The Pacific Breeze Easy Up and the Qipi Beach Cabana came in just behind the top scorers. This position is primarily due to their larger packed sizes, which makes them slightly more difficult to carry and store. The Qipi, in particular, has a much longer packed size and, at nearly 10 pounds, it’s heavier than the others mentioned above. The Easy Up may have been the lightest in our list of top scorers, but it also comes in a longer packed size, which affected its overall score.
The most popular product in their line is the 10×10 Instant Slant Leg Tent with a blue canopy top. It is made with a steel construction frame and polyester material for the canopy, which is in line with just about every shade tent on the market today. It offers impeccable craftsmanship and is even graded as “Entry Commercial” by the manufacturer. Additionally, its 600-denier canopy fabric is the thickest we’ve seen.
Likewise, the Pacific Breeze Easy Up does not require additional assembly. It springs into place with just the pull of a single chord, similar ozark trail canopy to opening an umbrella but in reverse. The simplicity of this design makes it easy for one person to produce an instant sunshade in seconds.
Getting our hands dirty with one of the best sun shelters on the market. Digging our toes in the sand under one of the best full-overhead coverage beach tents on the market. We also really liked the Neso 1, although it isn’t as sturdy, especially in the wind. We also recommend the Pacific Breeze Easy Up or the REI Co-op Screen House Shelter. A handful of REI customers complain that the tent is not stable in strong winds. Though the previous version came with four guylines—the stabilizing lines that allow you to stake out the tent for added security in windy conditions—the current version does not, which is inconvenient.
Canopies in this category are the Eurmax, Quick-Set Escape, E-Z UP Pyramid, Caddis Rapid Shelter, and Caravan Canopy V-Series. The Eurmax and E-Z Up both received lower portability scores because they are heavy and more difficult to lift from the car to the ground. Likewise, they are larger and more difficult to fit into a smaller vehicle. However, once on the ground, their roller bags make it extremely easy to pull them over concrete, dirt, and grass. These tents can quickly become pricey, so focusing on quality versus cost is a great idea. Typically, the lower-priced options in this category will work for the short term.
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The Eurmax Standard 10×10 offers 100 square feet of sun protection and a peak height of 11 feet. Very high-quality materials were used to produce this shelter, making it our hands-down choice for the best recreational canopy tent on the market. Despite its size and weight, the Eurmax is quite easy to set up and take down. Great canopy textiles, quick-release ozark trail chairs tabs, reinforced trusses, and a beefy steel frame allow the Eurmax to tower over other models we tested. It effectively blocks the sun, stands firm in the wind, and is impervious to rainwater. It’s a perfect shelter for any outdoor activity, but we feel it excels in settings that include commerce, command posts, campgrounds, and outdoor sports.
In our tests one camper took less than 10 minutes to put it up on the first try. Two shorter aluminum poles cross to support the roof while four longer poles join to the roof poles at the top of the tent and slide into pegs at the ground. The tent roof is made of polyester taffeta treated with a DWR (durable water repellent) coating. The walls are made of fine no-see-um nylon mesh edged with polyester taffeta. This polyester material is less susceptible to UV damage than the nylon that previous versions of this tent incorporated, but it generally has a feel that is not quite as soft.
Its fully enclosed design protects users from sun, wind, rain, and bugs, making it a perfect shelter for camping. It was followed closely by the Eurmaxand E-Z UP Pyramid, though neither has sidewalls for complete bug protection. The Tagalong and Caravan V-Series scored slightly lower than our top scorers, but they still have straightforward setup processes. The setup for both was simple; however, they scored lower because ozark trail chairs of additional variants that affected the overall ease of the process. The aluminum poles are quite long and awkward to maneuver, and it takes extra time to slide them through the fabric sleeves and bow them into place. We found the V-Series just as easy to set up as the other cathedral canopies we tested; however, it scored a little lower because it still incorporates spring-loaded adjustment pins to lock it into place.
Over the years, I have evaluated gear for magazines including Wired, Popular Science, and National Geographic Adventure, where I was a senior editor. The REI Co-op Screen House Shelter is easy to set up and pleasant to use, providing good protection from bugs, sun, and gentle rain showers. A high ceiling makes the tent feel brighter and more airy than other camping shelters with a similar footprint.