However, you won’t be fully protected from the rain if you don’t leave the rainfly on. If this is a concern to you, the Coleman 6 Person Instant Tent would be the better choice. If you really need to keep the tent inside bone dry, you can go for the option with the additional rainfly.
Between the school year ending and the official start of summer just around the corner, there’s no time like the present to get outside. But if the thought of family camping brings to mind the worst parts of a Griswold vacation, just know that it doesn’t have to be that way. Hammocks and rooftop tents might be ideal if you’re rolling solo or with just one fellow camper, but if the whole family is coming along, cabin-style tents are where it’s at. She points out that, when shopping for tents, you will absolutely get what you pay for. Higher-quality tents will have seams already sealed to protect from rain. They will also have a rainfly, which helps when you experience unexpected bouts of rain.
And seeing as this tent is actually kind of perfect for those sort of trips, it could be good value for you. You can take the savings you get from buying a tent without a rain fly to invest in other camping gear. The Sundome offers more storage pockets and a lighting loop that is great for holding a lantern. Deciding which factors are most important to you before making a purchase is important. As anyone who has ever gone camping knows, setting up a tent can be time-consuming and frustrating. There are endless poles to fumble with, and it always seems like half of them end up in the wrong place.
We’ll be taking another look at family-size tents next, as a few readers have noted some issues with our top pick’s window design that we’d like to follow up on. We’ll be testing tents that would be ideal for a family of four camping in all terrains and in three seasons. That mesh also keeps the tent feeling more airy and cool in hot climates.
Darkroom technology sets the coleman cabin tent with Instant Setup apart from competitors. This tent blocks out 90% of the sun’s rays, making it easy to take a midday nap or enjoy some shade when spending the day on the beach. Interlinked poles mean you just unfold this tent and maneuver it into its natural shape. During our testing, we found this tend to be super simple and quick to assemble. It’s nice that the assembly instructions are printed on the tent so you don’t have to worry about losing them. Even the rain fly is harder to attach due to the height, we still think putting the rain fly on is super simple.
The picture below shows the tent from the back side and with the fly on, so you can see some interesting features in its design. As you realize, the fly is a partial-coverage type, but this is why you have those 3 nice screened windows on all the sides. They are the double-layer type with mesh and inner panels for protection and privacy. But when the porch is added, this screen room offers full protection from the rain, although not full protection from the groundwater, this is because of the mentioned floor mesh section.
The difference between the two tents would be the amount of pockets, windows, vents and the rainfly. CORE 6 Person Instant Cabin Tent comes with more pockets and 3 large windows. The two vents at the rainfly can be opened by unzipping the two mesh at the top and then raising the prop to bring the flap up. This can be helpful to prevent condensation happening inside the tent during a cold weather.