Dark Room™ Skydome™ 6-Person Camping Tent

I have a Coleman Skydome 6 with Darkroom and it has been pretty good for the price. The skydome has mesh across basically the entire ten body while the sundome has fabric across most of the body with mesh at the top. The skydome also has a larger rain fly and seems to hold up well to rain. I have also heard good things about the Northface tents. There stormbreak 2 is supposed to have stronger poles than the typical fiberglass. Check out campingguidence on youtube to see reviews of several smaller tents.

I have a coleman 6 person dark room tent and my buddy liked it so much he bought an 8 person version of the same tent. There is enough room to stand up and it worked well for me, my wife, and dog. We use a double high queen size air mattress in the tent. However if you are camping 60+ nights a year I would not expect a coleman tent to hold up for very long. We only camp a few times a year and the stake out points for the rain fly have started to tear. I have heard very good things about the REI tents like the wonderland and the Base Camp. I have also heard good things about the North Face Wawona tents. There is a woman on youtube that goes by the handel Camping Guidance who has done detailed reviews on quite a few different tents. I would take a look at some of her videos to see if there is anything that looks like it would fit your use case well.

So generally you should take however many people a tent claims to sleep and cut it in half. I camp using a 6 person tent for myself and my dog. Sometimes my wife joins us. Additionally I really appreciate a tent I can actually stand up in. Makes life much better in my opinion. It allows you to easily change cloths without being on the ground. It also allows us to have a double high queen air mattress to sleep on without having to worry about hitting the sides/ top of the tent when we sit up. This also means we aren't down low to the ground so getting into and out of bed is much easier. My buddie went camping with us in a two person tent and didn't make it through the night before he moved into a friend's camper. After that he came back with a 8 person tent for himself. You don't need to spend a huge amount of money, but I would suggest you spend enough so that you are not miserable. If you don't I suspect that you will not continue camping in the long run. I really like the coleman Skydome tents. I have the 6 person version that I use for summer/ spring/ fall camping. Mine was about $200 and I have used it for several years. The version I picked up also has dark room technology which is basically a specific type of tent fabric that helps to block light. It allows me to sleep in a bit later on days when the sun is up early. I would encourage you to watch some tent reviews on youtube and think about what would work well for your plans and fit into your price point. Also REI generally has some pretty good sales that come up around the start and end of the camping season. I would keep an eye out and see if you could pick up something 15%-20% off.

Coleman 6 man Darkroom Skydome I have it, it’s a great tent.

Well, it’s probably not a “tent house” but a 6 or 8 man Coleman darkroom Skydome is a good tent, easy to set up, and durable and waterproof through storms. The Boy Scouts often use Coleman Sundomes because they are so durable.

The Coleman Darkroom Skydome is a great festival tent, and cheap, and waterproof even with the shorter fly unless you get a defective one. I use an 8 man as my festival tent and everything stays dry even though I don’t guy out (so no one trips)

It’s decent, but you might consider the blackout version. Even without the “full fly” it’s still waterproof and the blackout feature helps me get more sleep

Go with a darkroom Coleman Sundome or Skydome

Coleman Sundome and Skydome are cheap, easy to set up, and sufficient for all of my car camping needs

I would go with Coleman over CORE. The Sundome and Skydome are both pretty easy set up. I’d recommend a darkroom tent also.

Yes, a Coleman darkroom Sundome or Skydome will be very reliable

So does the Skydome. Go for a blackout version Just make sure nothing is touching the walls in the rain

The Coleman Sundome and Skydome are very easy to set up. I like the blackout variations. I can set up the 8 man Skydome in about 15 minutes by myself, but a 4 or 6 man would be even easier. They are very waterproof and there is a reason that they are very commonly used for scouting. If you buy from Amazon, check for a cheaper “used” version - it won’t be

I’ve had the six person variant for at least five years and it’s great for casual use car camping. I think I paid $120 for the year’s previous model.

I bought a Coleman 6p fast frame dark tent, it's a great tent easy to set up but I kinda regret getting the dark tent. It's darker in the tent than my bedroom at home so I don't wake up at all in it. I believe the dark tents are also heavier than an equivalent sized normal tent. I like the sun walking me up early when I'm camping. Plenty of room for me and my wife and my 2 toddlers. I am interested in the air tents too, that might be my next upgrade.

The material does feel a lot thicker which I guess would also help with durability as well as the waterproofness and light blocking.

Skip the Skydome honestly. It's decent for the price but the fiberglass poles and lightweight fabric don't handle wind or rain well, and with a 6 and 3 year old you're gonna want something that feels solid when you're wrestling gear in and out. The Wawona's a solid pick but the weight is brutal for what you're getting. At that price point the Big Agnes Wyoming has better materials and the extra headroom actually matters when you're chasing kids around getting them dressed. FWIW I have the Nemo Riff and it's been tank, but for family car camping something with a proper vestibule for muddy boots and gear makes a huge difference.