The Coleman 15 × 13 Instant Screenhouse is essentially a larger version of the Coleman 10 × 10 Instant Screened Canopy, and it has similar shortcomings. The sloping walls make the interior space feel much smaller than the generous footprint might lead you to expect. The mesh doesn’t seem particularly durable, and given the cap-like roof, the shade provided is much more limited than with our top-pick tents. The Woodlands Screen House uses six lightweight aluminum poles, just like the Screen House Shelter.
The canopy folds down to 52.5″ in length and easily fits into the roller bag with all of the accessories. Slant leg canopy tents are cheaper than straight leg tents because they use less material. Aluminum tent legs not only have a larger leg diameter (1” for steel vs. 2” for aluminum) but the thickness (or gauge) of aluminum is twice that of steel.
Like the REI model, the L.L.Bean tent uses polyester (ripstop, in this case), which is more resistant to UV damage and absorbs less moisture than nylon by weight. The Woodlands Screen House also has the advantage of eight guylines, whereas the Screen House Shelter includes none. In addition, this model has the same bug-deterring flap of fabric along the base as the REI tent, but while the REI’s flap is about 9 inches wide, the L.L.Bean’s flap is about 10.5 inches wide. The shelter has a 10-by-10-foot footprint—the most common size for tents of this type—and a peak height of 7 feet. It will shelter a standard-size picnic table, but with little room to spare.
The L.L.Bean Woodlands Screen House has a much more consistently glowing history of online reviews than does the REI tent. While the previous version of this tent used beachy-feeling aqua and orange, the current version is a drab olive green more typical of other tents. This doesn’t affect the functionality, but the brighter colors were something we previously praised. We set up the REI Screen House Shelter and L.L.Bean’s Woodlands Screen House side by side in the Mojave Desert in 100-degree temps. Fellow campers consistently gravitated toward the REI shelter over the L.L.Bean. There’s a reason why makers of professional-grade canopies only use straight-leg frames.
The Eurmax Standard 10×10 offers 100 square feet of sun protection and a peak height of 11 feet. Very high-quality materials were used to produce this shelter, making it our hands-down choice for the best recreational canopy tent on the market. Despite its size and weight, the Eurmax is quite easy to set up and take down. One of our testers easily solo-deployed it on several occasions. Great canopy textiles, quick-release tabs, reinforced trusses, and a beefy steel frame allow the Eurmax to tower over other models we tested. It effectively blocks the sun, stands firm in the wind, and is impervious to rainwater.
It’s advertised as a 10×10 tent, but your canopy is actually 7.8’ x 7.8’, for about 61 square feet of space under the canopy. If canopy coverage is important to you, this is a very good reason to go with a straight-leg option. Additionally, the size of a straight leg canopy defines how much shade and protection you have under the canopy. Let’s say you’re shopping for a 10×10 pop up canopy, you can be confident that you have 100 square feet of protection under that canopy. It’s worth highlighting that despite the advertised dimensions of the 10×10 Ozark Trail, because this is a slant leg shelter the top only measures 8×8.
I lived in a surreal limbo, knowing that I had been capable of more and struggling to reconcile that my brain was … hurt and needed rest. I was scared that I would never be the same, that I would never have the same capacity to achieve intellectual or physical accomplishments like I had previously. The Pacific Breeze Easy Up and the Qipi Beach Cabana came in just behind the top scorers. This position is primarily due to their larger packed sizes, which makes them slightly more difficult to carry and store. The Qipi, in particular, has a much longer packed size and, at nearly 10 pounds, it’s heavier than the others mentioned above. The Easy Up may have been the lightest in our list of top scorers, but it also comes in a longer packed size, which affected its overall score.
Jason is a native of Utah and seeks time in the outdoors every week. He spends his free time playing at local lakes, dunes, and campgrounds, where he routinely uses canopies for shade. He also is no stranger ozark trail backpack to the sideline, where he enjoys sitting under a canopy to watch family members play youth sports. Jason is also an avid car camper, hiker, and backpacker and has extensive knowledge of general outdoor gear.
We eliminated canopies that were not big enough to comfortably shelter a picnic table, concluding that a table is probably the number-one spot where campers would place such a structure. We also eliminated bulky, heavy shelters that are intended to be used as semipermanent backyard fixtures. If you love camping but hate eating your morning pancakes in the rain, a canopy tent can protect you from the trifecta of bugs, sun, and sudden showers. A straight leg canopy (obviously) utilizes a straight leg profile.