Note that you really do not have any vestibule like in the other tents which I mentioned in the table above. The small awnings on the front and on the back look great, but they only protect the windows and do not give any extra covered space for the gear. The rain fly covers only the top section of the tent, basically protecting only the mesh openings, as you realize from the picture. So you can only pray that the lower portion of the tent body is indeed waterproof.
Furthermore, the walls had soaked through and wetted out. Our best guess is that the water ran down the rainfly, made contact with the tent body, and then proceeded to leak through the seam where the wall is sewn to the bathtub floor. All in all, we were pretty disappointed in its wet weather performance.
This did not raise any alarms since these sections of the tent shouldn’t be taking much abuse. What did give us cause for concern was the fiberglass tent poles. Although we cannot cite any breakages with these poles, we are always hesitant when they are utilized since fiberglass is much less forgiving than aluminum. Whereas aluminum can be bent back into place when sustaining too much pressure, fiberglass will simply snap and be rendered unusable.
At almost 10 pounds, it would be too heavy for carrying over long distances. In addition to the various capacities, Coleman also makes the unique and rather intriguing Dark Room Sundome. Built using the same structure as the standard model (it’s only offered in 4P and 6P sizes), the design utilizes a special fabric on the tent body and rainfly that blocks a claimed 90% of light. coleman instant tent For one, it has serious potential appeal among late sleepers or parents that are hoping to enjoy an uninterrupted cup of coffee in the morning. The dark fabric also helps keep the tent cooler, which is a nice plus in the hot summer months. Cost-wise, the Dark Room will set you back approximately $30 more (depending on current sale prices) compared with the regular Sundome.
So, keeping in line with what Coleman calls a four person instant tent, I went along the same lines once again while choosing our new tent. I’m not quite sure of what four people the coleman sundome company was referring to when they say it ‘sleeps four’. Plan C was to venture out beyond the bounds of our campsite for a little stealth camping and maybe some smoother ground.
While this is advertised as a 4 person tent, realistically if you have someone over 6 feet tall it may be difficult to lay across the width of the tent due to the dome. The base is 7 feet, but the sloped sides quickly encroach on that space. With the air mattress you would only reasonably fit two adults and gear, which made it perfect for us, but perhaps something bigger would be needed for a larger family. The tent also has two small pockets for storing additional items, but adding anything of considerable weight pulls the tent inward, making the space smaller.
In addition, the bathtub floor means there are no seams too near the ground, and your stuff should be well protected if a puddle forms near the edges. Finally, there is a large vent on the back of the tent that can be staked out to provide a small degree of airflow. In terms of windows, you’ll find two large mesh panels on the upper half of the side walls as well as smaller, closeable windows on the back wall and at the top of the front door.