This type of pole tends to be less flexible and bulkier than pricier aluminum, and it can be a pain to handle. But it’s one of the least expensive tents we found that had no significant drawbacks ozark trail canopy and will truly cover your bases for three-season camping. The tent also comes with its own footprint, a groundsheet that protects the tent from abrasion, which we recommend that you have.
The price also reflects the high quality of the materials, such as the four reinforced aluminum poles, which weigh little yet result in a remarkably strong tent. It’s natural to focus on the quality of a tent’s rain fly—you need that piece to work when the skies open up. But according to our experts, the durability of the floor of your tent is actually more important. If the tent you buy doesn’t come with a footprint (two of our recommended tents, the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 and the Marmot Tungsten 4, do), we recommend purchasing a companion footprint, if one is available.
Overall — hard to knock the bang for the buck this thing gave two people (car camping). We had 24 hours of rain in Delaware at the end of which there was a slight leak from the hoop for the lower dividing wall hook at the front resulting in a “puddle” the size of a quarter on the groundsheet. Was pleasantly surprised as I had read other ozark trail canopy reviews of Ozark Trail but as this was a disposable item (I live in the UK) I was trusting to fine summer weather. I am 6′ and definitely could stand up straight in the centre. Easy to erect except I do believe you need a second person to hold up the poles as you connect them to the corner pins (as stated in the instructions).
Coleman says that the tent doesn’t need one, probably because its floor is a crinkly (though tough) tarp-like polyethylene, not a taped-seam polyester as in our other picks. A full rain fly with easy-attach color-coded clips covers the tent body and adds two large vestibules. Like the Mineral King 3, the Tungsten has aluminum poles that are connected at the top (for lightning-quick pitching) and pre-bent, which increases the dome tent’s headroom. This Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent will help you have a fulfilling camping trip by accommodating the whole crew and making everyone feel comfortable. It sets up in just 60 seconds and requires no assembly, because the poles are pre-attached to the tent, so all you have to do is just unfold and extend. This outdoor cabin tent features innovative Dark Rest technology that blocks sunlight, helping you stay cooler and sleep longer.
The stitching especially around the doors and windows don’t seem that well done either, and I found a lot of excess threads as well. There was no info provided by Ozark Trail on the material of the flooring, but it feels like your regular polyethylene bathtub flooring, and doesn’t seem very thick. I forgot to measure the height of the bathtub flooring, but I think it’s about 5 inches.
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. Similar to easy setup, some tent brands are just flat-out better at weather protection than others. Cabin-style straight wall tent designs provide more lateral space, sure, but a dome tent is better against the wind. The rounded sides make this tent well suited to withstand strong winds.
My other tents with similar designs did not have this serious of a snagging problem. The material of the tent body and rainfly are made of 68D coated polyester fabric. After about 15 minutes of mostly light rain and some moderate rainfall, I started to see quite a bit of leaking through this seam, which connects the blue part of the main body of the Ozark tent to the bathtub flooring. We’ve tested (and recommended) Eureka tents in past versions of this guide. In October 2023, Eureka’s parent company, Johnson Outdoors, announced that it was discontinuing the Eureka brand. The product line, including its tents, should remain available through the end of 2024.