The main thing to know going into an Ozark Trail purchase is that you need to do your due diligence not to overstress the materials because a heavy hand can absolutely damage them. Take time to inspect your tent when you first get it (damages from shipping are common), and don’t ever “force” anything when setting up or tearing down your shelter. As stated above, durability and materials are the main pain point of Ozark Trail tents.
In the morning we woke up to a STILL warm tent (grill still running of course) and 20 inches of snow on the ground and about 10 inches still on the tent. Tapped tent walls and snow slid right off the dome. That day it all melted and tent stayed dry inside while the fabric dried very quickly. Wind was now blowing at a constant 30mph and snow driving HARD. Lit the propane grill inside the tent and soon the tent was warm enough to take off our jackets.
The shock corded poles are fiberglass and never failed. I initially bought the Ozark Trail Family Dome tent because of its price and I had had some success and enjoyment with the Ozark Trail brand in the past. This is one of your cheapest dollars-per-square-foot options out there. Later had poles break in another section after water got down inside a pole joint and froze breaking it. I then purchased several of the coghlan’s tent pole repair kits and made myself a new set of poles. These poles are MUCH more durable, have been through similar abuse and have not broke.
Again, Ozark Trail tents are mainly fair weather camping tents (so you won’t be hiking into the backcountry with them) which means weight and packed size aren’t a big priority. The Ozark Trail 9 Person Cabin shares the same shortcomings as the other discount cabins found in the Ozark Trail lineup, most notably being its weather protection and ozark trail screen house durability. We also don’t recommend this tent for high winds because although all the poles are steel, Ozark Trail uses a thin-walled alloy that can bend under stress and plastic hubs that we wouldn’t trust in serious storms. As far as fairweather shelters go, however, this one may be the best value in terms of livability for your money.
Simple instructions and the easy-up designs of Ozark Trail’s latest sun shelter models make it a cinch to set up in about 30 seconds. The shelter is convenient whether you’re stopping for lunch along a sunny trail or spending all day at the beach. The Ozark Tail sun shade comes with side curtains to cover the mesh on the side. I did not have these mounted in the photos posted with this article. The side curtains would function nicely for a windy beach setting. The product also comes with a tarp that can be put along the ground.
I do like the tent, lots of space, easy to put up, but a couple of things I didn’t like, the front door zippers always get stuck on the little rain flap that covers the zipper. I sprayed the tent with camp dry because I knew it was going to rain the next day. Some rain did get in near the bottom of rear window. I had a Coleman tent in the past and payed twice the money and this tent is just as good as that one. I would love to have a tent with sturdy metal poles, but nobody seems to make a reasonably priced tent with sturdy poles any more. I don’t like D-shaped zippers because they don’t seem to last long term.
Made of a durable polyester construction, this canopy tent provides 100 square feet of cooling shade anywhere and the easy push-button system offers safe setup and takedown. It features built-in vents on the top for added ventilation and offers you 50+ UV protection from the hot sun all day long. All you need to do to put together this Ozark Trail 10-foot by 10-foot Canopy is extend the one-piece steel frame, attach the canopy top, and adjust the telescoping 3-position legs to the desired height.
Oddly enough, Ozark Trail’s most basic, base bones shelter takes the title of most durable. We chose the Ozark Trail Clip & Camp because unlike larger cabins with plastic hubs and countless poles, this traditional two-pole dome has the fewest number of parts that can potentially fail. When you’re looking at what you want in a tent, consider how many people are going to be using it.