We manufacture and sell professional-grade, custom structures at prices that likely aren’t in the budgets of consumers who are shopping for a 10×10 pop-up tent in the $100-$300 range. Those are recreational-grade tents that wouldn’t hold up to the type of use our customers demand. We simply want you to get the best bang for your buck, even if you are shopping for recreational-grade pop-up tents.
But the L.L.Bean tent’s peak ceiling height of 6 feet 6 inches is half a foot lower than that of the REI tent, making it feel notably darker and less spacious. It typically costs more (in fact, the price has risen substantially—more than $150—since we first tested it) and lacks the convenient strap-equipped carrying bag we like. The Ozark Trail canopy very well might be one of the best selling 10×10 tent brands of all time. The easily recognizable logo has been seen by nearly everyone at youth soccer tournaments or beach vacations in recent years. We wanted to do an in-depth review of this popular instant shelter and ultimately give our recommendation as to if this value brand tent is worth the lower price point vs. the higher quality but more expensive competition. But as you look at different slant leg tents, you’ll also notice the frames use less steel and have fewer plastic connection points.
Before staking out a tent, make sure all of its doors are zipped closed to avoid staking it too tightly and straining the zippers. Like regular camping tents, these camping gazebos are not intended to be left up for extended periods, as the fabrics are susceptible to UV damage. L.L.Bean’s Woodlands Screen House is remarkably similar to our top pick, REI’s Screen House Shelter; the two canopies have an identical footprint and pole structure.
You can get this cooler in three colors, Tan which is featured here, as well as graphite and white. The other two colors will have different rims and accents, so if you don’t love the orange you have options. We’re proud consumer advocates, scouring the internet every day for best-of-web prices on just about everything. Brad’s Deals isn’t a store – instead, we’re here to help you find the best deals online , no matter where they are.
The Ozark Trail 45 Qt Rolling Thermocooler also comes with an internal tray, which the other two do not. The Clam Quick-Set Escape weighs 34 pounds and comes in a 6-foot-long, ski-bag-shaped carry case that is too big to fit into most sedan trunks. As we pulled this monster out of its box, we were skeptical that we would erect it in anything close to the promised 45 seconds. A handful of REI customers complain that the tent is not stable in strong winds.
We erected our shelters just in advance of a 24-hour rain and checked for leaking and rainy-day ambience midstorm. We also timed setup and breakdown times for each shelter, and we repeatedly zipped and unzipped doors and windows, looking for annoying snags. A canopy tent is a purchase most regular car campers consider after stocking up on the basics. After all, you can find plenty of smaller and less-expensive items to help you fight bugs, guard against the sun, and shrug off rain. Compared with our top day-tent pick, the L.L.Bean Woodlands Screen House uses arguably superior materials; it also comes with an unsurpassed warranty. It always cost more than our top pick, but the price has gone up another $150 since we first tested it.
To that end, I thought I would put a couple of the most common rotomolded coolers up against what is arguably the most budget friendly option on the market, the Ozark Trail 45QT Rolling Thermocooler. This 4-Sided Pop-Up Gazebo from Leader Accessories drops from $169.99 to $119.99 when you enter the code BD50 at checkout. The steel-frame gazebo fits up to four people and comes with eight ground stakes, four guylines, and one carry bag. She has personally tested a dozen tents and an equal number of hair dryers. There’s a reason why makers of professional-grade canopies only use straight-leg frames. The Ozark Trail cooler is made from polyethylene, which is the most common kind of plastic in use today.
Like the REI and L.L.Bean canopy shelters, this Clam tent has a generous fabric skirt at its base that is designed to keep determined insects—and pooling rainwater—out. If we were camping somewhere infested with mosquitoes or no-see-ums and could fit the Clam in our vehicle, we’d prefer it over any of our other picks. Like the REI model, the L.L.Bean tent has ample interior pockets, a lantern hook, and a roomy carrying bag, though the bag is of the typical drawstring-sack variety. Several REI reviewers who bought both the tent and the fly for rain protection note that the fly has only two walls, leaving much of the tent exposed. The add-on fly for our runner-up pick, the L.L.Bean Woodlands Screen House, offers four-walled protection, though it’s also more than twice as expensive. In between trips, we turned a neighbor’s large, flat yard into an ad hoc camping-gazebo testing ground.
The Woodlands Screen House uses six lightweight aluminum poles, just like the Screen House Shelter. Like the REI model, the L.L.Bean tent uses polyester (ripstop, in this case), which is more resistant to UV damage and absorbs less moisture than nylon by weight. The Woodlands Screen House also has the advantage of eight guylines, whereas the Screen House Shelter includes none. In addition, this model has the same bug-deterring flap of fabric along the base as the REI tent, but while the REI’s flap is about 9 inches wide, the L.L.Bean’s flap is about 10.5 inches wide.
That is why we always recommend tents with a full truss structure as they are able to withstand rotational pressure since the cross section of the main support runs through the tent’s center as opposed to outer perimeter. Like we mentioned above, we’re here to educate you on the different styles of pop-up tents. We know everyone isn’t a good ozark trail chair fit for professional-grade TentCraft structures, and that’s OK! But if and when you’re tired of replacing cheap tents, reach out to us to learn more about what American-made quality looks and feels like. As an American manufacturer of pop-up tents, we’re committed to building structures that can survive in strong wind and inclement weather.