The tent weighs just 16 pounds, less than any other family tent we tested for this guide. Marmot uses color coding smartly to help you position the tent as well as set it up. Both of the doors zip open to the side that’s color-coded blue, as opposed to zipping open to opposite sides. In other words, one partner—or one partner’s gear—is always going to get a dose of weather when they head out. To test the tents, we first opened them, splayed out their parts, and tried to put them together without consulting the instructions.
I really liked how almost everything was pre-attached; this includes the pre-attached poles, pre-attached pole clips, and the 4 pre-attached guylines. I bought the Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant Cabin 6-Person Camping Tent from a friend to make this review, and I managed to test its ease of use, dark rest technology, quality, and loads more. This makes for superior circulation, which is also customizable, as the windows and ceiling panels can be zipped up to regulate how much air passes through the tent. The Ozark trail needs to be tied down with the guy lines to remain durable. If anything goes wrong, you can replace the poles with replacement parts (around $20), and I recommend buying an extra pole just to be safe. The Gazelle is the biggest and heaviest out of the 4; you’ll need a big car to fit it, so make sure you measure the space you have in your car beforehand.
When used in the correct conditions avoiding harsh winds and rain, this is a fantastic versatile family tent. 3 rooms also give you the option to use one as a living and dining area, or even a storage area. As each room is big enough to fit a queen airbed, there wouldn’t be much space left for bags and other gear. It’s connected to the rainfly, so you can only use it when the fly is on, but it’s perfect for protecting against sunrays and light rain.
I’m sure this tent is good during a wind storm and rain/condensation issues. The Base Camp tents include a low side vent and multiple stuff pockets on the walls and ceiling, which are made of 75D polyester treated with 1500mm of polyurethane waterproofing. Note that these tents are strictly meant for car camping; the Base Camp 4 and the Base Camp 6 weigh 16 and 21 pounds, respectively, so you won’t want to carry either one very far. Coleman makes no dedicated footprints for its tents—the idea being that the polyethylene is tough enough not to need one. (Still, we suggest that you buy a groundsheet.) The tent has two small, internal pockets—fewer than on any of our other picks—and a loop at the ceiling center to hang a small, lightweight light.
Some testers, though, thought the tent was stuffy when the fly was fully closed and the sun was out. The Mineral King 3’s fly attaches intuitively with plastic buckles and has well-placed guy tabs. You can secure the fly to the poles with Velcro ties underneath the fly, so that the extra lines anchored the whole tent, not just the thin protective fabric, but we only needed to do so ozark trail canopy tent in very windy conditions. When the fly is fully deployed, the tent has two vestibules, which provide additional gear storage and also help ventilate the tent in inclement weather. And in a stroke of design brilliance, a small loop sewn into the top of the fly makes it possible to roll up one half of the fly, exposing the full mesh canopy while still providing shade and privacy.
It’s also straightforward to set up, and it is made with sturdy, light materials. Great for backyard overnights, this simple dome-style tent is for anyone who doesn’t want to spend more than $150 on a tent but also doesn’t want to buy another one next year. As for ventilation on rainy days, after the 15 minutes of light rain, I checked the windows of this tent and found that the mesh was already kind of damp. The easiest models to pitch are pretty much always “instant tent” shelters, which use a system of preattached poles than only need to be unfolded and locked into place. With that being said, we have yet to see an Ozark Trail tent that’s actually “difficult” to set up, so there’s no reason to limit your search to “instant-only” if you don’t mind putting your own poles together.
He is a dedicated backcountry explorer and a trained Wilderness First Responder. Tyler has hiked every mountain range in the US and summited Highpoints in several US states as well as Germany. His favorite outdoor destinations are the Canadian Rockies, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mt. Tongariro in New Zealand, and the San Juan Region of Colorado. Otherwise, water would pool on top of the canopy and it could weigh down and cause sagging.