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.
It’s well known that Coleman’s shelters aren’t the lightest or most compact by any stretch, so we recommend just leaning into it and getting the largest tent you can transport and carry. We love the simplicity of the instant tent design with its pre-attached poles, which allow you to get this tent set up in well under five minutes with or without a helping hand. Add to that the fact that the Coleman Instant Family Tent uses the same integrated rainfly technology as the classic Coleman Instant Cabin above, and you’ve got one of the easiest pitching large tents on the market.
Fiberglass is best used for casual summer camping trips and smaller, personal tents. However, aluminum tent poles are almost always an upgrade in terms of strength, weight, and durability. Like almost all of the tent companies we asked, Eureka recommends that campers use a tarp coleman bbq or ground cloth for added protection. We’ve noticed that people who use hard-toed furniture, such as rigid cots or a Pack ’n Play, inside the tent also often use a Mexican blanket or a thin rug over the floor for added protection and warmth; we think this is a great idea.
As for drawbacks, the size and weight are the main contributors, but we’ll note a few other things here. For one, because this is essentially a “wedge” shaped tent, the walls are fairly steep, so there’s not much extra shoulder room inside the shelter. Still, the Hooligan is one of the best-made tents in the Coleman lineup, and also one of the least expensive. Try it out, and if you love it, consider building it up with better components.
Although we wanted to understand the pros and cons of various tent materials, we didn’t want to get stuck in a “best is always better” philosophy, especially with regard to our picks for family tents. Both Olsson and Howe emphasized that a great family tent is one that gets more kids outside—which means one that’s affordable for most families. A difference in floor quality, however, will become obvious quickly as you use and abuse the tent.
That gives you a lot of room to maneuver both inside and around the tent. After our longtime top-pick tent for two people ran into some stock issues in 2021, we decided it was a good time for an update to this guide. We researched new models and redesigns, and we assembled a new batch of small tents for testing coleman bbq in March 2022, this time on Oahu. During this period, winds rose up to 35 to 40 knots, and we experienced passing showers as well as direct sunlight and 80-degree temperatures. 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.