor Area: 30.5 Sq. ft
Vestibule Area: 10 Sq. ft
Packed Size: 13 x 15 in
Footprint Included: No
Gear Loft Included: No

Product Overview

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This tent is designed mainly for backpacking due it being lightweight.

It is a 2-person tent that consists of 1 door only. And because it’s a side-entry tent, the door is located on the side of it.

The vestibule area is 10 feet long, providing storage space for your equipment.

Furthermore, the mesh walls offer great ventilation abilities for when you’re camping in warm weather.

The Ventilation – 40% Mesh Walls

 

Can Sleep 2 People…JUST

This tent has a freestanding design, meaning it can be pitched faster than most non-freestanding tents, simply because of the 2-pole, compact design that it offers.

This typical pole set consists of a shockcorded DAC Pressfit aluminum, while the “compact” feature means it can be packed down a lot easier.

Kelty have a “Hug pole clip system”, which is used on this tent as well. It ensures a fast and easy setup every single time.

Basically, Kelty wanted to create a tent designd specifically for backpacking, but still being lightweight and simple enough to provide everything a backpacker needs.

But most of all, so it fits inside your backpack while you forget it’s in there! And that’s when they came up with this one, the Kelty Salida 2 Tent.

Entry and Exit

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Sadly this 2 person tent only has 1 door, which is a huge let down considering everything else on the tent works great (this is the traditional “D-shape” door).

There is literally 0 complaints about the zippers on this tent too (I checked multiple sites), so there’s only one conclusion for them, they work perfectly fine and won’t break!

Storage

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Kelty seem to love their storage, and they haven’t skimped the storage for this tent either.

With a whopping 10 square feet of vestibule room, makes it stand out from its competitors in the same price range – or tents that offer NO vestibule room for that matter.

For those of you who don’t know, the vestibule room is basically free space under the rain fly located outside the tent.

The rain fly keeps all your equipment dry, so that’s where you place your gear for when you are backpacking or hiking overnight.

There are gear loft loops inside the tent as well, just in case you want to use a gear loft for more storage.

Ventilation

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A lot of people love the ventilation that it offers due to the mesh wall material.

Kelty have tried to create a unique design with the mesh, which I can clearly see.

However, even though it looks cool and all, it doesn’t exactly offer panoramic views of the surrounding areas, or even the BEST stargazing opportunities.

Why they placed a normal panel on top of this tent I do not know, but I do know that it will not be the greatest tent for the peak of summer for those who like to keep the rain fly off to view the stars.

But it does do its job anyway, which is to provide adequate air flow to stop condensation from building up, as a lot of users have found it to work for them.

Weatherproofing

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So the rain fly stretches all the way out to the ground.

When you see tents like this, their sole purpose is to give the best protection against the run. And this one does just that, extremely well.

A lot of users have found the waterproofing to be top notch. As long as you set it up correctly and not rush it, there will be absolutely no rain getting inside this tent, no matter how hard it falls.

And that’s due to the amazing rain fly and fully taped construction.

How does it handle against the wind?

It holds up to wind really well actually. A lot of users can confirm that it DOES stand up to 30-40 MPH winds, even if those are sustained winds!

If it can do that, then it will definitely be able to handle strong wind gusts of up to 60 MPH+

Check if this tent is still in stock…

What I Like About The Kelty Salida 2 Person Tent

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The carry bag has a LOT of extra space. Most of the time tents are IMPOSSIBLE to get back into their carry bags.

However, with this tent you’re literally able to stuff it in if you choose to do so (shout out to my lazy brothers!), since there’s so much extra space!

The Carry Bag You’ll Receive

Furthermore, because the vestibule room is so large, you can literally make your morning coffee inside there if you happen to wake up and it’s pouring down of rain.

Interesting enough…

It doesn’t have a vent on the rain fly but it still gets enough ventilation.

Why is this good?

A lot of people have had rain drops get inside rain fly vents and eventually into the tent.

Sometimes wind can make its way into the tent as well, causing you to freeze your butt off, UNLESS you have a decent sleeping bag.

What I Don’t Like

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If you decide to take the rain fly off on the warmer nights, your view is very limited since there’s a huge panel smack-bang in the middle of the ceiling, blocking your view.

And because the mesh materials are only located on the top halves of the walls, you can’t even see the surrounding areas when you’re lying down.

But currently, that’s my only pet peeve.

Example Of The Limited Views

Who Should Buy This Tent?

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A backpacker will benefit from this tent – a lot, since it’s in the lightweight range.

Most lightweight backpacking tents will range anywhere from $300 all the way up to $600, and that’s JUST for a 2-person tent.

But thankfully, that’s not the case with the Kelty Salida 2 Tent.

Even if you just want an affordable, lightweight tent to go car camping with, this one would work PERFECTLY.

Best Place To Buy?

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The best place to purchase this tent is from Amazon.com.

Why?

Because they always have the best deals, they deliver on time, and sometimes even faster.

If your orders are made to the US, you will get free shipping as well.

Not to mention their awesome 30-day return policies! You can send the tent back for a full refund if you simply don’t like it.

Or if you experience any defects on the product within those first 30 days, you can send it back for a repair.

Click Here For The Current Price

Do I Recommend The Kelty Salida 2 Person Tent?

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It’s a lightweight tent that’s in a great price bracket.

These types of tents aren’t easy to find.

Due to it offering AMAZING weatherproofing abilities (since you’ll stay bone dry no matter how hard the rain comes down), and because SO many buyers have found it to work exactly as advertised, I have absolutely no choice but to recommend it!

Yes, it has some flaws, but what tent doesn’t? Apart from this one, of course.

Alternative Tent

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Looking for a 2-person tent that ACTUALLY has 2 doors while keeping you bone dry in a heavy downpour? The ALPS Taurus 2 Tent is what you’re looking for.

Or do you want a tent that has FULL mesh walls so you can have the best panoramic views of your surrounding areas when the rain fly is off?

Then you’ll enjoy all the benefits of the Eureka Midori 2 Tent.

My Final Opinion

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If you want a tent that provides the basics while being affordable and really lightweight at the same time, you simply can not go wrong with the Kelty Salida 2 Tent.

All claims I have found about it are actually true (according to all the online reviews).

Furthermore, there are only a small number of people complaining about this tent.

Most of them were only small issues, which I have already mentioned in the cons area anyway.

So due to the positive feedback that this tent has received, and since all negative claims have only been minor, I’ll have to give this tent a big thumbs up!

Great price, very lightweight, not much bad feedback, highly recommended!

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