In my opinion, the tent was definitely easier to setup than it was to put away. 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 Coleman’s lightning-fast setup time is really its only party piece. Besides this, it’s very much a bare-bones tent at an attractive price point. On our first attempt and of course, without reading the instructions, we were able to setup the coleman instant tent in about two minutes and 20 seconds.
Great tent, easy to put up, but the only problem is the plastic joints break and are hard to replace. Not everyone has $500 to spend on a fancy REI tent with a gold leaf rainfly, screens made of spun diamond dust and built-in speakers that hypnotize woodland creatures into singing you softly to sleep at night. Heather and I are blue collar, working-class Coleman people. Heather and I have been camping now just shy of five years, and in that time, we’ve owned four tents.
Admittedly we were skeptical when we read the claim on the storage bag, Instant setup in 60 seconds or less. When you put the words Instant Tent in your title, you’re setting a high bar for yourself. The only variable factor in set-up time is how fast you feel like walking around the tent unfolding the poles and pulling them to their full length. The rain fly might take another couple of minutes, but it’s also a very simple set of buckles that even one person can handle with ease. If you’ve always had a more traditional tent, you’ll find yourself laughing at how quick and easy the Instant Tent 6 goes up. The Coleman Instant Tent 6 has average dimensions for a 6-person tent, at 10’x9’ (90sqft).
However, this was not a bother to us, as this tent really only needs to be transported from the car to the impact pad, and we’d rather heft a few extra pounds than sacrifice durability. There’s no included footprint with this tent, and we’d recommend purchasing either a 9’x9’ or 10’x10’ footprint, which unfortunately is not offered by Coleman. You can also save quite a bit of money by opting for a tarp instead. These will run you anywhere from $10-20, depending upon your desired level of quality.
This spacious cabin tent can fit up to two queen-size airbeds that’s perfect for a group trip or for a spacious endeavor into the wild on your own. Our main issue with the integrated rainfly is that we lose all ventilation (and views of the outside) coleman instant tent 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 2X that straps to the top and allows you to have open vents without getting your stuff soaked.