Tent brands usually make the same decisions across all their tents. They form the corners the same way and attach everything the same way, too. If they get it right with one tent, it’s likely all of their tents have great weather protection. The design of this tent is a big rectangle, and it only has one door, but I haven’t found this setup to be a problem. The front door is a massive T-style door, allowing you to move large gear in and out with ease. If the previous tent isn’t your style, you might be itching for an Ozark Trail cabin tent.
I bought this tent for a sort trip with three small children. The price was reasonable, the size was wonderful, the set- up easy. We discovered during set-up that the rain fly was torn and than discovered that the zipper for the front door was also defective, but Walmart replaced the tent for us with very little fuss. Upon initial set up in the backyard, I was very impressed.
No Ozark Trail tent is perfect, but as far as full-size family camping tents go, this is the one to beat. In this setup you have a 4-person tent plus a screened area in front of it. This is a very useful option and I have included it in my list of family camping tents with a screen porch. My personal favorite Ozark Trail tent is the 12-person, 3-room instant cabin tent.
The Ozark Trail 5-in-1 Convertible Instant Tent and Shelter is a completely unique system with 2 separate 4-person tents, one screenhouse, and an instant setup fly. We found the best ozark trail chair on weather performance is the 4-person Dome that comes in the 22-piece tent combo. This is largely due to the tent’s design, as dome tents overall perform better in bad weather than cabin tents. Certain brands are tailored towards certain camping styles, depending on how many people you want to bring. Although Ozark Trail offers tents in the two to five-person sizes, their bread & butter are the larger sizes. If you find a brand that specializes in the size you want, you’re likely to end up with a great product.
Generally speaking, if you go into buying an Ozark Trail tent with reasonable expectations, you won’t be disappointed. None of these tents are designed to hold up in a serious thunderstorm. They’re not built for heavy winds, and they certainly aren’t made to stand up to heavy snow. This shelter may be the least expensive in our roundup, but it still packs some sweet features worth noting. Our favorite is the “storage locker” which gives you a protected place to store items like muddy shoes outside the tent, but can also be accessed from inside using a second zipper. It’s a great spot to stash your “middle of the night bathroom break” shoes and anything else you don’t want taking up space inside the tent.
Chances are, though, you won’t want to spend half your trip setting up your tent. Manufacturers have found clever ways to make tent setup easier, including attaching the poles to the material so there are no pieces to assemble. Some family tents can be erected as quickly as 60 seconds, especially once you’ve gotten the hang of it. Certain tent brands make easy setup a priority, and Ozark Trail is definitely one of them.
Find the best hiking/camping product for your next outdoor adventure using our independent reviews and ratings. Overall — hard to knock the bang for the buck this thing gave two people (car camping). Backpacking Light community posts are moderated and here to foster helpful and positive discussions about lightweight backpacking. Please be mindful of our values and boundaries and review our Community Guidelines prior to posting. Also consider how many doors you will need, which will depend on the makeup of your party.
It was my kids’ first time camping, and we had no problems. My husband is a city-boy and even he could figure out how to put it up. Although, he did have the room divider pole left over, LOL. Thought the instructions could have been better, though. Make sure you use this tent in a proper environment, avoid windy areas and a climate with lots of rain, and you will enjoy camping with this tent. So you have seen it, and you realize why it is easy to get impressed with this Ozark Trail 12 Person Instant Cabin 16 x 16 3-Room Tent.
Also, my steel wall poles were showing signs of rust even though I did my best to dry them before packing. And out of my 14 Coleman tents, only 1 of my Coleman tents (the Montana 8P) came with this weird inconsistent mesh. But the stitching in my Ozark Trail tent is not as great, there were loose threads all over the tent, and fairly big holes where the guylines are connected to the main tent body. In fact, one of these doors is even a hinged D-door, which makes going in and out of the tent that much easier.