Kelty Trail Dome 2

This is a knock off from Kelty of the original Vortex, then renamed to the Kelty Ridge. I bought the original Kelty Vortex back in '98. It was a great tent for $180 from Campmor (www.campmor.com). It sat on sandbars, in the sun, then eventually degraded. I wanted another but Kelty quit making them.

Bobwards.com has the Kelty Ridge, which is the same thing.
I bought two of them @ the current $120 deal.

BUY THIS TENT:

It has continuous pole sleeves, this crap with the Trail Dome with the "pole clips" is just a cost saving tactic from Kelty.

Stray away from the clips that hold the pole sleeves. They stress the fabric and will ware out alot sooner.

Even a $600 TNF tent is nothing but black netting and 17 poles with a window in the fly for you sorry assed yuppies.

The current "Trail Dome" is a poor excuse from Kelty to boost sales just to save a few bucks.

The Vortex/Trail Ridge is bombproof with only two poles. They have one of the highest material ratings on the market -- including sleeping bags. It's light, waterproof, and worthy of 40 mph winds.

My chocolate lab shaked off inside (like all labs do) and the inner waterproofing even worked nice.

For the money you spend on this bullshit Trail Dome, Google a Kelty Ridge/Trail Ridge/or Vortex. Less mesh and only two poles.

Ease of setup took two minutes. I'm sure the Trail Dome is the same.
The Trail Dome is the same but with more netting installed and clips to hold the poles.

The vestibule is about as worthless as every other tent.

The fly has a high WP rating, and goes to the ground. Guy out points are located in good areas. Arc Edge Floor seams crank the piss out of the seams, but will last for what the cost is.

The color is mellow in any light/sun/moon.

Rain will not get in. (factory seam sealed)

Buy the Trail Dome if you can't find the Ridge or Vortex.

This is one of the best tents I've had. I sold mine a few years back but I miss it. I'd probably buy another one like it though.

Easy to set up, no complicated maneuvers needed. You don't even need the instruction manual. Cozy for 2 people with gear. Too much condensation though but it happened on a very cold night, kept me warm though.

The only drawback that I can find is 1 door, it takes a little effort to get out specially when it's the middle of the night and everyone's hunkered down on their sleeping bags and you need a quick piss.

I was very impressed with this tent. Light weight (5 lbs), easy to set up, and to top it off it looks great. It performed very well in cold temperatures-I believe it was at 32 and below when I used it. It handles dew very well. I would definitely recommend this tent.

For my purposes (weekend camping), this tent worked well. It was easy to carry, easy to set up, and easy to put away. It also kept me nice and dry during a night rain in the Catskills. It's a two-person tent but three of us slept in this tent comfortably.