Coleman - Sundome 2

Look into how small a 1p tent is. Nothing wrong with getting a Coleman Sundome 2p to start, sturdy bottom and no need for a footprint. If you want to spend from the beginning the Marmot Limelight series is reliable and the 2p has a fun bumpout for gear inside instead of under the rain fly.

Any big 3 items from Facebook marketplace. I bought two huge synthetic Teton 0°F bags cheap from this guy that my partner and I will only use for car camping, because they're so heavy and big. I also honestly don't think they actually keep me warm because I don't know how old they are lol. I also bought a nearly new 2-person Coleman Sundome for like $20 from this guy that used it once, but now it's the "extra" tent if anyone joins us.

Clearly I didn't at the time lol. The most research I did was understanding temperature ratings, and I was convinced by the two bags zipping together. I had a glorified idea of camping back then, and got too influenced by how social media romanticized it (I was watching the wrong folks back then). So I just bought this whatever was cheap immediately. Can I still use the Coleman tent when I car camp? Yes, and I probably will if I expect it to rain hard because my lighter tent's fly is made of silnylon and sags in condensation. Now I'm getting into backpacking, and I can't carry a 6.5 lb Coleman tent with me and I can't depend on the 0°F bag because I was cold in it on a 27°F night.

Honestly for the durability and price I love my old Coleman sundomes, I have a 2 man and a 4 and they haven’t let me down in over a decade of use.

It really depends, but I love Coleman myself. I have a sundome 2 person tent that my wife and I use. Here's more info if you're interested. https://kalodynestudios.com/blog-coleman-sundome-tent-love-for-the-outdoors-review/ All my best.

You won’t get “totally wet” The fly does a great job of sloughed the main water onto the sides, and the rest of the fabric is waterproof anyways. Seams have held for me in downpours, and the bottom is tarp so you won’t get wet through it. Just make sure like always that you don’t have sleeping bags touching the inside walls and you’ll stay dry!

I'm sorry that you were let down! I have had great luck with Colemans. High end companies need full flys because they have more mesh to be lighter, and they are able to withstand harsher conditions longer. No, I wouldn't take this tent backpacking for weeks on end. But it does the job on overnights.

I haven't ran into this problem with the 2-person model.

A few of our scouts use Coleman tents; one has a two-person, and one has a 4-person. They lack a vestibule for storing gear to keep it out of the rain, but they are quick to set up and they aren't horrible quality. Our scouts have been using theirs for a couple years now. You probably already know, but a 2-person tent will only sleep two tiny people, and 4-person MIGHT fit three.

For a kid I'd get a Coleman 2-person.

My parents got me a two-person Coleman tent when I was 10 and I used it for 18 years until I outgrew it, still have it in the garage!

I've had a coleman sundome for a few years now and it's been a great tent for me. I have had it in some pretty heavy rain and it's always been dry inside. However, the last year or so I have been tieing a large tarp over my tent area to help a bit with some of the condensation / water that tracks through. It's a very small tent and I always end up touching *a* side and that causes water to come through. With a tarp over top it does a better job of keeping dry.

Sundome is much lower quality than the other options. If you're looking at Coleman, step up to at least the Skydome. Funny enough I was going to recommend the Basecamp. Ventilation isn't great with the fly on but that's very common with cheap tents. I like wooded campsites anyway where you can angle the mesh portions of the tent into the trees and keep the non-mesh facing the walkway for privacy. Kelty kinda owns the cheap-but-mostly-quality space. The Discovery Trail 3P is very meshy which helps with ventilation but still a lack of fly vents. If you can stretch the budget or find a good sale, the Kelty Rumpus 4 is a killer deal. Lots of ventilation, vented fly, and a great vestibule that you can keep wide open to help with ventilation. The Teton looks fine. I like the look of the higher denier fabric and vented fly. Teton has historically been a cheap crap brand but they've really made some improvements in the last few years. I don't love that their "lifetime warranty" explicitly mentions that things like bent poles are considered normal wear. The marmot is an excellent option if you can get it at a good price and you're genuinely okay with a 2p.