Its fully enclosed design protects users from sun, wind, rain, and bugs, making it a perfect shelter for camping. It was followed closely by the Eurmaxand E-Z UP Pyramid, though neither has sidewalls for complete bug protection. The included stakes are very short, thin, and somewhat ineffective; we recommend purchasing larger thicker stakes for your Caravan V-Series. The canopy material is adequate but less rugged, and rainwater tends to drip through during a substantial downpour. The wheels on the roller bag are mostly cosmetic, as they are very ineffective on most terrains.
Our favorite canopy tent is a simply designed, comfortable shelter that offers protection from bugs, sun, and rain. The legs are locked into place with old school metal push button locks, something you won’t see on many modern pop up tents now-a-days. These push locks get very difficult to use over time, especially if the tent is used on the beach and exposed to sand and saltwater, causing rust build up. Many newer tent brands like EZ-Up ozark trail chair use revolutionary thumb lock sliders or larger easy to release buttons, which are a much better user experience when setting the canopy up or taking it down. With the push buttons you need to worry about pinching fingers or not being able to release the button when it gets rusted, which is never a pleasant experience. The legs extend to give the top peak a height of about 8’10” which will be plenty of headroom for anyone underneath.
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.
It always cost more than our top pick, but the price has gone up another $150 since we first tested it. A lower roof makes this shelter feel notably smaller than our top pick, but it’s also durably made and ready to pair with a superior rain fly (sold separately). We explore the lightweight beach canopy that’s powered by the wind to see if its worth its hefty price tag. We’re more than just custom pop up tents — TentCraft is a premium fabricator of all things experiential marketing and outdoor advertising. If it combines metal, fabric and print our team of skilled craftsmen can transform any napkin sketch or wild idea into a fully realized project. Serving the biggest brands on the planet as well as your local High School, if you want the perfect blend of quality and American craftsmanship, we’ve got you covered.
The Quick-Set Escape offers a massive, fully enclosed living space, and the Eureka Tagalong dons extra pockets, hooks, and attached sandbags. The center trusses on the Eurmax hang lower than we would prefer, limiting the available headspace, but this is our only caveat. The Tagalong sits a little low and isn’t adjustable, which affects the user’s ability to alter the canopy’s height or angles as the sun’s rays change. Still, the lightweight and portable design makes up for this, especially in the right use cases.
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.
The massive screened walls keep insects where they belong — away from you. This shelter is also fully surrounded by a 10-inch-wide ground skirt, which goes the extra mile to keep creepy crawlers and flying annoyances at bay. The REI Co-op Screen House Shelter is easy to set up and pleasant to use, providing good protection from bugs, sun, and gentle rain showers. A high ceiling makes the tent feel brighter and more airy than other camping shelters with a similar footprint. It’s advertised as a 10×10 tent, but your canopy is actually 7.8’ x 7.8’, for about 61 square feet of space under the canopy. If canopy coverage is important to you, this is a very good reason to go with a straight-leg option.
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.
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.