Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Coleman 8-Person Instant Tent

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2011

I read the reviews before purchasing it then decided to try. We got the largest (14' x 10') instant tent that Coleman makes so we could have room for two cots and two kids plus a dog, and this is plenty big enough.

We watched the video at the Coleman website several times before camping with it the first time and that helped a lot, we were able to get the tent up in about 5 minutes with two people, which isn't bad since we had never put it up before and it's larger then the one in the video. Staking it down, AFTER you put it up, wasn't anything different then any other tent, so that was straight forward. Take down was a bit more complicated because we weren't sure we had it right, but it took about 10 minutes by the time we figured how to roll the tent sort of right and the air to come out for it to go back into the bag. I strongly recommend anyone buying this tent to watch the Coleman video several times so your not yanking and pushing in wrong places and possibly breaking the tent, the paper instructions are poor so watch the video.

I read some reviews that the tent had bad leaks, well ours didn't. We went through a nighttime double thunder storms that dumped about 3 inches of rain with high winds. The tent took the wind and the rain with no problems, but you do have to zip the windows closed, but we left the very top so that the screen wouldn't show yet air could get through. We had maybe a dozen drops come through the top of tent in the middle where the inside center divider curtain is...and that's it! No puddles, nothing, not even the inside sides of the tent were damp. Some reviewers thought the tent should have a rain fly, with the amount of water we got into the tent it doesn't need it. I don't get some reviewers, they buy a $200 plus or minus $50 3 season tent and expect it to perform like a $800 plus 4 season tent...it's not going to, I feel this tent did great under the circumstances. Our last tent had a rainfly, and when it rained we still got a puddle at the door and inside sides of the tent was damp and that tent cost a little bit more 25 years ago.

Some reviewers thought there should be more then two internal storage pockets, this tent is so large I didn't even use one of the pockets!

If there's one minor complaint about the tent is that the front door should have a short awning of about maybe 3 feet. But again anything extra Coleman adds would make the cost go up, and an awning would add a little time to the set up.

I rated this tent 5 stars, is it perfect? no, but I gave it 5 stars due to ease of put up and take down, ability to take high winds and driving rain, and the cost of the tent. Like I said, your not going to get anything better then this unless you pay at least $800 for a 4 season tent and then that tent will be smaller then this!

If your looking for a large inexpensive easy to put up family tent, this is the only one out there like it, and it works even in bad weather.

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Mr Roberts

Amazing Tent!! Camping Is Now More Enjoyable!!

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2012

Verified Purchase

I used this tent last weekend when I went camping by myself and I am extremely glad I bought this tent! Without looking at the instructions I setup the tent myself in about 2-3 minutes while I figured it all out. This tent is huge and so comfortable compared to my last tent which is a Eureka 4 person triangle tent. I love the design of this tent and I am so glad Amazon still carries this model as the new Coleman model is smaller (14x8). Having the extra 2 feet of floor space along the entire length of this tent adds about 28 feet of floor space! I love that it can be split into 2 rooms. For me I used the back room for my queen air mattress and my gear and then had 1 of the 2 dividers down on the side of the bed to make it a more private space. In the front room which has massive windows all around I kept a few pieces of gear and had a ton of extra space. I bought some good quality tent stakes to replace the cheap ones the tent comes with and I didnt use the tie-downs. When it got rather windy the tent held up perfectly and had no issues at all.

Pros:
- Large tent with lots of storage, sleeping, and hang out space.
- All the inside seams of the tent are taped as a extra waterproofing method and the floor piece goes up the wall about 6 inches to prevent ground water seeping in as there are no ground level seems.
- Very easy to setup and take down, even with 1 person it was fairly easy.
- Good quality materials and fabric.
- Customizable windows all around the tent which allow either unzipping or unzipping and hanging with straps.
- Doors on both side of the tent.
- High ceiling allows you to stand up and walk around the whole tent (unless you are unusually tall).
- Tent looks really nice and the design is unique. The frame kind of looks like a spider holding the tent up!

Cons:
- When packed up the tent is rather heavy to carry around so hopefully you can setup camp where you park and dont have to haul it too far
- I wish there was a couple more storage pockets on the inside of the tent for little items like keys, glasses, wallets etc. There are 2 now but 2 more would be fantastic
- When the windows are down/unzipped, there arent any straps to keep the flap neat and tidy, you just have to tuck the flap into the bottom of the window area
- The last and biggest con would be that I didnt buy one of these a long time ago!!! Such a fantastic tent!!!!

For a rainfly I went to Colemans website and purchased the 10 person tent rainfly using the Family discount and it ended up being $35 + $9 shipping. I had to call Coleman to get this discount as the rainflys are backordered until 9/21/12. The sales rep I spoke with wasnt even aware there was a Family discount and I had to tell her how I got the discount but she was happy to apply it to my order and it saved me $20 or so! To get the Family discount you go to the coleman website, click on the Site Map link at the very bottom of the page (in fine print) and then on the right column click on the Coleman Family Store link. When prompted for a password enter "Family" without the quotes. Once in the family store you can browse to Tents, and then Accessories, and scroll down to find the "Instant Tent Rainfly Accessory for 10-Person Tent" model 2000010328. The rainfly sold on Amazon and most other sites wont fit this tent so make sure you purchase the correct one. I would highly recommend this tent to anyone who enjoys camping!!

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DMA

Large and super easy to set up

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

I love this tent. I had three major requirements and this tent fills them nicely.

Requirement #1) Nice and large. My husband is pretty picky and likes his creature comforts. I knew if I wanted to get him to want to camp I was going to need a nice large tent with plenty of room for him, the kids, me, and our stuff. Mission accomplished.

Requirement #2) lots of air flow. We mostly camp in the summer in Inland Southern California where it gets pretty hot. With the windows all open the airflow in this tent is great. I can feel how warm it is when I first set it up and haven't unzipped the windows yet. As soon as I get the windows down and the air starts moving the temperature drops back down quickly. Nice!

Requirement #3) This is probably the most important of the three. My husband travels a lot and our kids are still pretty young. So I needed a tent I can put together by my self with minimal time and hassle since I still have to do everything else to set up camp too. This tent is awesome for that! Other people have described how quickly it goes up, and it really does. It's easiest if you have help, but it's still great if you're doing it all alone. It's slightly more hassle to take it down again by myself, but it's still way easier than any other tent I've used or seen. I look like an absolute pro whenever I'm setting up my campsite and go from pile of canvas and poles in the middle of my ground cover to fully erected tent in a matter of minutes - all by myself. I had to stop someone who helped me once from undoing the hooks on the poles, but they only unhooked one pole before I caught them and had them put them back on again. Having the poles stay attached to the tent the whole time is really great.

The review that says the tent is hard to put back in the bag... the only way that happened is that they didn't see the white thread you're supposed to cut to expand the bag after you open it the first time. I've never had any difficulty putting the tent back in the bag at the end of camping. In it goes, up it zips. I think the product engineers were quite brilliant to have added that little expansion capability.

I bought the rain cover and use it every time. It has rained on us only once while camping. But rain isn't why I bought it and use it. I bought it primarily to protect the top of the tent from the sun, tree sap, bird droppings, etc. I plan on using this tent a nice long time and want to keep it in great condition as long as possible. But it's really important to buy the right rain cover. You can't buy the rain cover for the Coleman 14x8 Instant Tent. It's listed as a link from the Amazon page for this tent. It won't work on this 14x10 tent. But you can get the item number from the reviews on the 14x8 cover. Lots of people bought the wrong one and want to save you from the same mistake.

This is a great tent. It has held up to rain, strong wind, high temperatures, and low temperatures. It's super easy for one person to put up, and is ridiculously easy for two or more people.

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NICKA

IF YOUR BIG AND STRONG, YOU WILL LOVE IT

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2010

Verified Purchase

This is a great tent! Do yourself a favor and instead of taking it out of the box and trying to beat the 1 minute time for assembly, read the directions and familerize yourself with the proper way to put it up and take it down. After 1 or 2 times you will be setting up in about a minute.
I am 6'3' so I can easily lift and reach all the moving parts. It is a heavy tent (45lb) and its about 4 feet when in its carry bag. 45lbs may not sound like a lot but when it is stretched 4 feet accross it can feel more like 100 lbs. My wife has a hard time lifting and manuvering it by herself. Keep this in mind if you are short and not very strong. That being said Coleman does clearly state that set up is a 2 person job. I suggest that even carrying it is a 2 person job if you are small.
Taking it down is a slower process but still very easy and I love not having to seperate any parts to do it. However since it is all one piece you will definently want to put a tarp under it to keep the bottom as clean as possible. Remember when I said it is a heavy tent, well rolling it back up is a job in itself and I have used help for this since day one. You will get dirty doing this if the tent is dirty. There is no way around it, you have to man handle this thing to roll it up. Thats not a bad thing (you gotta take the bad with the good) I'm just speaking from my expierence with it and being honest. The bag is very large and you
shouldn't have a problem putting it away.
It is awesome inside. Its huge and I love that so much of it is screened. The room dividers role up real nice and they are permantly attached to the tent so you dont have to keep track of them if you choose not to use them. The windows/walls role in and tuck into the screen when zipped down wich is convienent and easy. Other reviews have stated that the wind can make them unrole and flap around, I have not had this issue.
I have been through 2 good rainy days with this and so far so good. Make sure the windows are zipped all the way up to keep the rain out, if they are even down a little than the rain will flow off the roof and into the crack. If you have little kids they will not be tall enough to zip the windows if it rains so be prepaired to do it yourself. This is a problem when it is hot because it can get very humid and stuffy in the tent without being able to have any air circulation. Camping fans are the solution I have used for this. Also if it is raining and you go in or out of the tent the rain will flow off the roof and in through the door while it is open making a wet spot on your floor. I have found no solution for this. As stated in the description, there is no need for a rainfly on this tent, nor is there one available or neccassary. That also means there is no screening on the top so looking at the stars while laying down is not an option. This is not a problem for me because I have never in my life camped without putting a rainfly over the roof screen "just in case it rains".
I have read other reviews stating that the frame rails have got stuck and they couldn't collapse the tent. I want to comment that. I have had that problem as well but if I twist the stuck pole a little to each side it has loosened it allowing me to collapse it. Once again though I am a big guy and for a smaller person this could definantly be an issue. The poles feel very sturdy to me and I trust the system that Coleman has used but it is inevidable that dust, debri, sand, moisture, ect. are gonna stick to the poles and jam them up a bit. Wiping them down before breaking down the tent may help with this. I also want to add that even with the few stuck poles I have dealt with I am still confident with the system and would not want those comments to take away your trust in this tent, but it is something to conider if you will be lacking man power on your camping trips.
In closing, I love this tent! One night camping trips are know worth the effort becasue there is almost zero setup/takedown time. It is the first and only easy up tent I have used so I cannot comment on what other companies offer in comparison to this. For me the price is right and Coleman is a trusted name. As with every product it has its ups and downs and I tried to be fair and disriptive with both based on my expierence with it.
My suggestions for the next generation of this tent would be -
Utilize the "real door or "D" door as I call it" like many of your newer tents use, that is the number 1 suggestion I have and the greatest progression in tents ever.
Add atleast 1 door on the side, the 2 doors on it now are great but 1 more would elimate having to step over other sleepers to get out when your the person sleeping in the middle of the tent.
It definantly needs more than 2 storage pockets, this is an 8 person tent so there should be 8 storage pockets. A lantern hanger in the middle would be great too.
I would love to see versions of this tent in bright colors, orange being my first choice. Beige and black look great on the outside but from the inside it feels gloomy in my opinion. It just doesn't let the light come through the way brighter tents do.

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R. Reichelt

FRAGILE TENT - NON-EXISTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM COLEMAN

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

I've had many tents, of varying quality but always large cabin type tents with room. These aren't designed to live out of or to backpack - I drive my car up to a spot in the woods and start unloading the ridiculous amount of camping gear I have for a 2 night stay. This tent goes up and comes down amazing fast and simple. I find it attractive, roomy, and a god send compared to previous tents that took forever to figure out and put up and tear down. I love that I can put up my tent myself in a quick and simple manner and get to the rest of my trip without wasting time figuring out how to put the darn thing together. I'd recommend this tent over and over and will never go back to the old type of tent without the easy-up features.

UPDATE!!!: So I have had this tent a couple years, store it well and it was great the first couple times I got to use it. As you can see above, I loved and recommended it. Fast forward to the third time I used it - I was not shielded by forest and was subjected to a little bit of wind/breeze which grabbed at the tent naturally. I felt that since it goes up so quick and easy - we'd throw it up and secure it with tie downs right? Wrong - two corner pieces snapped. They couldn't stand even a small amount of wind without breaking. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but two corners are rigged together with wire and rope.

Bummer, and lesson learned - let's contact Coleman to order new parts and I just won't set the tent up unless I have perfect air stillness in the future. Well, it doesn't appear that they sell replacement parts for this tent anymore. I've taken two courses of action - contacted their customer service via email and ordered similar looking parts for a newer model tent in hopes that they might fit my tent and I can use it again. The result? Coleman has ignored my concerns for over a week now without any sort of correspondence or care. Even worse, the parts I ordered over a week ago (so that I would have them in time for my next trip 10 days from when I ordered) are still not even showing as shipped on the website. It says my order is processing on the Coleman website. I mean...seriously? I pay a somewhat hefty price for one of their tents, use it 3 times and it breaks, then pay to replace the shoddy parts - and I can't even get correspondence back or any move on an order to pay to replace the parts myself??? Bad form Coleman, bad form indeed.

I believe this tent to be better than 1 star, the customer service sucks though so you best hope nothing goes wrong with it for you because the tent has easily breakable, non-replaceable parts - and Coleman isn't trying to help you out. I had an issue with a Columbia tent once - the customer service could not have been better. Giving 1 star, and adding a picture in hopes that people will search out 1-star reviews, and picture reviews - see this and be forewarned.

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Ann H

Great tent 6 years later!

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

edit update: 2021. Its now been over 6 years. This tent is showing some wear and tear but nothing that a little maintenance won't take care of. 50 plus trips and counting. Only replaced one corner bracket (5010000851) is the coleman kit I ordered in 2015. New recommendation. Forget the bag that it comes in. It's terrible. Find and order a body bag...yes, a body bag... to keep it in. Stores it safely and keeps it dry. Plus, it is so much easier to get it in and out of!!!

We purchased this tent October 2014 and since then we have used this tent 11 times with one mishap. It has some issues. It is heavy and the bag it comes in is too small. The stakes are lousy and it needs a rainfly and to have a water repellant treatment. How does one correct these issues?
1. Buy a rain fly and a ground tarp.
2. Treat with water repellant.
3. Buy and use tent spikes or the like.
4. Buy a larger storage bag.
5. Don't try to back pack this thing.

Seriously, this tent rocks. It can be set up by one adult but two people make it easier. Stake it down. Amazing how many people don't and then complain that the tent isn't sturdy. The corners can and do break. Especially if you don't pay attention and think you can rush it like I did. It is very easy to twist the corner and break them. Also, the legs can twist keeping them from opening or closing. Take your time and you will see why it isn't moving and you can make necessary corrections without breaking parts. If you do break a corner, Coleman offers a repair kit (5010000851) that will make your life better and keep this tent in service... Better get, do like I did and buy 6 of them and keep a spare set in your kit bag. With shipping from Coleman, all 6 boxes were less than 30 bucks in October 2015. Its a great tent. Lots of room and we have enjoyed it immensely and look forward to more use this year! I would buy again and just might with additions to the family!

***UPDATE JULY 2016***
This tent is still awesome. Little wear, no leaks, no tears. But it comes with a cost!
1. Zippers... lubricate them from time to time.
2. Floors.. Make sure your tent site is debris free. Also, sweep and clean your tent inside and out when setting up and taking down.
3. Stress points... when setting up the tent, inspect all the attachment points and keep the anchor points clean. When you are using your guy ropes, add tension equally across the tent and not just crank down on one side and then the other. They don't need to be so tight that you could tune them like a high e string on a guitar!
4. Water repellant... Wears off, add more... it's cheap!
5. Common sense... Some folks can't be helped with this one. You might be on your own.

Seriously, best money I've spent. We are getting ready for our third season this fall (2016) and this tent is just as great now as when we bought it. This will be our 25th trip in this tent.

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IT'S SARAH DAMMIT

Great Product, Bad Result

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2011

Verified Purchase

I've rated this tent 5 stars, even though I need to return it, because it broke after first use.

The tent served all my needs.

1. Ease of setup- in the past we have camped twice using a cheap $25 Wal-Mart tent, only to throw them away each time. For $25, just wasn't worth the hassle of cleaning and taking apart fully. Yes, I'm lazy and it was only $25.
This tent sets up in a minute, best served with 2 people. And is taken down almost as quickly.
2. Spacious- we have 2 Great Danes. This tent was the perfect size, any smaller would have been tight. We fit a queen size blowup mattress with about a foot of space on the foot and head section for storage area. The dog beds (large) fit nicely on the side of the front door with a good 2-3 ft walk way. We also were able to fit our 2 pieces of luggage along with food and water.
3. Plenty of windows to help keep cool.

The negatives- we set it up in our driveway right before leaving to make sure it would work ok for us. This was an open box item btw. While camping set up great, on taking it down however is where one of the support rods at the joint snapped completely off, looked like the swivel part was a little "sticky" and guess my wife bent it in too hard.
To Amazon's credit, it's been beyond the 30 day return window for a full return, however, they are giving us a full refund. I'll be buying another one of these though in a heart beat, perhaps just being a bit more careful upon take down.

Another negative, we don't camp much at all, so maybe this is just inexperience. During the 1st night, there was a steady rain for a good 12 hours. Not a hard rain, just steady. Some time during the night it started leaking a bit inside. Not completely soaking things, but they got damp. After reading reviews, I totally forgot to get rain repellent. Even so, I ran out and got a tarp to cover it, problem solved, of course it stopped raining at that point, but in the future I'd do the tarp thing again.

Some reviews were negative of having no rain fly, I didn't find that a problem, though it was nicer to have created one with the tarp I used.

So, even though it wasn't perfect and broke after our first use, I'll be buying another once the return is processed.

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Holly in MI

Good for light use, light weather only!

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

Overall, I think this tent would be a good family camping tent for occasional campers in mild weather. If you are an avid camper, splurge and spend a little more for a better tent.
As with most tents, get better stakes like the MSR Groundhog stakes.
My first experience with this tent was setting it up in the backyard. It is very easy and quick to set up since the poles are already attached, but beware it is heavy! After set up, I staked it out with the provided stakes since it was just a trial and I was too lazy to dig the better stakes out of my other tent......big mistake! It got really, really windy and even with all the windows and doors open, the tent was bucking like a rodeo bronco! Within the first 60 seconds, 3 of the plastic pole elbows had snapped, the tent crumpled, the wind caught the crumpled tent like a sail causing half the stakes to be ripped out of the ground and be whipped around like metal projectiles in the wind. Not good. I got the tent down as quickly as I could but with the guy lines and stakes whipping around, it was a little like double dutch where jumping in at the wrong time resulted in a stake to the face rather than a jump rope hitting your ankle. Granted, this was freakishly strong wind for Michigan so I chalked it up to that and figured I would have to replace some parts before even really using it. Here is where things got sucky. I got on the coleman website and found the correct part.....but it was not available. I called Coleman and they assured me it would be available in 8 weeks and they would send out replacement parts. Luckily I had purchased this as a secondary tent for friends to use when they came camping with us so I didn't really need it right away, but I still thought that was crap. 8 weeks later and still no replacement parts. I called again, and this time they told me that they didn't have the parts and had no idea when they would. They did not offer to replace the tent.
Luckily Amazon kicks @$$ and let me exchange it for a new tent.
I was a little wary of this tent at that point, but took it with me camping and set it up even though I planned to sleep in my much more expensive REI Kingdom tent. I wanted to see how it would do without having to actually risk my camping trip on the idea it would hold up. And of course, this time I staked the crap out of it with more expensive stakes. I left it up for a week in sporadic light to moderate rain, little to no wind, and would occasionally go in to test it or put the windows up or down as needed. The results:
1. Without a rainfly or tarp, only one window leaked and had a puddle below it. During a dry time, I seam sealed the area and no more leaks. However, there is really no way to get in or out during rain without getting the rain from the doors on the inside of the tent. But as the guide to galaxy says, always bring a towel because it is so darn useful.
2. If the tent gets direct or even a lot of indirect sun and the windows are not fully down, this tent gets HOT. I'm guessing its the darker fabric.
3. When all the windows are down, what glorious views!! And great ventilation even when it gets hot.
4. It is easy to set up with one person, which was nice since my sister had to corral two kids 1 y/o and 2y/o while I set up the tents. So if you only have one person available to set up, then this tent is certainly much easier than others. Take down and packing into bag is a little harder than others with only one person, but it can be done if you are determined. It kind of folds up with all the broken down poles in the middle and trying to keep all those legs (broken down poles) together can be a PITA. I used a dog collar and threaded it around the poles to keep them all together and this made it easier. You'll see what I mean when you pack it away...just trust me and get a cheap dog collar to help.
5. I suppose it is worth mentioning even though most of the other reviewers did already.....this tent is really, really roomy. Tons of head room too. No real gear lofts, but you don't really need them since there is so much space.
6. The nylon that comprises the tent is noticeably thicker than most other tent walls. It can easily get caught in the zippers, but it also seemed to keep the rain out pretty well so I guess its a trade off.
7. The T-door is a wonderful thing for adults, but the little kids tend to trip over it due to the seemingly higher threshold. After a couple face plants by the little ones, we only let them go in and out through the other door and reminded them to pick up their feet.

If you want to buy this tent because you are an occasional camper, need lots of room, don't want to pay a lot, and have the space in the car for it, I would recommend
1) Calling coleman and making sure you have some spare plastic elbows and a small screw driver to replace them with before you go.
2) Bring a tarp and some rope just in case you get caught in a downpour and find out the top leaks, you can quickly set up a fly.
3) Buy better stakes
4) buy better stakes
5) buy better stakes.
I don't recommend seam sealing the whole thing before testing it because it was such a small area that needed seam sealing and its a slow process to do it right that its probably not worth the time. Just take some with you and if a leak occurs handle it then.

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Jon N

from the outside it looks like a good tent....

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2011

Verified Purchase

So a bit of background history. I perennially do at least 3-7 camping trips per year, a couple are car camping, if I can swing it at least 1 backpacking, and a few where its walk in...say a mile in. I've been doing this long enough where I know a good tent when I see one, I also know what type of beating a tent can take when camping.

Setting this tent up as everyone says is a literal breeze. First time out of the bag it took me maybe 5 minutes without even looking at the instructions. The overall design is solid when it comes to the fold out and extension of the frame. I do take issue with the diminutive nature of the buttons that are holding the poles in place and keeping them extended. WAY to shallow. I would say the buttons stick up less than 2mm. It should be at least 4 and IMHO should have something that goes through the button locking it in place so it can't be pushed in or something. Say, as an example shaking from the polls being knocked around by wind.

The sole reason I picked up this tent was for its speed of setup. I've lost count the number of times we hunkered down under a quick setup leanto tarp and waited for a break in the rain. Then rushed to assemble the tent and see if we could get it setup before a downpour occurred. In theory this thing could be ready to roll in a couple minutes. IN THEORY. I set this tent up in the back yard and then started examining it in detail. There are so many funky designs choices that Coleman went with all to achieve that 1 minute setup time. Too many.

-The biggest glaring point IMHO is the lack of a bathtub floor. This very much WAS the deal breaker for me and why the tent is on its way back to Amazon. From the pictures I've seen it looked like it had one. And I will be honest. Coleman has a known history of using bathtubs in most if not all of their current tents. So you can understand my complete and total shock at the lack of one in this tent. Obviously it was due to allowing the material to wrap up around the central hub when packed. But whatever the justification I've seen what happens when rain occurs faster then the ground can soak it up and looking at the double folded and stitched seams along the base I simply do not trust this design. Especially in the front by the screened doors on the left side. The tape was pealing about 1" off the ground and could see light from the outside where the pinholes were exposed. Again this does not happen with the washtub design. The difference is thinking it will be good to go at night and KNOWING. When I go to sleep at night with the wind blowing and the rain really coming down I want to be confident that at 4AM I'm not going to be using my shirts to mop up a leak. This tent I would NEVER be confident in this. Now if you have two people in this thing. Sure more then enough room to move around and stay away from a leak. But if you have 6 people in there???

-Item two are the screen doors with their zip up covers. Now in theory the back of the tent should be more protected, and the front is nothing more than a screen lounge area. However this is advertised as an 8 person tent. So I will assume that lets say 6 people are in this thing. You are smack up against that screen. For ventilation you usually have a screen mesh on top with a rainfly. Due to the design Coleman had to be creative with its design. So overlapping covers are the order of the day with this design. The covers that zip up on the front mesh do not zip all the way around the top. Instead there are keyhole loops that you secure the screen to. The problem is you get even a 15mph gust with rain and it is going to go right up and through that 2.5' wide flap at top. It's not that secured and if /when rain comes down that thing it will push in and allow more airflow into the tent. More than you would want if you have more than a couple people hunkered down in the back of the tent which seems more weatherproof. If you have people smacked up or near the front entrance they are going to be some seriously unhappy campers.
-There is also the fact that Coleman tried to create a flap around the base of the tent that should in theory keep water from going under the tent. IN THEORY. That is a great idea. Until you realize that it's so wide that you could easily have yourself a trough of water that on the screened side goes right up against that stitching. Now to Coleman's credit that stitching is taped and sealed from the inside. So in theory it should be fine. For year one. But I do not see this tent wearing well. Instead anyone getting this tent, build yourself a homemade foot print and tuck those wings under the tent.

-Next let's take a look at the side windows. Again in the rear of the tent everything seems solid. However when you start looking at what I call the screened porch. The windows are so dang big even a slight breeze in the back yard with this thing up with causing the windows to sway. Again you get into a 20 mph gust or dare I say 30 mph gust add some rain on top of this things get interesting. The problem is the windows are so damn big. And I believe this is the sole reason why the 2011 model is 2' shorter. I bet if we compare models the windows are smaller.
Now let's look at the rear of the tent. In the main sleeping room as I call it. The rear door and its zippers are well covered on the outside so I doubt there will be any problems there. Coleman was clever to have the zippers meet behind a covered section in a corner that should keep things dry. The windows are all zipped tight and have overhang so even the zippers are covered. Well done Coleman. Other than afore mentioned issues I have with the floor and not being a bathtub design I think the back area of the tent is a solid design. But that front area. I think that is the main reason why Coleman has a ceiling to floor divide between the porch and the sleeping area in the back. To keep the wind and any rain that may dribble in, out. Which is great if you have a couple people sleeping in the back. Anyone out front is going to be very unhappy.

-Next up is the top of the tent. Inspecting it you will find that the seams are well taped. And the seams are nice and tight. Does this negate the need for a rainfly? *shrugs* I depends on how careful you want to be. Again year one I doubt you are going to need it. But the concept of not having a rainfly is downright baffling. Its just not smart.
And finally there are the stake points around the base of the tent and tie down points. 8 points. Sounds like plenty eh? The problem is on the back of the tent its off to one side about a foot and a half away from a corner stake. I spent 10 minutes looking and looking certain that there had to be a second one there. Nope. WTF?
Then you have the tie down points. Not Nearly enough and frankly there should have been one on the front screen section where the screen doors meet. There is a flap there that you grab to unzip the screen doors. This alone should tell you how flimsy the tent is when you need a patch to hang onto to unzip the tent. Its just too damn bag without enough structure support that you would normally have with internal structure polls.

In summary. If you're sole purpose is to have a tent that goes up DANG fast, will keep you dry in mild rain showers, and has a boat load of space this is a superb tent.
However if you want a reliable tent that you know can take a beating as you go to sleep. I do not believe this instant tent is what you want. Too many compromises were made to make this thing compact and to allow it to go up instantly. My original intent was to find a tent that goes up dang fast during breaks in a storm. A friend of mine made a dang good point. Would you rather have something go up slow and maybe have to clean up the inside or goes up fast but you find yourself cleaning up a puddle at 4AM, or a collapsed pole. I'll take the former. Don't get me wrong. I have several friends who have Coleman tents. They are solid tents by and large. My current tent is a REI Taj 3. It's a nice little tent and ticked butt and took names when on the radar a storm cell dropped purple on us. It held up like a champ in 40+ MPH winds. Would this thing? I do not believe so. I seriously think compromises were made to make this a large one minute tent. Now it's very possible they resolved some of these issues in the 2011, models. But sadly I'm not going to find out. I'm going to scope out the Coleman weathermaster series next.

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August J. Specht

Coleman Instant Tents Mean Instant Outdoor Fun

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2015

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Coleman Instant Tents Mean Instant Outdoor Fun

https://youtu.be/xlFEQg90GWg

Scouting has many joys and challenges particularly camping. For new scouts and their families attempting the great outdoors for the first time is daunting and find the right outdoor gear is critical. In particular, selecting and setting up a tent is a hurdle and if the parents buy the wrong tent it compounds the difficulties to where they might leave scouting. The leaders have the same need for quality camping equipment as they face many pressing needs which include helping new families unload and setup their tents to facilitate an easier and painless transition to scouting.

Sure, I love Scouting and as a graying Boy Scout I am painfully aware that in Cub Scouts we don’t tackle Philmont or cool high adventure like white water rafting – we lack many of the sorts of exhilarating outdoor challenges my 14 year old Star Scout yearns for and experiences in Boy Scouts (Read: Envy).

However, as I am the Cubmaster managing over 60 boys plus another 30 or so siblings ranging from ages 3 to 14, all of the parents and some grandparents during a campout for roughly 36 hours presents plenty of not so cool peril. Consider my camping history that includes a cub scout finding a coral snake, another time a copperhead and then yet again a water moccasin and then the grand prize: a scout suffering a second degree burn. These constant possibilities dictate an urgent need for constant supervision which forbids wasting precious minutes setting up a tent.

Enter the Coleman Instant Tent

Whereas my first tent sans canvas as an adult was a four man dome tent that required at least thirty minutes for one adult and one squirrely Bear Cub (I don’t think I ever got the fly on correctly) - I was thrilled to discover I could set up my first Coleman 8-Person Instant Tent ALONE in under 10 minutes and my new Coleman Instant in 4 minutes!

Pipe in the words to the song: FREEDOM!

Not only can you set it up in mere minutes but then you actually enter the tent and find yourself awestruck by the seemingly palatial dimensions. My first memory of the Coleman 8-Person tent is still with me from Camp Everglades: I marveled at the size, trying to acclimate to the idea of two rooms, a 360 degree view and that stunning sensation of air moving in a tent. How can this be???

Consider the irony that for the entire history of camping people would seek to travel to scenic places to spend at least half of their time in a tent with a fly covering every possible view. The Coleman Instant Tent pioneered an overdue revolution without my having to repeat the frequent risk of the no fly which periodically found me awake in a rainstorm. It took me a while to also ascertain that I could walk around without crouching! What a wonder!

However, as we like to say in technology, the true test of quality comes on how a vendor responds to a problem. My first Coleman Instant Tent didn’t survive the harsh and constant winds we suffered on Camp Sawyer on Scout Key in the Florida Keys. Let me point out that there were easily another half dozen or so of the exact tents that had no issues and still have not to this day so my tent malfunction looks to have been an isolated experience.

One of the tents corner legs became frozen and would not retract into the assembly. A single phone call to Coleman and then a minor process with an e-mail with some photographs and I had a new one inside of a week. Talk about making raving fans out of your customers – move over Rack Space – Coleman has it going on!

Flash forward three years after buying my first Coleman Instant Tent I found myself with a Webelo Scout graduating to camping with his fellow Webelos (Coleman Dome Tents – future blog). Abandoned now for the second time I entered the lonely parental twilight existence of a camping empty nester and reluctantly accepting my fate I moved forward to downsize.

I swear I tried, I did – I still have that claustrophobic one person coffin tent I am trying to give away.

After two campouts I couldn’t do it anymore:
• I missed the splendor of the vaulted ceilings
• I missed the ability to stand up straight
• I missed being able to have a cot
• I couldn’t stand having my backpack in a foyer!
• I got tired of banging my head against the hanging light from the ceiling

The Siren call of Coleman won out and I went back to the nearest retailer excitedly running my fingers over the many Instant Tents seeing that the selection had expanded and more choices presented themselves.

A few minutes later I found myself the beaming owner of a significantly reduced, much smaller, humbler, empty nester, downgraded and Spartan Coleman Instant Dome 7.

Hold it - I know what you are thinking but seven is much smaller than eight!! Plus my wife might come and what if my son was sick or my cousin came into town or my brother or sister or…I had to buy that tent! I mean…what if???

Seriously, the Instant Tent is analogous to seat belts in cars – why on Earth didn’t we have them sooner and thank God and Coleman we finally do.

Go buy one immediately here:

Then: Dispose of your old tent through a donation to that family you don’t like or the leader you want to see less of. Ensure those ridiculous tents with the color coded poles are gotten rid of and just for fun get a sharpie and color over some of the poles to watch the hour long process take two to three times as long.

Enjoy your camping time with your kids – it is truly a blessing.

All for now - Yours in Scouting and Parenting,

Cubmaster August
tarbubbles.com

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