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.

For car camping look into blackout tents! Game changer for us. We have a basic Coleman brand and it suits us just fine for car camping

I’d say twilight dark in the day - pitch black at night. The sleeping in factor is why we got ours and it works - no more 4 am predawn wake ups!

I got my 2p Coleman sundome on sale for that amount in 2023. It’s a super solid tent.

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.

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 wanted to add that, as the kids get older, you/they may want more space. We're a family of 5. We used to all camp in a 10p Coleman. Once my eldest turned 11, he wanted his own tent. Now my kids are 11, 15, and 17, and we use a 6p (me and husband), 4p (11 & 15 yr olds), and a 2p (17 yr old). It is definitely much easier to find a flat spot to set up with smaller tents. The kids also set up their own tents. It's easier to keep a smaller tent warm too. For a family of 7, I'd suggest 2x 6p tents. We used our 10p Coleman tent for 11 yrs before we stopped using it. Our smaller Colemans get used at least 7 times per year. They're still going strong.