He is a dedicated backcountry explorer and a trained Wilderness First Responder. Tyler has hiked every mountain range in the US and summited Highpoints in several US states as well as Germany. His favorite outdoor destinations are the Canadian Rockies, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mt. Tongariro in New Zealand, and the San Juan Region of Colorado. Otherwise, water would pool on top of the canopy and it could weigh down and cause sagging.
Another unique feature that is quite rare among instant set up tents, is the dark room technology that is incorporated in this one, but we will touch more on that later. They just see how many people can lay down inside the tent, taking all space available. Now that we’ve seen the breakdown of all the features that make a great tent, let’s see the pros & cons of each one, in one table so that you can easily make the comparison between the tents at a glance.
But the area is 140 ft² (13 m²) so this is far too small for such a number of users although indeed it should be possible to put 10 sleeping pads on the floor. Note again that the tent is fully floored, so this can work for a group of friends at a summer festival and for other similar activities. But for a family camping, it is best to downgrade this number by half. I think it works totally fine in fair weather, so you can take the rainfly off and open all the windows for a decent amount of ventilation. It definitely won’t be great in strong winds, heavy rain, or even light rain though.
I’m sure this tent is good during a wind storm and rain/condensation issues. The Base Camp tents include a low side vent and multiple stuff pockets on the walls and ceiling, which are made of 75D polyester treated with 1500mm of polyurethane waterproofing. Note that these tents are strictly meant for car camping; the Base Camp 4 and the Base Camp 6 weigh 16 and 21 pounds, respectively, ozark trail canopy tent so you won’t want to carry either one very far. Coleman makes no dedicated footprints for its tents—the idea being that the polyethylene is tough enough not to need one. (Still, we suggest that you buy a groundsheet.) The tent has two small, internal pockets—fewer than on any of our other picks—and a loop at the ceiling center to hang a small, lightweight light.
We found that company representatives are reluctant to estimate the lifespan of their tents. When pushed, most of the reps we talked to estimated five to 10 years, though the actual lifespan will vary widely depending on care and frequency of use (for more advice, read REI’s excellent tips). In conducting research for this guide, we heard multiple tales of careful campers who had been using the same tent for 15 years or more. The Wawona 6’s side-walls are high and straight, but the structure stays very stable in wind thanks to a final pole that wraps around the front and sides—and thanks to the absence of any acute angles in the poles.
This can get frustrating if people in the other rooms are using lights. Each room is large enough for a queen mattress, so you can make things super comfy. We love these better than simple divider curtains because they are completely closed off.
Some testers, though, thought the tent was stuffy when the fly was fully closed and the sun was out. The Mineral King 3’s fly attaches intuitively with plastic buckles and has well-placed guy tabs. You can secure the fly to the poles with Velcro ties underneath the fly, so that the extra lines anchored the whole tent, not just the thin protective fabric, but we only needed to do so ozark trail shower tent in very windy conditions. When the fly is fully deployed, the tent has two vestibules, which provide additional gear storage and also help ventilate the tent in inclement weather. And in a stroke of design brilliance, a small loop sewn into the top of the fly makes it possible to roll up one half of the fly, exposing the full mesh canopy while still providing shade and privacy.
To compare tent fabrics, you also need to know their overall rip strength. For most fabrics, rip strength is expressed as a measurement of the diameter of the fibers in their thread, or a denier—the higher the denier, the stronger the fabric. We found 40 denier up to 150 denier to be typical for car-camping tents; you can read more about these measurements in gear manufacturer MSR’s blog post and in this Outside article. Finding a small, light tent is the logical approach when you’re backpacking.