The Eurmax was followed closely by the Quick-Set Escape and E-Z Up Pyramid. Every stress point on the Quick-Set Escape is reinforced, and all its seams are double-stitched and taped. We feel the E-Z Up Pyramid is almost as well-made as the Eurmax; however, its frame and canopy materials are slightly thinner. Heavier cathedral-style canopy tents can often be challenging because of their weight; however, most are fairly simple to deploy. The Eurmax and E-Z Up are counted among these heavier tents, but setting them up was surprisingly straightforward.
In between trips, we turned a neighbor’s large, flat yard into an ad hoc camping-gazebo testing ground. We erected our shelters just in advance of a 24-hour rain and checked for leaking and rainy-day ambience midstorm. We also timed setup and breakdown times for each shelter, and we repeatedly zipped and unzipped doors and windows, looking for annoying snags. In early March, we took our second trip to the oceanside Sycamore Canyon Campground (PDF) near Oxnard, California.
Like regular camping tents, these camping gazebos are not intended to be left up for extended periods, as the fabrics are susceptible to UV damage. Like the REI model, the L.L.Bean tent has ample interior pockets, a lantern hook, and a roomy carrying bag, though the bag is of the typical drawstring-sack variety. The REI Co-op Screen House Shelter is an intuitively designed, easy-to-erect picnic tent that offers protection from sun, bugs, and mild rain showers. Though the boxy design is basic, in our tests we found that this camping shelter ozark trail chair offered the best combination of functionality, durability, and affordability of all the tents we tried. The first trip was an early-February expedition to Indian Cove Campground in California’s Joshua Tree National Park, where our highly exposed group campsite made daytime temperatures in the high 70s feel like the 90s. We used the shelters for sun protection, setting up camp chairs inside one and a play mat and toddler toys inside another, and placing the large Clam shelter over a picnic table piled with markers and coloring books.
This shelter employs high-grade, collapsible aluminum poles for its frame and comes complete with built-in guy lines and sandbags to help keep it sturdy. The polyester canopy effectively dampens the sun’s rays and is double-stitched and weather-taped to keep out the rain. The E-Z Up Pyramid is our favorite canopy for outdoor sports enthusiasts. From youth football and soccer fields to motocross tracks and cross-country meets, this canopy fits the bill. If you spend much time on the sidelines, we think the E-Z Up is the perfect way to catch some shade while you cheer on your athlete or team.
Typical cathedral tents offered a 10×10 floor space, whereas many more niche tents had varying sizes. Another key aspect of functionality is the extra convenience features provided by various models. For example, hanging loops, storage compartments, and built-in pockets make canopy use easier and more organized. The canopy fabric is made of a lightweight denier polyester, offering water resistant features and 50+ UPF, which we love.