Canopies, Sport Shelters & Umbrellas

The tent is spacious, making it perfect for larger families or groups of friends. It lets you enjoy the beautiful outdoors without being eaten alive by mosquitoes or bugs. Plus, it’s great for keeping camp chairs and dog beds organized. They allow us to convert the screen room into a bedroom on one trip and a bug-free front porch on another, making this tent incredibly versatile.

To mimic heavier rain and to test the tent’s ability to withstand soggy ground conditions, we also soaked our tents with a garden hose. A few weeks later, we brought the front-runners to a platform in an area that had higher elevation, near the Waianae Mountain Range, and camped out overnight in intermittent but consistent rainfall. It’s natural to focus on the quality of a tent’s rain fly—you need that piece to work when the skies open up. But according to our experts, the durability of the floor of your tent is actually more important. A footprint doesn’t take up much space, is relatively inexpensive, and is much easier to repair or replace than a tent bottom if it tears.

In conclusion, the Ozark Trail 10-Person Cabin Tent delivers on some aspects but falls short in others. It’s a tale of a roller-coaster ride through the great outdoors, but with a few too many bumps along the way. While the tent’s ventilation was more than adequate, it’s not ideal for colder climates. The insulation of the tent could use some improvement since it doesn’t offer warmth even during chillier nights.

In early March, we took our second trip to the oceanside Sycamore Canyon Campground (PDF) near Oxnard, California. A later check of the weather at nearby Point Mugu Naval Air Station confirmed top recorded wind gusts of 40 miles per hour. Our favorite of the eight canopy tents we tested, the REI Co-op Screen House Shelter ticks all those boxes. However, it isn’t meant as a place to sleep; for that you should choose a regular car-camping tent. Our favorite canopy tent is a simply designed, comfortable shelter that offers protection from bugs, sun, and rain.

ozark trail screen house

Before staking out a tent, make sure all of its doors are zipped closed to avoid staking it too tightly and straining the zippers. Like regular camping tents, these camping gazebos are not intended to be left up for extended periods, as the fabrics are susceptible to UV damage. ozark trail screen house Underneath the fly, the Mineral King 3 has a full mesh dome with a waterproof, tape-seamed bathtub-style polyester floor. The tent doors are nearly wall-sized, and after you unzip them, you simply stuff them into pockets, rather than having to roll and toggle-tie the fabric.