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. If the tent you buy doesn’t come with a footprint (two of our recommended tents, the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 and the Marmot Tungsten 4, do), we recommend purchasing a companion footprint, if one is available. 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. The Ozark Trail Yurt gets high marks for its overall interior space with 169 square feet of floor room and ceilings over 7 feet tall at their peak. That’s plenty of room for two queen mattresses with room left over for some chairs, a cooler, and a camp table.
Sometimes, one of the elbow joints of the poles would jam and won’t coleman cooler prop up properly, and I’d have to fold it back up and try to prop it back up again. Also, I noticed a pretty big pool of water from the zipper of the hinged D-door at about 30 minutes of light rain (so maybe it started leaking at around 15 minutes in). Some campers might find the Wawona 6’s footprint unwieldy in smaller campsites, or they might simply prefer a tent with a more straightforward design. If you want a six-person tent made with high-quality materials but a traditional profile, we recommend the similarly priced Big Agnes Spicer Peak 6, or Nemo’s Aurora Highrise 6. Unfortunately, you have to buy a separate groundsheet for the Wawona 6 and for most other tents its size as well. A tent that requires staking to stand up—especially a larger, six-person tent—is unwieldy, and it’ll be impossible to set up on a hard surface such as blacktop or on raised wooden tent decks.
As far as fairweather shelters go, however, this one may be the best value in terms of livability for your money. This screened-in shelter also gets high points for its price, which is always a selling point with an Ozark Trail tent, but this one represents a particularly good value considering all its features. In terms of how the two tents feel, the Marmot Tungsten 4 is more geared toward hunkering down and providing stalwart defense against wind, rain, and sun. In contrast to the Mineral King 3’s triangular vestibules, the Tungsten 4’s vestibules are trapezoidal, opening via a central door with protected areas on either side. This design does a better job shielding the tent from incoming—and sideways—wind and rain.
The Tungsten 4 shares many of the Mineral King 3’s best features, and provides 10 square feet of additional living space as well as excellent weather protection—as long as you set it up properly. Like our top pick, the Tungsten 4 is a sturdy, two-door dome-style tent that can be deployed in about 5 minutes. It uses high-quality materials such as aluminum poles, breathable mesh, and water-resistant polyester fabric, and it comes with a full fly and a footprint. ozark trail canopy tent The Tungsten 4’s larger size accounts for the higher price tag (about $40 more), but campers who would like that extra room may find the expense worthwhile. Its fly extends into a huge front vestibule that can store large items like bikes, or even accommodate a table and chairs. Adults over 6 feet tall will be able to walk upright inside this tent—which has almost-vertical walls that can easily accommodate beds, cribs, and cots—as well as in the vestibule.
Overall, this is a fun beach accessory that is great for guarding gear and valuables and offering periodic shelter from the sun. As its name suggests, the Eureka Tagalong Shelter is ideal for tagging along on any adventure where shade is needed. The Sundome’s tarp is clearly a budget material, but for what it was, we found it user-friendly. It’s easy to mop up after wet paws and spills, and it doesn’t hold moisture. It’s unlikely to be as durable, though, as the softer, stronger polyester found in our other picks. Measuring 10 by 10 feet, the Sundome covers an area larger than that of our family-tent top pick though its lower roof leaves it with less headroom.
There is lots of mesh around and on the ceiling, so this will work great if you use the tent in a warm climate. But with so much mesh on the ceiling, I would not use this tent in a cold climate. This is a freestanding construction, self-supporting and stable as you can realize from the picture below which shows the tent ozark trail instant cabin without the fly. But you should certainly not miss staking it properly, the stakes and guylines are included in the package. Livability describes the overall day-to-day experience of owning and using a tent, and tents that are more comfortable, convenient, and easy to use score the highest in terms of livability.
Like our couples’ tent pick, the Wireless 6 is a dome-shaped tent with a tried and true two-pole design. It has an interior footprint of 87 square feet, which sleeps four adults on single pads, or two adults and two or three children, and can accommodate a crib. That wasn’t the tallest we encountered—the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 6 and the Alps Mountaineering Camp Creek 6 each topped out at 7 feet—but it’s enough space for most adults to maneuver standing up. The tent comes with a full rain fly that adds two vestibules for storage (each 14 square feet), totaling 115 square feet of livable space—which is fairly generous yet still practical for most campsites.
This Coleman 10-Person Instant Tent has a peak height of 73.5 inches, coleman camping chair and I can reach the top of the tent very easily by just stretching my arm out. Taking down the Coleman 10-Person Tent and then packing it up takes slightly more than 5 minutes for 2 people, and about ~10 minutes on my own, excluding washing and drying, of course. After researching 30 six-person tents and testing 15 side by side on a total of five trips, we chose the Kelty Wireless 6 as the best entry-level camping tent for most families.
Sometimes I worry that these fiberglass poles will break, because they’re not that sturdy. The Base Camp tents include a low side vent and multiple stuff pockets on the walls and ceiling, which are made of 75D polyester treated with 1500mm of polyurethane waterproofing. Note that these tents are strictly meant for car camping; the Base Camp 4 and the Base Camp 6 weigh 16 and 21 pounds, respectively, so you won’t want to carry either one very far. To compare tent fabrics, you also need to know their overall rip strength.