Most of the tents we tested came with basic L-shaped stakes, which tended to spin around in the soil and slip a line. A full rain cover, two vestibules, and an extra-sturdy pole structure make this the best choice for families who want to get outside in any weather. In this camping tent guide by Academy Sports + Outdoors, you’ll learn how to choose your next tent. You can easily fit two queen-sized air mattresses inside of a 10-person tent, or six twin-sized camping mattresses. Plan to bring along the directions if this is your first time setting one up. Beyond this breakage, however, the Skydome ended up being a pretty serviceable tent.
Throughout all our testing, we wanted to know how it felt to be inside the tents for long periods of time. If we had to spend a day in the tent during a storm, would it be comfortable? After first removing the models that failed the structural tests, we slept, watched the stars, and ate our meals in all of the tents, as well as planned hikes from them. I had high hopes for the Eddie Bauer Olympic Dome, but unfortunately this tent did not live up to my expectations. It started off well with some unusually excellent directions, which I appreciated having just come from the Coleman tent and its attached poles. As family friends started to trickle in over the course of the evening and following morning, they started to claim various tents.
This tent is a little heavy because of the steel poles pre-attached to the tent, so I recommend having a partner to help pop up and lock in the poles. Unfortunately, this tent was one of three that leaked during testing. While they did seal up from the inside, water was still able to sneak in through the seams, and the tarp over the top of it didn’t provide enough coverage to protect it.
The Wawona 6 is more complex to set up than a classic dome-style tent like the Wireless 6, but not by much. We recommend doing it with two people, but one person can manage in about 15 minutes. As ozark trail shower tent with any free-standing tent, with this one you stake out the four corners, and then you feed the two main tent poles through the Wawona’s fabric sleeves, which go halfway down the tent’s body.
Underneath the fly, the Mineral King 3 has a full mesh dome with a waterproof, tape-seamed bathtub-style polyester floor. The tent doors are nearly wall-sized, and after you unzip them, you simply stuff them into pockets, rather than having to roll and toggle-tie the fabric. Another two hanging pockets plus loops for a ceiling hammock provide simple yet effective interior storage. Temperatures ranged from the 50s at night to the 80s during the day. Its fly extends into a huge front vestibule that can store large items like bikes, or even accommodate a table and chairs. Adults over 6 feet tall will be able to walk upright inside this tent—which has almost-vertical walls that can easily accommodate beds, cribs, and cots—as well as in the vestibule.
They even asked if they could trade their typical family tent (a similar cabin style to the below models) for this tent at the conclusion of testing. The separate fly, which covers the upper half of the tent, uses a third, shorter “brow” pole to form protective ozark trail shower tent peaks over the door and the back window. In our tests, an experienced camper took only about six minutes on the first try to set up the tent body alone and stake it out. Getting the fly placed and staked properly took about five more minutes.
Both of the doors zip open to the side that’s color-coded blue, as opposed to zipping open to opposite sides. This means the vestibules equally protect the doors, rather than providing opposite entries and exits—the latter creates a situation where, in stormy weather, one side of the tent is always more exposed to blustering wind or rain. In other words, one partner—or one partner’s gear—is always going to get a dose of weather when they head out.
And I typically find that color coding the poles and the connection points and sleeves is the easiest way to communicate what goes where. This is great for avoiding potential exposure to hazardous chemicals, but you should pitch the tent well away from any open flames. The 2 room dividers turn it into a 3-room tent – one divider is even made with silver-coated fabric so it works as a movie screen. There are also two strings of LED lights hanging inside the tent, an E-port to power your tech goods, and a mud mat.