Nylon is also more susceptible to UV damage, which, as Howe pointed out, is a top tent killer. In the backcountry, campers are generally making camp each evening and then packing up again in the morning, whereas car campers generally leave their tents up for much longer periods of time, increasing the material’s UV exposure. (Howe suggested setting a tent up in the shade to prolong its life.) Polyester is stiffer and heavier but not as susceptible to UV damage, and it doesn’t absorb water like nylon does, Howe told us. The takeaway here is that polyester is arguably the better fabric for car campers, who often pitch their tents in a sunny spot. Finding the smallest, lightest tent that meets your needs is the logical approach when you’re backpacking.
A full rain cover, a spacious vestibule, and a reinforced pole structure make this the best choice for families who are committed to getting outside no matter the weather. If you’re constantly on the move and aren’t keen on pitching and taking down a tent, rooftop coleman tents tents secure to the roof of your car and either pop up or fold out when you’re ready to use them. This convenience and additional features — including a ladder and a built-in mattress — mean rooftop tents tend to be on the higher end of the price spectrum.
Instead of the poles following a continuous arch around the tent, the Skydome™ tent poles include an elbow connection which breaks up the arch, resulting in a more squared-off shape. There are plenty of high end camping brands out there, such as Marmot, Nemo, and Big Agnes. When looking at tents from those companies, you can typically expect to pay an arm and a leg for anything from their catalog.
Cost-wise, the Dark Room will set you back approximately $30 more (depending on current sale prices) compared with the regular Sundome. Most Coleman tent poles are made of coleman sleeping bags fiberglass, stored in sections, connected together by a shock cord with two vinyl caps on the ends. Fiberglass poles are a strong-but-cheap option for your tent poles.
At Untamed Space, we’re passionate about helping you have the best camping experience possible. We are an independent website and do not receive payments or incentives from manufacturers to promote their products, and we continuously update our content to provide new information based on product availability. Wherever you are in your journey, whatever gear you’re searching for, you can be sure to find unbiased and up-to-date reviews for all of your needs. Coleman makes no dedicated footprints for its tents, so we suggest that you buy a groundsheet.
Our testing also included sitting through thunderstorms on the public land just south of the Hualapai reservation, near the Grand Canyon. Finally, Kit somewhat cheekily borrowed many of these tents and thrust them into the hands of guests at his own wedding. Several couples with various levels of camping experience slept in these tents at the wedding, giving us their impressions and helping us whittle the group down to the finalists. Kit Dillon has worked for Wirecutter for eight years in various capacities, writing about everything from backpacks and cooking gear to luggage and road-tripping. He has also written for Popular Science, The Awl, Metro, The Observer, and Fortune. When he was younger, he worked for five years on oil rigs as an NDT (non-destructive testing) inspector, testing metal and welds for signs of corrosion, rust, and whatever other breakdowns and chaos might happen to the steel in the ocean.