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. Before digging in further, we should point out that any tent you pitch enough times will get easier. However, we made it a point to judge the first pitch, as many folks only use their tent once or twice a year, and who knows what you will and won’t remember after most of a year has passed. Our vacation homes are listed so you can easily find exactly what you’re looking for, and know exactly what you’ll get (we only like welcome surprises). You can look forward to the moment you step through the front door.
This tent comfortably fits two queen airbeds or up to 6 campers in sleeping bags on the floor. Keep yourself organized and connected with the included mesh storage pockets and electrical cord access. The ambient LED-lighted ozark trail canopy tent hub allows for amazing light throughout the tent and can be adjusted with the low . This Ozark Trail 6-Person Instant Cabin Tent with LED Lighted Hub is perfect for your next family camping adventure.
Case in point, the Kelty Tallboy 4 will save you money but it also scores lower in every test. Adults as tall as 6-foot-3 can move about this tent standing upright. With a 44-square-foot vestibule, and 86 square feet of interior living space, the tent has plenty of room to house beds, cribs, gear, pets, and camping furniture.
As 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. The North Face’s color-coded poles make this process easy to navigate. (We were stubborn and didn’t look at the instructions.) Once you identify the front and back, the process is straightforward.
Canopy tents and screen houses are great ways to create food preparation areas as well, so consider taking one with you on your next camping trip. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying ozark trail instant cabin decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). It is also important to consider the way in which the tent poles attach to the tent. Many of our picks use grommet attachments, which are more secure and simple to repair than key attachments if anything should break.
With a center height of 6.5 feet, it can accommodate even the tallest campers. Plus, the 60 square feet of floor space was more than enough to sleep four people. After researching 30 six-person tents and testing 15 side by side on a total of five trips, we chose the Kelty Wireless 6 as the best entry-level camping tent for most families. It’s spacious, easy to set up, has weather protection, and is durable, all at an affordable price. The Wireless 6 lacks some of the premium materials found in pricier tents, but it features solid workmanship and should provide dependable, comfortable shelter in most three-season camping situations.
And finally, we looked at pockets, clips, and storage options. 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.
It performs better in wind and rain and scores just behind the Wawona, albeit with a lower space and comfort score. The Toogh 3-4 Person Instant Tent is super simple to set up. All you have to do is lift up the top of the tent and then press the end of the poles to automatically lock everything into place. It can be done in about a minute or two and is convenient when you roll up to a campsite, especially in the dark.
The T4 Hub is our favorite instant shelter because it’s stable, weatherproof, and full of conveniences. The best thing about this shelter is that it’s completely self-contained so that you can say goodbye to bundles of bungee-connected aluminum poles — no more assembling, crisscrossing, bending, or clipping. Instead, to set up the T4, plop it on the ground, pull on each of the four sidewall handles until the wall pops into place, and then lock in the rooftop with a push.