I have the Coleman 6-person Fast Pitch Dome that I love for summer/fall camping. I can put it up by myself in 6-8 minutes and it has worked well for me even on some cold and rainy evenings. Makes solo car camping quick and easy but still big enough for friends to join.
Dude. Get a Coleman pop-up 6 person. Or look into it at least. The ease of set up+tear down alone is worth it. I took my 4p camping every single weekend in 2018,19 & 20 and she still had much life in er! It's more of a dome style so it feels a lot more open I thought. It'll run only $130-50 so we'll under budget that can go into your purchase of the heaviest of duty tarp(brown as I found) to keep the floor lasting longer instead of buying a footprint for dumb money.
I'll add, something that I did was bring my Lenovo Tablet to set up the projector it has inside of the tent. You can even buy a small screen for it but I never did and I had many a movie nights back then. The days...
While I don't have the full answer for you, buy a larger tent than you think you'll need. I'm one person comfortable in a 6-person EZ Coleman snap-up tent, I don't want anything smaller even if I'm hiking in. And kids grow fast. So while you might think a 4 person tent is fine, it is not - treat yo self.
I can't speak to durability, but my Coleman EZ has lived a long life through a lot. But tent sizes seem to be incredibly deceiving.
There's two of us and a 6-person tent is tight. I may be a snob?, but if the tent fits in roughly the same-sized bag, go for a larger tent.
I'll let others give alternatives, but my main advice is: Always get bigger than advertised. Do not get a 4-person tent. Get a big one. Or two tents?
I'm one person and happy with my six-person EZ Coleman (seriously).
You predicted it, but here I am to say a 6 person Coleman dome. If you don't want the dog sleeping _on_ you the answer is cots and not mats unfortunately.
If you are car camping then honestly Coleman is my favorite. Tarpaulin bottom, sturdy, long lasting, and inexpensive. The downside is they are heavy, which doesn't matter when car or canoe camping.
The instant cabin tents go up very easily as one person. But if you are in a really windy area then a dome would be better.
coleman 6 person dome tent. 6' in the center. 4 poles. easy peazy
https://preview.redd.it/cgsa2szz287g1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=942dd35996873b523a36c83c56faccb2eeb3d258
Stick with a traditional tent. If just starting out and you're not sure how much you want to invest, I'd recommend going with Coleman. They make a good, budget friendly family tent that's great for car camping. My larger tents are Coleman and I have two of their 6-person dome tents.
The next step up, I'd look at REI branded tents. They make great gear that's reasonably priced. I'm a big fan of their half-dome and have two of them that I got for a great price during a sale.
Now that I'm heavily invested in camping, my goto company for quality gear is Nemo Equipment. I have three of their tents and some of their chairs. I've had two warranty claims and they handled both of them exceptionally. They really stand behind their lifetime warranty, so it's made me a loyal customer.
Top Camping Tents on Reddit
1
The North Face
Wawona 6
86% positive of 132 users
Spacious vestibule, strong in storms, but rainfly tricky solo.
GimmeAllTheNaps
