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We are going to take a look at the TN tent from Kelty. These light weight innovative
tents have just a great feature set for backpacking that includes a uniquely shaped stuff sack,
rectangular, flat that fits nicely inside just about any backpack. Some star gazing
features, some unique clip technology. And we will take a closer look at all of that.
The TN tent is available in a two person and a three person version. We are looking at
the two person TN two. In each chase you have got a 40 D cell nylon rain fly, two vestibules,
two doors. You have got the integrated see through window on the fly on both sides as
well as a vent on either side that helps with condensation or combats condensation, keeps
that from building up on the interior of your tent.
A pretty fun element to the rain fly here. Basically a star gazing feature. So we have
rolled back the rain fly half way. There is some buckling and some straps that holds that
conveniently in place. So when you have got nice weather, a sky filled with stars, you
settle in for the night and the wide open airy mesh with the fly pulled back gives you
a great, great view of the entire sky.
Because of the way the tent is designed you can start in that star gazing mode and as
it gets cooler in the evening or if you have got any bad weather, you can pull down that
rain fly without actually having to exit the tent. Simply unclip the clips and pull that
fly back down into place and clip the buckle over top of the tent's J foot.
So I have taken off the fly to give you a better look at this tent. Again, we are looking
at the two person tent, 27 and a half square feet of interior space here at the floor.
You have got a 42 inch peak height, so pretty good height, at least here down at what I
would consider the front of the tent with the feet here about 80 inches in length. So
you have got room.
It is a backpacking style tent, so, you know, still pretty compact dimensions inside here,
but roomier than a lot of backpacking tents I have seen out there and that overhead height
and that front mesh panel make it feel rather roomy.
Because of that design we looked at earlier, you have got two vestibules, so 10 square
feet of external storage space on either side on the two person. It is actually 11 square
feet on either side on the larger 39.5 square foot interior three person tent, the TN-3.
The prebend on these DAC aluminum poles here at the front of the tent maximizes, again,
that feeling of livability, kind of pulls things more taut, more vertical and that opens
up some space up high. When you have got a more traditional tent that wants to lean in
all directions it starts to feel a little cramped. And this tent does a good job of
avoiding that feeling.
A little bit of interior storage. There is some mesh pockets here at the front of the
tent. It is compatible with some hanging hooks here for a gear loft, though a gear loft is
not included.
The TN tents do utilize a hub design, so you can see this connection point. These poles,
while there are individual collapsible sections, it actually functions as a single pole unit.
So the corners, that corner to this corner and cross in the other direction, that is
actually one unit that folds down together.
As far as connecting to the tent body itself, a really neat connection point here. Light
weight, couldn't be much simpler to use. You get that nice, positive lock that lets you
know that it is in place and really like the way that pulls that tent body taut. Nice hardware
on this tent.
There is additionally, or in addition to these main pole sections, a short cross pole section,
again, collapsible, that comes across the top of the tent and that also aids in that
versatility of the tent walls, improves that overall livability. And that also comes into
play in securing that rolled back fly when you have got this set up for star gazing.
You can see the unique shaping of the stuff sack included with the TN tents. That is done
specifically so that you have got a more ideal fit inside the backpack. Traditionally you
are looking at a long, rolled stuff sack that almost always needs to be lashed externally
or separated into individual pieces. Not so the case with the TN tents.
You do have the pole bag here that can either be stashed in some separate spot. It will
also live inside this... the general tent stuff sack as well.
I do also want to make mention of the Kelty up-slope tarp. That is sold separately. It
is a stand alone tarp shelter, back packing tarp shelter. But it can be used in tandem
with the TN tent to create a very large vestibule area, awning style vestibule area. So just
want to mention that, because that can add some extra modularity to these TN tents.
But just a great feature set here, again. Really neat back packing tent, not necessarily
the most light weight, but definitely light weight enough for back packing. And with that
collapsibility, the short pole sections and the set of features, really interesting back
country option.