After weeks of testing, we have thrown a few penalty flags on the field. This product’s excellent wheel system is mostly plastic; we wish it were constructed primarily of metal. Additionally, it packs up large and is heavy, making it difficult to find room for it in the trunk of just any car.
As an American manufacturer of pop-up tents, we’re committed to building structures that can survive in strong wind and inclement weather. That’s why we employ a team of engineers who design and battle-test our products to perfect. We looked for features like double-stitched seams, weather taping, steel, robust fabrics, and fewer moving parts. The Eureka Tagalong is lightweight with stellar components, so if you want to be a bit more mobile with your canopy, this is one of our favorites.
We hope you can use this comprehensive and unbiased review to help you find all the shade-seeking advice you need to make the best purchasing decision. Our experts teamed up to develop a rigorous test plan, which we applied to every canopy tent in this review. We learn a lot about each model by testing in varying environments, including mountains, forests, lakes, beaches, and dunes. Each canopy was set up and broken down repeatedly to assess its ease of use and craftsmanship, separating the well-designed from the failure-prone or confusing models.
At the forefront of features, this canopy has a roller bag with large, wide-set wheels so one person can easily pull this beast across gravel, dirt, or grass. The E-Z Up also has a simple setup and can even be deployed solo, depending on age and strength. Its heavy steel frame and massive metal stakes easily hold this shelter steady, even during wind gusts, and glaring sun and rain are also no threat. The weight of this Ozark Trail is lighter than most of the same size alternative steel frame canopy tents, coming in right about 29 lbs.
Like the REI and L.L.Bean canopy shelters, this Clam tent has a generous fabric skirt at its base that is designed to keep determined insects—and pooling rainwater—out. If we were camping somewhere infested with mosquitoes or no-see-ums and could fit the Clam in our vehicle, we’d prefer it over any of our other picks. The shelter has a 10-by-10-foot footprint—the most common size for tents of this type—and a peak height of 7 feet. It will shelter a standard-size picnic table, but with little room to spare.
It offers impeccable craftsmanship and is even graded as “Entry Commercial” by the manufacturer. Likewise, the roller bag is made from commercial-grade components and fabrics, and the frame is thicker and heavier than other canopies. At first glance, the setup for the Quick-Set Escap appears quite daunting. However, it became our favorite canopy to set up after conquering a slight learning curve.
The thicker, darker netting also makes the whole structure shadier, even without the optional side panels. The Woodlands Screen House uses six lightweight aluminum poles, just like the Screen House Shelter. Like the REI model, the L.L.Bean tent uses polyester (ripstop, in this case), which is more resistant to UV damage and absorbs less moisture than nylon by weight. The Woodlands Screen House also has the advantage of eight guylines, whereas the Screen House Shelter includes none. In addition, this model has the same bug-deterring flap of fabric along the base as the REI tent, but while the REI’s flap is about 9 inches wide, the L.L.Bean’s flap is about 10.5 inches wide.
The Coleman 15 × 13 Instant Screenhouse is essentially a larger version of the Coleman 10 × 10 Instant Screened Canopy, and it has similar shortcomings. The sloping walls make the interior space feel much smaller than the generous footprint might lead you to expect. The mesh doesn’t seem particularly durable, and given the cap-like roof, the shade provided is much more limited than with our top-pick tents. Several REI reviewers who bought both the tent and the fly for rain protection note that the fly has only two walls, leaving much of the tent exposed.
The add-on fly for our runner-up pick, the L.L.Bean Woodlands Screen House, offers four-walled protection, though it’s also more than twice as expensive. Fellow campers and sun-baked spectators consistently gravitated toward the REI shelter over the L.L.Bean. Though the two tents have the same footprint, the REI’s roof is 6 inches taller; we found that the higher ceiling made the REI shelter feel significantly roomier inside. With all that in mind, we found more than a dozen tents that met our criteria. Overall, we think the ozark trail chair serves its intended purpose – a value brand 10×10 instant shelter that caters to price conscious consumers looking for an affordable shade option.