So I bucked up and bought a Kifaru tent and stove last spring and I have now unsed it on a number of trips. I have used it solo, with two and with three men in camp. I used it in hot weather, rain and snow. I could not find any reviews from any trusted source when I bought it so I had to make a leap of faith. I did it. I was glad I did it. Heres the skinny:
A little history on the product. It is made for ultra light backpacking and specifically marketed to hunters. I bought an 8 man with a large stove and I feel that it is just perfect for 3-4 of your closest buddies with gear. I am talking living in the tent not just sleeping there. Four is pushing it but doable. Three is perfect and two is luxery backpacking. To give you an example the 8 man tepee tent with the stove is 13.5 pounds total weight with stakes. The stove is made of stainless steel and burns wood to a max dimension of 3.5 inches by 12-16 inches. It does not have a floor.
The Tent:
The tent is made of really light ripstop nylon coated so it will not leak. I weathered lots of rain with no problems. I did have a little leak at the zipper at the very top, but that was I think user error. Not closing it fully. It is suported by almost two dozen stakes around the perimeter and one single aluminum pole for the top. It has two doors front and back and guys around the exterior for ultra windy situations. At the top there is a fire resistant part where the stove pipe fits and there is a chord for hanging clothes to dry on the inside. I was really nervious about the thinkness of the fabric. But again we are talking ultra light here. It performed fine. I made the mistake of pitching this tent the first time in the wild miles back by my self in the middle of a storm on the top of a high ridge. It was the only semi flat spot around. THis tent made it through the night, but I did not have long enough stakes to really get the bottom down so I had to put rocks all the way around it. I don't know if the stakes would have held or not, but I was not going to take the chance so I dropped rocks on the bottom of the tent. They did wear holes through the tent and needless to say I was real dissapointed. In myself really not the tent. More on the repair later. I really felt that it was user error and not knowing that I needed all long stakes and really how the tent is suppose to work. If I were to do it again I would make sure they sent me all long stakes instead of the assortment they normally send. The tent is really roomy and after about a week in it I did not even think about not having a floor. I did stake out a small tent floor one time but ended up not doing anything because I like to come in and out of the tent with my boots on and the earth is just fine. There are not too many frills with this tent as it is ultra light. The stitching and materials were of the highest workmanship and I could tell that these guys and gals at Kifaru really knew that people were going to try to use their gear to the fullest.
The Stove:
This is why we bought the tent. The idea you don't have to pack fuel and the ability to get warm and dry miles back is what I needed. I have to say it worked. I got dry and warm. I cooked my food with the wood around my camp with no problems. If your thinking that this is too good to be true it is not. I still can't believe it. But I will share a few things. The heat does not dispurse well. The top is hot and the bottom is not as hot. In the snow I was able to sit and cook in my underwear and a T shirt. It was great. It does take longer to cook on this kind of stove. Really similar to cooking on a wood stove at home when the power is out. If you have done that before. Seems like less and less people have to anymore. When you are really wet and the tent heats up condensation is a real issue. It will get condensation at night. That is just a necessary evil. Once you realize that you can get dry or anything you have can get dry regardless of the weather you forget about it. Normally in the morning I would start a fire and the top 2/3 of the tent was dry in 15-20 min. It warms up very fast and does not really retain heat very well. But who cares man. I was able to cut enough wood to last a night in about 15 minutes of less. It is really efficiant. We learned we did not have to drag trees over anymore to get warm just some branches. That was real cool. Highly reccomend the trailblazer take down buck saw with this tent. The stove works.
Repair and Warranty:
I told you I put rocks on the base of the tent and felt that it was really my lack of being prepared not having long enough stakes, but I emailed Kifaru and asked them what I could do. 2/3 of my tent was damaged around the base so I thought it was a big deal. No hesitation they said ship it back. It came back to me about 4 weeks later totally repaired and the stitching was perfect where they patched the holes. They charged me 60 bucks for the hole thing including shipping and threw in a dozen longer stakes. I really like companies like that.
I give it a 9.5 out of 10 where a wall tent is 10 and you have horses to pack it in. If you don't have horses there is nothing better that this. I think I might have got the 12 man but then I could not go solo. Hard to say but the 8 man is the real deal.
Here are some pictures of the tent:
http://www.kifaru.net/tipi8man.htm
Jake
bigjake_888
Kifaru Tent Reviewed
Thanks for the great info.
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