10-PERSON DARK ROOM INSTANT CABIN TENT

WARRANTY UPDATE: I have to add to the observations below that Coleman's warranty department is amazing to work with. They took back the 6-person tent we found to be too small on our first trip, just because I felt that the 6-person description was misleading, no questions asked. NEXT, after the pin failed (see below) in wind, they're replacing it, no questions asked. The Amazon Prime window had closed by a month. The proper way to submit a warranty issue is on their website under WARRANTY. You simply save your receipt from here in PDF (or scan a print), write the date & "WEB" on the product, take a couple of pictures, and that's IT. They answered my inquiry in less than 24 hours. I'll stick with a company that stands behind their product - which in this case is a GREAT tent - this well. WIND UPDATE: ours collapsed but still 5-stars! It held out until we were taking it down. On our first Tiger Scout trip with this sustained winds were 10 to 14 mph but gusts might have hit 30 mph for two nights. Our packs' tents include various Colemans and direct "instant tent" competitors from Amazon and Walmart, but also some more expensive dome tents. Two or three failed equally, so no favor to the more expensive options. Although a pin failed when we were taking the tent down it held through two nights of winds from all directions off of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (at Florida Keys Camp Sawyer). If you look at the knuckle under the fabric on the frame you'll see they're plastic-reinforced tips through the metal rods, secured with a metal pin - the pin broke eventually, not the plastic or the rod, so I'd consider it pretty good construction for a "cheap" tent. At times the tent was pressed down on top of us, almost flattened. Although it rained HARD we were completely dry except for one side-seam that dripped only enough to soak up with a face wash cloth (not much!). The two doors were GREAT because we could use the "downwind" side rather than the "wet" side. I hope never to camp in another situation like this (probably motel camp), but learned a few things to pass on if wind is expected. (1) most important is to guy-line out farther than expected and will bring some glow sticks to help keep people away from them. Make them long - short guy-lines are not effective in wind. (2) forget the stakes that come with your tent - buy the strongest you can find (foot-long nail/spikes from Home Depot) and bring a hammer, not a rubber mallet. You may never need them but they're essential in the event of wind and will reach deeper in wet earth. I could have easily fixed the pin but before realizing how easy it would be we trashed the tent - the rods were bent a little and so I just hammered them down into one another. So, we'll be buying another of these. The only change I'm going to make is to buy more of the beefy spikes (they held very well), something to glow on the guy-lines, and a chord long enough to tie around the top of the rods to help keep them from flexing all around in high wind (thinking that maybe the chord will take some of the pressure off of the joints). Even though ours failed we were safe, dry and very comfortable until it was time to go. Love this tent! ORIGINAL REVIEW: My video is actually for the disc-o-cot but shows the tent wide open. Also, I say "eight people" can sleep on two side by side but obviously I mean four with more up front. Other reviews hit all the high points about 1 minute setip, quality and dryness. This is a great tent. The OPTIONAL fly is essential for ventilation if there's any chance of rain but the tent stays dry inside without it. It rained two days without any leaks at all even though one of the front doors was not completely zipped at the floor. I strongly recommend this rather than the 6 person version because the price, weight and ease of setup are comparable for the luxury of the extra room. We have been using the 6-person version for our family of three but even with a disd-o-bunk bed found it tight because we all like to sleep off the floor and cots take space. Don't even consider more than five in this tent even without cots, unless the kids are still very small, of course. By the way, the disc-o-cot hits a 9 foot wall because of the slope so the 6 person tent isn't optimal. Even though you're probably not using bunk beds now, the extra foot is nice. In addition to the giant 14 foot side walls this one has two 10 foot ends, each with a door. The extra door and one foot more than the 9 feet in the six person allows us to leave 2+ foot isle between cots, each of which is 30+ inches (we're car camping after all). There is a ton of extra space left over up font for a adult, two small kids chairs or all of your gear. Camping with cub scouts can be a real challenge especially when they're still bobcats, and a luxurious tent with a good night's sleep makes a huge difference! This is why I suggest this tent for even three.

LOVE this tent! I took it camping by myself in Big Sur, and it was super easy to set up. It was true to the advertisement, taking me about 1-2 minutes tops to complete. I loved the little air vents on the top. I got the 6-man tent and it housed everything I had easy (a twin air mattress with sleeping bag and several bags), with room for a yoga mat as well. It was also easy to take down, although a bit tricky to get back into the storage bag (but doable). It fit in the back seat on the floor of my car for easy transport as well. I would highly recommend this tent! It's worth the investment for an easy transport and enjoyable camping experience.

I opted for this tent because the overall consensus was how very easy it is to put up. Yes, it really is very, VERY easy to erect. We are a family of scientific/engineering types, so not the very least likely to succeed with putting up a tent, but we are also not very advanced campers. With some experience (less than one camping trip per year) but not a lot, we found this tent to be super easy to put up, even with 5 and 8 year old children distracting us in the process. We used it a couple of times in the backyard first. No real problems there (except a nervous preschooler who decided to "go back home"/inside before 9pm.) When we were planning a class camping trip with other families, I warned my husband, "the reviews say this tent is great, EXCEPT IN THE RAIN" so we planned to just pack up early and leave if the weather turned bad. Well, living in New England... we got a pretty intense thunderstorm during our three night camping trip! The shelter over the picnic tables was leaking. One (out of five) families just packed it in and left at dusk when their tent started to flood. The weather reports the next day actually stated flash floods occurred in the area where we camped... but we slept pretty darn dry in the Coleman 6-Person Instant Tent! I would say there were two very tiny spots of water infiltration from above. We definitely had one child who rolled to the side and got a damp sleeping bag due to sleeping in contact with the side of the tent. HOWEVER, even without the rainfly and with no tarp covering us, all in all, we had a dry tent. This far exceeded my expectation for how well this inexpensive, easy-up tent would handle serious rainfall. (It POURED in the evening, then rained softly to moderately throughout most of the night.) We did luck out, by arriving last in our group, in having the highest placed campsite at our New Hampshire state park. The coziest seeming sites were definitely downhill from ours when the weather turned bad. The site did seem pretty flat upon initial visual inspection, though. The soil was sandy, so the rain water was able to sink it fairly quickly, thank goodness. Aside from weather resistance, our family of four found the interior space of this tent comfortable. We use the self-inflating (backpacker style) camping pads by Therm-A-Rest ( Thermarest Luxury Map Air Mattress, Blue in the 30-inch wide XL size for the adults and much smaller 3/4 length pads for the kids), so we aren't crowding the tent as much as household sized thick air mattresses would. It was snug but comfortable with our beds deployed and a few duffle bags with clothing. We had room to move between our beds, but we only use the tent to sleep and get dressed. Having read all the reviews, I brought a few wooden clothes pins to use to keep the window flaps from flapping, and I had zero issue with any noise or inconvenience with the windows. I am very easily disturbed by things like fluttering flaps. As others have written, it sure would be nice to have extra loops or pockets in the tent for storage, but, again, I knew what to expect and just kept a little tote next to my bed with my LED lamp, eyeglasses, etc. At this price point, I found the tent completely satisfactory as far as features were concerned. I wish there were a footprint sized precisely for this tent. I worried about water infiltration all night during our heavy rains. I was able to fold a standard tarp to fit neatly underneath the Coleman 6-Person Instant Tent, but I would have paid a few extra dollars to have a tarp that fit perfectly like a proper footprint does. I am pretty likely to buy the new rainfly accessory for this tent now that it is available. As I said, our experience was very positive in a pretty significant rainfall, but I did sleep poorly worrying that water was going to come in during the night. I have also strongly considered some kind of easy up shelter just tossed up over the entire tent to stop the worst of a deluge getting to us... In a nutshell, I am very satisfied with the Coleman 6-Person Instant Tent. It met my highest priority, which was a set-up so easy that tent-anxiety wouldn't keep us from heading out for a camping trip. The five-star review is because FOR THE PRICE, this tent wildly exceeded my expectations. I would be using much more stringent requirements (pockets, conveniences) if the price point were more than just barely into the three digit range, like the Paha Que, Mountain Hardware, etc. tents that I covet but could not justify for our infrequent current usage. This is a great place to start if you are a family considering camping but not ready for big cash commitments. In that scenario, IMHO, spend less on your first tent and a little more to ensure you have good sleeping pads (cushioning) to avoid physical pain/misery, warm enough sleeping bags, and good basic cooking equipment so everyone can enjoy themselves.

Over the past two weeks I have had the Coleman 6-person Instant Cabin Tent set up in my back yard for weather testing purposes. I have not yet slept in it, wanting to give it a good test period first. Here are my observations. **This is NOT a 6-person tent by any means. It's best for two people and their gear, three tops. The "6 person" designation simply means you could lay 6 sleeping bags out on the tent floor, and they would take up the entire floor space. **This tent DOES leak, but not horribly. The weather these past two weeks have included a lot of rain, but I have never seen water appear in the center of the tent. It tends to pool along the edges and corners when it does get in. The amounts are fairly minimal, and so far have been easy to wipe up with a towel. I would definitely NOT recommend sleeping directly on the tent floor. You have to get yourself up off the floor. Using a cot or at least a 2" or higher sleeping mattress is highly recommended. Water does not come in the tent directly from the top. It tends to seep in from the window seams and a bit from the corners. Sleeping more in the center of the tent will keep you drier. I did not purchase the rain fly, so these observations are with no rain fly installed. I also pitched the tent directly on the ground, no footprint or tarp underneath, as tests of the water resistance. **The tent goes up quickly and easily. It is, however, hard to get it as taut as I would like, which may account for some of the water seepage. The front and rear of the tent can be staked out taut, but the sides cannot, which is a major design flaw in my opinion. This flaw causes the sides to cave into the tent, and as a result, water collects along the bottom seams of the tent, and that causes the seepage. I have not waterproofed or seam sealed this tent, but I think it would be wise to do so. The corner guy lines provide additional security against wind, but so far I haven't had a windy enough day to really need them. (EDIT - I recently lost the tent in a very high wind situation. A 50+MPH gust ripped it up off the ground, into the air, and I actually didn't find it for three days. When I did find it, one of the tent poles was bent beyond repair. I did not have the tent guyed out, nor was there any weight at all in the tent. This is definitely not a tent for winds above 35mph.) **The headroom is great (5'9"), and combined with the ease of setup, makes this tent quite usable in average weather situations. There are screen windows on every wall, and two vents on the top, which make for adequate ventilation and good views from the tent. Storage is essentially non-existent; no real useful pockets. If you have an RV/travel trailer setup, this is a very good side tent for use either for extra sleepers or a screen house. **It's a good enough tent for a car camping weekend. I would not take this tent on any long-term or extensive trips, however. I'd prefer something capable of handling unexpected extreme weather. I don't mind cleaning up small pools of water, but I would not want to do that consistently. But you should know exactly what your use is for this tent, and purchase accordingly. For me, as a senior citizen, it's a fine tent due to its easy setup, space and headroom, and relative weather resistance. In 10 minutes I can have the tent up, the cot set up, a table and chair set up, and probably my sleeping pad and bag on the cot. Excellent for a light weekend of camping, but I would not want to get caught in an all-day driving downpour in it.

...you ONLY camp in DRY weather!!! So this experience began as I purchased this 4 person tent a year ago so my wife and I could go camping for our anniversary. It seemed like a good deal and I have had other pieces of Coleman gear...sleeping bags, stoves etc since the 1970's and I was satisfied with the quality. First off...It took 3 times to get what one would consider a "new" tent. In all fairness, this could be due to the amazon/coleman returns process. The first had sand all in it and the second had a hole in the rear of the built in "rainfly". We did receive the 3rd tent with only a day or two to spare before going camping. Last year, we arrived in severe weather so we were stuck in the car until it passed and set camp late that night having thankfully nice weather until we left. Fast forward to this year, same campsite same tent. The first night to midday of the next day dry but breezy. Light rain started around 4pm as expected. Only 2 and a half hours of light to moderate rainfall into a 6.5 hour rain event, the roof started leaking at the seams and from inside the loop where you hang a light or something. Not long after that, say another 10 or so minutes, every seam under every window and even the back wall seam midway up the wall began to leak. As we started to see how much water was coming in, I noticed that ALL roof and wall panels are now saturated and water weeps inside directly where it lands on the outside! At about 9PM I knew there was a final line of heavy rain still to come before it all moved away so, I cut open a zip lock bag and used an entire roll of 1 inch gorilla tape to slow the ingress of water as it was ice cold and dripping on our bedding. we were committed since we couldn't get to our vehicle without becoming soaked. I should note that even when the heavy line came through, it was NOT severe. In total, we received about 1.5 maybe 2 inches of rain over the entire event. I know because I've been a trained NWS weather spotter for 2 decades and had my eyes on the radar. #weathernerd I will admit I became suspicious about the marketing of this model over the last year as I did see an additional rainfly available for this tent here on amazon. I thought why does it need another if they claim it has one built in and the whole thing has this weather tech coating complete with symbols of blowing wind? Back to the incoming weather. We DID have a wind advisory but being in a forest with 120ft+ tall trees, we never had anything on the ground level gusts higher than 10-20mph. I did have a tarp setup over the entrance that was facing the direction the rain was coming from (SW) so the doors did not leak as bad as every other surface did. I will say this, the "bathtub" design of this tent was SOLID and waterproof!! That is the ONLY reason for that extra star. We set the tent on top of a ground tarp but the bottom did not leak and thankfully so. While this was a challenge and we obviously didn't sleep well and had a fair amount of gear get wet, it did not completely ruin the trip. Keep in mind it was only used ONE other time a year apart and it stayed in it's case in storage. This is only a fair weather tent or for use in your back yard at home where if the weather turns wet, you can run into the house! Do not plan to use this for any camping where you have to drive any distance and/or to an event or occasion that is meaningful as it will let you down. The setup is pretty quick too, once you are used to it, you'll think of it as an inverted umbrella. In summary, do NOT take gear to the field without testing it first! I knew this and I just didn't because I ran out of time due to being sent used or defective merchandise. I mistakenly trusted a brand name and their marketing gimmicks. I will NOT be buying ANY other Coleman tents! Are they right for you? You, be the judge. Austin <><

UPDATE 6-person tent on the beach: I took the 6-person tent camping on the beach. Over-all it held up really well. I got it up in under two minutes. Then the wind kicked up. I would recommend that if the wind is over 10-15mph, don't go. I had to anchor all of the corners and use the tether lines with heavy duty tent stakes (I purchased separately) to keep it anchored to the ground. When trying to take it down, I recommend closing the door and leaving the windows half-way up just to release the inner air. I tried it first with the door and windows all of the way open and the tent kept blowing up like a balloon which kept causing the legs to reextend. It was nearly impossible to take down. I had to really struggle to try and get it to collapse. I never had this problem with my traditional tent where I could just remove the poles. With no wind, I would say it is perfect. UPDATE 6 - Person Tent: I replaced the 8-person tent I had to throw away with the 6-person version. OMG - SO MUCH EASIER!! I was able to get it up by myself in around 1 minute and take down - back in the bag within 2 minutes! I went through the whole process twice just to make sure! The tent fabric is thick and feels very durable. The floor is the thickest I have ever seen on a tent.... It's like a heavy duty tarp. So far I am really impressed! I changed my overall rating from 1 star for the 8-person to 5 stars for the 6-person! I will write another update after I take it to the beach in a couple of weeks and see how it holds up there. ORIGINAL PURCHASE 8 - Person tent: I have been camping for over 40 years. I selected this tent because it advertises as "instant-tent with 60-second easy assembly." So much better than the hassle of dealing with multiple poles... right? The 8-person tent has 6 legs; one in each corner and one on each side where there is no door. It was like trying to wrestle an angry octopus - seriously!! It requires a bare minimum of 2 people (and four people would be better) to set it up. You have to raise all of the poles at the same time or it will just keep collapsing in different directions. It took us over half an hour of struggling to get it up. I was exhausted and sweaty at the end. One of the poles bent the first time the tent was up (not sure how, it wasn't manhandled and no wind or anything) and it will no longer contract or expand. And the fabric was thin and saggy... as well as the floor. I don't think it would hold-up in the wind or rain at all. Taking it down was just as difficult as setting it up (or more so) because the poles kept collapsing every which way. You can't take them all down at the same time unless you have 6 people. So we had to figure out how to manually fold and realign the legs from the big tangled pile on the ground in order to get the tent to fold back up for transport. I bought this tent because it was supposed to be easy!! Maybe the 4 or 6-person tent that only has the 4 corner poles would be much easier to manage; but this 6-pole 8-person model is a nightmare! I threw it away. I could have tried to return it for the refund but with the bent pole that would no longer contract, I couldn't get it back in the box! UGH!!!!!!

I read as many reviews as possible from different sites before ordering this tent. I camp at least 3 or 4 times a year and the worst part of it is setting up and breaking down the tent. I don't need to go into detail about how easy this tent is to set up. The videos speak for themselves. I will say that if you follow the instructions and watch the videos that you will have an easy time. Don't get in too much of a hurry though or you may damage something or pinch your fingers. I will concentrate on the tent itself. This tent looks like any standard cabin tent from the inside and the outside. It is roomy and has no sagging due to the well-fit pole frame. The windows all have sippers for screen ventilation. There are two ceiling vents. These are a great idea by Coleman. The nice thing about the vents is that they can be completely closed or opened. I did order the rain fly with mine so I can leave the ceiling vents open even when it is raining. Although this is billed as a 6 person tent I would rate it at a 3 person if you don't want it to be too crowded. There were 2 of us on our first outing in this tent. It was very roomy for 2 of us, our mattresses, a small table and then room for our packs. It is nice to stand up in a tent after years of having to crawl around in small dome tents when I was camping on my own. I will now also take this tent to camp when it's ONLY me since it is so easy to set up. Why should I put up with the cramped quarters of my backpack tent when I'm car camping and this tent is so convenient? I will advise that I did waterproof this tent with silicone before using it and I always use a ground tarp underneath. With the windows cracked and the vents open we had zero dew inside the tent. It didn't rain on this first outing so I can't speak to how it would perform but I carefully inspected the seams and saw none of the tell-tale pinholes that might mean a leak. This is a great tent for my purposes. 7-10-14 - I have now used this tent for 3 camp-outs and it continues to impress me. It withstood a 3 hour rainstorm in the Smoky Mountains and was completely bone-dry inside. Again, it should be noted that I took the time to waterproof the tent before ever using it but I am can't imagine that this tent would have leaked. Properly staked I can't see this tent even budging in the winds associated with a thunderstorm. One added benefit of the rainfly is that it also has guy ropes to help further anchor the tent. I always use a ground tarp under the tent, tucked under so water doesn't collect underneath the floor if it does rain. This is a great tent. P.S. My own touches - I use those interlocking multi color mats that you can by at Home Depot or Lowes inside the tent for padding and protection and I bought the longest nails, spikes really that I could find at the hardware store which I use for stakes. They are inexpensive, around a buck each and they do a better job than the cheap stakes the tent comes with. 3.23.15 - Have now used this tent several more times and I can't say enough good about it. Remember that I did take the trouble to waterproof the tent with Kiwi waterproofing aerosol and I also use the rain fly. It rained again on my most recent outing and we stayed completely dry while we heard those around us scrambling to avoid puddles or as in the case of one camper - just packed up and left. The ease of setting up and fast setup proved even more useful during the last day of my most recent trip. Not only could I pack up my tent quickly in the rain, but when I got home I could quickly set it back up to dry once the sun came out. Now that I've practiced a few times I can set up and take down my tent by myself. Bottom line- great tent that lets you enjoy camping instead of spending time matching poles or wrestling with inserting fiberglass poles into the sleeves of a dome tent. Heed my advice though and use a ground cloth, get better tent pegs, use the rain fly and waterproof everything just to be on the safe side. You can have your tiny 400 dollar one or two person tents for car camping but I will continue to enjoy my tent that is more like a house and lets me stand up and stretch out with all my gear. BTW I have an expensive Catoma one person tent that takes longer to set up than my Coleman Instant Tent.

This one, man....super happy with it. Easy to put and put away. No rain fly to mess with. Opened the vents on the top and no condensation built up inside.