User Review: Kelty Crestone 1

Kelty Crestone 1
Above: The current Crestone 1, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed December 22, 2007 by Jen Shim

Rating:
Design: Three-season tunnel
Sleeps: 1
Ease of Setup: Very easy
Weight: 4+ lbs (tent, rain fly, tent bag, strings and stakes)
Price Paid: $60

This is a great little lightweight tent. I'm relatively short and small (5'4") and found this tent to provide enough room for myself as well as my 4750 cu inch backpack plus sleeping pad and sleeping bag and other little gadgets. If you are a taller individual and looking for a strong tent, this tent would not be a good choice.

This is a little tent in the sense that I was not able to sit up straight completely inside the tent but I didn't find this to be a major problem. It's got a small pocket on each side in the head portion of the tent, and I found these to be very useful for storing headlamps, whistle, and other smaller things. This is not a freestanding tent and I was aware of this when I purchased this.

Most of my trips were in canyon country and in several occasions, I had a hard time finding a good campsite where all I could see was slick rocks and cryptobiotic soil. The tent comes with a couple of tiny tent strings and using these I was able to secure both ends of the tent. The strings are very tiny. Since my second trip, I've used ropes that I purchased separately.

The mesh ceiling panels provide excellent ventilation. The tent comes with a rainfly and it kept me dry in rainy conditions. Having a vestibule helps when you need to keep things dry such as boots, backpack, etc. You can roll it open.

This tent is very lightweight (4 lbs or so). On several routes, I had to do 10 hours/day hiking for 3-4 days straight. Having a lightweight tent like this one helped. This is a small tent with two poles and it is really easy and quick to set it up.

The tent materials are pretty durable. After 1.5 years of fairly heavy use on 5 different trips and 10+ 3-4 day backpacking routes from dry canyons to wet canyons, from prairies to forests, this tent shows no noticeable tear and wear.

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