Fall scenery is nearing its peak across the U.S., and one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the season’s kaleidoscopic views is to camp right under the arboreal canopy. But, before you can wake up to the variegated foliage on a crisp autumn morning, you need to make sure that your camping gear is up to par. The fulcrum points of the frame have soft mesh covers to help you avoid finger pinches, but we did notice the mesh gets pinched in the joints quite a bit and it might not hold up over time. With 56 square feet, the inside is big enough for a queen air mattress or two twins. Headroom is limited to 4’ 11’’, but this is a fairly small, cheap tent that’s expected. Taking it down wasn’t really the issue here but dealing with the bulky mess was a pain in the butt.
Inside, there’s enough room to stretch out on a queen-sized airbed. Coleman Instant Up Tents can be set up in under three minutes and provide a large living space. Comfortable and practical, Instant Up Tents are great for touring, a weekend away camping or an even longer stay.
One room, on the left side of the tent, will have 3 windows and the hinged D-door, while the other room will have 2 windows and the other door. We’ve envied our friends Kim and Kent’s instant setup tent the last couple of times we’ve camped with them. While instant setup feels like cheating, Heather and I have lost so much time to unfolding, threading and securing poles in fading light that we thought it was time we pampered ourselves. Admittedly we were skeptical when we read the claim on the storage bag, Instant setup in 60 seconds or less. When you put the words Instant Tent in your title, you’re setting a high bar for yourself.
As for sleeping arrangements, we comfortably had two adults and a fair bit of equipment with us. I personally think the best way to lie, particularly if there were 3 people, would be with the door to the side. I believe this tent would still be comfortable with 3 people, but would leave less room for gear.
As long as the weather cooperates, you won’t have a problem, but if the forecast calls for much rain, you’ll want to look elsewhere for either a tent or a drier place to go camping. If you’re already reaching for your credit card, just itching to get your hands on the Instant Tent 6, you might want to skip this section. The biggest issue we coleman instant tent had with this tent is its severely inadequate rain fly. It really only covers the top of the tent, venturing meagerly down the sides, and leaving most of the walls vulnerable to the elements. For retail purchases returned without a receipt, the refund will be issued as a store merchandise
credit at the lowest price within the last 90 days.
There’s no included footprint with this tent, and we’d recommend purchasing either a 9’x9’ or 10’x10’ footprint, which unfortunately is not offered by Coleman. You can also save quite a bit of money by opting for a tarp instead. These will run you anywhere from $10-20, depending upon your desired level of quality. However, the Instant Tent also has a handful of drawbacks that make it less than universally appealing.
The tent is freestanding, so any additional pegging can be accomplished at your leisure (unless wind is a factor). You’ll also want to set aside some extra time to strap on the secondary rainfly should you opt to purchase this along with the tent, but we’ll talk more about that later on. It’s also worth noting that this tent can easily be set up by only one person, something that cannot be said for several of the two-person tents in our review. Our main issue with the integrated rainfly is that we lose all ventilation (and views of the outside) when there’s risk of rain, but there is a slight solution to this. For an additional $28, Coleman offers a secondary rainfly accessory made of Polyguard 2X that straps to the top and allows you to have open vents without getting your stuff soaked.
The Coleman Instant Up Tent material is pulled tight around the corner points at the top and our tent is showing wear and tear. Our tent already has two small holes just big enough for a small bug to get in. However, we have used it at eight different campgrounds and two campgrounds had high winds. So, I’m sure that was a contributing factor to the wear and tear. Unfortunately, the package that the tent comes in (134cm L x 24cm W x 24cm H) was too long to fit the width of our Mitsubishi ASX’s boot. But it did fit in long-ways if we folded down one of the back seats.
According to the brand, you can set up the “instant tent” in a single minute, and reviewers say that Coleman makes good on that promise. If you are someone who enjoys camping and do it often then you are probably familiar with the Coleman name. The company makes outdoor equipment from tents and sleeping bags to stoves/barbecues and 100’s of other items.