Now that you know all the specs and features, it’s time to look at our favorite qualities of this tent. We’ve ranked them from gold to bronze, but we think they all have an important purpose for making this an excellent tent. The structure is boxy and although it looks so stable, I would not use it in strong winds and rains. Note that there are no options to stake the floor sides in the middle, but you have guylines for the vents’ flaps, they are visible in the picture below. The picture below shows the light on in one out of three modes, low, medium and high light.
In contrast to the Mineral King 3’s triangular vestibules, the Tungsten 4’s vestibules are trapezoidal, opening via a central door with protected areas on either side. This design does a better job shielding the tent from incoming—and sideways—wind and rain. The Tungsten’s two brow poles create an especially effective awning over the tent door, so very little water gets in when someone comes or goes. Like the Mineral King 3, the Tungsten 4 has a mesh canopy, though the opaque polyester part of its walls go higher, and provide more privacy, than the Mineral King’s. The Tungsten’s fly is not adaptable in the same way the Mineral King 3’s is, but it is treated for extra UV protection, which should help lengthen the tent’s lifespan.
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. There are also 4 elbow joints, which ozark trail canopy tent helps to connect some of the poles, and this also make up the instant mechanism. The stitching on this tent isn’t the best, there were quite a few areas of patchwork all around the entire tent, so unfortunately, that’s another con against this tent when it comes to quality.
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And finally, the biggest con is probably that the quality isn’t the best with the slightly sticky tent fabric, loose threads, snagging issues and inconsistent mesh. The Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent also comes with a room divider, so you can split the tent into 2 rooms, and each “room” can fit 2 queen-sized camping mattresses. If there’s no rain, you can unzip the windows for more ventilation, and there’s a bug net to prevent larger bugs from getting in. It took me about double the time to set it up on my own (so, 20 minutes). But unfortunately, because I’m not tall (I’m 5’3″), I couldn’t get the rainfly up on my own, and that’s where I got stuck.
However, the windows and the door are also double-layer with mesh and waterproof panels. During my research on this tent I watched several YouTube videos on how to set up tent by yourself or with two people. 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.
Measuring 10 by 10 feet, the Sundome covers an area larger than that of our family-tent top pick though its lower roof leaves it with less headroom. An avid hiker, camper, and long-haul road-tripper, Claire Wilcox has slept in (and occasionally improvised) tents in 11 states. She covers outdoor gear for Wirecutter and worked on the most recent update of this guide, testing couples’ tents and family tents. With nearly 60 square feet of floor space plus two large vestibules, the Tungsten 4 is roomier than our top-pick tent for couples.