My backpacking tent is great, but a little on the small side for casual weekend camping trips. The Coleman Sundome 2 only has one door, which isn’t a big deal If you are camping solo. However, for two occupants, getting out will require some gymnastics to avoid stepping on your tent mate. The two gear pockets are placed awkwardly along the ends of the tent, where the bug mesh starts.
The Sundome offers welded seams for extra protection against water penetration. The Skydome tent offers Ripstop polyester fabric that is highly durable and resistant to wear from various weather conditions. Overall, we would give the edge to the Coleman Sundome for its extra level of protection from water penetration. The Coleman Skydome is also incredibly durable and can withstand all sorts of wear and tear. Its welded corners and inverted seams provide extra strength and stability, plus its electrostatic coating helps to repel water and resist UV damage. It’s also equipped with a quick-release buckle system for easy assembly and takedown.
The power port is pretty convenient and the vent window located near the ground allows for air circulation. Sundome 2 has a good sized carry bag and it holds the tent with room to spare. In the bag, you’ll find the tent body, two long poles for the tent body, one short pole for the rain fly, a small “welcome mat” and (9) stakes. Setup instructions are sewn inside the carry bag, though I was able to figure out how to set it up without reading them. When deciding which tent to buy between and Skydome, comfort is an essential factor that must be considered. The Coleman Sundome offers more room which is excellent for tall campers, making it the winner in terms of space and comfort.
And although it has a rather durable floor and a decent choice in materials for the canopy and rainfly, the vulnerable fiberglass poles give cause for concern. In addition, Coleman’s somewhat infamous build quality gives the Sundome a questionable lifespan. However, for occasional use this tent should serve its intended purpose.
While the tarp-like material on the bathtub floor didn’t allow water to soak through, the rest of the tent’s construction was a major let-down. We experienced one moderately rainy night in the Sundome and awoke to find a number of puddles on the inside of the tent coleman sundome floor. Our best guess is that the water ran down the rainfly, made contact with the tent body, and then proceeded to leak through the seam where the wall is sewn to the bathtub floor. All in all, we were pretty disappointed in its wet weather performance.
I did have a bit of mist blow in through the ends, since the rain fly doesn’t actually come too far down the tent. As I said earlier, I haven’t had this tent in a bad storm coleman screen tent yet, I think heavy winds would possibly blow more rain in and make water inside the tent an issue. The storage bags for the poles, stakes, and tent are all great.