Camping Gear Review: Coleman Instant Screen House, Keep Away Bugs and Hide from the Sun

We also timed setup and breakdown times for each shelter, and we repeatedly zipped and unzipped doors and windows, looking for annoying snags. Since 2015, I’ve tested camping shelters and large car-camping tents on weekend trips involving more than a dozen families, and I have talked to dozens more about their tent travails. Over the years, I have evaluated gear for magazines including Wired, Popular Science, and National Geographic Adventure, where I was a senior editor.

The ABCCANOPY waterproof canopy is a great option whether you’re partying in the sun or rain. The canopy tent offers 10’ x 10’ of shade allowing you to cover several camping chairs and it only takes two people to set it up, allowing you to choose from one of three height options. Included is also a roller bag, sand bags, stakes, and ropes to keep it secure. The ABCCANOPY Pop up Canopy Tent packs down to 66” x 9” x 9” and is easy to transport to wherever you’re camping. Perfect for warm weather camping, the REI Co-op Screen House Shelter protects you from bugs and the sun while providing 360° views and ventilation. The 10’ x 10’ shelter doesn’t have a floor, so it can act as a lounge area, or you can place it over a picnic table.

Not long after the wind started, I looked up from my book to see that the right side front pole had buckled and turned inward, causing that corner of the tent to cave in. I’ll just toss on the rainfly and stabilize the tent with the attached cords and some additional stakes. I personally found the directions confusing, so it probably took closer to double the advertised time to set the whole thing up. Fortunately, the color-coded poles made figuring things out on my own a little easier. Heather and I thought we’d solved two problems at once during a recent visit to our local Costco.

I think my takeaway is that this is a sturdy, easy, and convenient shelter. Even if you never set it up, it’s nice to have this option in your car in case the park you are visiting is particularly buggy or in case of rain. Depending on your camping style, here are some other features you might want to consider. While some tents don’t include additional features, you may be able to purchase them separately.

The sloping walls make the interior space feel much smaller than the generous footprint might lead you to expect. The mesh doesn’t seem particularly durable, and given the cap-like roof, the shade provided is much more limited than with our top-pick tents. It’s constructed with heavy-duty 210-denier poly oxford walls and the heftiest bug-blocking no-see-um mesh we’ve encountered in any tent. The thicker, darker netting also makes the whole structure shadier, even without the optional side panels. 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.

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You may terminate your membership at any time by contacting Customer Service. If you do so, no portion of your membership fee will be refunded except as expressly provided in these Beta Test Program Terms. Ace Rewards Instant Savings amount is available to Ace Rewards members who are logged into acehardware.com (and have previously linked coleman canopy their Ace Rewards account). Where applicable by law, tax is charged on the sale price before application of Instant Savings. You have stakes and guylines included and this structure can easily withstand a lot of winds in spite of its boxy shape and its incredible height. So this is a nice item to have for picnics, BBQ, or for a campout.