I’ve since set it up at home for careful inspection before camping again and noticed zipper teeth were misaligned, stitching was uneven in places, and stitching thread was totally loose in other places. It really seems like the tent is not waterproofed at all from the factory. Some smaller cons are that the room divider is quite see-through, with pretty big gaps at the sides, and the only 2 pockets in the tent coleman sundome are ridiculously tiny. Also, even if you’re not tall like me (I’m 5’3″), you should be able to set it up on your own. I tried for many hours to fix this issue, but the pole just wouldn’t budge, even though I tried to unscrew it and tried to loosen it up by oiling it and stuff like that. So, that was a bit disappointing, but I guess manufacturing defects do happen, so this is probably just a one-off thing.
Rain still seeped though ALL four walls of the tent (see pictures) and made puddles on the floor, getting our sleeping bags and other gear wet throughout the night. I agree with the last reviewer…tent looks good, setup is really nice, but the plastic corner brackets coleman ice chest break way too easy, metal ones and this tent would be awesome. I like the weatherctec system, on most Coleman tents seems they stay dry even in heavy rains. The aluminum poles are also quite durable; the leg poles are 16mm thick, while the roof poles are 12mm thick.
They do not decay in time and they are even stronger than the surrounding material. If we can assist you with selecting the right model for you, and your family please feel free to contact us via email, phone or visit us in store. The compromise for this convenience is a poor-performing design. No doubt, the Instant Tent will work fine on a clear night. I already fixed the misaligned zipper teeth with pliers, trimmed and retied the loose stitching, and used $25 or so of dry chain lube to make the zippers better.
But you have here what they describe as Weather Tec patented system which utilizes welded floors. Yet another better option is to use bunk beds, at least for kids; the walls are steep here and the tent is so high, so it is easy to put such bunk cots inside. This is a very stable freestanding structure which you can pitch on any terrain, literally, and you can move it around when it is set up. So you do not have to stake it out, but stakes and guylines are included and do not miss doing this whenever possible.
Also, there’s 1 e-port at the bottom of the tent with a zippered closure. There’s 1 lantern loop in the tent, at the very top of the tent, right in the center, for some lighting at night. There are 2 pockets in the entire tent, both measuring about 7 by 8 inches, which is really tiny for such a large tent.