But the walls, which are made of fabric that’s “twice as thick” as standard tent fabric, according to Coleman, make for a stuffy place to sleep. It was after midnight, and our tent was crammed with two adults and three small sleeping kids. Inside, the air was clammy and hot, the tent a sealed chamber akin to a plastic bag. Asphyxiation is rarely a concern on a family camping trip. But this month, on a stormy night in northern Minnesota, my wife and I awoke lightheaded and out of sorts.
From the comparison table below you will realize that this is more than what you have in the Core 9 tent of the same type, which is formally for 9 people. The Instant Tent 4 will no doubt find fans in car campers who hold setup convenience as a No. 1 trait. Anyone who knows tents will be disappointed in the clammy and poorly-designed Coleman camp shelter. For web orders returned in store, please take the item in original packaging, along with invoice to any
Camping World retail locations for a refund or exchange.
The downside of this design is that the panels must be closed when it is raining. In such situations, this tent will not be a very pleasant place, you do not have coleman screen tent mesh on the ceiling as typical for summer tents with a separate fly. Here, on vertical zippers, you have double flaps, plus Velcro tabs which keep them in place.
This Coleman 10-Person Instant Tent has 5 windows around the tent, excluding the 2 doors (on the widths of the tent). I felt like there weren’t enough pole clips in this tent, and the tent body felt a bit droopy, especially on this side of the tent. For spaciousness, I looked at the peak height, slope of the walls, and base area.
The poles extend and snap in place, just like it’s shown in the video. If this tent is not completely what you are looking for, just look around on this site. Check my separate list of Coleman 8 person cabin tents. But note that the fly covers mainly the roof, see the picture below, but there is some protection for the zippers as well. So it is up to you, it depends on where you are going to use this tent.
This season, our family has been doing several weekend camping trips. We will leave right after the kids get out of school and drive to a near by state park or area campground. There have been a few times that we got stuck in traffic and had to finish setting up camp in the dark.
Rain still seeped though ALL four walls of the tent (see pictures) and made puddles on the floor, getting our sleeping bags and other gear wet throughout the night. I agree with the last reviewer…tent looks good, setup is really nice, but the plastic corner brackets break way too easy, metal ones and this tent would be awesome. I like the weatherctec system, on most Coleman tents seems they stay dry even in heavy rains. The aluminum poles are also quite durable; the leg poles are 16mm thick, while the roof poles are 12mm thick.
The Cabin is the perfect kids’ tent, parent tent, or gear tent, but you only get to choose one. At 56 sq ft, you can fit two twin air mattresses with about a foot of hallway left or fill the entire tent wall to wall with a full and a twin. The Cabin wasn’t built for four, but you could make it work in a pinch. The door only opens halfway, a disappointing feature found in other Coleman tents. With 3 children, we like to spread out and store our gear inside the tent to protect it from the weather and little critters that may get curious. Poles are integrated into the tent so there are no poles to snap together, insert, etc, etc.
We awoke in the morning to a ceiling patterned with dew, the respiration-induced droplets threatening to rain down if an arm but glanced off the taut Coleman walls. For retail purchases returned without a receipt, the refund will be issued as a store merchandise
credit at the lowest price within the last 90 days. Proper ID will be required in the form of a valid, state-
issued driver’s license or state ID card. We reserve the right to limit, or refuse returns without a receipt. I highly recommend this Coleman 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent if you’re expecting high temperatures and hot weather, but not if you’re expecting plenty of rain. Also, if you’re expecting any rain at all, you do need to seal this inverted seam.
Our main issue with the integrated rainfly is that we lose all ventilation (and views of the outside) when there’s risk of rain, but there is a slight solution to this. For an additional $28, Coleman offers a secondary rainfly accessory made of Polyguard coleman screen tent 2X that straps to the top and allows you to have open vents without getting your stuff soaked. Although it’s less than ideal to add a 20% upcharge to unlock this feature, it’s still much easier on your wallet than the majority of the tents in our review.