Kelty Granby 4 Review

by Dan Brosious · Published June 29, 2014 , 3:51 pm · Updated April 9, 2022 , 12:25 pm

The Kelty Granby 4 is a great tent for family camping trips. The inside is large enough to fit four comfortably (for a tent), and this tent is equipped with a large vestibule in the front that will keep all your supplies close at hand and dry during rainy nights. The Granby 4, which is also available in a 6 person version, has four interior and four exterior pockets which provide adequate storage for each of the campers in your party. In addition to the large vestibule in the front, there is a second smaller one on the rear side of the tent, which is nice for extra storage.

Layout of the Kelty Granby 4

By tent standards, this is a four person tent. I have found that with two adults and two kids, there is plenty of room. Kelty has also added some nice features to keep you and your kids happy. There is a door in the front and in the rear, allowing for easy exit in the middle of the night. The “noiseless” zippers also help to make the exit quieter to avoid waking everyone up. Unfortunately it does not affect the noise level of your neighbors’ tents, who I still heard all night long.

The tent itself is 65″ tall, providing plenty of headroom. This also cuts down on the claustrophobia and difficult entry that accompany many shorter tents. The Kelty Granby 4 is lined with mesh panels, both on the interior tent and on the fly. This allows for a decent amount of ventilation on warm nights, without the risk of bugs creeping in. Obviously the mesh panels in the vestibule will zipper shut to stay warm on cooler nights.

When adding the fly, this tent becomes a monster. There is so much space for camping supplies that we were able to fit all our gear as well as our friends’ stuff, since they were in a standard four person tent without a vestibule. This is helpful for items that I generally do not bring inside a tent, such as firewood. While this may not fit into the “glamping” craze, it definitely helps to convince your significant other to get out of the house for the night.

Performance of the Kelty Granby 4

My trips in this tent to date have not encountered any serious weather, but I did experience some light rainfall and minor winds. While I could hear the trees moving around in the wind, the tent was locked down and didn’t budge. If the guyout lines are nailed down appropriately, I imagine the Granby 4 would be fine in stronger winds, but I wouldn’t bring a tent of this size to the top of the mountain (then again, if you are planning to backpack with this 16 lb tent, you are probably manly enough to hold the tent down with your hands and feet through a hurricane).

As for the rain, with the panels zipped up, I did not notice any moisture get through overnight. I will say that it is a bit tricky to get the front vestibule tight to the ground if on uneven terrain. As you can see below, the fly is slightly off the ground. With a strong crosswind, I would expect the front vestibule to attract some wet spots.

The setup for this tent is also pretty easy. It is comprised of a 3 pole construction with continuous sleeves so the poles just slide right in. The fly attaches to the tent in each corner with an adjustable clip to get set up quickly.

Final Thoughts

If you are in the market for a family tent, the Kelty Granby 4 is a no-brainer. Between the height, storage, and ease of use, this will keep everyone in the family happy. While you can definitely find cheaper tents at Walmart, this Kelty product should last for years to come.