Serving the biggest brands on the planet as well as your local High School, if you want the perfect blend of quality and American craftsmanship, we’ve got you covered. Like we mentioned above, we’re here to educate you on the different styles of pop-up tents. We know everyone isn’t a good fit for professional-grade TentCraft structures, and that’s OK! But if and when you’re tired of replacing cheap tents, reach out to us to learn more about what American-made quality looks and feels like. Getting our hands dirty with the top-rated 9×9 Neso Grande lightweight beach canopy tent. We typically see pyramid frames built with flimsy trusses and thin struts and reinforced (if you want to call it that) with cheaply made plastic joint connectors, and unfortunately this 10×10 Ozark canopy is no different.
The L.L.Bean Woodlands Screen House has a much more consistently glowing history of online reviews than does the REI tent. While the previous version of this tent used beachy-feeling aqua and orange, the current version is a drab olive green more typical of other tents. This doesn’t affect the functionality, but the brighter colors were something we previously praised. The floss is for size reference, but I’m looking for smaller floss containers. I use an empty coffee bag for trash because it’s light and can be folded down to the size needed.
The mesh walls do have a ribbon of polyester at the foot, but even carefully staked they can leave gaps at the ground; if bug protection is your main concern, these tents would likely fall short. We also tested and liked the Coleman Mountain View 12 x 12 Screendome Shelter; it was an also-great pick until Coleman discontinued the model. Any $75 canopy tent from a big-box store—we’re talking about the common square canopy with four spindly metal legs—can provide shade during midday.
Slant leg canopy tents are cheaper than straight leg tents because they use less material. The legs are locked into place with old school metal push button locks, something you won’t see on many modern pop up tents now-a-days. These push locks get very difficult to use over time, especially ozark trail canopy if the tent is used on the beach and exposed to sand and saltwater, causing rust build up. Many newer tent brands like EZ-Up use revolutionary thumb lock sliders or larger easy to release buttons, which are a much better user experience when setting the canopy up or taking it down.
In between trips, we turned a neighbor’s large, flat yard into an ad hoc camping-gazebo testing ground. We erected our shelters just in advance of a 24-hour rain and checked for leaking and rainy-day ambience midstorm. We also timed setup and breakdown times for each shelter, and we repeatedly zipped and unzipped doors and windows, looking for annoying snags. I sometimes enjoy not knowing exactly where we’ll stop to spend the night. I include links to some items mentioned, but am not endorsing products or sources.
My friend chose to not put up his rain fly betting on the perfect weather to continue while enjoying the stars at night. During those five minutes of rain, he was a little more stressed as the risk of a wet sleeping bag had not been completely mitigated and he rushed back to the campground. True, I wasn’t able to remove the rain fly to watch the stars or let the wind ventilate my tent, but I was able to enjoy the day hikes without any sort of worry. In essence, I had committed to the permanent rainfly option by default and there was a certain contentedness that came with that. The first good design feature is the placement of the door on the side, and more specifically on the long side of the tent.
The REI Co-op Screen House Shelter is easy to set up and pleasant to use, providing good protection from bugs, sun, and gentle rain showers. A high ceiling makes the tent feel brighter and more airy than other camping shelters with a similar footprint. The Ozark Trail Commercial Canopy is packed with the features that you need. The frame is powder coated aluminum and steel with push button locking on the frame and height adjustments.
Although we always recommend using anchors such as weighted sand bag or stakes with guy lines attached to the top corners. In our tests one camper took less than 10 minutes to put it up on the first try. Two shorter aluminum poles cross to support the roof while four longer poles join to the roof poles at the top of the tent and slide into pegs at the ground.