I have one and will be using it starting tomorrow for three nights If you can wait that long I will post my thoughts when I get back. If you look on youtube for it you will see two videos posted by cross camping
We have used our Kalu V for 6 nights now, two three night camps.
The tent pitches incredibly easily, the awning, as with all awnings, is a little more tricky but I think we have it cracked now. There are three of us, me hubby and our 10 year old son. The bedroom pod without the divide is just big enough for our three SIM's. As we bought this as a weekend tent that is fine for us, I would say that 2 adults and 1 child is the maximum for this tent.
The living area is not large but we can fit our table (80 x 60cm) in with 3 chairs. We also had a fan heater (heated the space very quickly) and space to have our clothes bag.
We have the awning which had all of our food and cooking equipment in.
As a weekend tent for three people with the awning it is perfect, I would not want to use it for longer (actually we could manage for longer but have bigger tents that we would tend to use) or with more people.
Looking good Purplebean, I'm glad you got your tent when you did, stock is already getting hard to get and the awnings are near impossible, it's been surprisingly popular considering it's a small weekender tent.
------------- Gary Cross - The masked camping guru.
Thanks Purplebean for your reply,
But as I write this from my Kalu I must say you are correct. I' m now already camping in Skye for two weeks and using it alone. As a single person there is plenty of space also for longer stays.
As family tent it is a weekender indeed.
Pitching the Kalu is easy and fast, under 10 minutes. In stronger winds its stability surpised me positivly. Al in al I am pleased with it. And can recomend it. Except fir the leaden pegs the are soft and bend easily.
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
I have to say that I can't comment on the pegs as we left them at home. We have our peg bag of good quality pegs and take that whatever tent we are using.
We've just ordered our Kalu, so will also report back. Good to hear it's stable in strong winds, that was my concern with the unusual design, and of course it being a nylon tent - I'm used to my bomb-proof Cabanon Elzas, no flapping in the wind with that!
We wanted something that packed a bit smaller for those short 3 or 4 day trips, that'd fit in the car with the bikes and the inflatable kayak - too many toys
We used our Kalu in Yorkshire a couple of weeks ago, and it stood up well to winds and heavy rain, despite the fact that there was no way we could get the back of the tent to peg out so it didn't sag - if we loosened the guy ropes it sagged in the middle, if we tighten them, it sagged towards the bottom, below the guy rope attachment point. Very disappointing, but it did still keep the heavy rain out, so I spose it's ok!
j.jacob, try pitching it again in a different location. It could be that there was an unseen dip in the ground there. You don't really see uneven ground until you try and pitch a tent on it!