The Mineral King 3’s fly attaches intuitively with plastic buckles and has well-placed guy tabs. You can secure the fly to the poles with Velcro ties underneath the fly, so that the extra lines anchored the whole tent, not just the thin protective fabric, but we only needed to do so in very windy conditions. When the fly is fully deployed, the tent has two vestibules, which provide additional gear storage and also help ventilate the tent in inclement weather. And in a stroke of design brilliance, a small loop sewn into the top of the fly makes it possible to roll up one half of the fly, exposing the full mesh canopy while still providing shade and privacy. The Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 Tent is the best car-camping tent choice for couples. It has everything you need for three-season camping, with the bonus of being light enough to double as an occasional backpacking tent.
We have never been able to sleep in it and makes a poor storage room. I am 67 yrs old and have used Ozark Trail tents for years, but this covered screen dome turned out NOT TO BE A TENT. I would not even think of unloading it on my worst enemy. I have tried to use it at our local beach and when ever the wind gets to 7-10 mph off we go chasing the tarp and that leaves the screen dome uncovered and in blew the sand. Once we tried it at the lake wind came up, off comes the tarp that with a light rain everything got wet.
Mine is red and black and the rainfly covers everything except for a tiny place to get in. I had bought this tent thinking it was going to be dry, man was I wrong. I will never buy an Ozark Trail tent in my life and I will tell everyone I know that if they buy one what to expect. And that is you will never be dry in one because they suck bad. Only complaint was the zipper hangs on the front door flap, destroyed flap and zipper. They claim they are weather tested, but I feel they don’t include rain or wind as elements of the weather.
A classic polyester dome tent, the Mineral King 3 uses two high-quality pre-bent aluminum poles, which maximize head and shoulder space, making this tent feel less cramped than other dome tents we tested. Two large doors provide easy entry and exit, and a vestibule—that’s camping speak for “mudroom”—outside each door adds significant sheltered storage. The Mineral King 3 has a full rain fly, which you can roll up halfway or completely remove for epic stargazing.
I have found that the seams of the tent do drip a little when it rains (after all machines put tiny holes in things when they are sewn together) it is nothing that cannot be fixed with a little time and patience. I bought a $3 bottle of seam sealer followed the directions and have not had a single issue with water since. We must have had some wind but not tornado force/ hurricane ozark trail chair force winds. I just wish who I need to contact to get a new tent shell and two end poles that are made of sturdy material would contact me and make good of it. I called North Pole (the makers of Ozark Trail tents) not to get much help! Rather than continuing to wait for the company to come up with a soulution and stop questioning me on proper use or abusive weather conditions!
It uses a 1200mm waterproof coating on 68 denier fabric, which didn’t seem to bead as well as higher-rated fabrics, such as those on the The North Face Wawona 6 or the REI Co-op Base Camp 6 (each of those have 1500mm coatings). If you don’t have time to let the fly dry before you pack the Wireless in its duffle, we recommend laying it out when you get home so it doesn’t mildew in storage. The Wireless 6 goes up easily, using the same kind of intuitive pole and clip method as our couples’ pick. The fly is equally simple to attach and orient with color-coded clips. A single person can pitch the tent in 10 to 15 minutes. This type of pole tends to be less flexible and bulkier than pricier aluminum, and it can be a pain to handle.
There are also two poles that arch over each doorway and down the sides of the tent to add extra shape and support; these attach to the tent body with clips. The rain fly has an additional tent pole, too, to support the vestibule. Overall, these poles—all of them aluminum—contribute to a particularly sturdy structure, with or without ozark trail wagon the rain fly. During our testing, our Base Camp shrugged off both a rainstorm and a desert windstorm as if they were nothing. Despite losing some headroom in comparison with the Kelty Wireless 6 and The North Face Wawona 6, both of which measure six-foot-four in height, the Base Camp 6 offers a substantial six-foot-two.
Everyone who tested this tent loved it, and it’s not hard to understand why. With plenty of interior space, near-vertical walls, and a gigantic vestibule that could accommodate a golf cart, the Wawona feels more like a tiny home than a tent. The separate fly, which covers the upper half of the tent, uses a third, shorter “brow” pole to form protective peaks over the door ozark trail wagon and the back window. In our tests, an experienced camper took only about six minutes on the first try to set up the tent body alone and stake it out. Getting the fly placed and staked properly took about five more minutes. Though the Wireless’s fly kept water out of the tent’s interior, it took longer to fully dry once the rain stopped than some others we tested.
It uses high-quality materials such as aluminum poles, breathable mesh, and water-resistant polyester fabric, and it comes with a full fly and a footprint. The Tungsten 4’s larger size accounts for the higher price tag (about $40 more), but campers who would like that extra room may find the expense worthwhile. Like our couples’ tent pick, the Wireless 6 is a dome-shaped tent with a tried and true two-pole design. It has an interior footprint of 87 square feet, which sleeps four adults on single pads, or two adults and two or three children, and can accommodate a crib. It has two large doors, and a peak height of 6-foot-3. That wasn’t the tallest we encountered—the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 6 and the Alps Mountaineering Camp Creek 6 each topped out at 7 feet—but it’s enough space for most adults to maneuver standing up.