I’m a big fan of Kelty tents and equipment. I’ve been looking to downsize a bit, and get a 2 person tent for solo outings. I’ve previously owned the Gunnison 4 and 3 person models, using the 4 when camping with my wife, and the 3 for solo outings. So the natural choice was the Gunnison 2, since I’ve been extremely happy with the 3 and 4. I did finally decide on the newly redesigned 2017 model of the Gunnison for my 2 person tent. However, I was also very interested in Kelty’s TN2. Here are a couple of videos showing the TN2 and the TN3 tents from Kelty.
The TN Series of tents from Kelty have a star gazing tent fly, and a 3 pole setup, and are a popular lightweight backpacking tent. These two video reviews show the setup, and highlight the features of these tents.
The main reason I did not go with the TN2 vs the Gunnison 2, was that the main benefit, the rainfly that rolls up to let you enjoy the night sky, is not extremely helpful where I camp. Even warm summer nights, we tend to have some dew forming over night, and most times I’ve left a tent open to the sky, I’ve ended up damp. So I really didn’t think I would use that much. The 3rd tent pole on the TN series is another key feature, which makes this different from the Gunnison line. Besides the poles going diagonally from corner to corner, there is one more pole that goes from side to side but doesn’t go all the way to the base. You will see this in the video, but the overall result, is that you have a more vertical pitch to the sides of the tent. This gives the tent a little more interior room than the Gunnison. I have not found this to be a problem in the 3 and 4 person Gunnison, but a number of tent manufacturers use this design, and some backpackers favor that. Overall, the TN2 looked like a great tent, and maybe, if I didn’t have so many good experiences camping with the Gunnison, I may have gone with this one. It was a close race!
Here are the video reviews on the TN2 and TN3. (And stay tuned for a full review of the 2017 Gunnison 2) The TN3 video gives you a little more detail on the features of the TN series of tents: