First, the zippers used on both the door and back vent feel especially cheap, often snagging while in use. Second, we’re not a fan of fiberglass tent poles—we find aluminum to be sturdier and less prone to splintering. Having said that, most casual campers who take decent care of their gear should see many summers of camping with the Sundome. We tested the six-person version of the Coleman Sundome, which offers a healthy 10 feet x 10 feet of floor area. To gauge livability, we brought along two adults, a portable crib, and a dog, and found that the Sundome 6 provided more than enough room for summertime adventures.
The Sundome’s quick pitch time, compact pack size and light weight make this a great tent for weekend breaks and touring camping. The Coleman Sundome 4 is a quick and easy to pitch 4 person dome tent – get this tent pitched and ready to camp in 5 minutes. I did seal the seems when I bought it, a practice I do with all my tents. So, in the couple of rain storms I’ve experienced I haven’t any bad leaks. I did have a bit of mist blow in through the ends, since the rain fly doesn’t actually come too far down the tent.
When compared to other low-budget models, the Coleman Sundome does an impressive job of keeping the tent free from condensation. However heavy rain in bad weather might cause the tent to leak. The bathtub floor that comes with welded corners and inverted should keep small rain showers out of the tent. Although there might not be much extra space for fitting bigger families in, for a couple and one child this tent would be a great starter tent. Unless you are planning to use the tent just for sleeping (and keep your gear stored somewhere else) it’s going to be too small for a family of four.
It does provide a little support but not nearly enough, especially with the small 8.5mm poles. It should have 4 structural guy out loops about half way up the rainfly, 1 loop on each pole. Of course if I were to replace the fiberglass poles with aluminum poles this would strengthen the structure considerably. Reading back through this review, I seem to view the tent in a negative light. It will be great for light to medium duty use, but is not a heavy duty camper. Sure, maybe four really good friends or close family members will fit in the tent, if they are below average size.
The Coleman sundome can be set up by one camper – even one without any experience. As always though – we recommend you practice setting the tent up at home before you head out on your trip. It helps you feel more confident in your ability and will speed things up considerably.
This tent is also better suited to backpacking than the Sundome. There are plenty of other options to consider if the Coleman sundome doesn’t feel like the right tent for you. The E-port makes it easy to bring your electronics with you by allowing space for an extension cord to enter the tent. But most users who had used one found that fitting anyone else in the tent – even without an air mattress of their own – was very tight. You can also improve the durability of your tent floor by laying a tarp or a tent footprint before pitching to offer added protection. Some users also found issues with the protective polyethylene (PE) flooring being damaged within a few uses.
Once you’ve put together the main tent, adding the rainfly is a fairly simple process. This is a decent 3-season tent, it’s not great, but it’s not bad either. It’s easy to set up and pack up, and coleman instant tent has a few nice features as well. The fiberglass poles’ sleek design means they are less likely to catch on the sleeve during setup and breakdown, which makes this a frustration-free setup.
There are quality tents that are better able to stand up to stormy weather with sturdy poles and strong guy-line systems, but as a budget-friendly tent we were happy with the performance. Whilst the tent does come with two storage pockets (which is an improvement on the smaller models), there is still no vestibule with the Sundome. Festivals aren’t the safest campgrounds for your tent, so a low-cost, reliable model might be a good investment. It’s also very easy to set up which is a plus for festivals as well. The products are low-cost but like the coleman ice chest that doesn’t mean they are low-quality. Weighing in at 16 pounds 10 ounces, the Sundome 6 is easy to haul from the car to the campsite and store when not in use.
For us, the combination of increased weather protection and nicer materials make the more expensive Meramac 6 well worth considering. Having tested a number of six-person tents of late, we’re happy to report that the Coleman Sundome 6 was among the easiest to set up and take down. The two simple and identical poles were quick and painless to put together, and the lack of color coding between them and the tent body minimized any type of confusion or missteps along the way. Further aiding to the straightforward set up was the relatively small rainfly, which was easy to toss over the tent. Even assembling the Sundome 6 solo was a smooth process, which took less than 10 minutes from start to finish at a leisurely pace.
You shouldn’t expect this tent to last forever – after all, it’s a low-cost option. But there are some nifty extra features to help extend the life of this high-value tent. However, the Sundome doesn’t come with Coleman’s Dark Room Technology like some other Coleman tents which would make this dome-shaped tent even better in the summer.