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Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

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  • Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

    Trying to choose between the two. The Kelty is bigger, larger vestibule, and about $200 cheaper than the Halo, but I've heard nothing but great things about marmot. Which do you think is better and why?

  • #2
    Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

    Ok, best deal on the Kelty is at Sierra Trading Post. With 35% off discount, $217 plus $17 shipping, total $234. It's discontinued and it appears that the footprint is not available, although any 10 x 10 footprint would work, including the Marmot Halo 6 footprint.

    http://www.sierratradingpost.com/kel...eason~p~6511c/

    Best deal on the Marmot 6 is at SunnySports, $399.95 with free shipping.

    Size:

    Essentially the same. The Kelty is 10.5 ft. by 10.5 ft. The Marmot is 10 ft x 10 ft, but has more vertical walls.The height is the same: 76 inches for the Halo, 75 inches for the Kelty. The Marmot might be a bit taller at the sides of the tent, but they are both big tents.

    Design/Poles

    Virtually identical pole structure. A two pole dome with "halo" poles running around the top to pull the sides out. The Kelty uses one halo pole, the Marmot has two. The Marmot is going to pull all four sides out a bit more. They both use identical poles. 12mm DAC17 aluminum poles.

    Corporate

    Both are subsidiaries of large conglomerates. Kelty is a sister company of Sierra Designs. Marmot is a sister company of Coleman and ExOfficio. Both of these tents are made in China. Generally speaking, Kelty makes great middle of road camping gear. Marmot is a higher end brand and their pricing reflects that. I would strongly suspect they are made in the same factory.

    Fabrics

    Both use polyurethane coated polyester for the flys and polyurethane coated nylon for the floors. About the same weights. Both have 1800 mm waterproofing on the fly. The Marmot has 3000 mm waterproofing on the floor compared to 1800 mm for the Kelty. This is one of the significant differences in these two tents.

    Doors/Vestibules

    This is probably the biggest difference. The Marmot has two doors and two identical doors and vestibules on either side of the tent. The Kelty only has one door (plus a little pass thru to put stuff in a small vestibule in back. Since it is inconceivable that someone would buy a tent this size for solo camping, I think two doors is a significant benefit, especially in the middle of the night.

    Marmot has two large standard vestibules -- identical. So one person could have their shows and duffle bags and junk in outside one door and the other person with their own door and storage area. The Kelty has one small vestibule plus a large vestibule in front with a support pole and screened walls to serve as a quasi screen porch. That's great in nice weather. The tradeoff is that the screened panels on the Kelty can't really be sealed against the wind and the rain, so this tent is not going to handle a big thunder storm as well as the Marmot. But, the large vestibule is a plus.

    Overall weather resistance/flexibiity:

    Here is where the difference shows up. The Kelty doesn't have a completely full coverage fly. It stops short of the ground on the sides. The Halo is full-coverage. Both have massive amounts of mesh, but the Halo can be closed up completely from the waist down with zipper panels, so it will be better in cold weather. The Halo also has better ventilation, in the form of four large brow vents in the fly (I don't think the Kelty has any) and in the form of the two large partial mesh doors that can create a cross flow. There's no mesh on the small back door of the Kelty -- no cross flow. Not a big deal on a sunny day if you take the rain flys off, but huge on a warm rainy day where opening up the opposing vestibules for cross ventilation would help.

    Setup

    It sounds from the videos below that the Kelty is a bit of a bear to set up (the vestibule). I've never heard BackcountryEdge mention that a tent is tricky or that it takes two or three people to set up. I set up my Halo 4 by myself and I'm sure I could set up a Halo 6, although having two people would make putting on the fly a little easier.

    Here are videos from the same retailer on the 4 man versions of these tents so you can compare some of the details:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcjYW6HT0_c
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOhVU_hMdWM

    Tough call. Basically, you are looking at a "better" and "best" version of the same tent. If it weren't for the closeout pricing on the Kelty, the nod would go to the Marmot, but $165 difference is a significant difference. For nice weather camping, I think either would be fine. Bad weather or pushing into cooler spring/fall camping, I'd rather have the Marmot. Long term, I think the Marmot will be more durable (the difference in the floors will show up five years down the road, when each has lost some of its new-out-of-the-box waterproofing as all tents do). Personally, I'd rather have the two doors in a multi-person tent. I'm happy to do away with the "screen porch" because I put a Kelty tarp over the picnic table where I really want to be if I have to cook or hang out or get organized or pack up camp in a drizzle. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

    I have four Marmot tents, ranging from their cheapos to one of their heavy-duty four season tents. All of them are very well made. They just work. Good desigs. Nice features. Quality materials. I absolutely love the Halo 4. That's my solo car camping tent. I have a Kelty tarp, a Kelty camp chair, and a bunch of Kelty duffle bags. They are nice products, too. Especially nice products for the money!

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    • #3
      Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

      Well it looks like i was too slow to purchase the kelty, looks like the marmot is what its going to be.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

        Originally posted by RByers91 View Post
        Well it looks like i was too slow to purchase the kelty, looks like the marmot is what its going to be.
        I don't think you'll be disappointed - Marmot makes rock solid tents. Hope you get to use it soon!

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        • #5
          Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

          Must have been fate, right?

          You will absolutely love the Halo 6.

          Here are a couple more Youtube reviews:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHxgx6uLtC4

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwffS2fzeuk

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67s_NlU2DPA

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          • #6
            Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

            BTW, I found the instructions for setting up the Palisade hoop pole. Now, I understand the comments on why this tent is tricky (and why Marmot went with two half poles for the halo). On the Kelty, you have to form an aluminum tent pole into a complete circle. The poles have to bend a lot to do that and these are half-inch thick poles that don't bend easy. Think about how hard it is to line up and insert that final joint between sections... You have to bend the Marmot half poles pretty hard to get them in the grommets. I can't imagine trying to bend them into a full circle and get that final section straight enough to insert.

            Kelty recommends pushing the almost assembled hoop into a tree or rock to line up the final joint. I can just see me out in the woods with a 10 foot diameter aluminum hula hoop, leaning into a tree trying to insert that last pole section. And, how do you get it apart? Pole sections under tension don't come apart easy. What happens when it comes apart? Does it spring back on you and send you flying into the lake?
            Last edited by hwc1954; 07-16-2014, 12:10 AM.

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            • #7
              Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

              Unfortunately i was out of town when the sale was going on for the marmot, and have missed that one as well. Can anybody point me in the direction of another good price on the marmot? If not i may just have to wait it out for another sale.

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              • #8
                Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

                Sunnysports still has the Marmot Halo 6P on sale: $409.95 with free shipping. They've been bouncing up and down between $409 and $399 for a few days. I don't know what's up with that:

                http://www.sunnysports.com/p-mrmthl6...t-halo-6p-tent

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

                  Originally posted by hwc1954 View Post
                  Sunnysports still has the Marmot Halo 6P on sale: $409.95 with free shipping. They've been bouncing up and down between $409 and $399 for a few days. I don't know what's up with that:

                  http://www.sunnysports.com/p-mrmthl6...t-halo-6p-tent
                  Strange, when i click it the price is $529.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

                    It is popping up at $409.95 for me and that's the price I got when I put one in the shopping cart. Try going directly to their homepage and search for Halo. It should show the Halo 6, the Halo 4, and the two footprints.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

                      I have the Palasade 6, its been rock solid so far. I really Like the vestibule When its raining 3 people can line up in there to take shoes and wet jackets off. My 12 year old daughter and I have set it up including guy lines in 15 min without rushing.

                      My only complaint is the zippers seem to be tiny. I haven't had any snags hangups yet and the door it self does not deem to ever be taught that i have to force it closed. but i do worry they are not beefy enough.

                      If money was no object I think i'd buy it again.
                      Attached Files

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                      • #12
                        Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

                        I was in this same boat not long ago, having eliminated the Kelty because the boyfriend wanted it under 10x10, so I was between the Halo 6 and the REI Kingdom 6 with Tech Garage. We ended up with the REI (which can get pretty cheap with the seasonal sales plus member discounts). Haven't regretted it a moment. Had it been unavailable I wouldn't have hesitated to go with the Halo though.

                        You really can't go wrong :he:
                        Camping photos: https://www.instagram.com/adventure_outside_thebox/
                        Nights under the stars:
                        2013: 8 2014: 6 2015: 12
                        2018: 4 2019: 17 2020: 15

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                        • #13
                          Re: Kelty Palisade 6 vs Marmot Halo 6P

                          I've been lurking here for awhile, but this thread prompted me to register. I bought a Kelty Palisades 6 this spring. I've been using a big ole Bass Pro Shop (Redhead brand, I think) 12 x 12 tent for 23 years. It finally just wore out; in a couple of big windstorms it just couldn't stand up.


                          Got the Kelty on sale for about $300. So far, have used it twice, for a total of 8 nights. It took a bit to figure out how to put it up (the circular pole assembly is not too hard, once you figure it out).


                          On the last trip, we had a very brief, but very hard, storm pass by. I was out on the water when it came through, and I estimate the winds were about 50 mph, but only for about 5 minutes. I was all worried that the tent wouldn't stand up (not as concerned about my own survival, lol). But, when I got back, it was fine. Not a drop of water got into the tent! So, I'm very pleased with the Kelty.

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