Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

I have had the tent for almost 2 years and used it on 3 camping trips. I am very experienced and this is my 4th Northface tent. The tent worked perfect on a trip to Big Bend NP in calm conditions and moderate temps. The tent failed miserably during the night in a windy rainstorm in the Chiricahua Mts. It blew down with us inside so we spent the next hour evacuating the tent in the rain. Last month we went to Canyonlands and the tent blew down twice, no rain, just wind. The tent and rainfly were completely staked down with velcro tabs attached to the poles. The tent blew down on us one night and then again permanently when all the poles bent the next day. It took 4 men to get the gear out of the tent and to pack it up. We slept in the seats of the truck. Not fun. The other two tents in the party, REI and Sierra Designs, stood up just fine. I returned the tent and am waiting to hear back from Northface. This tent is only good for the kids to use in the yard. First time I have had a Northface product fail on me and I bought the original Oval Intention way back in 1975. I just want to warn people away form this model.

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

I wrote a review of this tent after the first few times I used it in tropical heat, complaining about how hot it was with the rain fly on and the door flaps closed. But that really isn't the fault of the tent. I just wanted to add that if you pin open the door flaps, the tent is reasonably comfortable overnight in temperatures as high as 72-74 F. I also have since discovered the clasps on the underside of the door flaps which make pining the door flaps open and closing them a cinch if an overnight storm pops up suddenly in the middle of the night. Another nice feature of this tent is that the small item pouches are high enough off the ground so you won't accidentally damage stuff like eye glasses in the night. The flooring is also very durable, and you don't have to worry about ripping a zipper or a seam when climbing in and out of the tent. My appreciation for this tent's design has only grown in the two years since I purchased it.

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

love this tent~

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

Great tent for car camping. Took it up to the Sierras for and it worked perfectly. Fly is easily adjustable and can be retracted for more ventilation or pulled forward in the rain. Internal pockets are really convenient. Setup is a breeze. Tent is heavy though, so don't even dream of taking it backpacking.

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

We are a larch family three young kids. It has been a lot of fun camping all together

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

I bought this tent for use in the tropics. If the rain fly isn't needed, this tent performed well. Very good ventilation. If the rain fly is needed, however, the tent was a sauna. I would not recommend this tent if you are going to camp in hot humid weather and there is a chance of rain. In cool rainy weather I would not anticipate a problem.

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

We bought this tent one year ago. We owned the North Face Trailhead 8 for over 10 years and loved it! We decided to move to a smaller size for our four person family and chose the Kaiju 4. We are primarily car/boat campers, so we are generally comfort driven and tend to over pack. I found this tent cramped for 2 adults and 2 kids (ages 9 & 11). There is barely room for one persons gear, let alone four people. Our Labrador always sleeps in the tent with us, but not in this tent!! There is barely any foot room. I am 5'7 and my husband is 5'9. We have to stuff our bags in one corner or leave them in the vestibule or truck.
Now let's talk about how it holds up in the wind. TERRIBLLY!! On our first trip out last summer, a massive wind storm hit and the tent collapsed! Everything, including the guy lines was securely staked down. One of the poles bent, however, we were able to salvage as the North Face warranty department was backed up and a new set of poles was going to cost around $100.
We recently camped for a long weekend at Lake Powell. There was a small windstorm one night as we were going to bed. We were expecting the wind and had made sure that everything was properly staked, including the guy lines. During the windstorm, the tent was literally collapsing in on my daughter.
We have always been loyal North Face customers and would love to replace this tent with another 6 man tent, however, North Face doesn't offer any other options besides the Kaiju 6, which we would not buy! Super bummed and will likely find another company that carries quality 6 man tents.

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

I waited to write this review till I had used the Kaiju 4 North Face tent for one full year, to make sure I experienced all the pros and cons. My main use of the tent is for simple car camping, however we live in a range of environmental factors and I have children. That is why I choose to purchase from the North Face; they are dependable for life. The construction of the tent is awkward to say the least but it does keep water out. The design must have been to maximize height but dramatically decreases the performance in the wind, makes for an awkward setup and the mesh allows wind in.

The height of the tent is great because you can stand upright. However, using only 3 poles may have kept the weight down, but it is a car camping tent. Does weight really matter? More poles could dramatically increase the stability even if they add weight. The tent has experienced gusting winds between 20 - 40 mph. I angled the rain fly in the general direction and guyed it tightly down. The vestibules still pulled out and I bought the big tent stakes for an easy fix. I was concerned about the pressures and tensions I placed on the rain fly after using the large tent stakes. The fabric is very tight to allow it to hug the ground to slightly decrease the wind effect. I fear tearing out the guy lines or ripping out a seam or busting the zippers wide open. They are the small gage zippers, which are fragile and I did not expect to see them on a North Face tent.

The other issue, even though it is a 3 season tent, is the mesh. Yes, it is there because it is a 3 season tent but that doesn't mean it should be there alone. On those windy nights, the wind comes right in under the fly into the tent. Some simple window zip flaps could easily prevent this and still allow 'breathability'. Nothing dramatic, just the option to reduce unwanted breezes during the chilly June temps in the northern hemisphere.

The setup of this tent is very awkward. The tent itself has three poles that are color coded but then comes the fly. It drapes over the tent and has Velcro to wrap around crossing points of the poles. I have begun to fit it snuggly but you have to guy it out because of the awkward panel design that does give you two vestibules but isn't the most intuitive. The reason it is confusing is because of the vestibules. The instructions only show one perspective of the tent and without knowing what the back side looks like; you better set this sucker up in the backyard before you arrive at the campground.

It's been rained on, snowed on, and covered with a bit of frost and no moisture has made it in. We have always used the rain fly with it. I think the dew would drip through the mesh top without it.

Overall, I like this tent but I do not see it lasting as long as my father's North Face Oval Intention from 1976. Now that is a great tent, even if I am comparing a 4 season to a 3 season. There is some serious room for improvement on the Kaiju tent series.

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

I recently bought this tent for a large family tent. So far, I have camped in it twice here in Hawaii. The tent has been great!! It's easy to set up, easy to move around in, plenty of room, and a grown adult can stand up in it. On our recent camping trip to Kauai there was a storm that came through with rain and some strong gusty wind. I thought the tent held up nicely (zero water inside) and it held up good in the wind even though I didn't have the lines run out. I would recommend this tent to my friends!

Comments about TheNorthFace KAIJU 4:

I just received my kaiju 4 tent today. Having climbed for 35 years, I have always had the highest regard for north face products, and i felt safe buying a north face tent online, confident that the north face simply does not make a bad tent, but i was wrong. I pitched my kaiju4 in my back yard with the fly on, and staked down. It went up fairly easy, but it is a tall and awkward structure that maximizes interior room but has terrible aerodynamics. If a strong wind didnt blow it apart it would beat it up pretty bad. There are way too many panels and seams and silly details that compromise the integrity of the structure. The fly fits weird and has way too many angles. I had to turn it round and round to figure out how it fits. At night or in weatherit would be all but impossible to put on, and for somer reason there is an opening, with velcro closure at the very top! Good thinking. The zippers on the fly and tent are very light gauge and guaranteed to blow out under stress, they didnt even run well under no stress. The small zippers on my last tent (REI) are the reason i am buying a new one, they all blew out. What really showed me that the north face has lost their way however, is the lack of window covers. The doors are made of light mesh that goes down to about a foot off the ground, and there are no storm covers. The fly might keep rain off, but this tent cannot provide shelter from the wind. It will blow under the fly and right through the flimsy mesh. The mesh top is more than adequate ventillation, but with no way to batten down the side hatches this tent cant be called shelter at all. Its poorly designed fluff that cant perform a tents basic function, which is to provide shelter. This is not just about a bad tent, its about which direction the north face has chosen to go. They went cheap where it should be bombproof (zippers, doors, plastic pole hooks rather than full length sleeves), so they could add needless fluff like a nylon footwipe. There are far too many unnecessary seams and failure points. The tent is not made to hold up under harsh conditions, or any conditions. I have lost faith in the north face and can no longer recommend their products to anyone. This is a sad day for a proud brand.