Coleman Tenaya 8-Person Cabin Tent Is a Camper Favorite

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This is not all, there is yet another great detail here and this is its hinged door shown below. So if you are not familiar with this design, there are poles that run around the door’s perimeter and this is a rigid structure similar to the door at home. There are also Velcro tabs that keep it closed so you do not have to wrestle with the zipper all the time. This is added to drain the rainwater and this is of importance for the tent without the porch. The picture below shows how deep the screen room is under the porch, and it is fully protected from the rain.

Which eliminates wrestling your tent to get it back into its case. Ideally, you will want to use this tent with a maximum of 2 people (4 can get a bit cramped), as you need to take into account having some extra room to move around freely. Well with a thorough look over and test, we don’t think so, but for sure one of the more favorable features on any product is a modest price tag. The mesh is also pretty good quality, and keeps out larger bugs like mosquitoes, but not no-see-ums. When zipping the door up from the inside, push the door out at the same time. And when zipping the door up from the outside, lift the rain cover thing when zipping.

For hot day ventilation, I would say that Coleman and CORE tents are on par with each other. These tub floors extend up the sides of the tent, so if your tent is sitting in a few inches of water, the tub floor will help to minimize leaking into the tent. My Coleman tents have at least a few inches of tub flooring, my WeatherMaster with about 7 and a half inches, and my 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent with 4 inches. Also, I found that the corners of the floorings, which are stated to be “welded”, are also not taped, and both tents also started leaking here. Basically, I think that Coleman and CORE tents have the same amount of waterproofing.

Once that is done, you just prop it up, and secure the corners and guy lines using the supplied set of stakes. The only big difference I found is that Coleman tents tend to be made in China, while both my CORE tents were made in Bangladesh. My Coleman Tent zippers were exactly the same, non-branded, not too snaggy, though this rain cover thing/zipper cuff will sometimes snag the zipper. Another reason why I love the Coleman 10-Person Instant Tent is because it has this amazing hinged door. In contrast, the lowest height in the tent, which is always at the corners, is about 65 inches.

The Coleman Family Cabin Tent is a spacious tent that is ideal for family trips into the great outdoors. This tent has two separate rooms, each of which can hold a queen-sized airbed along with camping gear. Adults as tall as 6-foot-3 can move about this tent standing upright. With a 44-square-foot vestibule, and 86 square feet of interior living space, the tent has plenty of room to house beds, cribs, gear, pets, and camping furniture. Zippered doors can enclose the vestibule fully, so it serves as a separate room for the tent, or you can leave one or both open, so the vestibule can act like a porch or mudroom.

coleman cabin tent

The door only opens halfway, a disappointing feature found in other Coleman tents. Throughout all our testing, we wanted to know how it felt to be inside the tents for long periods of time. If we had to spend a day in the tent during a storm, would it be comfortable? After first removing the models that failed the structural tests, we slept, watched the stars, and ate our meals in all of the tents, as well as planned hikes from them.

This is actually slightly taller than my height (I’m 5’3″/160cm tall), so I could stand up everywhere inside the Core Tent. The other extreme is my 10-Person Instant Tent, which has no windows that can be opened, and no vents at all. Not all the seams come taped for both brands, which is a pity, because the most vulnerable seam at the bottom of the tent is usually only just inverted, and not seam taped, which is why there’s leaking. Ventilation and ease of setup were two key things we tested for. The Core Instant Tent comes in sizes all the way from 4-person to 12-person. Families of all sizes are using it to comfortably camp — even with their little ones in tow.

The Base Camp also offers more privacy compared with our other picks—with or without the rain fly. If head space is a priority, REI’s Kingdom tent line is an option worth considering for family camping trips. The 6-person tent has a peak height reaching 75 inches, providing enough room for most people to comfortably stand in, while its 83-square-foot floor area can fit an air mattress and luggage. It also includes a zippered divider in the center to create two separate rooms for privacy, and has two doors for easy access through the front and the back of the tent. In addition to the 6-person Kingdom tent, REI offers a 4-person option and an 8-person option, which is recommended for larger families.

If the tent you buy doesn’t come with a footprint (two of our recommended tents, the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 and the Marmot Tungsten 4, do), we recommend purchasing a companion footprint, if one is available. A footprint doesn’t take up much space, is relatively inexpensive, and is much easier to repair or replace than a tent bottom if it tears. This lightweight option by Marmot is a 2-person backpacking tent, complete with an interior mesh wall for a bug-free and well-ventilated enclosure. It comes with a durable polyester rainfly, which is an outermost layer of fabric that protects the tent from rain and condensation, and includes vents for a breathable living space.