Our new family tent - The North Face Kaiju 6 Person Tent

The North Face Kaiju 6 person tent

We were on the market for a new tent since our old one, the Coleman Montana 8 person tent, had finally expired on us during last year's family camping trip. We got rained on and we tore a huge hole through the floor. We had that tent for a good 5-6 years and it was a great tent but, we needed an upgrade. After about 2 months of extensive research on family tents, we decided to go with a brand that we were familiar with and was synonymous with the outdoors. We chose The North Face Kaiju 6 person tent. And though there was a lack of videos on this tent, I did find some photos and reviews that were helpful in making the final decision. Here is a list of what I was looking for in a family tent:

1. Sleeps 6+ comfortably.

2. Has a vestibule or shaded area where we could sit outside and be protected from the sun.

3. Has to be able to be used for Wisconsin weather camping as well as camping in Yellowstone or a national park.

4. Must be compact.

5. Easy to set up.

We purchased this tent from Rei.com in February and finally just got around to setting it up for the first time outside (you can blame the Wisconsin weather for that). My husband was able to set it up under 15 minutes by himself (with the exception of me helping with the rainfly) with no instructions (which we later found in the bag with the stakes).

At first impression, the fabric of bottom of the tent is fairly thin compared to our old Coleman tent. We will have to get used to this fact and prepare for our camping trips by laying a thick layer of tarp underneath the entire tent. We also have to be careful about sharp objects as that was the result of our previous tent. We will have to utilize the vestibule just for housing our luggage and what not. Also, I did not think of this when I made the purchase but the color of this tent, that yellow, attracts bees and wasps. Soon after we set this tent up, there was already a bumble bee inside our tent! Yikes! We will have to keep a close eye on that as well.

Overall, setting up was a whiz and we can't wait to rain shield it and use it on our first camping trip in June. I will be sure to do a full review after that camping trip then so check back!