Again, Ozark Trail tents are mainly fair weather camping tents (so you won’t be hiking into the backcountry with them) which means weight and packed size aren’t a big priority. The Ozark Trail 9 Person Cabin shares the same shortcomings as the other discount cabins found in the Ozark Trail lineup, most notably being its weather protection and ozark trail screen house durability. We also don’t recommend this tent for high winds because although all the poles are steel, Ozark Trail uses a thin-walled alloy that can bend under stress and plastic hubs that we wouldn’t trust in serious storms. As far as fairweather shelters go, however, this one may be the best value in terms of livability for your money.
This would be great for anyone that plans to sit down in the shelter. The one exception to the rule here is for the larger cabin-style tents, especially those with an “instant tent” design that uses pre-attached poles. These shelters tend to be much heavier and bulkier when packed up due to the frame design, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve got room to transport them in your vehicle and store them in your home before buying.
These are simple fast steps that can be done super quick during set up. I purchased this tent at a local Wal-mart prior to going on a dirt biking trip with friends in March. For those who don’t know, March in Colorado means sudden snowstorms and REALLY cold nights in the mountains (even though the days are warm). You unfold all the poles and make sure to extend them out. Extending them was the part that took us a bit to figure out.
All these windows are pretty small, which limits ventilation on a hot day. And on top of that, all these windows need to be closed on a rainy day. This shelter may be the least expensive in our roundup, but it still packs some sweet features worth noting. Our favorite is the “storage locker” ozark trail sun shelter which gives you a protected place to store items like muddy shoes outside the tent, but can also be accessed from inside using a second zipper. It’s a great spot to stash your “middle of the night bathroom break” shoes and anything else you don’t want taking up space inside the tent.
I do like the tent, lots of space, easy to put up, but a couple of things I didn’t like, the front door zippers always get stuck on the little rain flap that covers the zipper. I sprayed the tent with camp dry because I knew it was going to rain the next day. Some rain did get in near the bottom of rear window. I had a Coleman tent in the past and payed twice the money and this tent is just as good as that one. I would love to have a tent with sturdy metal poles, but nobody seems to make a reasonably priced tent with sturdy poles any more. I don’t like D-shaped zippers because they don’t seem to last long term.
It has generous mesh D-windows, and a full rain-fly. The gear storage sacks are situated on opposite corners of the room. I broke out the Ozark Trail Sun Shade on my first outing this season. It took me a few minutes to figure out that the flaps on the bottom are designed to be sandbags for use at the beach. I appreciated the directions being attached to the storage bag so they did not get lost or misplaced. It was helpful that I happened to have a hammer to pound the eight stakes into the hard ground.
I can’t handle a full weekend in this type of condition. So I spent the last year looking for a budget friendly sun shade. After researching many different models, I decided upon the Ozark Trail Sun Shade.