The Krypton 2 is a two person, four-season tent. The doors and vestibules are on the 'head' and 'foot' ends of the tent. The tent and rainfly have a symmetrical design, so a particular end is not THE head or THE foot end. The tent doors are half-elliptical in shape, and are 40" (102 cm) wide at the base, 26" (66 cm) tall at the center, and the bottom of the doors are 4" (10 cm) from the bottom of the tent. A second zipper that runs 1" (2.5 cm) inside the door zipper is used to expose mesh fabric for ventilation.

The rainfly has zippered openings in the vestibules that line up with the tent's doors. Both vestibules have two zippers that I can use to open up the central panel of the vestibule to get into or out of the tent. The opening is 25" (64 cm) wide at ground level, and 11.5" (29.2 cm) wide at the top of the panel. There are two Velcro tabs on each side of the entrance panel, one near the bottom and one about halfway to the top. These tabs are to keep a flap of material over the zipper to prevent rain from getting in. There is a tie-down so I can roll up the central panel and secure it to the top of the vestibule.

There is a strip of Velcro that runs along the top of the panel. I can undo the Velcro and use the zippers to create an opening near the top of the vestibule for ventilation that is somewhat protected by the small awning. Due to the configuration of the zipper track, I can't remove the center panel. The pictures below show the two options for unzipping the center panel. The picture on the left shows the panel partially unzipped at the top, to allow for ventilation in the tent. The picture on the right shows the panel unzipped and tied to the top of the vestibule.

The Krypton 2 has four large pockets that are 26" (66 cm) wide at the top, 32" (81 cm) wide at the bottom and 11" (28 cm) deep. On the inside of the tent, there are five webbing loops that I can use to hang a light from or possibly attach a homemade gear hammock to, though there might not be much headroom if I did make a gear hammock that attached to all four corners. There is one loop near each corner of the tent where the main poles cross under the side poles (visible in the picture above), and one loop at the top center of the tent where the two main poles cross. I've attached a small LED light to one of the loops near the corner of the tent, and it's in an almost perfect position for me to read at night. As of the date of this report, Coleman does not produce a footprint or gear hammock for this tent.

Below are drawings showing the floor plan and a cross section through the center of the tent. Red represents the tent itself, and the black is the rainfly. All of my measurements were taken from the inside of the tent/vestibule.

First Impressions

After weighing in all the various parts and pieces at my local post office, I brought the tent outside to see if I could set it up single-handedly. The instructions are pretty clear on most points, although for a little while I was confused when it said that there were six clips to attach the rainfly to the tent when the Krypton 2 had only four clips, one at each corner of the tent. I also noticed that the box and the Coleman website show that the `head-end' vestibule is triangular while the `foot-end' vestibule is trapezoidal. Both head and foot end vestibules of the tent I received are identical trapezoids. I concluded that the Krypton 2 must've undergone some design changes, and the instructions and drawings weren't updated to reflect the new setup.

Other inaccuracies that I found with the pictures and instructions are:

1. Under the "Assemble Frame" section of the instructions, Illustration 3 says "Insert Pole Tip on stake loop into pole". Although from the illustration it's clear what I'm doing, the caption is confusing to me. I think it was supposed to be something like "Insert Pole Tip into grommet on stake loop". The bulleted instructions under "Assemble Frame" are clear on what I'm to do.

2. The rainfly diagram does not show the guy wires for the mini awnings at the exits.

3. The instructions don't mention the Velcro tabs at the locations where the main poles and the side poles cross. These are the types of tabs that I've used before on other tents to secure the rainfly to the frame of the tent.

4. The awnings in the picture on the box and website are made of orange material with grey edging, and the Krypton I received has all-grey awnings.

The poles for the Krypton 2 are color-coded, with the straight main poles red in color, while the side poles are curved and silver. The trim on the pole sleeves are red and silver to match the poles. As the instructions advised, I staked down the four corners of the tent and began inserting the poles. It was easy for me to insert the main poles into the sleeves, but I had some problems with the side poles. The side poles are straight at the ends, and curved in the middle. This setup caused the tip of the pole to catch the fabric of the sleeve when I had inserted the poles about halfway. I had to kneel over the door of the tent to continue feeding the side pole. I don't think this will be a problem in the future, since I now know not to just jam in the side poles, and in any case I'll usually have someone to help me put up the tent.

Getting the main poles constructed into an arch took a bit more muscle than what I'm used to with my two-pole, 3-season dome tent. The pole I selected to set up first happened to be the one that was threaded underneath all the other poles, so I was literally lifting every other pole when I was trying to create the arch. The second main pole was easier, and I had no problems setting up the side poles. I don't know if there is a structural reason for the main poles to be threaded under the side poles, but I wish that first pole was just a little easier to bend.

After the tent was set up, I clipped on the rainfly, used the Velcro tabs to secure the rainfly to the tent poles where the main poles crossed the side poles, and staked the rainfly down. At first I couldn't believe how many stakes this tent has! Twenty-six stakes are needed to secure the tent and rainfly, and I think it would take a pretty strong wind to dislodge this tent! I don't plan to test this tent to the max, but the shores of the Great Lakes can be pretty windy in the fall and winter. I've drawn a diagram of the stake locations, showing what I perceive as the order of necessity. Red indicates the tent itself, black is the rainfly, and blue indicates the guy lines. The four "A" stakes are needed to set up the tent itself, and the four "B" stakes are needed for the vestibules. The four "C" stakes help keep the rainfly from resting against the tent wall, though the tent poles do a decent job by themselves. The four "D" stakes help keep the awning taught, while the six "E" stakes appear to be mainly for additional anchorage. The four "F" stakes secure the central panel of the vestibule. S ince the side panels of the vestibules are already secured ("B") I don't really see why the "F" stakes are needed. When I set up the tent, I didn't attach the "F" stakes, so that I could unzip the center panel from the bottom. The instructions don't give any information on how far the guy lines should be set up from the tent, so I'll have to do a little testing and research to see how close or far from the tent is best.

The Krypton 2 has tie-backs so that I can secure the sides of the vestibule to the main poles (see picture below). This made it easier for me to get gear into and out of the tent than if I had brought everything in through the area of the central panel. I finally crawled inside, and was amazed at the amount of headroom in the tent. The side poles allow the tent to be taller for a longer distance than most two-pole domes, so there is plenty of room for my husband and I to play cards.

Because of the way the vestibules are laid out, I can put both of our packs into one vestibule without leaning them on the side of the tent. I like this setup because I won't have to crawl over my own pack when getting into or out of the tent, as I've had to do with my three-season side-exit tent.

The "massive" mesh pockets truly are sizeable, essentially creating pocket space along the majority of the length of both sides of the tent. I don't know if I'll ever need to utilize that much space, but in some ways it might make up for the lack of a gear hammock.

The tent appears to be well-constructed, and all the stitching looks to be straight. In the photo above it appears that the tent is a bit lop-sided, but I think that may be due to how I pitched the tent or due to the not-completely-flat terrain of my back yard. This is something I will look out for when I set up the tent in other locations. All the zippers run smoothly, and didn't catch on anything.

Since sleeves are used to set up the tent, setting up the rainfly first in inclement weather does not appear to be an option. So far, this is the only drawback (besides being a little on the heavy side) of the Krypton 2 tent that I've encountered.

After setting up the tent, I left it out overnight and we had a rainstorm pass through. In the morning I didn't notice any water seepage through the rainfly, but when I later turned a sprinkler on the tent some water did get through. The water appeared to seep through the rainfly where the main poles cross under the side poles, but the water remained on the outside of the tent and didn't wick inside the tent. Although the Krypton 2 didn't actually get wet inside, I'm very cautious and will be seam-sealing the rainfly before I take it on a trip.

The tent was easy for me to take down myself; I didn't run into any problems with the curved poles when I removed them from their sleeves. Everything fit back into the stuff sack easily, and I could even fit the footprint for my 3-season tent in the sack as well.

Although I'm usually a fair-weather backpacker, having a heavy-duty tent to take on a late fall or early winter trip will help me expand my hiking 'season'. It would open up the possibilities of going on some fall color hikes and enjoying more solitude on the trail before the snow really starts flying. Will the Coleman Krypton tent provide comfy and useful enough to extend my backpacking season?

Reviews > Shelters > Tents > Coleman Exponent Krypton 2 Tent > Becki Stacy > Initial Report