The Good: Light wt. Easy set up.
Good rain fly coverage.Quality zippers

The Bad: Shock cord in poles lost elasticity after two summers. I would not recommend this for winter use.

for 2 people it's a great tent, for a solo backpacker its to heavy. weighing in at a hefty 5 lbs 2 oz's add a ground sheet and your at another 8 oz's..you feel all three seasons on your back packing it, but with that said, hiking with 2 people, you can shed some weight by sharing the load of shared gear to compensate for the weight of the tent..the construction of the tent is great, stout in the wind, zippers that glide like butter..a great tent for 2...way to heavy for one person.

One of the best tents I have ever used. Need to get used to setting it up (STAKE IT OUT FIRST) but I have slept in it 4 seasons, -15 degrees to hot summer nights (great without the fly on!) Light, good design for ventilation, durable floor (buy the custom-fitted ground cloth)excellent fly protects in 4 seasons and high wind. A joy to use! A little tight for two grown men (no gear) excellent for two grown women, an adult and child or alone is perfect.

Customer Service

Never needed it. Excellent product.

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Eureka timberlite,

This is an awesome tent. It poured on us a few nights while camping and we stayed completely dry. Extremely roomy, it's definitly big enough to keep 2 small adults (5'4 and 5'11) comfertable. A great purchase!

This is a great tent. I bought it in '99 and have been backpacking with it in many places in the Southeast. I have sealed the seams twice and it has never leaked. I reccomend this tent as a good late spring/summer/early fall tent only-while it provides excellent ventilation even with the rain fly it is a cold tent for anything less than 45 degrees. But it is perfect for the seasons listed! It's so lightweight an packs down so small! Best of all, if you're only going out for a day or two and can check the weather beforehand, you may can get by withouth the rainfly, meaning 2 pounds for the tent! Leave the stakes behind, which is possible for this tent, and you have even less weight.

Customer Service

Never had to use it.

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Only cheap department store tents. I have learned over the years that it is best to spend a little extra on outdoor gear. Take that Coleman tent and bag back to Wal-Mart!

Purchased my Zen late in 01 for Search & Rescue shelter. Have used it fairly regularly...and it is AWESOME. Only problem is the stakes, bent most of them on very rocky ground. Suggest some hi-strength nobendums for rocky terrain. Factory taped & sealed very well, no rain gets in past the fly. The fly does take some tweaking to get tightened properly. Haven't had 2 in it yet, probably will be a little cramped. Excellent buy for 1 person!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Walrus Micro-swift

Picked up this tent last summer. Was looking for something lightweight and durable, with decent vestibule. I''ve been very happy with the Zen so far. It''s stood up well under heavy rain, wind and even snow and ice. No complaints, plenty of interior room for my gear and the dog. Might be a tight fit for two but makes a great solo tent. Ventilation is OK.. could use a small vent at the rear of the tent as well.

Customer Service

n/a

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Coleman, Outbound

Zen has been perfect for my backpacking. Used to use a 2 man Eureka that was great for 4 weather use, but got heavy when I started trekking the AT. Zen has been perfect for my Cub Scout and me, but a teenager and adult or two adults would be cramped. I prefer my gear and me. Great quality, except as others noted the original stakes are quite inadequate. Buy the nobendums!!! Excellent mesh, good ventilation, vestibule could be a bit bigger. A second door at the back of tent and vestibule would provide even better ventilation! Kelty can be proud of this one!

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Eureka, Coleman, LLBean

I bought this tent after several weeks of searching. I bought because of it''s weight and cost. I have used the tent in the mountains of Haiti since January 2002. It has endured the blazing sun and temps near freazing. It was easy and quick to set up, I used a set of No-bendium stakes, as well as at times I guyed it out with rocks. It stood in bone chilling rains and wind without a problem, there were no leaks in the seams as I saw some days with horizontal rain. I did always use the rain-fly due to high and persistent humidity. There was due on both the inside and outside of the tent, but in humdity that averaged 90%, any tent would get damp. But with all the ventelation that exists in this tent, once the sun hit it, it dried up very quickly. It would be a bit cramped for more than one person, and I wish the vestibule extended out about a foot, but that would increase the low 4lb weight. I do love this tent for such solo work.

Customer Service

I did not have to have any dealings with Kelty to date

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Awesome tent! I was slightly alarmed when I first set it up as the instructions that came with the tent (very minimal) and the instructions at www.kelty.com didn''t match my Zen at all. Before completely setting it up I emailed Kelty''s customer support service and over the course of three days, they tried very hard but failed to help me. Phone up Kelty and within a few minutes spoke with someone who immediately told me that I had a new Zen and how to set it up, etc. Good deal! First day out camping the setup went very smoothly, it''s a nice easy setup, the stakes that come with it pretty much suck but I expected that. I bent 3 of them beyond repair, but still had enough to stake everything down. They''re nice and lightweight, but otherwise are too weak for any kind of rocky ground. The mesh on this tent is great, I had literally 50-100 flies that decided to take up residence between my rainfly and the tent itself, near the top. They could see me, but couldn''t eat me. It was sweet revenge. Nothing could get through that ultra-fine mesh. One thing I thought was really nice was the small loops of fabric at the top of the tent, on the inside, at both ends. They''re likely for looping a watch through but I hung my sunglasses from them, I just thought they were neat! The rainfly kept all the water off of the tent, not a drop got through and we had some HEAVY rain during the trip, as well as a fairly stiff wind, but no worries for the Zen! I had the ventilation flap open on the fly the whole time, and there wasn''t a drop of condensation on the tent''s surface itself, or on the inside of the fly. All in all, I was very happy with my Zen. But just make sure you''ve got it staked tightly, the tighter the better. If it''s loosely staked you''ll end up pulling the stakes out or the tent will move on you when you unzip/zip the doors. Found no real use for the vestibule also, but I suppose you COULD put your boots there...if you like bugs crawling into your shoes during the night. It stayed dry there, but I had plenty of room inside for me and all my gear. Two people would be pushing it unless your intimate partners...if not, well, you will be by the end of the trip!

Customer Service

See above, but in brief: phone support was great, fast. Email support tried very hard, but failed to answer my questions.

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