Certain tent brands make easy setup a priority, and Ozark Trail is definitely one of them. Ozark Trail instant tents set up within seconds, and even the regular models won’t give you a headache. Our favorite for easy setup is the Ozark Trail 8-Person Instant Cabin Tent with LED Lighted Poles and Bluetooth Speaker. Like the 12 person tent, it also comes with a T-style door, so you can move camping gear and furniture without having to fangle it through a small, D-style door. Cabin-style straight wall tent designs provide more lateral space, sure, but a dome tent is better against the wind.
The main room has a divider down the middle, and then there’s the pop-out room on the backside. This pop-out room is great to use as a kid’s play area, a gear storage “garage,” or just an adults-only sleeping room. A center height of 78 inches makes this a great choice for taller people, as any good cabin tent should. It’s also got a center height of 7′ and has a T-style door on one side. Although they’re a little harder to use, they allow you to move bigger furniture in and out of the tent easily.
The rainfly has to be in place, so the ceiling mesh will be covered. You might get a little bit of ventilation through the gap between the ceiling mesh and the rainfly, but I think it’s pretty minimal. On top of that, there’s also no zip down the middle of the divider for easy access into either room. To get into the other room, you’d have to remove the divider and then put it back up.
There’s no dark room technology though, and it’s quite bright throughout the day. What I don’t quite like about this divider is that it’s sheer, so not completely opaque, and also, it’s not exactly full length. The Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent has just 1 door, which is a D-shaped door, and it’s located somewhere along the length of the tent. There are 2 windows along the length of the tent, and 1 window on the width of the tent. Finally, attach all the pole clips, place the rainfly over the Ozark Trail Sleeping Bags, secure it, and stake out the entire tent. Next, attach the 6 steel wall poles to the elbow connectors (the top of each pole) and to the pin at the other end (the base of each pole).
Compared to competitors like Core and Coleman, Ozark Trail’s weather protection isn’t as solid. On top of that, all of their tents are affordable, come with an electrical cord port, and set up in minutes. They might not be great for winter camping, and they’re not rated for hurricane-force rains, but they will give you a great camping experience in fairer weather. Ozark Trail Sleeping Bagss are competitive with CORE and Coleman Tents, but in our opinion ultimately fall a little short of both brands in quality and consistency.