Sundome 2

Best beginner advice has been said tent size is always double the amount of people sleeping inside. So for you alone a 2 person tent will do. I own several tents and go anywhere from overnight a campground in the woods to multiple weeks in snow or desert camping on blm land. I have a 2 person coleman sundome that I love for summer camping. Its easy to setup and takes up little space in car. The tent is like $80. I also have a 4-person coleman sundome tent that is taller than the 2 person verison so I can actually stand up in. I mention the several tents because I have a few tents that cost around $500 each but they have there specific usage. Even then, have access to nicer tents, the coleman sundome will always be in my collection to use or lend out due to low cost and ease of use. The important advice for camping in general is making sure you have a good sleep system. I.e. a sleeping pad with insulation value so you dont freeze at night if its going to be cold. Or putting down layers of decent insulation blankets to keep warm by have that barrier between you and the ground. The sleeping bag if buy any bag from a regular store should have a temperature rating 20 degrees lower than the coldest temperature at night youre expecting. I always bring a cheap $10 tarp from home depot to put under my tents to prolong their use and but if its not going to rain. You can easily go without a ground tarp.

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!

For the last few years, every leader in our troop atarted off with the Coleman Sundome 4 man tents. They were simple and easy and good in most weather but get better stakes. After a few years we all moved on to different types as we realized this was now life 😂 The new scouts usually start off with the 2 man sundome as well and move up later or on to hammocks.

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