Jason is a native of Utah and seeks time in the outdoors every week. He spends time playing at local lakes, dunes, and campgrounds, where he routinely uses canopies for shade. He also is no stranger to the sideline, where he enjoys sitting under a canopy to watch family members play youth sports. Jason is also an avid car camper, hiker, and backpacker and has extensive knowledge of general outdoor gear.
It sits lower than cathedral-style canopies, which more effectively blocks the sun’s rays as their angles change during the day. Additionally, its weather-taped coleman canopy seams and waterproof canopy create an excellent barrier against rain. As for the Caravan V-Series, we feel it provides excellent coverage from the sun.
Very high-quality materials were used to produce this shelter, making it our hands-down choice for the best recreational canopy tent on the market. Despite its size and weight, the Eurmax is quite easy to set up and take down. In fact, one of our testers easily solo-deployed it on several occasions.
It springs into place with just the pull of a single chord, similar to opening an umbrella but in reverse. This makes it simple for one person to produce an instant sunshade in seconds. Simply fill the four attached anchor bags with sand or smooth rocks, stretch the canopy into an X-shape, and prop it coleman lantern up with the provided tent poles. We found this setup process easy because it didn’t require a lot of moving parts or analytical thinking. Our second grading metric involves how fast and easy it is to set up and take down each shelter, but it also considers how simple and intuitive both processes are.
The Pacific Breeze Easy Up is a beach tent with a half-dome design and enough space to shade one or two adults. Its one-pull setup requires more muscle than we anticipated, but overall it is hassle-free and takes only seconds to erect. At 5.4 pounds, it’s the lightest canopy in our lineup, making it very portable.