7 best Kelty tents in 2023: high quality for a low price
Our round up of the best Kelty tents including options for backpacking, couples and car camping
Finding a long lasting, durable tent that can withstand a battering, not only from the weather but from you and your family too, can be difficult. And finding one for a reasonable price can be even harder.
But that’s where Kelty is different…
Kelty tents are all about having fun, playing hard and being adventurous…all without experiencing phantom pains in your pockets. Whether you’re going car camping or backpacking, being on a budget doesn’t have to hold back your choices.
Stay tuned for some Kelty tent reviews…
In a hurry? Here’s our top 3 picks for the best Kelty tents.
Best Kelty backpacking tent
Lightweight, super spacious, plenty of headroom and the ability to open and close mesh ventilation windows from inside the tent.
Best Kelty 4 person tent
Features Kelty’s stargazing fly system, you can open/close the fly from inside the tent for easy and convenient stargazing or to allow a breeze through the tent.
Best Kelty car camping tent
Super huge, allows you to stand up easily for comfort and liveability. The large mesh roof and sides allows for stunning views of your surroundings.
7 best kelty tents
Kelty All Inn
Best Kelty backpacking tent
The Kelty All Inn 2-person tent offers you some well earned luxury and comfort while backpacking or thru-hiking. Its use of four industry leading DAC Pressfit poles means not only is the tent super easy to set up, but lightweight, sturdy and durable too.
It includes some super neat features that you don’t find in many tents, including those costing double the price. One of the most notable is its “genius visor” over the front entrance. It’s basically a large, zip open mesh window on the front door of the vestibule to allow air circulation and prevent condensation.
But what’s so exciting about that?
Well, it comes in the fact that if the heavens open while you’re tucked up in bed, you can close the window from the inside of your tent. Most tents provide vents and windows that can only be closed from the outside, meaning you have to go outside in wind and rain to shut them.
Another great feature is its vertical walls. Vertical walls provide more overall interior living space, making the tent feel more like a small room, instead of just a cramped sleeping area with a peak in the center.
It’s these little details that make your backpacking trip just that bit more comfortable.
Weighing in at 3lbs 14oz and measuring 84″ long x 52″ wide with a peak height of 42″, it offers exceptional interior space and headroom for a backpacking tent that is so lightweight.
Kelty Late Start
Best budget Kelty backpacking tent
The Kelty Late Start, released in 2020, is the new and improved version of the legendary Kelty Salida tent. It uses two pre-bent aluminum poles, with quick corner technology for easy set up, even in the dark.
Despite its cheap price it offers fantastic weather protection and can easily handle high winds and torrential rain. The fly and floor are made from high quality material that are water resistant up to 1800mm. This basically means that water won’t penetrate even in driving rain and strong winds.
The tent has a single door and a small vestibule to store your backpack and shoes. It doesn’t offer much in the way of luxury, and is literally intended to be a bomb-proof backpacking tent that is used for sleeping and not much else. That’s not a negative thing either. It’s why the tent is so cheap but of such good quality. There’s no bells and whistles, but it’s a perfectly roomy 1-person tent that will provide you with security, sturdiness and a perfect night’s sleep.
It features a couple of handy interior pockets to store your essentials such as phone, books etc and one ceiling loft storage to store a light or lantern.
Weighing in at 3 lbs 12 oz and measuring 85″ long x 40″ wide with a peak height of 36.5″, it offers a good amount of space for a 1-person tent. While its width and height pales in comparison to the All Inn and doesn’t offer any noteworthy weight savings, it is roughly half the price, and at just over $100, offers exceptional value if your main priority is cost.
Kelty Wireless
Best Kelty 2 person tent
The Kelty Wireless 2-person tent is another new addition introduced in 2020 and offers similar space to the 2-person All Inn at a significant cost saving. The cost saving comes from the dramatic weight differences. But if you’re looking for a 2-person tent for car camping, or weight just isn’t an issue, the Wireless provides substantial space at a ridiculously cheap price.
It features two doors and two vestibules on either side of the tent, allowing for easy entry/exit and plenty of space for storage of bulky items. It also uses Kelty’s new EZ-Zip zippers on the vestibules for, well, easy access.
The Wireless tent uses fibreglass/hybrid tent poles with quick corners for fast and easy setup and comes with a Shark Mouth carrying bag for easy pack up and transport.
Despite its name, and the “strong connection” graphic on the ceiling storage pocket, the tent doesn’t offer anything in terms of internet connectivity. The name is basically a gimmick and uses the tagline “sometimes you have to disconnect to connect”. So, don’t be like us and get excited that it uses some super advanced technology that allows you to get wifi anywhere in the world.
The tent weighs 7lbs 5 oz and measures 86” long x 49” wide with a peak height of 43”. It’s weight prevents it from being suitable for backpacking, but is definitely light enough to carry a fair distance from your car/transport to a set up spot.
Kelty Dirt Motel
Best Kelty 4 person tent
The Dirt Motel is a great 4-person option for both backpacking and car camping. It’s spacious enough to be enjoyed on a family camping trip, but lightweight enough to backpack with a couple of friends with.
It features three DAC Pressfit poles for added strength, stability and durability. Besides sturdiness, the DAC Pressfit poles offer a lighter weight and easier set up.
The Dirt Motel incorporates Kelty’s innovative stargazing rain fly system which allows you to quickly and conveniently open/close the fly from inside the tent. With the rainfly open, the large mesh ceiling and sides of the inner tent allow for stunning views of the sky and your surroundings.
The stargazing system is also great for air circulation. On hot nights you can roll up the fly and allow a cool breeze to blow through your tent, without the worry of a sudden storm soaking the inside of your tent. If the weather changes, just roll down your fly from inside your tent.
It includes two doors and two vestibules, one on either side of the tent, making it perfect for sharing with camping buddies so that you don’t have to climb over each other when that midnight toilet run calls.
Weighing 6lbs 14oz and measuring 94” long x 85” wide and a peak height of 46”, it’s a super lightweight and spacious tent for backpacking with friends. If you split the weight of the tent between you, it ends up being an exceptionally light tent. It’s also perfect for kayak camping, bikepacking and motorcycle camping as it packs down to a tiny 16” x 7.5”.
Kelty Tallboy
Best Kelty 6 person tent
The Kelty Tallboy, as its name suggests, offers loads of head height for optimum comfort, liveability and convenience. Another release from 2020, it features Kelty’s new, fresh and modern color scheme of mint green, blue and orange. It truly stands out from the crowd when pitched.
As with the Kelty All Inn, it features a mesh window above the front door that can be opened and closed from inside the tent. Super convenient and a super thoughtful addition from Kelty. The front entry space is also covered by a “visor” type covering, so you can technically even keep the window open in rain. But if you did want to close it, you can do so from the warmth and comfort of your den.
Weighing in at 14lbs 1oz and measuring 105” long x 118” wide with a peak height of 72”, its weight is actually pretty decent for such a large tent. It also packs down to just 24” x 8”, making it perfect for kayak camping, bikepacking and motorcycle camping as well as car camping.
Kelty Sequoia
Best Kelty tent for car camping
The Sequoia 6 is another exceptional Kelty stargazer tent. While it doesn’t feature Kelty’s newer stargazing system (like the Dirt Motel does) due to it being an older model, the stargazing opportunities this tent offers is awe inspiring.
Despite its large size, the tent is super easy to set up with only four poles to configure. The poles themselves are made of steel, which, while heavy compared to aluminum or fibreglass offer excellent strength and sturdiness.
The only thing to note about set up, is that if you are 5 foot or smaller, you will actually struggle to put the tent up alone as the top poles are so high you can’t comfortably reach them to insert them into the grommets.
The Sequoia is a thing of beauty, and feels more like a hotel room than a tent. A hotel room with phenomenal views no less. The super high ceiling, vertical walls and full sized door really make you feel like you’re arriving home after a long day out adventuring.
Weighing 23lbs 14oz and measuring 112” long x 112” wide with a head height of 82” all round, it’s the heaviest Kelty tent on this list, but the space, height and features make it completely worthwhile.
And besides, when used for car camping weight doesn’t really matter so much. What does matter though, is its packed size, you don’t want your tent taking up all your boot space! But not to worry, when packed down into its carrying bag it measures just 26” x 10”, leaving you plenty of space for the rest of your camping gear.
Kelty Tallboy
Best budget Kelty tent for car camping
The Tallboy makes its second entry on this list. It’s just the perfect budget car camping tent. It offers high head room to allow you to stand up, get changed and just generally not spend your entire trip crouched over like Quasimodo.
With its three fibreglass X-poles, not only is it super durable but ridiculously easy to pitch too. The rainfly is also color coded for easy attachment, no more putting your fly on upside down, inside out or back to front.
Similar to the All Inn it features the fantastic front mesh window that can be opened and closed from inside the tent. A thoughtful design idea to prevent having to go out in your birthday suit when a downpour begins in the middle of the night.
Weighing 11lbs on the dot and measuring 85” long x 96” and a peak head height of 70”, its actually reasonably lightweight for its size and space. Especially considering it’s so cheap at sub $200 and often even sub $150.
