Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

This tent is huge, and easily fit two adults, two kids and two dogs and all our stuff without feeling cramped. My husband, at 6'2, wanted a tent he could stand up in and he was very happy with this tent.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

Overall a great family tent. Very large and very sturdy. Kept us dry even in very heavy downpours we had the first time we used it. Plenty of space for a family of four to six with room for gear. Setup instructions could be better, though once you setup, it is pretty easy. Also I was surprised that the bottom was the same fabric as the rest of the tent. Be sure to put something underneath to protect against rocks. This is why I can't give 5 Stars.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

Bought this for the family. It was easy to set up. I could do it by myself without too much struggle. The tent is well constructed. It has ample room. I have not had it in the rain yet so cannot comment on if it is waterproof but I don't think it will be a problem. I would buy this tent again.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

We used this tent for the 1st time at a local campground. It was our family's 1st camping trip together. Between my wife, 3 kids (8,6, and 4) and myself, we fit perfectly. We used 2 queen sized air mattresses, and still had nearly half the tent to put up a small table, with a pc monitor and PS3 so we could watch movies at night. Of course, as goes my luck, we had a pretty major thunder storm the 1st night. It poured on us all night, and the lightning show was pretty frightening. We were tucked into the woods fairly well, so even though we could hear the effects of the wind, we didn't really experience it down at tent level. Thankfully, the Parthenon held up to the rain remarkably well. I kept checking all the seams and around the side windows, and never saw any traces of water. The next morning my wife did discover 6 drops of water near one of the air mattresses, but we really don't know for sure if it was from the rain. We are just assuming it was. Considering I didn't have a chance to use any kind of water sealing spray, I think this was remarkable. Makes me feel good about our purchase.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

We used the Parthenon 8 on a six day trip in three different parks. Setup is easy for two and can be done by one without much difficulty. It's very roomy and we enjoyed standing up comfortably - a pleasant change from our backpacking habits. We had three days of medium to heavy rain showers, though little wind. The fly worked well and the vestibule was useful for access without bringing in wet shoes or parkas. The only water problem was on the floor. We have the matching 'footprint'. In one corner water found its way between the footprint and the tent floor, and after a day some dampness seeped through the tent floor fabric in a couple of places. Other than that the whole setup was water tight as long as the vestibule was kept fairly closed (see comment below).

Ventilation is fairly good though it could be a bit better. The side windows work as they should and the fly does allow them to be open in the rain. The screen top under the fly allows further ventilation. There is a back window in the tent, covered by the fly, and a very small covered window in the fly above that back window which is supposed to help ventilation. But that window in the fly can't actually be held open because the fabric across it has no slack - Kelty should be embarrassed about this aspect of the design. The vestibule can be staked and tied to be somewhat open in rain. Unfortunately it mustn't be left open enough for rain to get to the tent door. Although the door is waterproof, there is no flap over the zipper at the bottom so water slides down the door and then through the zipper into the tent. A flap over the zipper would have been a big improvement. But overall we were reasonably pleased with the tent's performance in the rain.

We bought this for comfortable car camping for two. With a full size air mattress, various packs and boxes of clothes and gear, and two chairs, there's still plenty of room to walk around standing up. If anything it's actually somewhat larger than we need, but that's not a complaint! It's larger than a big tent we used years ago, comfortably, for camping with our two children, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this for family camping.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

Just returned from Hatteras trip and this tent passed the test. Didnt have the usual severe thunderstorm (thankfully) but a bit of all else - the tent held up nicely. It is a bit too tall (this thing is big!) for those windy conditions but it held in there. The windows are a bit high off the ground so it got a little warm - but that is the cost of staying dry in the rain. Easy to set up but probably need two people. You need a lot of stakes to hit all the tie down points for the tent and fly. And yes, the ones that come with the tent dont qualify to be called stakes. I have a Kelty backpack that is close to 30 years old and I hope to use this tent for a long stretch as well. It it a good piece of equipment -I look forward to trying it out at a lake.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

First, I'm 5'2" and this tent is 7' tall! So, why did I say this tent was easy to set up? Well, if you follow a slightly different order of setup, it is. My suggestion is to not put the black leg poles into the black corner pieces. Instead, assemble the square of the roof line so the front and back arches are vertical. Insert the center pole but don't connect it. Then lay the fly over the top. If windy you can connect the upwind corners.
Then just insert the leg poles one segment at a time and lift the tent gradually. The rest is pretty simple.
Believe it or not, I did it all myself!

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

This is an excellent tent as long as you don't have to carry it far. Very sturdy pole design. Took me 10 minutes to set it up by myself the first time. Fly covers the tent very well and keeps out the rain. Lots of room inside, one queen size air mattress and two folding cribs for our twin boys and we still had enough room for all of our clothing organizers and room to move around. Headroom is excellent, I'm 6'1" and I could walk around the entire perimeter of the tent without hitting my head. Plenty of ventilation screens and windows, no condensation on the walls or floor in the morning. Overall extremely happy with the purchase.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

Our family of 5 bought this tent and took it on a 2-week camping trip through Kentucky. It sets up nicely once you've done it a couple of times and figure out the tricks to getting the poles connected. It requires a couple of people at least; it would be hard for one person by themselves. Lots of guidelines on the rainfly help get everything tight, and we loved the vestibule area created by the oversized fly. We had tons of space, including cots. The stakes were surprisingly pathetic; glad we brought our own plastic ones that worked great. The room divider that comes with the tent seems a bit worthless as it just hangs in the middle and can't really be secured otherwise, so we just took it out so not to deal with it. The fasteners on the tent and fly allow for great tightening of the straps easily. Wished they'd have done something better than ribbons to help compress the tent when packing it back up to put in the bag. Overall, we loved it and we got pretty good at taking it down and putting back up at each campsite. Poles very light compared to what we'd had before.

Comments about Kelty Parthenon 8 2 Room Tent:

I was originally put off by the price but, you get what you pay for. This is one cool tent. We took it camping in the spring for the test run. It took us 20 min. to set up. It rained 3 out of 4 days. No leaks what so ever, not so with my cousin's Coleman tent. My cousin and her 2 kids woke up with puddles and wet sleeping gear. Not us, bone dry!
We took it to Fort Wilderness at Disney for the second trip. It was 97 degrees and we set up in 20 minutes with out killing each other. At one point It torentialy downpoured for at least 30 min. straight and high winds. The tent didn't leak one drop. There was a huge puddle under the tent and it didn't seep through. With a fan and the fly on and the windows open the warm nights were comfortable. Our 1 y/o took naps mid-day w/o any issues.
The third trip was a holloween trip. It was a little chilly at night With a small electric heater and the big rear vent closed, it was quite warm.
It's waterproof coatings on the floor and fly are one of the highest in the industry. The pictures don't do it justice. The poles are color cordinated for easy set up. there is a huge vent on the back of the fly. I didn't witness any condensation. It will fit 2 queen air matresses plus your gear. We had a single air matress, a pack and play, queen air matress and all our gear plus room to spare. It also has a zippered power cord access. I also recomend the Kelty screened canopy which has the flaps that lower for privacy and will cover a picnic table and plenty of room for supplies. A little wordy but I have used this tent more than once and it well worth the price!!

ps. lose the alum. stakes for sturdy steel spike type, a heck of a lot less aggrevation.